Briefly describe your focus class for the semester and your teaching context.
Discuss & explain your choices of BIG IDEA, CONCEPTS, QUESTIONS, IMAGES and STUDIO ACTIVITY/ACTIVITIES based on course readings, personal VTS experience, curriculum goals/objectives, and knowledge of students as learners.
My focus class for this semester is a fourth grade group with 22 students. They have art every three days for fifty minute long classes. The school is located onboard the army post Ft. Leonard Wood and 99.5% of students are military dependents. The population is highly transient with most students moving after 1-3 years.
For my Big Idea I have selected Story, the concept that throughout time man has used art as a means to record experiences and ideas. While I think that all children can relate to narrative, being part of a military family, most of my students have had the opportunity to experience more in the way of change than their non-military peers. I think they will have a vast range of stories from which to select.
Essential Questions:
How do people express ideas through art?
How has art been used throughout history to tell stories?
What can we tell about history from looking at art?
What story will you share through art?
I have selected a diverse range of images trying to vary media, themes, and time periods. I’ve attempted to select images, which, as Yenawine suggests, offer the potential for multiple interpretation. Right now I am toying with the idea of VTSing 2-3 of the images and distributing the remainder among my five table groups and having students interpret (VTSque) and maybe share their interpretations with the class. If I go this route I’ll need to find another image or two. I included the Garza image after great VTS success with a couple of her images last semester.
IMAGES
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| Detail from Lascaux Cave painting |
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| Las Posadas 2000 Carmen Lomas Garza 2000 Oil on wood 30 x 42 inches Collection of Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, Illinois |
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Running for shelter during the air raids. Bilbao, Spain, 1937. © Estate of Robert Capa and Magnum Photos. |
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| Detail from Column of Trajan |
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| Louis Lang (1814–1893), Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War, 1862-1863. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society |
Studio Activity / Activities
The studio activity for this lesson will be the creation of a bas relief ceramic tile, which depicts a personal story. Students will first brainstorm / mindmap ideas recalling times in their life when they have felt afraid, been proud, worked, experienced change, etc. They will create a series of rough drafts and ‘play’ with relief sculpture using plasticine clay.
Curriculum goals/objectives –
MO GLE’s:
PP2A4 - Select and apply three-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art problems - Grade 4 - Identify and demonstrate relief sculpture
IC2A4. Explain the connections between Visual Art and Communication Arts, Math, Science or Social Studies - Explain how George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton re- flected life in Missouri
HC1B4 -Compare and contrast artworks from different historical time periods and/or cultures - Compare and contrast two artworks on: Subject matter and media, use of value and space, theme.
Waynesville R6 Fourth Grade Third Quarter Common Assessments:
Students will create a relief sculpture.
Students will create the illusion of space.
I'm sure that I'll tweak this unit as it unfolds and I gladly welcome any comments or suggestions.
Wow! You have certainly connected this unit to the lives of your students and selected a wonderful series of images through which to present and reinforce your Big Idea. I'm VERY excited to see how this unit will unfold!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting population to work with! I am certain they have fascinating stories. Will be a great way to discover so much about each other... First thoughts are, What if you had them focus more in on something specific to the "transient like" life style they all experience????? This could still embody many different things was it would mean different things to each student. Be fun to share and compare and contrast what that is for each. Just a thought,
ReplyDeleteIt would also be fun to VTS the kids pieces later on to see what come experiences there might be and I would imagine the linking potential a gold mine!
Love the images you selected. :)
Amy thanks so much for the suggestion that I set some specific boundaries. I just finished reading chapter 5 in the Walker text, and agree that some limitations might enrich the narrative process. You've really got me thinking!
DeleteThinking about your comments on my post last semester, I have known that you have been interested in applying most of your students situation(military family) to VTS lessons. This is interesting and brilliant becuase Stage1 viewers easily interprete the images based on their experiences. I LOVE your idea. But I pretty agree with Amy because choosing more specific big idea could help young students understand the concept of idea and enable teachers to get them more actively involved.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, the students who are the military family could think and interpret some particular images differently from non military peers. So if it is possible, you could compare the each group's ideas and interpretation on the same images so that you could investigate how different experiences affects on students' perspective.