Polk County teacher uses door art to teach inclusion and diversity

LAKE ALFRED, Fla. - Students are admiring the work of their art teacher Chanique Davis at Lake Alfred Elementary School. 

"When they see, when these kids see these doors, they are so excited," Davis shared. "They think. They're wowed by it and a lot of them are involved in the creation of the piece." 

Davis started her door art five years ago when she first got to the school. 

"I really wanted to create an image for my students to see that represented them in every different culture," Davis explained. "Something that they could be excited about and something that would bring about discussion in my class." 

Her creative doors are doing just that. 

"So far I've done Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian, Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We are working on other doors to come and other heritage months, so we really try to focus our curriculum around the heritage month and diversity." 

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Davis says student input is important in the creative process. 

"They told me whether or not we should do braids. They also put they helped me braid the hair, they put the beads on," she said. "They directed me and told me to add some flowers." 

The school's theme for Black History Month is mental health and positivity.  

"And so this door says, ‘I am enough’ and my children are learning about the importance of being kind to themselves and just thinking positive things about themselves. So affirmations and things like that," Davis stated. 

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Her creations are more than just decorations, they are a great way to teach. 

"I want them to be better people. I want them to grow up being great individuals and it's really… The doors are ways that I can teach them life and not just art. I put the two of them together with art and life together, and that's what I use these doors for," she said. 

Davis gets messages from schools from all over the world asking her how to do the door art and use it to teach the importance of diversity.