Candlesticks, Light, Dr. King, and Me

Project:

Dr. King Candlesticks

Themes and skills:

Dr. King's philosophy

Civil Rights Movement

Positive/Negative space

Symmetry

Mixed media

Time: 5-6 50 minute class meetings

Grade: 2nd

(adaptable)

Materials:

Flashlights, Construction paper, copy paper, markers, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, chalk

After spending 2.5 years in education at the National Civil Rights Museum, one of my goals is to bring that experience into the art room.

I started with introducing students to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In order to teach the truth of the Civil Rights Movement, I wanted to be sure to move beyond the "I have a dream" speech and give a little more information on his history and life's work.

Some of the introductory resources I used for my second grade students included:

-The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Kid President

-Martin's Big Words was written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier, making sure to point out how strong and intentional Rosa Parks was in her Montgomery protest,

-and of course the most famous part of the March on Washington speech being sure to let the students know this was only a small portion of the whole speech and he wasn't originally going to include it.

When teaching about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement, t is so very important to fill in some missing pieces from the standard "dream" trope and to encourage students to "Love More" (as this artist wrote on her project).

We spent one class creating the silhouettes. It was one of those classes when you realize your lesson plan is failing miserably, because you tend to overestimate the motor skills of your students...anyone?...just me?

Anyway, I quickly found out that second graders need a lot of coaching to trace a silhouette. At first I had them working in teams: one kid holds the flashlight, one kid models, one kid traces. Flashlight kid had some issues being still, so we employed tables instead. Model kids and tracing kids varied in skill, some did fantastic work - tracers were able to follow outlines and models were able to be still. But they are in second grade and some CANNOT sit still or smoothly follow the shadow outline. Some models didn't understand that to get a profile you cannot watch the tracer create it. I took over in some groups just to get the project rolling a little quicker.

Once we had the silhouettes (the next class time), we studied a little more of Dr. King's life and discussed some symbols (visual literacy) that may be appropriate to represent his philosophy. For example, a heart for love, a world for unity, hands raised for hope, peace signs for peace, etc. We filled our silhouette with symbols, and they were really into coloring on their own faces. This concept was really important. I wanted the students to see the movement and King's message within themselves. Using our own faces as the project's source meant that we are a part of the movement.

The next class included more information about Dr. King and the creation of our candlesticks. You will need either light weight drawing paper or copy paper. First, students outlined their silhouettes from the first class with Sharpie if they hadn't already. Then, we folded our paper in half, vertically (hot dog style, if you will). We opened the paper and found the fold. We put the paper on top of our silhouette making sure the eyes and nose were looking at, but not touching the fold. Then we traced - first with pencil, then with Sharpie. Next, refold the paper. Trace the silhouette on the opposite side of the fold so that when the paper is open, the faces look at one another. Connect with horizontal lines at the forehead and neck.

I wrote quotes by King on the board, and showed students ways to design their project - lines, shapes, and the visual literacy symbols we created earlier. The students LOVE to use markers, and they're always on my tables, but I also know that the projects are aesthetically stronger if they use markers for emphasis and outlines and crayons for broad areas of color. After a quick demo to the concept, the students got to work.

In the end, we cut out the "candlestick." Preparing for the next project, I kept saying we're making this candlestick, because Dr. King "showed the way" (our next civil rights project included the book "Show Way" by Jaqueline Woodson). We glued the candlesticks onto construction paper and used warm colors of chalk to create candle light.