News groups around the world are encouraging children shocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to turn to art as an outlet for their worries. Youth around the world are drawing pictures in an outpouring of support for the children of Ukraine. My nonprofit, Global...
The war in Ukraine has been traumatic for young people around the globe who have never seen armed conflict in Europe and who may not have followed atrocities in Syria, Yemen or elsewhere in the world. Social media platforms have broadcast terrifying images from Ukraine, and teachers have struggled to help students absorb the atrocities. Aralynn McMane, a News Decoder trustee who specializes in how news media can better serve the young, has pulled together artwork by young people inside and outside of Ukraine that channels their emotions while packing a punch. Art, and not just words, can convey complicated thoughts.
Exercise: Ask your students to draw a picture that captures their feelings about the war in Ukraine.
A poem by an Indian humanitarian honors refugees fleeing the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We Flap Our Wings Of Fire Do not go brave into that dark, he saidRaising our defiant hands into the sky,We flap our wings of fire.Covered in smoke...
A year after supporters of ex-U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol Building, a young poet reflects on the American dream — or nightmare. A police officer stands on the steps of the U.S. Capitol before a prayer vigil marking the one-year anniversary of the...
Almost all of us collect objects of some sort. Psychoanalysts think they are part of our identity. But when does a pastime become an obsession? The author’s “dupondius” of Augustus and Agrippa celebrating their military victory against the combined...
I come from Rwanda, where Black children are not hated for the color of their skin. My photos capture innocence and an age of purity. (All photos by Stacy Shyaka) In my country, Black children are able to hold on to their innocence because they live in a place where...
How can a photography class make better global citizens? Caleb Portfolio of Westover School helps students discover themselves and the world. Caleb Portfolio Caleb Portfolio teaches photography and video at Westover School. That means he teaches certain necessary...
I’m a mix of black Jamaican and white American. My distinctive identity is both a target of hatred and my weapon for fighting injustice. A demonstrator at a protest against racism in Berlin, Germany, 6 June 2020 (Friedrich...
Art and culture are integral to New York’s economy and sense of community. COVID-19 has hit the sector and its people hard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Upper East Side, Manhattan. Circles spaced six feet apart, marking where people were to stand while waiting...
My family came to the U.S. from Mexico. I used to be ashamed of our humble lifestyle. I offer these photos to show I’m now proud. This story won a third prize in News Decoder’s Ninth Storytelling Contest. Originally from Zapotitlan Palmas, a small town in...
Many students have much to say, but freeze when asked to put pen to paper. Asking them to first engage in other forms of self-reflection may make it easier to produce powerful written texts. Miriam Hernandez of Westover School demonstrates this point with her piece on growing up in the United States as a daughter of Mexican immigrants. Hernandez began with uncaptioned photographs of her family’s surroundings — a dinner table, a kitchen sink, a breeze through the front door — and later produced accompanying text — simple, direct, unvarnished — that complements the photos. Together, the pictures and text offer a candid glimpse of the author’s upbringing and how she came to terms with her heritage.
Exercise: Ask your students to take a series of photographs of life at home and to then write about what the images represent to them.
Inspired by Black Lives Matter protests, I offer a photo essay as a haunting reminder that the fight continues decades after the Civil Rights Movement. This story won a third prize in News Decoder’s Ninth Storytelling Contest. With my photography project, I...
The Black Lives Matter movement has stirred young people around the globe and raised hopes that racism and police brutality against Blacks can be curbed. For many elders, the hopes are tinged by nagging fears that a generation from now race relations will remain strained and injustices will persist. Lucy Bird, a 17-year-old student at Westover School, captures those worries in her haunting series of photos that juxtapose iconic images from the U.S. Civil Rights Movement with glimpses from BLM protests.
Exercise: Ask your students to apply their photo skills to create a visual essay that manipulates existing photographs to capture their concerns about the future.