Self-Directed
Lesson Plans
Exploring Cultures:
A Multiple Visit Program
for Self-Directed Education Teacher's Goals
- Explore
and compare various
world cultures.
- Explore
storytelling through
the objects.
Include a story
in every tour,
comparing how artists
from different
cultures
depict narratives
visually.
Classroom Goals:
- Provide
students with
opportunities to
create
works of art in
relation to their
study of different
cultures, using
the
Museum as inspiration.
- Provide
students the opportunity
for experiences
of actual cultural
objects
from the Museum’s
educational collection.
September: In the classroom
explain how a museum
works. An introductory
visit to the Museum allows
students to explore the
galleries
October: A Museum Visit
on art from India. Students
examine Hindu and Buddhist
sculptures, and listen
to stories associated
with them.
November: Explore everyday
objects from Ancient
Greece and Rome, and
look for their influence
on later European art.
Students read a book
by Tomie de Paola.
December: Compare the
symbols and materials
used in traditional African
art and contrast those
with the 20th century
African American art.
January: Examine how
nature is depicted in
Japanese woodblock prints
and European landscape
paintings. Looking at
media, style, and the
relationship of people
to the environment.
February: Students tour
the Asian galleries and
learn how a tea ceremony
is done
March: Explore the signs
and symbols of Lenni
Lanape designs and find
the source of those designs
in the Arboretum.
In the classroom students
are:
- creating
a definition of
culture that they
will use for the
rest
of the year
- designing
their own pots in
Grecian style
- drawing
a map of Africa and
images of animals
from Africa
- creating
a book in which each
page relates to
one of the
cultures researched
throughout the year
- using
books and reproductions
(from the
Museum) to encourage
deeper understanding
of the
many cultures
in our
world.
This
multiple visit program
can be used for
first, through fourth
with modifications for
age appropriate information
and activities. This
multiple visit program
can also be modified
into a more concise format.
Responding
to Art – Multi-disciplinary
Program for Self-Directed
Education
Teacher's Goals:
- Use
select works of art
and objects
from the collection
to highlight different
influences
that inform an artist’s
process.
- Model
a range of ways to
respond to a work
of art, and provide
students
with multiple opportunities
to respond to works
of art in the collection.
Classroom Goals:
Students
will research a work
in the Museum’s
collection and develop
a response to that work
employing their research
in an appropriate and
creative way.
Students
document their response
to a work of
art in the format of
their choice (photography,
videotape, portfolio
of poems, CD of original
music, etc). All: Where artists get
ideas is an outreach
program in the classroom
that gives students examples
of how artists get ideas
from different sources
(writing, history, music,
other art, science, etc).
The students see one
or more slides of works
that they will see on
their first visit to
the museum.
All: Students are divided
into smaller groups.
Each group is given a
set of cards listing
some of the influences
that inform ad artist’s
process (dreams, history,
feelings, music, a person
the artist knew, geography,
materials, etc.). The
students go to one gallery,
select a work that interests
all members in the group,
then select the influences
that they think apply
to that work of art.
They think about their
choices and prepare to
discuss them with the
rest of the students
as a large group.
Art,
Music: Students
concentrate on the
relationship
between art and music
and the visual arts.
In the 20th century gallery,
students examine two
works of art: one in
which the artist based
the work on a blues song
from the 1920’s,
the other a painting
by an abstract expressionist
who often listened to
Beethoven while painting.
Students
go to another gallery
and look carefully
at a work of art. “They
listen to several musical
selections, then vote
on which piece of music
best relates to their
work and explain why. All: Students look at
selected sculptures and
paintings to discover
how facial expressions,
gestures, and body poses
express emotion. The
works of art featured
show a range of different
emotions, but also allow
for similar emotions
to be expressed in
different ways. After
looking at some African
art and hearing a story
related to a specific
work of art, the students
are split into smaller
groups. Each group
is given a copy of
one part of the story.
They are to act out
that part of the story,
using one person as
the narrator and the
other members of the
group as actors. The
students practice in
their small groups
and then present their
part in conjunction
with the other groups,
using expressive gestures
and movements to convey
the emotion and mood
of the story.
All: In the classroom, using
instruments borrowed
from a music teacher,
students write a piece
of music using a work
of art in the Museum’s
collection as their inspiration.
Using a poster reproduction,
the students consider
cultural references,
how the subjects of the
painting are placed within
the composition and style
to inform their choice
of instruments, tempo,
and melody.
All: Students are split
into smaller groups and
taken into one of two
galleries. In each gallery,
the group is given an
envelope that contains
a short clue sentence.
They work together to
determine which work
of art best represents
the clue. The groups
reconvene, each group
presenting and defending
their choices with evidence
in the text and the work.
Each group then goes
to another gallery and
writes a clue for a work
in that room, using carefully
chosen words to convey
the mood and appearance
of the work.
All: Each student is
given a card with the
name of a specific sense
(sight, smell, taste,
sound, and touch). All
of the students sit in
front of a complex work
of art. After hearing
some examples, the teacher
asks the students to
say words that provide
a description using that
specific sense. The students
trade cards and try it
with another work of
art. This time, the teacher
categorizes the words
by sense. The students
select an object in the
painting. After some
preparation they develop
metaphors and similes
for that object in the
work, sharing the results
with others in the group.
The student then uses
the bank of words, similes,
and metaphors to write
an insightful visual
description of the work
for someone who is not
in the galleries.
This multi-disciplinary
program can be used for
fifth through ninth graders
with modifications for
age appropriate information
and activities This program
can also be modified
into a more concise format.
|
