Abie L. Qui–ones-Benítez
My "I have a border in my mind: the Puerto Ricans' arts and culture as factors for self-esteem" will be used in my own school. As a guidance counselor my responsibilities include to provide educational counseling services to over two hundred and fifty children. Due to the numbers I can only reach a few on an individual basis, thus, group intervention is necessary. In order to impact their self-esteem and their academic development I will implement this curriculum as part of my guidance interventions in the classroom. Once a week for the duration of the curriculum I will meet with my students at their assigned classrooms. Approximately a 40 minutes period will be dedicated to the implementation of each lesson for the duration of the curriculum. I intent to implement this curriculum as part of the Language Arts, Reading, and Social Studies curriculum in the middle school. The literature read would be that produced by Puerto Rican writers both in the island and mainland U. S. I will include a variety of literature genres, such as: poetry, short stories, novels, and essays. In addition, the Puerto Rican artists' work included will varied as well. I hope to include plastic arts, film, music, and dance. For this part of the curriculum collaboration with the art department will be crucial. Due to the nature of this curriculum and my involvement with a large number of the student body the concept awareness will permeate the rest of the school. This, I hope, will increase the interest that other students and faculty may have about Puerto Rican culture, art, and literature and perhaps it will increase their need to seek further exposure and knowledge. Moreover, I hope that other teachers become interested in including Puerto Rican themes in their curriculum due to the academic development and enthusiasm shown by my students and the products that their participation in this curriculum will generate.
A final project will be part of this unit. It will include the written reflections on the topics discussed throughout the curriculum. Also, the students will do some research on the Internet, library, and with their own family to identify an artist or writer that they may want to showcase. The project will include a written collection of essays, short stories, and poems produced by the students in addition to the written report about the artist work that they have chosen. In addition, the project will include visual representations in a variety of forms such as: diaramas (a representation of a scene or scenery build in a show box), drawings, sculptures with paper maché, pictures, and many more according to the student's preference. In collaboration with the administration, the art department, and the students an exhibit of the final works will be open to the rest of the school. This exhibit should be housed at the school library. A ceremony of presentation of the work will take place to open the exhibit.
Altogether, this curriculum and the appropriate resources needed to implement it will be available to teachers and easily located for those who would like to explore the possibility of including the Puerto Rican presence in the materials they use in their classrooms. Middle school teachers and possibly other level teachers will have the option of exploring their student's awareness about Puerto Ricans. Furthermore, students with their teachers can explore their ethnicity while they learn about other ethnic groups. The gap of quality multicultural materials in the curriculum, especially those pertinent to Puerto Ricans may be decreased. In promoting this type of instructional content and approach teachers may be able to explore new ways of reaching their students of different ethnic backgrounds and may become aware of their own culture and how it impacts their teaching. As this curriculum entices others to become interested in Puerto Rican art, literature, and culture it will address the neglect of Puerto Rican identity development in the current curriculum. Thus, positively impacting the self-esteem of many of our public schools children.
