Celebrating LatinX Heritage: Elevating School climate Through Artistic and Collaborative Knowledge Construction

By John Muir Middle School Authors: Practitioner School 6.0 Creative Communicator Team Teachers Ms. Andrea Bolden, CTE Teacher Ms. Amelia Lopez, 6th Grade Magnet Math and Science Teacher Mr. Pedro Soto, 6th Grade Math and Computer Science Teacher Ms. Sandra Cuautle Herrera, Instructional Technology Facilitator

John Muir Middle School’s principal, Dr. Sonia Leffall, created a community building activity to kick off the school year. At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, although students were visibly happy to be back in person, it quickly became apparent that they were struggling with the daily structure and social norms of a physical school environment. Noting that LatinX History Month was around the corner, celebrated September 15th, and that 82% of Muir students identify as Latino/a, she reached out to her Creative Communicator Team (ITI Practitioner School 6.0), to support the efforts. She invited the team, Mrs. Gloria Vasquez, the Title III EL Instructional Coach, Mrs. Lourdes Martinez, the TSP Advisor/ Title I Coordinator, and Ms. Sandra Cuautle Herrera, the Instructional Technology Facilitator to create a door decorating contest to celebrate Latinx culture.

Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others. The team capitalized on the Digital Citizenship Homeroom curriculum plan and interweaved lessons on LatinX cultural identity so that students could explore the LatinX community’s online representation. Homerooms were asked to select one LatinX figure and research their digital footprint to address an essential question: How does your LatinX figure promote a positive image of LatinX culture? The team provided teachers with a Google Slide Deck containing lessons and resources to facilitate the task, but it was left up to each Homeroom class to select their figure, conduct research, and design their door to celebrate the individual.

Students in Mr. Soto’s CS Discoveries classes used their graphic design skills to create posters highlighting LatinX figures across various professions.

Mr. Soto’s 6th Grade Homeroom participated in the contest, but he also incorporated the activity into his computer science courses to give students the opportunity to further explore LatinX Heritage month. By merging CTE Design standards and the ISTE Standards for Students, he created a meaningful learning experience for his students that supported their development as graphic designers while challenging them to critically curate information and visual resources from online sources. In alignment with Indicator 1.3a, each learner was asked to “plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and resources” for a LatinX figure they admired in any field, and ensure that their final product only utilized accurate and relevant information from credible sources to justify their selection. In addition to providing guiding questions to assist their research,

Mr. Soto encouraged his students to use a variety of methods to create their artwork as outlined by Indicator 1.3c. He modeled using Google search keywords and phrases, features like the Usage Rights tool to find fair use images, and filtering for png images with transparent background. Students then synthesized knowledge of their chosen LatinX figure into a graphic using the Google Drawings app. This tool facilitated peer collaboration, allowing students to easily request and provide assistance and feedback to classmates. It also facilitated locating properly licensed images through the “Search the Web” option under the Insert Image feature. And as always, students were also asked to reflect on their researching and curating process in writing when they submitted the assignment.

This activity had a strong cultural impact on the school as students began to realize how racially and ethnically diverse the figures were. For future iterations of this assignment, Mr. Soto reflected how he could improve upon his lesson design to better scaffold critical evaluation of media and information as while encouraging deeper exploration of culturally relevant real-world implications as outlined in indicators 1.3b and 1.3d of the Knowledge Constructor standard respectively: I would like to spend some time exploring that racial diversity with a focus on Afro-Latinos to encourage more Black students to see themselves in this work as well. I’d also provide intentional instruction on fair use images and creative commons licenses before this assignment so that I can make it a requirement to provide proper attribution instead of merely recommending it.

Some Muir educators also shared they’d like to adapt the activity as a cross-content project. History teachers might facilitate studying historical figures and analyzing current media for examples of contemporary LatinX representation,
Spotlight Picture
Ms. Bautista’s 6th Grade Homeroom proudly poses in front of their winning entry for the LatinX Heritage Month Door Decorating Contest: Frida Kahlo!

while English teachers support students as they research, apply their annotation skills, and draft the text for their graphics. Teachers envision leveraging apps available through LAUSD’s Learning Management System, Schoology, such as Newsela for research and Kami for annotation to provide more variety in digital tools to better support students’ ability to conduct their inquiries and express their knowledge.

Muir students welcomed the opportunity to work alongside their peers to create an artifact that reflected their collaborative understanding of positive LatinX role models and celebrated LatinX heritage. They were proud to share their work with the rest of the school community and look forward to next year’s contest!

Ms. Bautista’s 6th Grade Homeroom proudly poses in front of their winning entry for the LatinX Heritage Month Door Decorating Contest: Frida Kahlo!