Thanks to the generosity of the RAILS My Library Is . . . Grant, students at Oak Lawn Community High School have an opportunity to learn about the unique experiences and perspectives of women content creators from diverse backgrounds while also appreciating the significance of non-fiction comics as a form of storytelling and expression.
We have much to be thankful for . . .
Our wildly popular graphic novel section got a much-needed rejuvenation. We obtained multiple copies of 15+ nonfiction titles, often used for literature circles in English classes, to add to our collection. These books have been flying off the shelves, especially those by Huda Fahmy (a favorite of many OLCHS Spartans!).
To celebrate Women’s History and National Arab American Heritage months, our Media Center hosted bilingual author Shifa Saltagi Safadi. Her engaging presentations encouraged students from English, art, and foreign language classes to speak their truths and tell their stories, no matter how trivial. Students in Comic Creation, an elective course dedicated to the study and creation of sequential art, found her information helpful as they began designing their personal stories in comic form.
An interactive art exhibit centered around identity & diversity was also erected in the Media Center by students in Arabic language classes. Together we constructed walls of beautiful original name paintings written in Arabic were arranged into the shape of an Arabic phrase. Students and staff scanned a QR code to access informative videos explaining how to trace their names to then add to the ever-growing piece.
To draw attention to the exhibit, students in Physical Science classes used LittleBits invention kits to entice Spartans to participate in the artwork. One created a waving hand that read, “Diverse Creators Welcome” with Mehndi art. What a creative way for these students to learn the flow of electricity!
Today's blog post was written by Jennifer Sidlow & Eileen Wholley, Media Specialists at Oak Lawn Community.
This project was made possible by the My Library Is... Grant.
