Sequence and Organization of the Unit:
Topic taught: Creating a new, ideal and habitable planet! We gave the students prompts with context for how to create this world and its components. This concept served as a useful vehicle for teaching broad universal concepts like survival needs, functionality in different environments, and individuality of personal experience and artistic decisions. Before beginning either of our two formal lessons, we gave our class the following prompt on the very first day for creating their sketchbook covers:
Please excuse this interruption from you local news station: We have just been notified that there is a meteor is headed this way. A select group of elite creative thinkers (YOU) have been chosen to be sent to the moon. Your mission is to design a creative laboratory that will become the perfect working space for YOU! We have the ability to send any resources necessary, so let’s get creative! The purpose for this workspace will be for later use to design, create and build our future home. Let’s get started brainstorming, and building our creative laboratory!
Lesson 1: In the first lesson, we continued our storyline with this prompt:
Attention Researchers: Your Creative Thinking Labs are up and running successfully! Well done. Your first mission is to research, design and create a brand new planet for Earth’s inhabitants to live on after the meteor hits! All researchers will need to come together to decide what 5 characteristics the new planet will need for the inhabitants to survive… Then each researcher will design and create their new world by planning/sketching, drawing and finally painting their brand new Ideal World and Habitat they would want to live in!
We introduced the concepts of foreground, middle ground, background, and creating light and shadow with an identifiable light direction to create the illusion of three-dimensionality. During the ideation days of this lesson, we provided the students with graphite pencils, colored pencils, oil pastels, and watercolor paints. We did not focus on technique with these materials but simply let them explore them to create their ideas without concern for technical skill. We did focus on skill for the final acrylic paintings, and required them to include foreground, middle ground, background, and light direction. Additionally, we used a time lapse video of a painter to introduce them to the most common and effective process of creating a painting. This includes painting the background first, starting with a more neutral value and color range, then developing layers of increasing detail and contrast over the top.
Lesson 2: In the second lesson, we continued our storyline with this prompt:
Your new planet has passed Earth’s tests for a sustainable life- that means it is time for people to start moving to your planet from Earth! Before the spaceship of people arrive, you need to create a way for them to get around your planet. Just like we have cars, buses, trains and planes here on Earth, your planet needs to give people the ability to get around! Your MISSION is to create a new vehicle for your planet!
This lesson was shorter and more simple than the painting lesson. We began by showing artist examples of varying quality; this served as a vehicle to introduce them to the concept of craftsmanship. We also showed them some different examples of current and futuristic vehicles, including a motivation piece with two short clips of invented multifunctional vehicles from the show Top Gear. We let the students plan out their possible sculptures with modeling clay, which they thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with. The students were also introduced to the concept of functionality and how it varies depending on the environment. They were allowed to use their sketchbooks if they wanted to, but were only required to create a minimum of one drawing of their most engaging final plan in order to remember it for the next class period. The students were given work time to make their sculptures for the entire second day. On the third day they completed an in-progress critique worksheet, discussed their answers with a partner, and then completed their sculptures. Their final sculpture materials were cardboard, recyclable objects, found objects (such as felt, steel scrubbers, buttons, twine, etc.), hot glue and duct tape.
Please excuse this interruption from you local news station: We have just been notified that there is a meteor is headed this way. A select group of elite creative thinkers (YOU) have been chosen to be sent to the moon. Your mission is to design a creative laboratory that will become the perfect working space for YOU! We have the ability to send any resources necessary, so let’s get creative! The purpose for this workspace will be for later use to design, create and build our future home. Let’s get started brainstorming, and building our creative laboratory!
Lesson 1: In the first lesson, we continued our storyline with this prompt:
Attention Researchers: Your Creative Thinking Labs are up and running successfully! Well done. Your first mission is to research, design and create a brand new planet for Earth’s inhabitants to live on after the meteor hits! All researchers will need to come together to decide what 5 characteristics the new planet will need for the inhabitants to survive… Then each researcher will design and create their new world by planning/sketching, drawing and finally painting their brand new Ideal World and Habitat they would want to live in!
We introduced the concepts of foreground, middle ground, background, and creating light and shadow with an identifiable light direction to create the illusion of three-dimensionality. During the ideation days of this lesson, we provided the students with graphite pencils, colored pencils, oil pastels, and watercolor paints. We did not focus on technique with these materials but simply let them explore them to create their ideas without concern for technical skill. We did focus on skill for the final acrylic paintings, and required them to include foreground, middle ground, background, and light direction. Additionally, we used a time lapse video of a painter to introduce them to the most common and effective process of creating a painting. This includes painting the background first, starting with a more neutral value and color range, then developing layers of increasing detail and contrast over the top.
Lesson 2: In the second lesson, we continued our storyline with this prompt:
Your new planet has passed Earth’s tests for a sustainable life- that means it is time for people to start moving to your planet from Earth! Before the spaceship of people arrive, you need to create a way for them to get around your planet. Just like we have cars, buses, trains and planes here on Earth, your planet needs to give people the ability to get around! Your MISSION is to create a new vehicle for your planet!
This lesson was shorter and more simple than the painting lesson. We began by showing artist examples of varying quality; this served as a vehicle to introduce them to the concept of craftsmanship. We also showed them some different examples of current and futuristic vehicles, including a motivation piece with two short clips of invented multifunctional vehicles from the show Top Gear. We let the students plan out their possible sculptures with modeling clay, which they thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with. The students were also introduced to the concept of functionality and how it varies depending on the environment. They were allowed to use their sketchbooks if they wanted to, but were only required to create a minimum of one drawing of their most engaging final plan in order to remember it for the next class period. The students were given work time to make their sculptures for the entire second day. On the third day they completed an in-progress critique worksheet, discussed their answers with a partner, and then completed their sculptures. Their final sculpture materials were cardboard, recyclable objects, found objects (such as felt, steel scrubbers, buttons, twine, etc.), hot glue and duct tape.
Methods for Integrating Literacy, Numeracy, Technology and Other Relevant Subjects:
Literacy was incorporated into our lessons on several levels. At the beginning of each class period, we asked critical questions about art. Some examples include: “Where do ideas come from, and how do they evolve?” “Why would an artist want to make art about the world in which he or she lives?” “Why does art exist?” “How do artists decide what to title their artworks?” Literacy was also incorporated throughout the planning process of creating artwork. Students were encouraged to write down labels of the different parts of their sketches to help them remember what each part of their drawing was supposed to represent. They were also encouraged to brainstorm using written lists or word webs. The reflection process also involved literacy development. During each critique, students completed a written questionnaire about their work and then articulated these responses to a partner.
Numeracy was addressed in our lessons by our approach to the development of artwork. The process is highly sequential and requires awareness of cause-effect principles, timing, and the order in which each step is completed. Additionally, this skill was elaborated on by the complexity of engineering a world and a form of transportation that showed clear relationships between context and functionality.
Technology was incorporated when we had all of the students use modern video cameras to document their critique interviews for the painting lesson. This was exciting for them and helped them learn technological skills from an experiential angle. At a couple of points, they also used their own laptops for ideation research, which is a vital skill as an artist in today’s world. We initiated their very first use of Google Forms when they completed a short survey about their experiences in the class and their impressions of us as teachers, which is an important skill to have.
Numeracy was addressed in our lessons by our approach to the development of artwork. The process is highly sequential and requires awareness of cause-effect principles, timing, and the order in which each step is completed. Additionally, this skill was elaborated on by the complexity of engineering a world and a form of transportation that showed clear relationships between context and functionality.
Technology was incorporated when we had all of the students use modern video cameras to document their critique interviews for the painting lesson. This was exciting for them and helped them learn technological skills from an experiential angle. At a couple of points, they also used their own laptops for ideation research, which is a vital skill as an artist in today’s world. We initiated their very first use of Google Forms when they completed a short survey about their experiences in the class and their impressions of us as teachers, which is an important skill to have.
Strategies for Classroom Management relevant to Lesson Taught in the Unit:
Throughout this semester at Polaris, we used a variety of classroom management techniques. One category of techniques was our structured routines. These contributed to a safe environment of stability and consistency during crucial parts of the class that could otherwise be hectic and time-consuming. We maintained a consistent routine at the beginning and end of each class period.
When class began, we had everyone sit in a circle on the floor in the front of the room. Then, we asked them to share two numbers from 1-10 with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best; the first number indicated their energy level for the day, and the second indicated their level of enthusiasm. After stating their numbers, each student would also answer whatever question we had prepared for that day (see Instruction in lesson plans for details). They were free to say “Pass” if they were not comfortable with answering it, but this almost never happened. All of this happened one student at a time while all of the other students were listening silently. After everyone had done this, we led the students in a short explanation of what activity we would be doing next, while they remained seated silently.
At the end of class, we always had to clean up whatever supplies had been used that day. We provided a couple of warnings about how much time they had left, and then when it was time to clean up we announced this and waited until the class was silent and we had everyone’s eye contact. Then, we asked for one person from each table to stand up, and designated one or two tasks to this person. We then did this again until everyone had a specific set of tasks. This process went smoothly throughout the semester. During this time, we passed out sticky notes to each table. After clean-up was finished, we got the students’ attention and eye contact again and gave them the Discovery Board prompt, which was a reflective question about their learning from the day (see Instruction in lesson plans for details). Once they had written their answers, each student put their sticky note by their name on the Discovery Board and sat down quietly until everyone was done. At this point, we dismissed them for recess.
For partner or group activities, we decided to designate partners randomly by number. This helped with classroom bonding, pushed kids out of their social comfort zones in a safe environment, and helped prevent off-topic conversations between close friends. We numbered their activity sheets for these instances so that no one could pretend to be partners with someone they shouldn’t have been paired with. On a few occasions, we had students help with passing out sketchbooks or activity sheets, and this seemed to make things easier. Also, we initiated further cooperative learning by encouraging students to ask their peers if they had a question about materials or artistic decisions, and then they could ask us if they couldn’t figure it out together. This proved especially useful during the sculpture lesson because many students helped each other with using the hot glue gun or choosing what materials to use in building their sculpture.
During any sort of transition between activities, we made sure to clearly state what type of classroom environment we would be having before beginning the next part (i.e. silent work time, one person answering questions at a time when called on, anyone can chip in a response to an open question, relevant talking okay during work time, and so forth). Also, we often announced that we needed everyone’s eyes and ears on us, and waited until everyone was fully paying attention before continuing. This generally proved to be effective, with some exceptions. Many times, a student would try to interject irrelevant comments or blurt out an answer to a question when someone else was trying to answer. In these instances, we committed to enforcing our earlier statement about the discussion rules. We told the student that now was not the time, or that they were being disrespectful by interrupting whoever had been called on. At a couple points, one of us sat down between students who were talking too much in the circle, and this worked really well. We also used positive reinforcement by complimenting by name the students who were quick to follow directions. One student had a special learning / behavioral plan; for this student, we would draw either a smiley face or a straight-mouthed face on his special behavior form based on how well he had completed the assigned tasks and followed directions.
When class began, we had everyone sit in a circle on the floor in the front of the room. Then, we asked them to share two numbers from 1-10 with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best; the first number indicated their energy level for the day, and the second indicated their level of enthusiasm. After stating their numbers, each student would also answer whatever question we had prepared for that day (see Instruction in lesson plans for details). They were free to say “Pass” if they were not comfortable with answering it, but this almost never happened. All of this happened one student at a time while all of the other students were listening silently. After everyone had done this, we led the students in a short explanation of what activity we would be doing next, while they remained seated silently.
At the end of class, we always had to clean up whatever supplies had been used that day. We provided a couple of warnings about how much time they had left, and then when it was time to clean up we announced this and waited until the class was silent and we had everyone’s eye contact. Then, we asked for one person from each table to stand up, and designated one or two tasks to this person. We then did this again until everyone had a specific set of tasks. This process went smoothly throughout the semester. During this time, we passed out sticky notes to each table. After clean-up was finished, we got the students’ attention and eye contact again and gave them the Discovery Board prompt, which was a reflective question about their learning from the day (see Instruction in lesson plans for details). Once they had written their answers, each student put their sticky note by their name on the Discovery Board and sat down quietly until everyone was done. At this point, we dismissed them for recess.
For partner or group activities, we decided to designate partners randomly by number. This helped with classroom bonding, pushed kids out of their social comfort zones in a safe environment, and helped prevent off-topic conversations between close friends. We numbered their activity sheets for these instances so that no one could pretend to be partners with someone they shouldn’t have been paired with. On a few occasions, we had students help with passing out sketchbooks or activity sheets, and this seemed to make things easier. Also, we initiated further cooperative learning by encouraging students to ask their peers if they had a question about materials or artistic decisions, and then they could ask us if they couldn’t figure it out together. This proved especially useful during the sculpture lesson because many students helped each other with using the hot glue gun or choosing what materials to use in building their sculpture.
During any sort of transition between activities, we made sure to clearly state what type of classroom environment we would be having before beginning the next part (i.e. silent work time, one person answering questions at a time when called on, anyone can chip in a response to an open question, relevant talking okay during work time, and so forth). Also, we often announced that we needed everyone’s eyes and ears on us, and waited until everyone was fully paying attention before continuing. This generally proved to be effective, with some exceptions. Many times, a student would try to interject irrelevant comments or blurt out an answer to a question when someone else was trying to answer. In these instances, we committed to enforcing our earlier statement about the discussion rules. We told the student that now was not the time, or that they were being disrespectful by interrupting whoever had been called on. At a couple points, one of us sat down between students who were talking too much in the circle, and this worked really well. We also used positive reinforcement by complimenting by name the students who were quick to follow directions. One student had a special learning / behavioral plan; for this student, we would draw either a smiley face or a straight-mouthed face on his special behavior form based on how well he had completed the assigned tasks and followed directions.
Unit Plan:
unit-plan-jonathanandlizzy.pdf | |
File Size: | 248 kb |
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Plans taught in the Unit:
lessonplanintrodayjonathanandlizzy.doc.pdf | |
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habitableplanet-lesson1jonathanandlizzy.doc.pdf | |
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transportationsculpturelessonplanlizzyandjonathan.pdf | |
File Size: | 1005 kb |
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polarisexhibitionday.pdf | |
File Size: | 246 kb |
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