Marshall teachers use a number of projects and practices that engage and motivate students to show what they know and are able to do. In many cases, teachers give students the freedom to choose and explore a topic of personal interest and to develop their interest into a project for an event such as the school's History Fair. Three students in Ms. Williams' seventh grade social studies class used their interest in art as the starting point for a sophisticated presentation and analysis of the city's public art works.

To get started, the students enlisted their teacher's help in transporting them all around Chicago in order to photograph more than 100 pieces of public art. They requested information on the acquisition of these public works by writing to city officials, and they conducted research on the artists. They also catalogued each piece according to medium, subject matter, and other criteria. The students gave an oral presentation of their research, using PowerPoint to present the images and their findings. They explored the change that took place in public art after 1967, when the city began to invest more money in the arts, and they noted trends toward abstract sculpture in the 1980s. The project won awards at the school and district levels. As of our visit, the students were waiting to hear if they had advanced to the state finals.

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