Empowerment Plan and Non-Judgement (3rd-5th Grades)

With my 4th and 5th grade students, I love talking to them at the beginning of class to find out how they are, what they're up to, and how they are feeling.  During the art portion of class, the students often share more about their lives and interests, both with me and with each other.  We've truly cultivated a positive community together!  At times these dynamic girls can still be challenging as many of them are high energy.  Some of them struggle with remaining silent during mindful breathing, but each is accepted for where she is in the practice.

During each class, all students write down three things they are grateful for in their sketchbooks.  One of these is also written on a small piece of paper, folded, and placed in the singing bowl.  During our last class we will read through many of these gratitude papers as a reminder of being thankful for things everyday.

After that, I read a story from the children's book Zen Shorts.  The story is a Chinese tale about a wise old farmer who seems to have a string of bad luck.  But with every seemingly bad thing that happens to him, something very good comes out of it.  The last "bad" thing that happens is that his son falls off a horse and breaks his arm.  The farmer's neighbors say, "Oh, how awful!".  The wise old farmer responds with a simple, "Maybe".  In the end, the son's broken arm saves him from being drafted into a violent war.

After reading the story, I asked the students to decipher its message.  They shared that you never know if something in life will be good or bad.  I brought in the idea of judgement to the conversation. Individuals in our culture are quick to judge if events in life are good or bad.  Mindfulness teaches the skill of non-judgement, something the wise old farmer had mastered.  We never know if something that seems like bad luck is really something positive in disguise, or if our attitude towards the event to transform it into a positive!

While the students ate their snacks, I showed them a video about Empowerment Plan, an amazing non-profit organization based out of Detroit.  Empowerment Plan is devoted to "educate, employ, and empower homeless individuals to create a better life for themselves and their families while producing humanitarian products for those in need".  They create an extremely warm winter coat that transforms into a sleeping bag.  All the individuals who fabricate the coat were formerly homeless.  Empowerment Plan has taught them sewing skills so that they can do the work required for the job.  Here is a video about Empowerment Plan if you'd like to learn more!

A photo of the coat that transforms into a sleeping bag, designed by Veronica Scott, founder of
Empowerment Plan!

Then it was time for the students to dive into their own creative adventures: designing a ZINE that shares a message of HOPE!  All of this goes with our Central Idea: Art has the potential to be a positive influence in the world.  This week I introduced students to the many different forms of media that they can incorporate into their zines.  My expectation is that they utilize at least three forms of media!  The girls were excited to begin incorporating color into their creations.  Here are the artists at work: