Seattle, WA
Seattle Public Schools
Melissa Mak, ELL Department Lead
Visual Arts Showcase—A Multicultural Celebration
Hawthorne Elementary School has been working for several years to continually improve outreach to and engagement of all families as partners in their children’s education. The school’s partnership team, teachers, school leaders, and parents discuss and design activities to ensure more equal and useful ways to engage families who may have been excluded or limited from becoming engaged in the past.
Last year, the planning group combined a Visual Arts Showcase to celebrate every student’s art work with a recognition of the multicultural population at the school. They advertised the Visual Arts Showcase—A Multicultural Celebration in many languages, including Amharic, Korean, Polish, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and English. Families were invited to wear cultural clothes to the Showcase.
Working with the art teacher, every student—grades 1 to 5—selected one of their best or favorite works of art completed in art class over the year. A crew of parent and teacher volunteers posted the artwork throughout the school hallways for every family to see and celebrate their child’s and other students’ artwork.
To increase group spirit, the planners added performing arts to the celebration. Parents met with students during recess to teach them dances representing different cultural groups, including Mexican, Filipino, and Korean dances. A high school group performed a Lion Dance, representing Asian cultures. Students in Hawthorne’s after-school African Drumming and Capoeira (Brazilian dance) groups added performances, along with students demonstrating mindfulness. Students served as MCs for the performances and greeted attendees in English and in Spanish. With ingredients purchased by the PTA, parents volunteered to cook large quantities of culturally favorite foods (e.g., pancit—a Filipino noodle dish, rice and beans, and other specialties).
The Visual Arts Showcase and multicultural activities combined for an important celebration of emerging talents of students from all racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Families with limited English were active as volunteers and dance teachers. The unique mix of activities offered families opportunities to meet others who spoke the same languages. Many families participated who had not attended more structured family engagement activities over the past two years. There was a huge turnout—hundreds of parents, students, teachers, and others—because every student’s artwork was featured. Families who could not attend could watch a recording of the Showcase on YouTube.
Read more about Visual Arts Showcase—A Multicultural Celebration in Promising Partnership Practices 2023.
