Once the lockdown began, technology has been at the forefront of communication in the United States’ education system. When the COVID-19 pandemic arose, people in the New York educational system began to work remotely. Jennifer Middleton and the rest of her coworkers were stuck figuring out how to prepare their lessons for 6th to 8th-grade students virtually. Middleton, a New York City art teacher, used her new expertise in online teaching to have two students present their artwork based on artist Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Middleton has been teaching for almost 25 years in the New York City Department of Education, from being a traveling art teacher to receiving a classroom of her own for the last ten years. She currently teaches visual arts, film, photography, and theater at Madiba Prep Middle School in Brooklyn, New York.
At first, Middleton struggled to engage the students with art because her lessons involved students being present in the classroom. Another challenge is that some students could not afford these materials and transfer the work into their homes.
The NYC Board of Education decided to send arts teachers a curriculum about Basquiat’s legacy. Middleton had to figure out how to incorporate her usual in-person skills into the online platform. Having planned a lesson based on the artist, she was thrilled to continue seeking out plans to keep students engaged and appreciate Basquiat’s work. She began her lesson by showing videos from his archive and past documentaries from his childhood leading up to death and exemplifying his talent through presentations. Talking about his life as a New York native made her students feel relatability with his success story in his public creativity.
Middleton’s projects involved each student creating their symbols like Basquiat using crowns. Students planned and sketched what ideas they could incorporate with their symbols from home. Then, Middleton would have 1-on-1 meetings to discuss and advise better solutions or improvements to enhance the design they want. When the final project involved a completed piece based on Basquiat’s style of artwork, Middleton turned in the best pieces. Two students were chosen along with many New York City public school entries for the Jean-Michel Basquiat Exhibition at the Barclays Center.
Now that schools are reopening in New York City, Middleton is excited to be back in her classroom to resume projects she had organized before the pandemic. She had saved many materials throughout quarantine to help students expand their skills away from the computers and phones. By extending her lessons on different painters, photographers, and other artists, she challenges students to show their ideal designs from their unique creativity.
