Jeff Broome

Tania A., grade five.

Last year, the school where I work temporarily ceased operations, and I took shelter with my family in preparation for the landfall of Hurricane Idalia. During the same semester that Idalia wreaked havoc on North Florida, other communities across the globe experienced devastation from a variety of natural disasters: Morocco was hit with a deadly earthquake, wildfires ravaged Hawaii, parts of Libya were overwhelmed with flooding, and citizens of Iceland evacuated in preparation for a volcanic eruption.
Having experienced multiple hurricanes while residing in Florida, I knew that these communities required sustained care, but I suspected that the rapid news cycle would quickly shift its attention to new headline-grabbing incidents elsewhere. This spurred me to recall an elementary art unit that I taught years ago on the topic of natural disasters. I wondered how I could update my unit to address contemporary concerns and foster empathy in students for people experiencing environmental catastrophes.

Reflecting on Current Events
I began the unit with conversations about recent events involving natural disasters and focused on students’ experiences with large-scale weather emergencies. We made a chart of all the natural disasters we could name and distinguished between tragedies caused by humankind and those caused by natural weather events—although the lines that separate them are sometimes blurry.

Afterward, I showed the class works of art depicting natural disasters, leading them to realize that such catastrophes have shaped human experience throughout time. Students identified the disaster portrayed in each artwork and added new entries to our chart when appropriate.

I attempted to provide students with diverse visual examples, including Kara Walker’s 2007 cover for the New Yorker, Post Katrina-Adrift; Edith Irvine’s photographs of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; John Steuart Curry’s Tornado over Kansas (1929); and Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1829–1833). I encourage readers to update this starter list, particularly with contemporary artists from underrepresented groups.

Activating Connections
I asked students to identify other commonalities in the artworks selected. Students noticed that each artwork depicted at least one human, leading to a discussion on how natural disasters impact lives in very real ways.

I wondered how I could update my unit to address contemporary concerns and foster empathy in students for people experiencing environmental catastrophes.

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