A 21st-Century Community.

These were questions seventy eighth-grade art students were asked concerning their school and their neighborhood. Surrounding our middle school, with its 800 students, are apartment buildings, motels, and convenience stores. Within the community are also a large trucking company and many rundown houses. For several of the children from this neighborhood, our school, with its clean walls and spotless floors, is a haven from such an environment.

As an art teacher, I believe that with their art abilities, students can make a difference and contribute something to their community. After much brainstorming, an architectural idea of building a 21st-Century Community was in the making. Perhaps we cannot change the community directly, but through our art and with our imaginations we can change things in the future.

One objective for this assignment was to teach students about architecture as a possible career. We invited an architect to introduce architecture to the eighth-grade art students.

We then went on a walking tour of the neighborhood. One student videotaped the negative elements in the environment. The videotape was later viewed by the students. There was a lot of brainstorming, resulting in suggestions as to what they wanted to improve.

First of all, it was agreed that the school was the center of the community, and should remain so--only better.

Webb Middle School is constructed as one entire building housing classrooms, etc. It also has two portable classrooms. Students decided that the portables should be eliminated from the new construction. Therefore, the future model would consist of a main school building that would sufficiently serve the needs of a great number of students without the necessity of portables. A separate two-story gymnasium with an indoor swimming pool would connect to the main building as well as a two-story cafe-style cafeteria. A connecting octagon building would house the fine arts gallery and have a performing arts auditorium. The students also cleverly added a parking garage for the staff.

Students further decided that the nursing home across from the school was most important to the community, and therefore it should remain and be reconstructed in the model.

Students planned to replace some of the existing motels, apartment buildings, and convenience stores with single-family homes, and a new mini-mall and community park and recreation would replace the existing trucking company. The mini-mall will house a super food market as well as five other businesses to serve the needs of the community.

The park and recreation space would offer an indoor recreation center, outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball court, playscape, and a walk and bike trail. The entire community would be well lighted to insure safety and discourage negative elements.

Throughout the assignment, students learned how important it is to work together as a team. The entire group of eighth graders were divided into small groups. Each group represented an area of the model. Each student was allowed to choose his or her group. As students worked, they learned their mathematics and economic skills came in handy as well as their art abilities. With research, brainstorming, measuring, scale building, painting, and trial and error, the work continued. At the end of nine weeks, the model was complete.

In the beginning, I told my students that if they did a professional job of building the model, perhaps one day someone would see it and make our vision a reality. Students completed their task and did it well. It is our dream that our architectural model will in reality truly become "A 21st Century Community."

When the project was completed, the city councilors presented each student with a certificate of recognition for their efforts.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students compare multiple purposes for creating works of art.

Iris Broussard Williams is an art teacher at Webb Middle School in Austin, Texas.