Tree of Power: Building Community Through Creative Reflection

Introduction: The Value of Artistic Expression in Academic Spaces

In a world increasingly mediated by artificial intelligence and digital technologies, creating space for embodied, artistic expression becomes not just beneficial but essential to our learning communities. The Tree of Power activity invites participants to engage in a creative process that honors their unique histories, strengths, and aspirations while building community through shared vulnerability and recognition.

As Gloria Anzaldúa reminds us in Borderlands/La Frontera, “I change myself, I change the world.” This simple yet profound artistic exercise offers students and instructors alike the opportunity to change themselves—to see themselves anew—and in doing so, to begin changing the classroom environment from one of hierarchical knowledge transmission to one of collaborative meaning-making.

Theoretical Foundations

This activity draws on several theoretical traditions:

• Critical pedagogy (Paulo Freire): By positioning students as knowledge creators rather than mere recipients, we challenge traditional power dynamics in the classroom.
• Borderlands theory (Gloria Anzaldúa): The tree metaphor honors the multiple, sometimes contradictory sources of strength and wisdom we carry within us.
• Community cultural wealth (Tara Yosso): The activity recognizes and celebrates the various forms of capital students bring to academic spaces, including aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, and resistant capital.
• Embodied knowledge (bell hooks): Creating art engages students in knowledge production that transcends purely cognitive processes, honoring bodily and emotional ways of knowing.

Activity Guidelines

Materials Needed

• Paper (standard letter size works well, but larger paper allows for more detail)
• Colored markers, pencils, or crayons (having a variety encourages creative expression)
• Masking tape or pushpins for creating a gallery display
• Optional: Background music that creates a reflective atmosphere

Time Required

• 45-60 minutes total (flexible depending on class time constraints)
• 15-20 minutes for creation
• 10 minutes for gallery walk
• 15-20 minutes for reflection and discussion

Process

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

Begin by explaining the metaphor of the tree and how it relates to our identities and experiences:

• Roots: Represent what nourishes us, our foundations, heritage, values, and what keeps us grounded
• Trunk: Symbolizes our core strengths, what helps us stand tall even during difficulties
• Branches: Reflect our connections to others and various directions in our lives
• Leaves/Fruits: Represent what we hope to contribute to the world, our aspirations and legacies

2. Individual Creation (15-20 minutes)

Ask participants to create their trees with these prompts:

• For the roots: “What nourishes you? What grounds you? What traditions, communities, or beliefs provide your foundation?”
• For the trunk: “What keeps you standing even during challenging times? What personal strengths have helped you persevere?”
• For the branches: “What connections sustain you? How do you reach out into the world?”
• For the leaves/fruits: “What do you hope to contribute to the world? What legacies do you hope to leave?”

Emphasize that artistic skill is not being evaluated—this is about the process of reflection and expression. Encourage students to use colors, symbols, and words in whatever combination feels right to them.

3. Gallery Walk (10 minutes)

When trees are complete, invite students to:

• Post their trees around the room
• Walk silently around the space, observing each other’s creations
• Notice patterns, unique elements, and connections between different trees
• Consider what resonates with them in others’ work

4. Collective Reflection (15-20 minutes)

Facilitate a discussion using some of these prompts:

• “What patterns or themes did you notice across our forest of trees?”
• “Was there something in someone else’s tree that resonated with you?”
• “What surprised you about your own tree as you created it?”
• “How might the diversity of our trees strengthen us as a learning community?”
• “What does this exercise reveal about the unique perspectives we each bring to our discussions of [course content]?”

5. Community Agreements (Optional Extension)

Use insights from the trees and discussion to collaboratively develop classroom community agreements that honor the diverse strengths, needs, and aspirations represented.

Implementation Guidance for Instructors

Creating a Safe Space

The vulnerability inherent in creative expression requires thoughtful facilitation:

• Model openness by creating and sharing your own tree
• Make sharing back voluntary—some students may prefer to reflect privately
• Establish confidentiality norms before sharing begins
• Acknowledge that discomfort with art-making is normal and expected

Modifications for Different Contexts

For larger classes:

• Have students share in small groups rather than with the entire class
• Create a digital gallery using a shared slide deck or padlet

For online environments:

• Students can create digital trees using drawing applications or simply photograph hand-drawn trees
• Use breakout rooms for small group sharing
• Create a digital gallery that remains accessible throughout the term

For abbreviated time frames:

• Focus on just one or two parts of the tree
• Use as a reflection activity at the beginning or end of a significant unit

Display and Ongoing Reference

I like to decorate the my office walls with these trees for the rest of the semester. Displaying the trees throughout the semester serves multiple important functions:

• Creates a visual reminder of each person’s value to the community
• Offers a touchpoint for revisiting course themes
• Provides an opportunity to track growth and change over time
• Reminds the professor of the unique gifts each student brings

Consider taking a photo of the gallery to include in course materials, and refer back to specific elements of students’ trees when they connect to course content throughout the term.

Post-Activity Reflection Questions

These questions can be assigned as written reflections, journal entries, or discussion prompts in subsequent sessions:

For Students:

1. How did the process of creating your tree reveal aspects of yourself that might remain hidden in traditional academic discussions?
2. Which parts of your tree feel most relevant to how you approach learning in this course?
3. How might the elements in your roots or trunk inform how you navigate challenges in your academic journey?
4. What elements from others’ trees expanded your perspective or challenged your assumptions?
5. How might remembering the diversity of our forest help us engage with course material in richer ways?

For Instructors:

1. What patterns emerged across students’ trees that might inform how I structure course content or discussions?
2. Which aspects of students’ identities and experiences seem most salient to their engagement with the course?
3. How can I reference specific elements from students’ trees when connecting course concepts to lived experience?
4. What strengths in the classroom community might be leveraged for collaborative learning?
5. What needs or challenges were revealed that might require additional support or resources?

The Value of Ambiguity and Trust-Building

Embracing Ambiguity

The open-ended nature of this activity intentionally makes space for ambiguity—a crucial capacity in both academic inquiry and life beyond the classroom. By engaging with the uncertainty of artistic expression, students practice:

• Tolerating multiple interpretations without rushing to judgment
• Finding meaning in process rather than just product
• Recognizing that complex ideas rarely have simple representations
• Developing comfort with the messiness of real-world problems

As Maxine Greene writes in Releasing the Imagination, “The arts offer opportunities for perspective, for perceiving alternative ways of transcending and of being in the world, for refusing the automatism that overwhelms choice.”

Building Trust Through Vulnerability

When students (and instructors) share their trees, they engage in a form of measured vulnerability that builds trust. This trust becomes the foundation for more challenging discussions later in the term:

• Seeing aspects of others normally hidden in academic contexts creates empathy
• Discovering unexpected commonalities builds connection
• Acknowledging differences with respect establishes norms for engaging with divergent perspectives
• Instructor participation models the vulnerability necessary for authentic learning

Conclusion: The Lasting Impact

Beyond its immediate benefits for community building, the Tree of Power activity establishes important precedents for the learning environment:

1. It validates multiple forms of expression and knowledge-making
2. It positions each community member as both teacher and learner
3. It makes visible the interconnection between personal experience and academic content
4. It creates a visual reminder of the unique forest that is this particular learning community

When students see their trees displayed throughout the semester, they receive a powerful message: “Your whole self matters here. Your roots, your strength, your aspirations—all are relevant to our shared intellectual journey.”

As bell hooks reminds us in Teaching to Transgress, “To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn.” The Tree of Power activity opens a path to this freedom by honoring the fullness of each person’s humanity within the academic space.

References

Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum.

Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change. Jossey-Bass.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.

Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91.