Student Projects & Adaptations: Highlands High School

Summary:

By ambitiously combining Visual Arts and Social Studies through the practice of collecting, Teresa Emeloff and Mike Krzeminski were successful in working with 120 students. Students studied cultural collections such as the Vietnam War Memorial—a collection of names and a repository for objects visitors leave in memory of veterans. They also explored institutional collecting and preservation projects, specifically the Star-Spangled Banner Preservation project, which fit nicely into both the Collecting Unit and the Social Studies curriculum. To create a contemporary collection, students used digital photography as a quick method of collecting, creating an image bank of objects submitted by each student and arranged in a grid format. These grids were made into large silkscreens and printed by the students in a factory-like, mass-production manner. Students used these prints to wallpaper the cafeteria wall. Emeloff and Krzeminski studied the impact of these prints along with their students from personal, professional, historical, and—by looking at installation and labeling procedures –institutional viewpoints. The final installation became a backdrop for the school arts festival performances. (See Image Gallery)

Adaptations:

Pocket Project Journal
(meets writing standards for Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)
Each student kept a written collection of his or her own evaluations and reflections in a journal. They created covers for these journals by photocopying the contents of their pockets or purses on a copy machine. The journals allowed students to meet the writing requirements for their grade level while also assessing their own learning in a personal and creative manner.