I've never been a great fan of graffiti, but as I watched the evolution of Red Can at the Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux Reservation, I became more interested and curious about the medium. Then today when I was setting up my classroom, I decided to focus the first day identity work on the history of graffiti. I'm still not a fan of painting on spaces illegally, but I do think that it's important for students to understand the history of this art, and ways that they can reproduce it in legal ways like they do at the Cheyenne River Reservation.
So on day one, I'll introduce this art form to students and then allow each table group to create a graffiti bulletin board with a focus on their names and other words and images that matter to them. This will also be a focus on teamwork and the fact that the classroom belongs to them.
