How much do students know about one and other? What stereotypes do they hold, and what stereotypes are attributed to them from those outside of our community? Beth Garcia, Middle School English Teacher, and Kayla Helton, Middle School History Teacher, teamed up to create the “Humans of Fifth Grade” project as part of this quarter’s Flexploration course. “We wanted to connect our course to L.E.A.D.*, to lean into MICDS’ goal of building community and celebrating diversity,” said Garcia. After speaking with students about what identity means, the fifth graders watched a TedTalk called The Danger of a Single Story. “We had students consider what the ‘single story’ of MICDS is and how our work on this project can help combat any inaccurate stereotypes that exist about the school’s culture or student body,” said Garcia.
The project was inspired by the Humans of New York and Humans of St. Louis accounts on Instagram. Students reviewed stories and photos from those social media channels and watched a video about the person behind the Humans of New York project, studying how he interviews and photographs New Yorkers.
Students practiced writing strong interview questions and worked on displaying strong interview etiquette. By partnering up, students were able to learn about one of their peers who they didn’t know very well and help to share their story with our community, and to allow others to get to know them, too,” said Garcia. “This was a great opportunity for students to practice storytelling as well as practice their creative and communication skills.”
The rest of the fifth-grade students will participate in this course during one of the upcoming Flexploration rotations. A bulletin board display in the fifth-grade hallway will showcase the project, allowing the community to see and learn about the class. “We aimed to cultivate a deeper sense of unity and empathy within the MICDS school community.”
Well done, Rams!
*L.E.A.D.: Learn with curiosity and joy, Embrace challenge, Advocate for self and community, and Demonstrate collaboration and teamwork.