A study of Latin American countries is compiled in a carefully crafted mural that now graces a lower hallway at Cuyahoga Heights High School. The artistic compilation is the work of seventh-grade students from one of Christine Bennett’s World Language Spanish classes. Each class created its own mural.
“As discussed in class, murals educate the public and bring awareness to important social issues,” noted Mr. Bennett. “They can be found in countries and cities around the world and are often painted in areas of a city, community, or building that need sprucing up.”
Students began by joining with a partner or small group to research one country. “The challenge was to represent their country through that word, and to create four of five images that would offer clues to the country’s identity,” said Mrs Bennett. “For example, one group chose the word ‘hot’. Any place on earth can be hot, but the group chose to represent the colors of the country's flag in the word ‘hot’. They represented the country's popular sport (baseball), and the country's national flower (the Bahibe rose). Together all these clues indicated that the country represented is the Dominican Republic,” she explained. Once they selected the images representing their country, the groups came together to design and create the mural.
In addition to learning about the culture, geography, and art of a Latin American country, the project also provided an opportunity for the students to work on their problem-solving skills. “The students learned that to be successful, they also had to work within a small group and a larger group. They physically had to make room for each other, working elbow to elbow to create the mural. This required patience, kindness, generosity, and compromise,” noted Bennett. “They learned to be successful through tolerance.”