- December 26, 2024
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Students piece together a mural. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Nina deBodisco's students paste together a mural of Martin Luther King Jr. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Reagan Rodriguez stands next to an MLK Jr. mural that one of Nina deBodisco's fifth-grade language arts classes created. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Reagan Rodriguez drew this sketch of Martin Luther King Jr. Photo by Brent Woronoff
A student's agamograph. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Students' agamographs with an explanation in their own words of a chosen MLK Jr. quote. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Student piece together their mural. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Reagan Rodriguez poses next to her sketch of MLK Jr. Photo by Brent Woronoff
A student's agamograph. Photo by Brent Woronoff
It has been nearly 54 years since Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot, yet his message still resonates with children today.
Bunnell Elementary School teacher Nina deBodisco has long incorporated activities relating to Martin Luther King Jr. Day into her lessons and is always uplifted by their enthusiasm in the class projects, their personal analyses of his messages and their motivation to go beyond the classwork.
“That is when I know it is a good lesson,” she said.
DeBodisco’s three fifth-grade English Language Arts classes each worked together last week to produce a mural of King. The students created agamographs featuring a picture of King and another of a dove with the caption, “Peace.” They each chose a quote from the civil rights leader and explained its meaning in their own words. They also took turns reading parts from a reader’s theater that told a story about a class learning about MLK.
Agamographs, named after Israeli sculptor Yaacov Agam, are two or more separate pictures that are cut into strips, alternated and pasted on a page with each strip folded in alternate directions to make an accordion fold. The result is one picture changes into the other as the viewer looks from side to side.
Each of deBodsico’s classes produced a mural of King with each student responsible for coloring in one square. The students then pieced together the squares to recreate the mural. One class decided to use uniform colors for its mural. Another class voted to allow each student to choose their own colors. The result was Dr. King’s face had three different colors.
“That was really cool,” deBodsico said.
One student, Reagan Rodriguez, sketched her own portrait of Dr. King.
"She's amazing," deBodisco said. "She has a strong interest in art. That's what she wants to pursue as a career."
DeBodisco said the activities helped the students cooperate with each other and achieve something together.
“My goal in these lessons was for the students to learn how Dr. King was able to effect change through strong words and tireless leadership,” deBodisco said. “I want to ignite a light in children that I feel like is going away right now. By analyzing his text, it gave them an idea of who Dr. King was and what he believed in. What surprised me was the accuracy to interpret the quotes they chose. They were able to pinpoint what he was saying.”
DeBodisco asked some of her students what they got out of the MLK lessons. Here are a few of their responses:
“You should never fight with your hands, only your words.” — Emma Z.
“Dr. King was brave because he stood up and said that all people should be treated fairly and the same.” — Aubrey G.
“Dr. King inspired other people to stand up against people who look down on them. It teaches me that I should always stand up against bullies.” — Allysen.
