by Oriana Mejías Martínez

Learning experiences can come from different kinds of practices that nourish and enrich students beyond the confines of the classroom, enhancing, in turn, curricular content. Art has always been at the core of my work: music, painting, drawing, photography, cinema, and theater. I was lucky to come of age in a city where these things were accessible to all. I had an English professor who advised me that I could go to the city theater to hear classical music. I didn’t know that it was free, that I could occupy that seat, that I could just take the bus to get there and decide for myself if I enjoyed it or not. Now, my learning has extended into my teaching, and it is my turn to open doors that might be significant for my students’ development. 

I have been teaching Spanish for Heritage Learners for two years at Hunter College, and in this intermediate course, attentive listening is fundamental to understanding my students’ needs, since they all come with different preoccupations. Language skills are difficult to master, regardless of whether you are a ‘native speaker’ or not. At the beginning of the semester, the main topic is identity; covering individual identities and the urban spaces occupied during their lives in New York City. Following themes split into several groups of Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, considering their historical and sociopolitical aspects of the Latin American region of their origin, and the effects into the sociopolitical sphere of this association in the United States. The semester closes with a unit on the job market where the class turns to be a hands-on workshop that allows students to explore job postings on careers that they would want to pursue. Then, students create materials such as cover letters and a curriculum vitæ in Spanish for a chosen job advertisement in their field.

While planning to teach this course in 2023, I was thrilled for my students to visit the Whitney Museum’s exhibit: no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria (on view from Nov 23, 2022 through Apr 23, 2023). I wanted to create an opportunity and a common ground that allowed students to be critical towards pieces of art that revolve around the course themes. This first approach consisted of a two-page review of one or two pieces from the exhibition, and pictures to illustrate their pieces of interest. I considered a group visit to the museum at first, but this course was taught from 7:00pm to 8:15 pm, when museums are closed. After announcing this assignment, some students expressed hesitancy, and as the semester rolled on, they shared their discomfort about whether or not they ‘belonged’ in museum spaces, or even parts of the city; a few of them claimed not to have visited that area (in the Meatpacking District) of Manhattan. A portion of a class was dedicated to going through the Whitney Museum website to show students how to access their CUNY Affiliate Admission ticket, so they could gain access free of charge to the exhibition. Most students attended the exhibition during their weekend, some of them managed to go and took someone else with them (some even took their mothers to the visit). 

From this visit to the galleries, there were many insightful reflections and emotions exposed in the short-essays. Students offered clear perspective and comparison from personal experiences; for example, a student explained how vividly they had memories of Puerto Rico through a black-and-white video art piece by Elle Pérez, and how this video felt like going back home after a long time. Likewise, historical connections were present and centered into these students’ essays, for instance a student related the large-format painting by Danielle De Jesus with contemporary protests in Ecuador that have also proved deadly for those who took part in them after police and military confrontation. Some others pointed out the relevance of human and land rights for Latin America, and how they could find relatable cases of struggle in the region. 

In my third iteration of this course (Fall 2024), I decided to change one aspect of this assignment: to look for a gallery that did not require a ticket to access for students, so if they decided to be accompanied no one had to pay to have access to the gallery. On this occasion, students visited Americas Society gallery to take a look at The Appearance: Art of the Asian Diaspora in Latin America & the Caribbean (on view from Sep 4 through Dec 14, 2024). Appropriately, this gallery is located nearby Hunter College which removed the fact of commuting to a third location for most students. The assignment was to write a 2-page essay commenting on at least two pieces shown at the gallery and making connections with writing students had done earlier on their experiences growing in New York City’s neighborhoods. From this experience, the essays portrayed many feelings that the art pieces conveyed and that students perceived: sorrow, being lost, pride, joy of belonging. Experiences outside of the classroom hold valuable opportunities to approach the provocations that art promotes with a critical lens that explores social issues and sociohistorical events.

Structuring these learning excursions can entail some challenges; for example, for certain exhibitions extra support could be needed to contextualize the students to access what is being portrayed in the shows. Students also might need guidance in understanding the infrastructure behind museums and galleries to help them connect that institutional environment with both the classroom and outside-of-classroom context. Also, it is important to guarantee that everyone in the classroom can have proper accommodations, whether the activity is done in group or individually. If done individually, I normally consider some questions that students can return to, this strategy provides a platform for possible inquiries that the exhibit may bring up.

From the Teaching and Learning Center, there have been initiatives that have impulsed the use of art into the classrooms, and not as a mere visual aid. One, for instance, is the Museum Pedagogy in the Classroom page that lives on CUNY Commons. Going through their resources, I could refine the definitions to propose this learning opportunity focused on narrativity. Now that I have revisited previous posts published in the Visible Pedagogy blog, I gathered another assignment model in groups and intended to be hosted in a course site. More recently, for the 2024 Teaching @CUNY Summer Institute, a colleague developed an adaptable guide that was used to facilitate a group visit to an array of museums and galleries. It was useful to have the document as a first step for these experiences.

Oriana Mejías Martínez is a PhD candidate in Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures and a Fellow at the Teaching and Learning Center.

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