Life Imitates Art 1

Life Imitates Art

Renee DeSoto

Arizona State University

Life Imitates Art 2

Life Imitates Art

Project based learning should be something close to the student’s hearts and

communities. Art has the unique ability to communicate ideas, emotions, and be able to tell a

story. The lesson starts off with them learning about the Chicano Movement and the Harlem

Renaissance as a base level to understand that art movements are based off lived experience.

Each student, while still young, has still lived a live that has presented them with unique

challenges that brought them to this point. This project allows them to express that. This project

will overlap three different subject areas, art, history and English which are the most effective

areas in allowing students to create and learn intuitively. Ideally, the students will be able to

create a beautifully designed piece on Canva using their Chromebooks, but this project also

allows for them to use the physical medium of their choosing.

Applicant and School Narrative

As a teacher, I believe I must be able to teach the whole child. Education has the unique

ability to touch not only the mind of a student, but the soul as well. I want to use my gifts of

humor and wit to create meaningful relationships with students. My natural tenacity and strength

from all of the different experiences I have had I hope will be an example to my students that no

matter how hard things get, the best is yet to be. With this in mind, I want my classroom to be a

place where students can ask questions and leave with a better understanding of not only content

but how to be a servant leader in the world. These students will go from my classroom to the

community around them and serve not only at their parishes, but in their homes, on the

playground, and most importantly in their homes. I hope that I use the gifts I have been given

wisely to be a positive role model and leader to my students. Inside my classroom, students will

be given many opportunities to learn state standards and ideas about history. This is a worthy
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and necessary thing that happens every day in classrooms. However, creating opportunities

where students take charge of their own learning, take what they’ve learned and move it into

their community and their own life will be a much more worthwhile endeavor. Taking a project

like this one and applying it to the outside world will be something that can serve them as they

move throughout education and life. Further, this project incorporates technology in a different

way. My students know how to use their Chromebooks for writing essays, turning homework via

Google Classroom, and looking up research for projects. They do not really have an idea,or have

had opportunities on how to use digital media and create things using programs like Canva, and

how programs like this can really enhance their projects and their life. Not everyone can draw,

but they can create beautiful things using digital media programs.

School Narrative

The school I am interning at is Ward Traditional Academy in Tempe, from my

experience interning there, they are the best and brightest. Even in the best and brightest, there is

a lot of different backgrounds coming to one place. The school prides itself on its ability to

implement direct instruction well, and I think it is beneficial to any school to have an inquiry-

based lesson plan that ties into what the students are interested in learning. In a school that

focuses on highly on academics, it is easy to let creativity go on the wayside in order to have

academics be at the forefront. This project ties the student population’s knowledge of history to

their own unique history.

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Summary of Project and Impact

The main idea of the project serves two purposes. The first being that art is a primary

source, which middle school students would begin to incorporate into their knowledge base.

Photographs, art pieces, and even comics communicate a message about the thoughts and

feelings of the general public at the time. So, the lesson begins with each student looking at

pieces of art and poetry in two very tumultuous times: the Chicano Movement and the Harlem

Renaissance, to uncover and investigate what these artists were trying to communicate during

that time. Art has the unique ability to bridge a wide gap between ideas. Secondly, each student

has their own unique story and philosophy that shapes who they are. It is easy to write an essay

on their history, however I think that it is more beneficial to them to use art to communicate their

story, which is why they’d be creating an art movement with their own style, to showcase their

own voice.

Student Impact

Initially, it will impact the students I will directly be working with first: 8th graders a

class of 50. However, if this project continues it will likely be able to impact the 300 students

over the course of a few years. This project is a hands on, digital, and physical way for students

to connect with their community creatively. Learning history through pictures will also be

impactful and meaningful since art tends to stick with students. I still remember the first time I

read the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, if students knew what African Americans were

going through during the Civil Rights Movement, how much better would the connection be?
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Teacher Impact

Allowing students to be in charge of their own learning is meaningful to any teacher.

This project will bring together Art, History, and English teachers to, hopefully, collaborate on

future endeavors.

Community Impact

The parents and community are vital in this project. Students are encouraged to bring in

questions about their history to their parents to create a better picture of where they came from

and creating their own art movement based on the stories their parents or caregivers tell them. At

the end of the project, the display of all the other art movements will be seen by the whole

community. With this display, students, parents and other community members can better

understand where their neighbors are coming from.

Project Narrative

The driving question of this whole lesson is “how do we as artists influence society and

culture?”. Each day students will be brought into the shoes of the various artists in the Chicano

Movement and the Harlem Renaissance to determine why the artist chose to create this piece.

Further, we will look at artistry from the modern era to make further connections with artistry

and how the culture is affected by it.

Learning Goals and Outcomes

Each day, every student will come back into the shoes of an artist from the Harlem

Renaissance, the Chicano Movement, a modern artist and further into the week a modern form of

media such as a Vine and surreal meme. The goal is for students to be able to identify what was

driving the artist to create that piece. Students being placed back in time to when these pieces
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were created will better help them understand why art is so important to history. Reading

documents and looking at newspaper articles gives us an idea of what happened, but art gives us

a better understanding of how people felt. This approach covers the following standards:

8.H3.1 Explain how and why prevailing civil, social, religious, and political movements

changed the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries.

8.H3.2 Explain how popular movements, reform efforts, and activist groups have sought to

change American society and institutions.

Description of Learning Activities

Each day, the teacher will begin class by having students look at a piece of art from a

particular movement. This could be a painting, a poem, or a meme from Facebook. The students

will then be broken up into groups to discuss what their understanding of what the piece is trying

to communicate. Then there will be a large groups discussion with answers recorded on giant

pieces of Post-It paper. Then the teacher will fill in gaps in information on what the artist may

have been going through or what drove them to create the piece, after the students will go back

into groups to discuss then write their exit ticket for the end of class. As the lesson goes on, more

time will be given in class to work on their individual art movement.

Assessment

Each day, students will write exit tickets with prompts based on the subject of that day.

For instance, showing students and having them interact with pieces of art and explaining a little
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bit about the artist one prompt might be: put yourself in the shoes of the artist. Would you

respond the same way they did? Why? This exercise is to see where their minds are going and

checking their understanding in relating to the artist.

Budget Narrative

This is the detailed list of things that would make this project work well. All of the

supplies listed are an expansive way to get students to brainstorm, draft, and complete their art

project. There five different mediums for students to experiment with to create their project,

watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil, marker, and digital mediums are all welcomed for this

project. Students will be encouraged to try different mediums to see what sparks their creativity

and what better helps them connect with their art movement. It is important that students

recognize different types of art mediums, including digital mediums. All work will be displayed

at an art show put on by Miss DeSoto featuring all student creations for parents and members of

the community to see what students have created. The featuring of many different mediums will

make the art show more beautiful and varied in it’s appearance. This endeavor is pricy, so Miss

DeSoto will be asking members of the community to donate to the GoFundMe for supplies or

donate supplies themselves. Students will hand sign thank you cards to donors as a gesture of

their gratitude.
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Table 1

Item # and Cost Where to Purchase Total

Post-it easels 1 (2pack) https://www.staples.com/Post-it-Self-Stick- $57.99

$57.99 Wall-Pad-20-x-23-Unruled-Plain-White-2-
PK-566/product_504139
Folders 2 (pack of https://www.staples.com/Staples- $43.98
50) Heavyweight-Colored-File-Folders-3-Tab-
Letter-50-Box/product_810351
$21.99
Copy paper 1 box https://www.staples.com/Staples-Multiuse- $27.99
(8reams) Copy-Paper-8-1-2-x-11-8-Ream-
$27.99 (on Case/product_1149611
sale)
Canva Free with https://www.canva.com/education/ Free
(subscription) school
Markers 2 (64 https://www.staples.com/Crayola-Washable- $49.78
pack) Broad-Line-Marker-Assorted-64-Count-58-
$24.99 8180/product_1387909
Colored 1 https://www.staples.com/Crayola- $44.05
pencils (classroom Classpack-Colored-Pencils-240-
pack of Box/product_424772
240)
Watercolors 1 (set of https://www.staples.com/Color-Splash-
24) $36.39 Watercolor-16-Color-Mega- $36.39
Pack/product_12719
Watercolor 1 (set of https://www.dickblick.com/items/05170- $39.05
brushes 72) 0729/
$39.05
Watercolor 2 (set of https://www.dickblick.com/items/09605- $18.54
paper 50) 1123/
$9.27
Canvas 4 (24 https://www.dickblick.com/products/canson- $47.88
pack) xl-oil-and-acrylic-pads/
$11.97

Acrylic paint 1 (36 tube https://www.dickblick.com/items/01637- $26.33

set) 0369/
$26.33
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Acrylic 1 (set of https://www.dickblick.com/products/royal- $47.53

brushes 60) langnickel-clear-choice-bristle-brush-sets/
$47.53
Plastic cups 1 (set of https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value- $6.17
(for water for 100) Clear-Plastic-Cups-16-oz-100-
brushes) $6.17 Count/28212763
Permanent 1 (set of https://www.staples.com/sharpie- $130.99
markers 115) permanent-markers-ultimate-collection-
assorted-tips-and-colors-115-
count/product_2712363
Thank you 1 (set of https://www.target.com/p/thank-you-50-ct- $10.99
cards (for 50) flp-blk-line-flor
donated $10.99 al/-/A-14775060
materials)
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Appendix

INQUIRY (5E) LESSON PLAN

TEMPLATE

Teachers: S

Miss u G

DeSoto b r

j a

e d

c e

t L

Common Core State Standards:

8.SP1.2 Classify a series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.

8.H3.1 Explain how and why prevailing civil, social, religious, and political movements changed the United States during the 20th
and 21st centuries

Objective (Explicit):

 Students will be able relate the movements of the Chicano Movement, Harlem Renaissance, and modern
movements and facilitate discussion with their group members and a large group discussion identifying what the
artist was trying to communicate
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable):

 Include a copy of the lesson assessment.

 Provide exemplar student responses with the level of detail you expect to see.
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 Assign value to each portion of the response

Each group will be responsible for participating in the large group portion of the class discussion

Teacher will record responses on butcher paper for each segment

Students will reflect on the lives of the artists and write an exit ticket on the prompt (see Evaluate)

Sub-Objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex)

 How will you review past learning and make connections to previous lessons?
 What skills and content are needed to ultimately master this lesson objective?
 How is this objective relative to students, their lives, and/or the real world?

Students will better connect to the Civil Rights Movement

Students will better connect to the modern history highly influenced by art of the Chicano

Movement as it connects to the Civil Rights Movement

Students will create meaning to artists and their mark they leave on history with the works they

leave behind

Key Materials:

vocabular

y: Butcher

paper

The Chic Sharpies

ano Art

Movement

represents

attempts

by

Mexican-

American

artists to
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establish a

unique art

istic identi

ty in the

United

States.

The Harle

Renaissan

ce was an

intellectua

l, social,

and

artistic

explosion

centered

in Harlem,

....

Many poet

s of

the Harle

Renaissan

ce were
 Life Imitates Art 13

inspired to

tie in

threads of

African

American

culture

into

their poem

Engage

 How will you activate prior knowledge?

 How will you hook student attention?
 What question will you pose, based on your objective, that students will seek to answer in Explore?
Teacher Students Will:

Will:

“How do we Actively listen

as artists and read along

influence our Connect prior

future knowledge to

societies and how art piece

culture?” should be

interpreted

Show Share with group

pictures of members

art in the

Chicano

Movement
 Life Imitates Art 14

Read- aloud

poetry from

the Harlem

Renaissance

Model

responses

Explore


How will you model your performance expectations? (Remember you are not modeling what you want students to discover but need to model expected
behavior or required procedures.)
 How will students take the lead and actively use materials to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in the Engage?
 What questions or prompts will you be prepared to use with students while they are “exploring”?
Teacher Students Will:

Will:

Think, pair,

Put up more share in their

pictures and groups

one more

piece of

poetry

“what was

the artist

trying to

communicat

e?”

“why did

they use the

words they

did?”

Co-Teaching Strategy

 What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy

 What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?

 How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
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Explain


How will all students have an opportunity to share what they discovered?

How will you connect student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations?

How will all students articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the sub-objectives by answering the question from the Engage before
moving on?
Teacher Students Will:

Will:

Come back and

Write down share in large

responses group

from group

members on

butcher

paper and

leave it in the

front of the

room for

students to

reference

Co-Teaching Strategy

 What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy

 What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?

 How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Elaborate


How will students take the learning from Explore and Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of this learning at a deep
level?
 How will students use higher order thinking at this stage (e.g. A common practice in this section is to pose a What If? Question)?
 How will all students articulate how their understanding has changed or been solidified?
Teacher Students Will:

Will:

Think about

Teacher will what they would

talk a little do if they were in

bit about the the artist shoes

history of Think, pair,

each share with group

movement members

and give
 Life Imitates Art 16

background

information

on each

artist and

writer

Co-Teaching Strategy

 What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy

 What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?

 How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Evaluate

 How will all students demonstrate mastery of the lesson objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content)?
 How will students have an opportunity to summarize the big concepts they learned (separate from the assessment)?
Teacher Will: Students Will:

Write the Write their

following response as an

prompt on the exit ticket

board

“What would

you do if you

were in the

artist shoes?

How would

you respond to

the situations

they found

themselves

in?”
Life Imitates Art 17