I Am

Authors: Kayana Waller and Malik Dowdy

Portraits, poetry, and storytelling are a few of the art mediums our team has introduced in the emerging technology class at our middle school site. The class exposes sixth through eighth-grade students to computer science, digital design, and various forms of engineering. We have been able to work in photography not only as a digital medium but a tool of self-expression and identity.

Many of the students we work with are familiar with the social media popularized term, "The Selfie." During our presentation of Frieda Kahlo’s "Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird," one of our students praised Frieda's "eyebrow game." Initially, we were hesitant about centering our material on self-portraits and selfies, especially with the negativity surrounding the term and social media as a whole. However, through many classroom discussions, we and our students discovered that the selfie is the modern-day self-portrait. For many of them, being photographed was quite personal. Many of them had Malik retake their portraits time and time again—taking great pride in the presentation of their likeliness. For them, these portraits were a representation of their identity and their story.

It’s no surprise that middle school students have a difficult time defining themselves. Everyone does, right? They can also have a difficult time opening up. Writing poetry along with our portraits also allowed many of our students to express their inner feeling and thoughts. The I AM poem, arguably a middle school rite of passage was something our students embraced. Some of our students wrote the following:

I WORRY … about high school … that people won’t change
I UNDERSTAND … that I’m different … I have to grow up soon
I HOPE … I can move on … find something to work towards

It’s exciting to see young adults in this transitional stage of their development expressing themselves so openly with these exercises. We hope that the mediums we introduce can be used in the future as outlets for creative introspection.