Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rachel Lapastora
Everyday many students come to school to learn, receive, and achieve an education.
Teachers do all they can to guide and teach their students in the best way possible, but every so
often students are in need of more than just teaching. Just like many people, students often in live
vulnerable lives. Behind closed doors, many students experience the stresses of poverty and
failed family systems while still pursuing an education. This leaves students to possibly feeling
vulnerable during class time. Twenty first century art educators need to go about these matters by
using holistic integration approaches in their classrooms. Laurie A. Eldridge (2012) takes on this
approach by a technique she calls heart connection in which she makes sure to talk to each
student individually and acknowledges that person separate from the group. Having social
connections are good in a person so simple acknowledgments can go a long way for a student to
feel included and not alone. Another approach art educators can use are Visual Thinking Strategy
participation more than being heard and respected. Individual growth results from participation
(p. 66). Students would feel as though they have made a contribution to the discussion and that
make a classroom scrapbook. Students would be instructed to bring in several meaningful objects
that create a story of a time they felt vulnerable. They will then glue, staple, or pin these objects
onto 8.5 x 11 cardstock paper along with other items they would like to use as decorations.
Students will also have the option to draw and/or paint on the paper to help with the aesthetic
they wish to portray on their art piece. Once the students have finished creating their art, they
will slide their art piece into a laminated sheet and placed into a classroom binder creating a class
scrapbook. Each page will have a story of its own each contributed by the students.
Unit 3: VULNERABILITY Lapastora 3
Reference
Eldridge, L. A. (2012). The ethic of caring holistically for art students: Esmeraldas boutique. In
L. H. Campbell & S. Simmons III (Eds.), The heart of education: Holistic approaches
Housen, A., & Yenawine, P. (n.d.). Visual thinking strategies: Understanding the basics.