Lesson Planning

Here is an outline of a lesson plan incorporating the visual arts and literacy.

Aim- To be able to verbally describe a short story and interpret the story into a visual representation in the style of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens.

Performance-based objectives- Students will develop knowledge about the artist and his techniques. They will then demonstrate this by writing a short story and interpreting it in a piece of artwork.

Grouping- This assignment is individual instruction. A single teacher is to work with the whole class and any one on one time needed by a student.

Prior knowledge/Motivation- Past art techniques will be used, whether painting, water color, colored pencils, pastels, etc. Their writing skills will come into play when they write a short story.

Instructional Materials and Texts- Students will get a verbal explanation of the assignment. The teacher will then show examples of work so students can see what is expected. Any art materials can be used as desired by the student.

Procedure or Mode of Instruction- Students will be shown multiple works of art by Peter Paul Rubens. What can you tell me about what you see? Do you think a story is trying to be told? Are the works realistic? Unrealistic? The class will then get a short lesson on Rubens and his Baroque style of art. They will also learn about allegories and be asked to write a short story. They can be from part of a favorite book or movie or your very own. The students will then be asked to interpret their story on paper in pencil. After the teacher discusses the idea with each student can they continue to bring their art to life.

Summary/Application- The students will walk away with the knowledge that every piece of art can have a story behind it. They will also understand that a piece of art can have many different points of views, depending on who is looking at it.

Self-Assessment of Teaching- Depending on student’s work and their personal opinions, the lesson will be successful or not. The lesson can be reworked to help the student better understand it and the assignment.

 

Assignment- Students will go home and find an appropriate piece of work. It can be a painting, drawing, photograph, etc. They will then look at the piece and interpret what story the piece is trying to tell. They will write a short story to hand into class at the next meeting.

Texting

I believe that teaching children about using technology safely is partly the responsibility of parents but also the school. Parents are the ones that provide cells phones for their children. They should be responsible in telling their children how they use their phones and what they need to be used for. Some parents let their children do as they please while others set strict rules on only using phones for emergencies. Schools also enforce no cell phones in school. Obviously children still bring them, but the point is not to use them in school and be distracted. Schools also need to teach children the repercussions of sending things like sexts or inappropriate pictures. These things are basically like rumors. They get passed around from student to student and someone always gets hurts. In some cases, it goes too far like with the 13-year-old girl committing suicide. Being smart comes in to play here. By this I mean using the life skills you learn and using them in your everyday life. Being smart means having the sense to either not get involved in sexting or ignoring it if its sent to you. Besides that, parents need to set rules and  guidelines for the children's phones and monitor their behavior to make sure they are being safe and being smart.