Identity Through Art-Making (Lesson Plan)
- heatherdiviness200
- Sep 13, 2022
- 11 min read
Updated: Dec 6, 2022
*Based on standards for 4th Grade
1. Goals and Objectives for unit lesson plan
Students will be able to
Connect one's own values to the values of others. (Standard 4: Relate and Connect to Transfer) (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Identify and compile materials related to personal and cultural identity. (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Plan and execute art with a purpose. (Standard 2: Invision, Critique, and Reflect) (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Grow confidence in the medium of choice. (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Learn about the self and how identity is powerful. (Standard 2: Invision, Critique, and Reflect) (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Reflect on their identity and what artistic decisions they made to convey it. (Standard 2: Invision, Critique, and Reflect)
Reflect on how they explored their art purpose, materials, and studio habits. (Standard 2: Invision, Critique, and Reflect)
2. Big Ideas
The Big Idea present in my lesson plan is Identity. I want students to learn to connect their identity to culture, community, interests, and values. With this assignment, students will not only learn what those concepts are but be able to assess how they are present in their life and the lives of others.
3. The Why
I want my students to be familiar with the ideas of identity, culture, community, interests, and values on a personal level and be able to identify these terms in others. It is important for my students to begin to consider what makes them them and how they exist in the world. Identity can be a validating part of people's lives but kids often don't begin to think about it until much later. This lesson will define these key terms and guide students in understanding the multiple parts of identity and how others present their own identities. It will have exercises for students to process their interests and values and will end with the opportunity for the students to create and comment on work about identity.
4. Roadmap
My lesson plan is broken up into several smaller learning activities that guide the student in making decisions about their project. This lesson plan is set up as partial TABwhere students get the guidance and framework to form their thoughts on identity but in the end make decisions on their own about what to create and how. The mindmap exercise and video get the students familiar with key terms and allow them to brainstorm their values. The art detectives' worksheet guides the students to find examples of artists who use identity in their own work. The planning process worksheet gives students a chance to decide on a purpose, medium, and studio habit and allows them to incision their creation with some sketches. The actual project gives them the freedom to experiment and dive deeply into self-discovery through artmaking and play. And the reflection worksheet and critique allow them to solidify their ideas and explain to others their "Why"
5. Objectives
Define and explore personal and cultural identity. (Standard 4: Relate and Connect to Transfer)
Identify and compile materials related to personal and cultural identity. (Standard 2: Invision, Critique, and Reflect)
Create an art piece with an artistic representation of their internal and external identity. (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Use the elements of art to represent their identity. (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Interpret the work of an artist they connect with. (Standard 1: Observe and Begin to Comprehend) (Standard 4: Relate and Connect to Transfer)
Describe the artist’s use of diverse symbols and objects to signify new meaning and identity. (Standard 1: Observe and Begin to Comprehend) (Standard 4: Relate and Connect to Transfer)
Gain knowledge in the medium of choice. (Standard 3: Invent and Discover to Create)
Day 1:
Quote of the day:
In middle school, I read the book Wonder by R. J. Palacio and a teacher in the book had a quote for each day of the year. Ever since reading that book, I have always wanted to do that with my classroom. Today's quote is:
"Just be who you want to be, not who others want to see"
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Define and explore personal and cultural identity.
Identify and compile materials related to personal and cultural identity.
Create an art piece with an artistic representation of their internal and external identity.
Use the elements of art to represent their identity
Essential Questions
Where do you see your identity show in your everyday life?
Why: In everyday life, someone’s identity will determine that person’s actions and decisions and their sense of belonging. Identity can be present in one's culture, community, or experiences and is all around them. The goal is for the students to be able to identify parts of their identity and where they come from. For example, if a person defines their identity as being an artist, they will experience the world in an artistic way. Identity also influences one’s social and emotional learning and having a strong sense of identity can affect self-esteem and self-worth in a positive way.
Activity: Students will create a mindmap art project that assesses how their values and interests make up their identity. They can include how these values are present in their everyday life.
How does your gender, culture, and community influence your identity?
Why: Society has historically been socially affected by culture, gender, and one's community, with minority groups traditionally held at the bottom. Thus, a person’s experiences with these concepts can affect their perceived social status and self-worth. When someone uses characteristics relating to these ideas to define themselves they become a part of their identity. Through an investigation of identity, students can begin to understand possible issues that they experience and have a sense of belonging to a group.
Activity: Students will watch a video about identity and reflect on these ideas by creating a small art piece and participating in a class discussion online about their identity and others.
Assessment: Students will respond to others later in the week through a discussion about how identity is affected by various aspects.
Instructions:
When the students walk into the room they will get a chance to read the quote and talk with other students about it. Then once the class has started they will have a 5-minute quick draw to draw whatever they want but they must be drawing the whole time. If this is a school that has IPads they can either use that or a sketchbook. This will act as a pre-assessment, and I will have the students turn in their drawings each day. For today’s objectives, the students drawing prompt will be to draw what makes up who they are.
Students will be instructed the day before to bring objects or pictures that describe them to class the following day. They will then watch a youtube video on what identity is and how they can begin to figure out theirs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om3INBWfoxY
The video mentions making a list of values and interests. Students will be given a piece of paper with an outline of a face on it and will be instructed to creatively draw and color in pictures and words that represent their values and interests. This will act as a sort of mindmap and will allow them to start brainstorming their personal identity. Students can use drawing materials as well as collage materials to complete this mini-project. They will be encouraged to take inspiration from the items they brought to class. I will not have an example for them because this is about their identity and how they choose to represent it. For this assignment, there will be crayons, pens, markers, and colored pencils already at the tables and If they want to include collage elements they can go to the collage center to get their supplies.
If a student needs help then I will be around to assist. The students will work on this for the rest of class and can take it home to finish if needed. There will be no exit ticket but for the last 5-10 minutes of class, I will play a cleanup playlist that will get them pumped and moving.
Materials:
Access to youtube and a projector to watch video
Printed out papers with face outline
crayons, pens, markers, and colored pencils
magazines, scissors, and glue
Day 2:
Quote of the day:
"You are your own little light, shine bright so everyone can see"
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Interpret the work of an artist they connect with.
Describe the artist’s use of diverse symbols and objects to signify new meaning and identity.
connect one's own values to the values of others
Instructions:
When the students walk into the room they will get a chance to read the quote and talk with other students about it. Then once the class has started they will have a 5-minute quick draw to draw whatever they want but they must be drawing the whole time. If this is a school that has IPads they can either use that or a sketchbook. For today’s objectives, the students drawing prompt will be to draw with their table group how their values connect.
Students will be instructed to do some research on their laptops about 3 different artists that represent identity. They will fill out a simple worksheet about each artist and then choose one of the three to answer the last question on the worksheet. When done the students can sit quietly and draw until everyone is done. Once everyone is done they can all talk amongst their table groups about their three artists and what they have learned or what they like. Since this is a Student-centered classroom I won't be giving any lectures about artists but will give them some links to artists that focus on identity in their art. They can choose one of these artists or find their own. Since I won't be giving a lecture I will be around to help. If there is a learning disability where the student can't understand the worksheet then the questions will be modified and the quantity will be modified. If the student cant write then we will either have them record themselves or if they also can't speak then we will have them point at art they like and communicate to us in whatever way they normally communicate.
Their exit ticket will be their completed worksheet. There shouldn't really be any cleanup on this day other than to turn in worksheets.
Materials:
Access to computer
Printed out worksheets
Pencil
Day 3-7:
Quote of the day:
"You are your own little light, shine bright so everyone can see"
"Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself"
"Act as if what you do makes a difference because it does"
"When you get tired learn to rest not quit"
"Always remember you are absolutely unique... just like everyone else"
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Identify and compile materials related to personal and cultural identity.
Create an art piece with an artistic representation of your internal and external identity.
Plan and execute art with a purpose
grow confident in the medium of choice
Learn about the self and how identity is powerful
Essential Questions
How can you show your identity through art?
Why: The concept of identity inspires artmaking all of the time, whether it is related to the artist’s personal identity and experiences, identity as a social construct, or the collective identity of different social groups. In Contemporary art, the artist’s unique identity as an individual often becomes the basis for work exploring personal emotions. Students will be able to relate and explore their identity through art making and understand how art and identity can be connected.
Activity: Students will have five days to complete an art project that expresses their identity however they wish to express it in a medium of their choosing. They must be able to explain how their work conveys the ideas they came up with in their mind map.
How do you connect your artwork to your identity?
Why: Art can be a great way to express and understand big concepts including identity. If the students learn early on that they can express themselves this way then they can have art-making as an emotional outlet to express their feelings and experiences.
Activity: Students will have five days to complete an artwork that connects to their identity.
Assessment: Students will fill out a plan for their artwork and describe its purpose and which studio habit they are using to explore their identity. Students will also fill out a reflection at the end of the project that asks them to thoroughly explain how their art connects to their identity.
Instructions:
When the students walk into the room they will get a chance to read the quote and talk with other students about it. Then once the class has started they will have a 5-minute quick draw to draw whatever they want but they must be drawing the whole time. If this is a school that has IPads they can either use that or a sketchbook. For the objectives, the students drawing prompts will be to draw their internal identity, their external identity, a memory that shaped their identity, the people in their life who support them, and some objects that represent them.
Students will be able to use the TAB (Teaching artistic behavior) method to create a larger art piece about identity. They will first spend some time coming up with an idea and completing a worksheet and then will get that worksheet approved by the teacher. After that, the students will have 4-5 days to independently work on their art piece. If the student has questions or needs help problem solving the teacher will be around to help. At the beginning of the year, there will be a BootCamp where all students learn how to use the centers. If a new student comes in I will have time to help them pick up the center and/or will have once of my more advanced students teach them with my supervision. Since this project is so individualized it will be easy for me to offer accommodations and modifications if needed.
Students will have 10 minutes to clean up at the end of each day and will listen to music as they clean up. Students will not be able to move on to completing the actual project until they have shown me their plan.
Materials:
Worksheets
materials for whatever centers are open
Day 8:
Quote of the day:
"Failure is not the opposite of success, it is a part of success"
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Reflect on their identity and what artistic decisions they made to convey it
Reflect on how they explored their art purpose, materials, and studio habits.
Essential Questions
What experiences have you had in life that relate to who you are and your identity?
Why: Our experiences are all different and are what develop us as people. Although experiences, good and bad do not define someone as a person they can help them understand who they are. When students being to explore this idea they can understand early on that their identity will affect their experiences in the world and may be less confused or hurt if they have a bad experience relating to who they are.
Activity: Students will reflect on their experiences after a class discussion and watching a video. They will complete a mind map to explore the values they have developed through their experiences.
Assessment: Students will have several opportunities to express their connection to identity through experience including through the discussions, mindmap activity, the planning phase, the actual project, or the reflections. Students will describe how their artwork shows their identity through a short video and worksheet.
Instructions:
When the students walk into the room they will get a chance to read the quote and talk with other students about it. Then once the class has started they will have a 5-minute quick draw to draw whatever they want but they must be drawing the whole time. If this is a school that has IPads they can either use that or a sketchbook. For today’s objectives, the students drawing prompt will be to draw how their idea of identity changed from the beginning of the unit.
Students will spend the last day of the unit reflecting on their projects and critiquing other projects. This is where the reflection takes place. Once students finish their projects, they will reflect on what they discovered throughout the process. Students will start by filling out a reflection worksheet that reminds them of the theme and asks them to look at their art and explain how they navigated the theme through their artwork or how it relates. After this, they will upload a video of them talking about their decisions in their proposal and the decisions they made throughout the project. This will be uploaded on a discussion board using the program that the school uses. The last step of the reflection is for students to view at least two other students’ videos and comment on them with things they liked about the project to instill confidence in the students as artists. The only “ticket out the door” each day will be a clean table and clean media centers. The students will have finished each project and can move on once they have commented on two others' work. Their summative end-of-lesson assessment is split up into three parts. The first part involves the students answering some questions on a worksheet to gather their thoughts on the project and assess how they thought they grew or what they got out of the assignment. This is then turned into a video where they talk about their initial plan and if that changed or what obstacles they came across. Students will then be asked to participate in a mini critique where they comment on two other classmates’ videos and say what they liked or what they thought the artist did well. This lets me know they are being intentional in their creativity and are thinking critically about their art and others' art.
Materials:
Worksheets
Access to electronics to film and respond to the videos
Comments