The Year-Long Moral Compass Project

developed by Carol Cabrera


Below is a description of the year-long Moral Compass project students in my class will be embarking on during the school year. I will also be doing the project along with them via this blog! 

What are students going to do, and why are they doing it?
Students will search for truth in literature and art and history throughout the school year in order to develop a sense of self and identity. They will find quotes, art and events that move them and speak to them, for whatever reason, and they will archive these in a notebook that they will also decorate according to the type of person they are and the type of person they wish to be. The journal will be kept up during the entire school year--and it is not expected to be neat or orderly. Students are encouraged to journal, to cross things out, to draw, to paint, to take photographs and stick them in between the pages. The important thing is that students are beginning to compile a sense of self. At the end of the school year, students will create a piece of artwork that is based off of truths that they have discovered during the school year--they will boil their findings down into four essential truths that they want to or already live their lives by, and a compass will somehow be represented in their artwork. What are the 4 truths that point us in the major directions of our lives (N, S, E, W)? Students will write an accompanying artist statement that is divided into four sections, explaining what truth they have found, providing evidence for where they have found this truth in history, literature or art, and explaining how the truth is represented in the artwork.

What are the essential questions that inspire students, require them to conduct serious research and relate to real world issues?
What truths can I find in art, history, and in literature? 
What are my moral values?
What are the essential truths by which I live my life? 

What will students to do/write/create/build?
-Yearlong journal (or blog) compiling art, literature, history and reflections on these studies.
-Students will develop a piece of artwork representing 4 major truths (the North, South, East and West of his or her core beliefs) that they have discovered about themselves over the course of the school year. These truths will be developed by analyzing the compilation of material the student has collected over the course of the school year and categorizing this material into the 4 most dominant trends. 
-Accompanying artist’s statement divided into four sections, explaining what truth they have found, providing evidence for where they have found this truth in history, literature or art, and explaining how the truth is represented in the artwork he or she has created.