Tiger Artist Reflection Team 2 Story of Us: Our Big Story Christine Cover This lesson was designed for students to recognize and express narratives through visual language. The students viewed and analyzed artworks, film stills, photographs, and illustrations that represented climactic moments in a narrative. Students discussed what a decisive moment in a story is, how it is chosen, and how it is visually represented, then synthesized the three by applying these ideas to their own life. Students established various ways in which to communicate a story through one moment, one image. They then created a piece of work depicting a climactic, important moment from their own lives. They played and explored new materials including watercolor pencils and oil pastels on colored paper. When creating this lesson plan, our group referenced the lesson plan guide in the syllabus as well as the example given to us from a previous group’s lesson. We used images from movies, books, as well as two paintings in the museum as examples and discussion prompts. The discussion in the beginning of class, as well as the discussion of the paintings in the museum was evidence to me that students were grasping the concept of a climactic moment. In the end, the artwork they created, as well as what they shared about their piece, proved to be evidence that they understood the concept. My forms of assessment for this project would be group discussion, the artwork, and the “artist statement� (what they shared about the piece to the class). One student, Korben, had an issue with the project. He was overwhelmed by his ideas and did not know how to communicate what was in his head onto paper. We gave him some space and let him go in the hallway to work. This seemed to take off a bit of
the pressure of the “classroom setting.” He came back at the end of class with a wonderful piece of art expressing the feeling he had when he got stressed and locked up. There was a lot of participation from every student. Discussions were full of questions, answers, and different perspectives. Some students shared answers about the format of a story: beginning, middle, climactic moment, and end. In the museum, we split students into two groups for discussion. Students raised questions about the content of the work we analyzed, including concepts of: good and evil, light and dark, obedience, morals, right and wrong, family ties, etc. Students seemed challenged and built well off each other’s thoughts. We allowed students to share their thoughts and opinions about the images, without a right or wrong answer, to allow for better discussion among the group. In the end, we informed the students what the image was about based off the artist’s intention. I believe our instructional goals worked well for the age group (8-13). We planned activities and discussion questions that could span over the variety of ages. The final project could be successfully completed at the specific level of each student. The activities and directions seemed clear and well received, as the students created work that reflected understanding of the concepts and ideas. I feel as though the lesson went really well. Everything transition smoothly and was well grasped. I wouldn’t change anything about the lesson. I feel the lesson was communicated and demonstrated well. We had to make two “on-the-fly” decisions during our lesson. The first was changing the painting we had planned to discuss in the museum. When we arrived at the museum the painting we were going to use had been removed earlier that day. So, Kate had to choose a painting in the moment to discuss. From what I hear, she did a great job
leading an improve discussion. The second “on-the-fly” decision was reacting to Korben’s break down. We weren’t sure what was bothering him for a few minutes; we just knew he was upset and crying. After getting a sense that he was stressed, it seemed best that he just take some time and space in the hallway. Thankfully, this worked well and he created a piece that showed critical thinking about his cognitive process. Through teaching this lesson, I learned that no matter how planned the lesson is, it will be different each time you teach it. Specifically, the discussion will always be different in some way. When I led the discussion of the same painting with two separate groups, the discussion was vastly different and the students shared great questions and answers about the painting. To me, this difference was unexpected. The painting in the museum being removed and Korben’s response to the project were the only other two aspects that were unexpected. Overall, the Tiger Artist lesson was fun and educational on both ends, for the students and for the teachers.