By Teri Piper Thompson, for the Chippewa Valley Post
There are 54 amazing people living in the Chippewa Valley right now. Just ask 113 DeLong Middle School sixth graders.
These students were able to make meaningful connections with the 54 community members through the school’s “Humans of the Chippewa Valley” project. That project culminated Monday evening with an exhibit in the DeLong hallways featuring the community members’ portraits and the students’ writings about each one.
The idea for “Humans of the Chippewa Valley” came from Mikki Brettingen, a DeLong sixth grade teacher. It was based on the well-known “Humans of New York,” an online project featuring interviews with everyday people doing amazing things. (See http://www.humansofnewyork.com/.)
A similar program at UW-Stout this year involved some 90 students, under the direction of Genesea Carter, an assistant professor of English. (To read about that project, click here.)
Dimensions of the DeLong Project
The DeLong project drew on the curricular areas of English, social studies and reading. It also developed a strong partnership with both UW-Eau Claire and the community members who were documented.
The vision for the project was to have students interview and write about a remarkable person in the Chippewa Valley. Sixth grade teachers brainstormed and shared ideas about people they knew or had heard of, in coming up with the people to be interviewed.
Teachers at DeLong also wanted to be able to include a photograph of each person with the students’ writings. The school reached out to the UW-Eau Claire Photography department and established a connection with Wanrudee Buranakorn, an associate professor of art and design.
Buranakorn jumped on the project and brought in three UW-EC student photographers: Lily Anderson, Amanda Thao and Elly West. With support from UW-EC student Differential Tuition funds provided through the university’s Diversity Mentoring Program, Buranakorn and the students took on the task of taking professional portraits of each subject. They also provided the photo prints and the mats for the project.
The teachers of this team of sixth graders worked with the students first on researching their assigned humans. Then all students participated in either a face-to-face or Skyped interview with their subjects. Students practiced their interview skills and social interactions while learning much more about “their Humans.”
Finally, the sixth graders wrote about their subjects and selected a quote from each of them to include in the final displays. The project began in March and concluded with this week’s exhibit, although a public exhibition is a possibility sometime in the coming school year, at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library or another gallery site.
The exhibit, and the project as a whole, has required students and staff to spend hundreds of hours putting all the pieces together.
“. . .anyone can be remarkable in their own way”
Sixth grader Aleah Popowich said: “The ‘Humans of the Chippewa Valley’ project taught me that anyone can be remarkable in their own way. Even your next door neighbor or your mailman is outstanding. You just have to find out how!”
Brettingen, the teacher who originated the idea, said the “project has taught our kids so much.
“From how to effectively research a topic to developing interview skills to writing for a broad audience, the ‘Humans’ project has helped our students see what it’s like to be part of a community project,” she said. “ And they have learned so much about these remarkable Humans and the Chippewa Valley.”
In addition to Brettingen, teachers on DeLong’s sixth grade Team H, whose students worked on the project, are Sarah Binder, Susan Huston, Bev Karnitz, Adriana Jimenez-Lasso, Brittany Pettis, Bobbi Sebesta, Ryan Sherman, Bridget Smylie and Gregg Webert.
For an account of the “Humans of the Chippewa Valley” project from the perspective of a sixth grade participant, click here.
Teri Piper Thompson is DeLong Middle School’s Partnership Coordinator.