Fulbright Scholar Initiative Bridges Classrooms in Webster And Brooklyn

Fourth-grade students from Plank Road South Elementary School and P.S. 297 Abraham Stockton School recently bridged the gap between Webster and Brooklyn through a cross-community art initiative titled, “Walls that Speak: Exploring Identity, Culture, and Community Through Collaborative Mural-making and Storytelling.” The collaborative project was born out of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program, which requires honorees to complete a graduate-level course in global education. Through this course, Plank South librarian Julianne Westrich was paired with Michael Peterson, a K-6 teacher at P.S. 297 in Brooklyn. Together, they designed an interactive curriculum to help their fourth-grade students understand their similarities and differences through the lens of community art.

The project kicked off with the literary inspiration of Hey Wall by Susan Verde (illustrated by John Parra), a story about a community bringing an empty city wall to life with "colors, creations, and energy" to tell their unique story. Building on this theme, students learned how street art shares community values and history. Classroom presentations featured local and global artists, including a piece by Shawn Dunwoody featuring Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony that is located in Rochester’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.

Putting this inspiration into action at Plank South, students were divided into five groups, each painting a distinct section on paper. These pieces were then assembled into one large, unified mural displayed outside the school library. At P.S. 297, Michael and his students also created a large community mural. 

In both pieces, the images the students chose to use represented their perspective of their respective community. 
The culmination of the project brought the two classrooms together virtually. Gathering in their respective schools, the students shared videos of the murals they had created and provided peer-to-peer feedback.

"They were excited to see what they had in common and when something they did was recognized," noted Juli. "When the kids get invested, that’s what’s so interesting and so fun!"

While the physical murals were recently taken down, the impact of the project remains. Both educators agree that despite the massive undertaking of coordinating a cross-state, multi-media art project, they would gladly do it again.