Art for Everyone

Art for Everyone:

Adaptations & Extensions

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Art for Everyone: Adaptations & Extensions Contents

Artists & Artworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Masking Tape Resist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Joy of Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Sight-Impaired Student Ceramics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Why Dance is for Everyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Dancing Books or Poems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Dancing Math Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Dancing Other Cultures or Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Seven Jumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Establish a Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Living in the Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Using Music, Drama, Art, and Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Music & Music Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Social Studies Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Building in Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Self-Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Creating an Artist’s Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Create a Jolly Roger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Create a Pirate Pendant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Create a Pirate Bandana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Stolen Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Aids & Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Celebrate Abilities Book List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Layered Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Useful Web Sites for Extensions and Adaptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Strategies for Students with ADD/ADHD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Disabilities & Art – Descriptions & Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Applicable Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Learning styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Teacher Anecdotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elementary Art Specialists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Junior High School Art Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Junior and Senior High School Art Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Senior High School Art Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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Art for Everyone:

Adaptations & Extensions Artists & Artworks SMA Artists C. C. A. Christensen, Handcart Pioneers’ First View of the Salt Lake Valley Cyrus Dallin, John Hancock and Paul Revere Mabel Frazer, Sunrise North Rim JT Harwood, Boy and Cat George M. Ottinger, Immigrant Train (Away, Away to the Mountain Dell, the Valley of the Free) Dennis Smith, Keeper of the Gate Other Artists Dale Chihuly at TED Dale Chihuly, Baskets with GourdDale Chihuly at TED Dale Chihuly, Ceiling, Bellagio Hotel Dale Chihuly. Chandelier from the V & A Dale Chihuly, From the Baskets series Dale Chihuly, Glory Hole Dale Chihuly, Paint Splatters Dale Chihuly, Painting Dale Chihuly, Painting 2 Dale Chihuly, The Sun Dale Chihuly, Sunset Boatat Dale Chihuly, Wall of Glass da Vinci, Mona Lisa and Last Supper Edouard Manet, Still Life with Fish Rembrandt, The Polish Rider van Gogh and Hiroshige Velazquez, Las Meninas Other Artworks Illuminated Manuscripts and Initials Pirate Jewels for Poster

Folder of Needs & Wants clip art

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Art for Everyone:

Adaptations & Extensions Lessons

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Art for Everyone

Masking Tape Resist

Elementary Visual Arts Lesson By Joseph Germaine OBJECTIVE Students will demonstrate an awareness of resist (masking tape) to create negative space in a work of art. MATERIALS Crayons, drawing paper and masking tape (use a lightly adhesive tape like that used from interior house painting, blue or green), maybe scissors.

PROCESS I have used this lesson for years with the life skills class. These are students who have been diagnosed with limited academic abilities and/ or physical disabilities, which exempt them from mainstreaming in the academic classes, including my art class. However, after some convincing, I was able to have access to this group once a week. They turned out to be my favorite class because of the unadulterated joy they express about their own creations. To be honest, these students do not always dance for joy but when they do dance, it is total and totally infectious. I love working with these young artists. They teach me much more than they learn from me. This lesson can be used at any grade level and any competency level but is excellent for students with limited physical dexterity and cognitive sophistication. For advanced students the success comes in novel and personal visual solutions to a simple process. For less sophisticated students or students with learning disabilities the success comes from the magic of revealing the interesting negative spaces which tend to dominate the composition. It is interesting that the art comes from

The finished work. “A” by Adriana what is “not there” rather than from the marks the artist makes on the paper.

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Demonstrate to students some ways to organize tape into a design on their paper. Names or initials with design borders work well. Chaos is always an interesting aesthetic and projects its own beauty. My life skills students are experts at the power of randomness and the enigmatic scribble. To help these students with limited coordination and dexterity, I usually have a variety of widths and lengths of tape already cut. Don’t overlook the 2 and 3-inch wide masking tape from which shapes can be cut. I usually help the students if they want a specific shape and are struggling with it. Talk about composition and organization by asking what is in the center of your picture and what is on the edges. A universally exciting design is the first initial of their name. After the students are satisfied with the tape design have them color over it with crayon. The crayon can be randomly scribbled on or applied in stripes of circles or other shapes. Demonstrate several

Hard at work The tape design and crayon

The whirly whirl scribble technique Masking tape with decorative crayon styles of scribbling like up and down, back and forth, whirly whirl, curly curl, jaggedy jag, and so forth. There is a wonderful learning window in learning different scribble techniques and naming them. Other media can also be used. Encourage students to think about their colors. They probably won’t, but you never can tell. Encourage students to mix colors and experiment with different colors and color relationships. Notice that there are no lines to “stay inside.” When coloring is complete, have students slowly and carefully remove the tape to reveal the MAGIC.

At the end of this project we always try to get students to point out positive (crayon colors) and negative (where the tape was) spaces. Sometimes it works. Some of these students have no language skills and just point and grunt, but we get the message. So do they.

Pealing the tape 10

Try to get students to title their work. This is a way of giving meaning, content, and value to the student’s work.

The finished work. “Spots” by Walker

Finished work. “The X” by Ashton

The finished work. “Big Boat” by Travis

Extensions and Adaptations: Here are some variations to this project. > Try using a different colored paper. Let students choose. > Have students first color the paper and then tape over and have students color again. > Vary the medium. Marker pens, colored pencils, ball point pens, watercolor and mixing media, one on the bottom and a different one on top. Try using black marker pens under and crayon over. > Try leaving the tape on to capture a different texture of the crayon. Other related projects are watercolor/crayon resist where the watercolor resists the crayon wax. Sticky labels can be cut into interesting shapes and then applied before coloring. Wide masking tape can be used to create different shapes.

Finished work. “Lexie” by Lexie

See examples of variations on the following page.

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Variations of the Masking Tape Lesson

Right, Watercolor/crayon resist “Christmas Tree” by Holly

Watercolor/crayon resist by Riley

Below, Children at work with aide

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Art for Everyone

The Joy of Clay

Elementary Visual Arts Lesson By Joseph Germaine

OBJECTIVE Students will demonstrate their enthusiasm for the malleable medium of clay by engaging with it in a joyous and energetic manner. MATERIALS Clay (either ceramic or oil based) and willing hands. Perhaps a small wooden stylus tool for drawing or adding details.

PROCESS My life skills class of severely diminished capacity children can be cajoled into any behavior modification by offering clay as a reward for patience and tolerance. They truly love to get their pudgy little fingers into the medium. I usually let them go with the oil clay on newspaper for a while as I go around the group offering advice and instructions on the polite way to use clay in a group setting and not to put it in their mouths. An important issue is who has more and how do I get some, so we defuse this issue by having an abundance of medium that everyone has access to. After a little exploration and experimentation with the clay, I will demonstrate a couple of mind boggling techniques such as “making little and big balls of clay” and “rolling out ‘snakes’ or coils of clay and the big one, “pancakes” of flat clay. At this point, depending on the attention of the students, we start to make human form sculptures. I work on my own while talking to myself out loud and describing steps and techniques like “making the base,” “building the legs,” “making the body,” and “putting on the head.” We can get even more sophisticated with details like facial features and hair and clothing. As I work and

vocalize I am always amazed how universal the compulsion to sculpt the human figure is and how accurate seemingly naive little brains can be. We use pointed “craft sticks” to draw and to create texture on the clay for detail. Cleanup is problematic with oil clay. I have found that the use of strong wet wipes and an organic glass cleaner with paper towels does the trick. It is user safe and it works. Be courageous.

The whole point of this lesson is JOY! For the unsullied personality, and many of these special needs students are as close to that as I have ever seen, the true product of any personal art project is joy, unmitigated and flagrant. This is the source of success in art. Not price tags, not acclaim, not honors, but the pure joy of creation. It is Godly. Joy to the world my friends, joy to the world. Extensions and Adaptations: Some other successful projects for special needs students using clay include “The Great Texture Hunt,” where students are given access to a wide variety of texture tools that can be pressed into a rolled out slab of clay. This can be done with oil clay or ceramic clay. The ceramic clay has the advantage of permanence after fired, it can be painted or glazed, it teaches delayed gratification, and it is easy to clean up with plain water and a sponge. The disadvantage is cost and the extra time in firing and storage, but it is worth it. Other extensions for special need students could be the use of templates and stencils to cut out clay shapes. If this is done with ceramic clay, you can make delightful Christmas Ornaments. Last year my “Life Skills” class made over 100 Christmas trees by using a cookie cutter and then

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each student decorated the tree in whatever way his or her capacity allowed. These tree-shaped ornaments were then glazed and used for our “Art Gallery” Christmas tree decorations. These students don’t receive much attention from the other students because most folks aren’t sure how to act around them. The pride my “life skills” students felt when other children in our school complimented them on the tree and their beautiful ornaments was truly therapeutic. The last step in any art project is exhibition.

Another adaptation with oil clay is to use different colors of clay to learn about primary and secondary colors and color relationships. The hands-on tactile nature of the clay is a great attention focuser for the learning window and allows non-verbal students to answer questions by raising colored balls of clay.

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Below is a photograph of part of my “Life Skills” art class, which comes to art every week. They are of different ages and different capacities and have different issues, but we are able to create a community based on a common love for the creative process.

Art for Everyone

Sight Impaired Student Ceramics

Elementary Visual Arts Lesson By Joseph Germaine

This is a variation on the life skills lesson with oil clay Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the expressive nature of ceramic clay by imagining, envisioning, and creating a ceramic clay sculpture of their own devising.

Materials Ceramic Clay, Modeling tools, cleanup equipment like sponges, towels and spray bottles.

Process Mrs. Engberg brought a dozen of her seeing impaired students to my elementary art classroom last year to see if we could make some clay projects. I obviously could not demonstrate how to make pinch pots and clay sculptures. For the pinch pots I demonstrated by holding the student’s hands in my own while we pinched a ball of clay into the rough shape of a bowl. Once the students felt what was happening to the clay, they were able to reproduce the process and improve each time. I am confident that if these students kept at it they could do as well as any sighted student.

“Self-Portrait”

For the sculpture projects all I could do was to help them visualize specifically a 3-dimensional idea. To help them think, we divided the possibilities into several categories: animals, people, architecture, and objects. Before I would give them clay they had to describe in detail what their piece would look like in terms of size and shape and specific details and gesture. This process helped these students to visualize where they

wanted to take the clay. If you don’t know where you are going, it is very hard to get there (whether you’re sighted or not).

By keeping the atmosphere upbeat and party-like, the students’ anxiety and resistance diminished and their interest in making something in clay increased. Once they got the clay in their hands, it was impossible to stop them. In fact, the most difficult part of the whole process was to close down the session. They didn’t want it to stop.

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After the students were finished, and the clay began to stiffen, I hollowed out the thick parts with needle and fettling knife so they wouldn’t blow

up in the kiln. Ceramic clay should be less than ½ inch thick. If you wait until the clay begins to dry, trimming the inside of thick parts won’t deform the students’ work.

Working and thinking

An easy way to sculpt a figure

“Art makes me

Paul using a pencil to draw details on the clay 16

Once again, the thrust of this lesson is on the feeling of accomplishment and success gained by the students. Success is not found in the thing one does but in how one feels about it. Success breeds success.

“This is fun!”

Working on a self-portrait

“The Clayasaurus”

“The Doggie”

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“The Kitty”

A table full of fun

“A Dream Castle”

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Art for Everyone

Why Dance is for Everyone

All children, not just children who are kinetic learners or who have ADHD or other related learning disabilities, need the chance to move, both as a change from sitting and as a way to express themselves. Dance is a wonderful way to explore and reinforce concepts from subjects like Math, Reading, Social Studies, etc.

The following is a list of specific skills students learn from dance. After the list is an introduction to dance by an elementary teacher who uses dance in his classes. His introduction contains some specific ways you can make sure your experience with dance is rewarding. DANCE EDUCATION

Provides a means to self-discovery and can be used as a tool to open minds and imaginations.

Enables student to gain an increased level of selfesteem and self-confidence as they experience their own uniqueness. Helps students increase their ability to concentrate and develop a personal commitment to learning.

Helps develop an understanding and appreciation of the body, which can translate into a lifelong commitment to fitness and health. Teaches students how to use the creative process as a means of problem solving.

Enhances areas of learning from thinking skills to language acquisition. Sharpens perceptions and encourages self-evaluation and critical judgment.

Provides motivation and easier access to higherlevel thinking skills.

Provides an alternate way to learn and achieve basic educational objectives such as concentrating, listening, following directions, remembering, analyzing, planning, visualizing, conceptualizing, sequencing and reorganizing.

Develops skills and insights needed for emotional maturity and social effectiveness. Provides people with an expanded range of choices about the environment in which they live, the lifestyle they develop, and the way they spend their leisure time. Develops distinctive ways of seeing, thinking, inventing, and communicating ideas and feeling.

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INTRODUCTION TO DANCE Giraffes Can’t Dance (But You Surely Can!)

For most elementary teachers the very thought of walking their students down to the gym and leading a dance lesson is about as appealing as driving to their dentist and getting a root canal (and for those few of you who enjoy that experience—i.e. Bill Murray in The Little Shop of Horrors—perhaps it’s as appealing as sitting through 3 hours of an Amway presentation). I felt that way at one time in my teaching career—but now I actually took forward to those wonderful times I share with my students when we creatively move together. The students (especially the boys!) get very put out if we miss our time in the gym. Dance is powerful. Students get a chance to express themselves in ways humans have been doing for thousands of years. For those willing to give it a go, you need to lead your students through a few lessons of basic management rules or agreements. The beginning lessons from First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance to Children by Mary Joyce (1993) are excellent starting points. Your students need to learn the following: • to respond to a quiet signal • to move through the gym without bumping or touching each other • to move their bodies and not their mouths • to know the boundaries and stay in them • to focus their energy on the objective you’re working on As they advance to working in small groups, they’ll also need • excellent listening skills • problem-solving skills

As you read the dance lesson plans in this packet, it should come to your attention that students move. Every lesson is usually about 90 percent moving! Your students get an excellent aerobic workout. If you can’t get the Mary Joyce book, please don’t let that stop you. You can take the lessons in here and go for it. Another good source for help and/or information is Doris Trujillo, the dance specialist in the state office. She can be reached at 763-8614. I am also willing to help out any way I can for I truly wish all students to get the opportunity to move their bodies creatively. I can be reached at 798-4055.

There is a marvelous book titled, Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andrede—In this book, Gerald (a giraffe, of course) learns to dance by finding his own special music. It’s a great read-aloud picture book for K-5. It is my hope you all find your own special music and help your students find theirs. Chris Roberts

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Art for Everyone

Dancing Books or Poems

Elementary Dance by Louise Nickelson

Creating a dance based on a book your class is reading is a marvelous way to have a great movement experience and reinforce what the students have read or listened to. Picture books often lend themselves to a danced version of the story. Longer books may contain sections that can be danced as a story or may have themes that can be translated into dance themes or inspiration. Poetry is perfect for dancing since it is full of rich images. The following lesson is based on third grade dance concepts, but can be adapted to any grade or concept.

First, take the students to the gym, lunchroom, or whatever space you have to use. If you have not danced regularly as a class, you may need to review the rules (see Why Giraffes Can’t Dance, in the introduction), or even practice them. Then have students warm up. One simple warm-up is to start with the head, and move it back and forth, and around. Then add the neck, then shoulders, then hands, arms, etc. until the whole body is moving in place. Then walk around the room, continuing to move parts of your body. You can find many other warm-up suggestions at www. schools.utah.gov/curr/FineArt/Core_Curriculum/ Elementary/default.htm Choose several of the descriptors, people, or objects from your story. For example, trees waving in the wind, children running, and happiness. Have the children spread out on the floor and explore how they might dance the trees waving in the wind. Remember, dance the way the trees might feel or move, don’t just mime it. You can ask the students to go faster, slower, to change levels, and to change directions. Then have the

Matthew Armstrong, illustration from Jane and the Mizmow, by Matthew Armstrong (Harper Collins 2010)

students run, again, asking them to change levels and directions. They must be careful not to run into each other. Then ask the students to move in ways that express happiness. Side coach the children in additional ways they can explore movement, such as by changing timing or direction, using patterns, etc. After the students have had a few minutes to explore several kinds of movement that relate to the book, plan your dance. You can have several

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children dance a given role. Go through the book, identifying or allowing the students to choose which roles or sections they will dance. Remember, they can dance the setting, rocks, trees, rivers, etc. Give each group a few minutes to explore appropriate movements, directing the students where to come in from the sides, where to end up, and how long they have to move from place to place. When all the groups have gone through the basic story with you, read the book aloud, signaling the groups to come in and to finish. You may want to have signals that you agree on beforehand. If possible, perform your dance for another class.

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Art for Everyone

Dancing Math Concepts

2nd Grade Math, Dance, & Music

Dance naturally involves music and math concepts. You may choose to teach the math concepts as part of dance lessons that have another focus, or make them the emphasis of particular lessons.

Quarter Notes

OBJECTIVES Students will use movement patterns to reinforce their understanding of the fractions whole, ¼, ½. Add whatever other dance objectives are appropriate for your class.

Half Notes

UTAH State Core Standards Grade 2 Math Standard 1, Objective 2 Music Standards 3 & 4

MATERIALS Construction paper: several sheets of the same color, in 3 different colors 1 color will be the size of the whole sheet of paper = whole notes the 2nd color will be cut in half = half notes the third paper will be cut in quarters = quarter notes (see example, right) (You can make whatever divisions correspond with the fractions your class is learning or reviewing, or can add other values as the students learn to clap simple rhythms reliably.)

Have the class sit in a semi-circle facing you. Put out 4 of the quarter note pieces of paper. Demonstrate and then have students clap with you, 1, 2, 3, 4, clapping once for each note. Next, place some half notes on the floor and demonstrate and then have the students clap with you, clapping for one, and then bouncing your arm slightly to

Whole Note

indicate the second beat. So clap on 1, bounce on 2. Next, put out the whole note papers and ask students how they could clap its value. Clap the same way as the half note, bouncing your arm away from you on counts 2, 3, and 4.

Now, rearrange the paper note values and have the students clap the more complicated pattern with you. (You may want to make narrow black strips to put between the groups of notes like measure bars or just put a little extra space.) Next, have students choose a movement for each note value. The students’ feet must stay in one place for the half and whole notes, but other parts of their bodies must continue to move through the counts. When students have chosen movements for each note value, clap or use a drum to

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beat a pattern (just make sure the notes are in groups of 4 counts). You can arrange the paper notes in your chosen pattern, tell the students what the pattern is, then give them warning when a note value is changing by saying something like, “Now do half notes.) If you divide the class into groups that are small enough they can see the notes, you won’t have to continue to warn the students, but just clap or drum the beat. ADAPTATIONS Students with physical limitations can still move whatever parts of their bodies have movement, even if that’s just one part. Students can take turns choosing new rhythm patterns. Students can mentor other students, helping them come up with appropriate movements. Students can be leaders, with other students following their movements. Students can clap or beat the drum, or play music to accompany the dancing. EXTENSIONS As the students gain competency with the rhythm patterns, allow students to make up patterns, and then have the class make a pattern for the rhythm. You can make several sets of the colored paper rhythm pieces and divide the students in small groups and let them make up their own rhythm and own patterns. Each student could create a movement for one set of notes and teach it to the rest of the group. Then the class can dance the rhythm pattern using each group member’s movement. Expand the students rhythmic understanding by adding eighth notes, dotted quarters. and dotted half notes. Use 3/4 measures instead of 4/4.

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Art for Everyone

Dancing Other Cultures or Times

Elementary Dance & Social Studies by Louise Nickelson

OBJECTIVES Use dance to reinforce and expand experiences relating to other cultures (than the dominant local one) or times. Choose some specific objectives from your grade level’s state core dance guidelines to include. Find these at the following website and simply click or your grade www.schools.utah.gov/ curr/FineArt/Core_Curriculum/Elementary/ default.htm Dancing naturally includes music and math concepts

Minerva Teichert, The March Over the Impossible Road One way to learn about other cultures or BYUMOA times is to do dances from the place or time. There are many resources for learning folk gently stretching up, to each side, and gently to dances (see resources at the end of the lesson). the back and then to the front. Students can then But you can also dance the ideas and qualities use the walking in this section to complete their of another culture or time. Appropriate music is helpful but not essential. Artwork or images re- warm-up. Check the state core for more ideas on warming up. lated to the topic may be helpful. For this example, I’ve included two pioneer images on the CD, Handcart Pioneers’ First View of Salt Lake City by Have the students explore the kinds of movements that express the ideas they just talked CCA Christensenand Immigrant Train by George about. For example, “How might you walk in the Ottinger. morning after a good night’s sleep?” “How might you move after walking all day through hot desBefore warming up, show the class the images ert?” How would you walk up a steep mountain?” one at a time. Give students a chance to describe “How would you help pull a wagon up the trail?” what it might have been like to be a pioneer. “How might you dance to forget you just spent For example, “How would your body feel as you the whole day walking?” Remind the students to walked across the plains?” “What would you feel dance the way the pioneers might have moved like at night?” “What might you worry about or have to be careful about?” “What might you do at and felt and not just mime the specific movements. night to take your mind off how tired you are?” After a few minutes of discussion, have the students spread out on the floor and warm up by

You can plan a scenario with the students, i.e., start out with waking up from sleep, pack quickly,

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walk with energy, get slower as your energy fades, climb up a mountain, pull a wagon up the mountain, make camp, dance to forget or to re-energize themselves. Go to sleep.

Give students a number of counts for each section and give them time to decide on a movement pattern for each section. The patterns can be short, for example 8 counts, but can be repeated as many times as works to make the dance. (If you don’t know the song about pioneer children singing as they walk, and walk, and walk, you may want to have a student teach the class—it’s a great way to communicate the sense of repeated walking.) Hans Toma, Der Kinderreigen 1884 Side coach students as they work on their Genremalerei, public domain patterns to change levels, directions, speed, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Thoma_003.jpg etc. Suggest they use their backs, their arms, their whole bodies, etc. so they really explore movement and don’t just stick with obvious ADAPTATIONS movements or with their first ideas. (Side coachChildren who have difficulty with the dancing ing is giving the students help as they work on you are doing can be given a partner, can shadow their movement patterns by suggesting ways to someone, can do as much as they are capable of, vary their movements as well as to give positive or can move whatever parts of their bodies they feedback.) One example of including the state th can reasonably control. Students who are unable core objectives is that for the 4 grade, you could to interact in acceptable ways may need to be encourage students to include movements that given an alternate activity overseen by an aide. bend, twist, reach, and turn. Give students a chance to practice their patterns in the correct order and then divide the class and have groups take turns performing for each other. You may perform the dance for another class or just for yourselves. If other teachers from your grade are interested and do a similar dance lesson, the different classes could have a lot of fun performing for each other and seeing how the dances are similar and how they are different. VARIATIONS Learn a folk dance from a culture you are studying Create your own dance incorporating ideas you get from studying a culture. Choose a few artworks on a theme and create dances or movement patterns that are responses to the artworks

Young or less able children can do singing games from different countries such as “Ring Around the Rosie,” “bingo,” “Hokie Pokie,” “London Bridge is Falling Down.” The revised edition of includes some new and unusual singing games from around the world.

For folk dancing:

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“The purpose of folk dancing with young children is to have fun, dance in time and tempo to the music, and develop a love of dancing. Everything else is secondary. Initially don’t worry about right and left feet, right and left hands, proper holding positions, and correct steps. You might

use a two-handed swing instead of a right or left handed swing; simplify steps so children can first learn the dance. If a dance requires children to pair off in couples and you feel that are not ready, have them join hands in a large circle; if a dance requires too many different activities, simplify by repeating the same ones. Children love to repeat something they have just learned. Keep it simple until the children can use the music as a cue to know what to do next. Progress from calling the basic instructions over the music, to allowing the children to anticipate the next sequence without your help. Once the dance has been learned you can add more complicated steps, formations, and expectations—just make sure they are developmentally appropriate. “

Simple Singing Games

Sing Through the Day (Swinger, 1999)

The following pages have the directions for the dance Seven Jumps, from Denmark. The SMA educational packet Art/Culture has directions for 2 more dances as well as some general directions, help and explanations for reading dance directions.

www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/ article_view.aspx?ArticleID=301

EXTENSIONS Students who are exceptionally good or who have outside experience can be asked to be the leader of a group, can be allowed to create more complicated dances, can be put in a group with like students, can be an assistant for the teacher. RESOURCES Books and CDs Children’s Folk Dances, Kimbo | Format: Audio CD Folk Dances from Around the World (The World Dance Series) Debbie Cavalier (Editor) Simple Folk Dances, Kimbo, Georgiana Stewart | Format: Audio CD Square Dance Fun For Everyone (2 CDs and Booklet) Kimbo | Format: Audio CD Children of the World - Multicultural Rhythmic Activities Kimbo (Artist) | Format: Audio CD http://www.kimboed.com/

Some Simple Folk Dances Seven Jumps, Little Shoe Maker, La Raspa; simple versions of Circassian Circle, Fado Blanquiata (Brazil), Mayim (Israel), Sellinger’s Round and Gathering Peascods (England); two line dances such as Virginia Reel and Jesusita en Chihuahua, and square dances like Gustav’s Skoal (Sweden), and the American square dances Red River Valley, Pop Goes the Weasel, and Ladies to the Center.

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SEVEN JUMPS (Denmark)

youngest grades

FOLK DANCE

Formation: Single circle fac center Position: Hands held low in “V” Footwork: All start L

Rhythm: 4/4 Music: Seven Jumps

MEAS CALL

INSTRUCTIONS

*Chorus Intro Step hop ready hop 1-2 1 hop, 2 hop, 3 hop, 4 hop

*Chorus Step hop: Do 7 step hops to L and on ct 8 jump with feet together and fac center of circle. Repeat to R.

3-4 5 hop, 6 hop, 7 hop, 8 jump 5-6 R hop, 2 hop, 3 hop, 4 hop 7-8 5 hop, 6 hop, 7 hop, R ft *Verse R ft up now R ft down’ and’ chorus

*Verse Right foot up: Place hands on hips and raise R knee. Do not place foot on flour until 2nd note.



Right elbow down: Repeat all above then place R elbow on floor.



Left elbow down: Repeat all above then place L elbow on floor.



Head down: Do all of above then place head on floor.



Finish dance with final chorus.



Left foot up: Repeat above, then add L ft. Right knee down: Repeat all above, then kneel on L knee. Left knee down: Repeat all above, then kneel on L knee.

\\Adena\SHARE\PhysEd\Dance\Modern\Faculty\Marilyn\Dance-Denmark.wpd

BREAKDOWN OF ACTIONS

Seven Jumps...cont.

Calls for these actions are as the calls given above for R ft: just call the body part used. Rhythm is uncountable due to the difference in duration of beat. Repeat chorus between each part. Continue through until all parts of the body are used, then finish with chorus. 28

Sequence of dance: *Chorus R ft up, *Chorus R ft up, L ft up, *Chorus R ft up, L ft up, R knee down, L knee down *Chorus R ft up, L ft up, R knee down, L knee down, R elbow down, *Chorus R ft up, L ft up, R knee down, L knee down, R elbow down, L elbow down, *Chorus R ft up, L ft up, R knee down, L knee down, R elbow down, L elbow down, head down, *Chorus \\Adena\SHARE\PhysEd\Dance\Modern\Faculty\Marilyn\Dance-Breakdown.wpd

ADDITIONAL HELPS TEACHING PROGRESSION FOR SEVEN JUMPS: 1. Have the children walk into a single circle facing center. They will not need a partner for this dance. 2. Do not have them join hands at this point. With the teacher inside the circle, have them step hop seven times to the left and jump to face center on count eight. Reverse this to the right side. 3. This time, have them do the circle left and right but holding hands. Keep a quick beat going so they do not pull back and forth on each others hands trying to make them fall. 4. After this chorus has been learned, teach the rest of the dance having them stand alone facing center. Just go through holding the R leg up, L leg up, R knee down, L knee down, and so forth until all parts of the body have been done in a row. 5. THEN, add this part to the chorus telling them that they will be doing a chorus between each active body part and keep adding until all is complete as the instructions of the dance indicates. 6. After they know the dance fairly well, put the music on for them and have them listen for the duration of holds in the music realizing that the body parts will hold as long as the music holds. 7. Have them try the dance in smaller groups. 8. The style of the dance should be light-hearted, with a feeling of fun. It is a recreational dance, so everyone one should be working as a group to accomplish the dance. 9. As a creative extension, have the students listen to the music, but decide what shape they want to make on the floor and hold while the music holds. They can go any place on the floor on the step hop, but they must stop in an interesting shape and hold it for the duration of the counts within the music. They should be encouraged to find different shapes that can be held for a period of time.

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Art for Everyone

Establish a Community: Social Studies Through Experience Lessons for K-6th

Note to the teacher The following suggestions are based on the premise that students best learn what they experience. Each grade level could have a variety of experiences that would help them to understand some of the concepts in that grade level’s social studies core. You may find the SMA packet Art/Culture helpful. Kindergarten Suggested Activities Make a map of the school and surrounding area. Include images of the major physical features. Play a game that helps students understand the difference between needs and wants. (There is a folder on the CD of clip art, mostly needs, since the images are free) Create rules for your community (class) Play a traffic game to learn what various traffic signs mean and how to cross a road with a stoplight using the walk/don’t walk signs Learn songs from at least two cultures from your school.

David (Hal) Rosenbaum, Big Trees near Pioneer Home

to create businesses. Students will go to work, (come up with some appropriate tasks, and they will earn money for those jobs. You may want to have some tasks that are more difficult, but that pay better.) Another day, have students make symbols of items they would like to sell. Set up “stores” and allow students to be shopkeepers and to sell items in their stores. Some students will need to be shoppers. Have a class discussion about the experience of working, buying, and selling. Who earned the most money and why. Who sold the most items and why. Help the students understand how the basic market system works. Images for dollar bills are included at the end of these lesson suggestions.

1st Grade Suggested Activities Have students create simple drawings of some of the important goods we use every day. Assign or allow students to choose a person they’ll be from a list. The students will each make themselves a badge with a symbol of who they are. (Instead, you may have them make hats or you may provide items for the students to wear or allow them 2nd Grade Suggested Activities Create a place to learn traffic signs and practice to bring something from home.) Have students learn about the basic denominations of money (if obeying the signs. Teach younger students by taking them through your traffic “school.” they do not already know) and have fake money they can color and cut. Arrange desks in the room Have a Cultures Exchange and learn dances and 31

songs from various cultures represented in your community, eat traditional kinds of food, make traditional crafts, learn to say hello and good by in different languages. 3rd Grade Suggested Activities Create plans for a new city in your area. As a class, make a map of your new city with important buildings indicated, what the natural resources are, how you can use those resources, what you need to protect, where agricultural areas will be and why, where your water and power will come from, etc. Make something by recycling items Have a contest to see who can bring the most recyclable items to school, or concentrate on one recyclable item such as aluminum cans (use the money for your class)

Have a relay race with buckets of water (or just each try carrying a bucket of water) and wood, dig a hole, “plant” a long row of corn, pick fruit Try spinning with a drop spindle Learn to weave

Learn a pioneer song and dance Scrub clothes on a washboard Make butter

Cover the windows and try reading and writing with a light that’s the equivalent of a candle (battery operated candle) Cook in a Dutch oven

Pull a handcart (You may be able to borrow pioneer items from local church groups or from individuals in the community.)

4th Grade Suggested Activities Have a “Day in the Life of Pioneer Children”

5th Grade Suggested Activities Create a “Day in the life of a Colonial Child” (or several days) by researching what life was like in colonial times. Divide the class into groups and have each group design an activity for the day. Give the groups a time limit and help them write up what they plan to have the students do, what supplies they will need, where the supplies will come from, etc. Students must get approval from the teacher before proceeding with their plans.

You may choose to have students help plan the day or plan with other 4th grade teachers. Some suggested activities follow:

Make and eat Johnny cakes, parched corn, molasses candy Play pom pom pull-away

1. Mark off a playing field roughly 20 feet square with string, a sidewalk edge, etc.

2. One person serves as the “tagger” and stands in the middle of the field. Everyone else lines up on one side of the square, facing the tagger.

3. When the tagger calls out, “Pom-pom pull away” everybody starts running and tries to get to the other side without getting touched by the tagger. If caught, they join the tagger in the middle. 4. Now everyone is on the opposite side of the square. The taggers simultaneously call out “Pompom Pull Away,” and the players run toward the opposite side, trying to evade the taggers. The last person remaining untouched becomes the tagger

for the new game.

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6th Grade Suggested Activities Make a map and decide where and why to put different kinds of buildings. Figure out where building supplies will come from and what they will be Plan for food—what is available, what can they grow, what they need to be careful about, where and what recreation can they have etc. Create a class story or song Learn a song and a dance from one of the time periods you are studying Complete the “Living in the Middle Ages” activities or do a similar activity for a different time

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Art for Everyone

Living in the Middle Ages

6th Grade Social Studies Experience

You will need to plan a time at least once a week to participate in the following activities, although doing the sections close together will make them more meaningful. To begin,

The following section is taken from a unit by Elicia Gray. The original unit, Feasting in the Middle Ages,” can be found in the SMA packet, Pursuing Relevance. The unit was designed for a middle school art class, but many of the activities could also be used as a way to help students understand more about life during the middle ages from a social studies perspective.

• • • • • •

OBJECTIVES Students will create an original coat of arms that represents them personally. Students will examine the history and nature of illuminated manuscripts and heraldry. Students will create an illuminated manuscript filled with their thoughts about the middle ages. Students will produce an original artwork for the imperial illumination in response to the “daily ordeals” they experience. Students will participate in several simulated “daily ordeals” based on historical occurrences from medieval times.

Divide students into groups of eight to ten people. Assign each student the role of Noble, Knight, Clergy, or Peasant. Explain the rules listed on the Medieval Roles” handout (see Medieval Roles ). Explain the daily ordeals Introduce and complete the Heraldry Assignment Introduce and complete the Illuminated Manuscript

Ypu may want to have additional activities that represent other parts of Medieval Life. If you do, have the journal be continued throughout.

At the end of the activities, display the journals, if desired, and the Illuminated Letters.

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Medieval Roles HERE YE! HERE YE! You are hereby invited on a magical journey to the Middle Ages. You will travel back in time to the days of castles and kings. You will participate in exciting activities and practice arts that were performed during the days of King Arthur, Marco Polo, and Joan of Arc. But, be prepared, the Middle Ages were also troubled times, full of torture, oppression and hard labor. You will experience the festivals and the feasts, but you will begin to understand why the Middle Ages were also known as the “Dark Ages.” In the days of castles and knights, the world was divided into four parts, called the Four Alls. These roles were said to be “fixed by God.” There were:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arth_tapestry2.jpg



The Peasants who worked for all, The Priests who prayed for all, The Knights who fought for all, And the Kings who ruled all.

You will be divided into small groups of 8-10 people. In these small communities or “fiefdoms,” you will be assigned a role--noble, knight, clergy, or peasant. Like the Middle Ages, the nobles are few and the peasants numerous. Here are some of the ground rules: 1. The Queen, your teacher, must be addressed as “Your Majesty” or “Queen.” 2. All nobles are addressed as “My Lord or My Lady,” knights as “Sir________ or Dame_________” Monk/Nun as “Brother” or “Sister” and peasants will be called by their first names. 3. Each day, fiefdoms must participate in a “daily ordeal.” These trials will test the strength of the group and give each participant a taste of everyday life during the Middle Ages. Points will be awarded according to how well the group members perform the task and the quality of the “artistic response” to the task. 4. All fiefdoms must keep a point sheet. (The Monk/Nun is responsible for this.) Points will be awarded for attendance, on task behavior, daily ordeals, and completion of art projects. Your group may lose points for lateness, off task or distracting behavior, or any other infraction that might upset the Queen. 5. Each fiefdom must give tribute to the Queen every week. This may be in the form of a poem, skit, banner, food, or anything artistic that the fiefdom may imagine. Extra points will be awarded for creativity and cleverness. 6. Points will be tallied at the end of each week. The fiefdom with the most points will win entrance to the Royal Feast. Medieval Roles:

Nobles: You are the group leaders. It is your responsibility to keep people on task. You will make sure that each person in your fiefdom is performing his or her duties, and you will be punished if duties 36

are left undone. You will speak for your fiefdom when you need to do business with the Queen. At the start of each class, no one in your fiefdom sits until you sit. You will be given gifts by the Queen which you may distribute as you see fit. Knight/Dame: You are the Noble’s faithful and willing servant. Your main responsibility is to help the Noble. You will carry messages to the King and other fiefdoms. You are also in charge of protecting your fiefdom from harm or evil. You will pick up and hand out all work in your group. You will be the “Town Crier” when the Queen needs to make an announcement.

Monk/Nun: You are the most educated in your fiefdom. You are responsible for the point sheet, and any other literary task in the group. If the group needs a scribe, then you will fill this responsibility. You are also the teacher of the group. If people need help then you must tutor them or find them the help they need.

Peasants: You are the poor hardworking members of the group. You do not have power or freedom. You are in charge commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joan_of_arc_ miniature_graded.jpg of keeping the fiefdom and the kingdom clean. You must complete the tasks that are given to you by the clergy, the knights, and the nobles. You must complete your tasks without complaining, or your fiefdom will lose points and you will be sent to the stocks. Costumes of Slaves or Serfs, from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel, from original Documents in the great Libraries of Europe. Project Gutenberg http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ File:Costumes_of_ Slaves_or_Serfs_from_ the_Sixth_to_the_ Twelfth_Centuries.png

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Daily Ordeals At the beginning of each day, the town crier will announce the daily ordeal. Members of the group must participate fully in order to receive coins/points from the Queen. At the end of each ordeal, participants must fill out the project planning sheet and complete a simple art piece that visually expresses the overall impression of the ordeal. Students will also complete a written narrative. Narratives and art pieces will be submitted to the Imperial Illumination, which will be displayed at the royal feast.

1. In the Middle Ages, Monks had many different responsibilities. Some Monks were teachers, some farmed the church land to grow grapes for wine. Some Monks took on the job of praying for everyone else. They believed that praying was easier if people did not speak. These were the silent brothers and sisters who tried to gain wisdom through silence. The Monks and Nuns in your fiefdom have now taken a vow of silence. They MAY NOT SPEAK for the entire class period. If they need to communicate, then they may write their words on paper instead. 2. Knights in Armor. A man had to be strong to wear armor. A suit of chain mail weighed about 50 pounds. The nights and dames in your fiefdom must wear heavy backpacks of flour for the entire class period. 3. Trials by ordeal. Until about 1300, a person accused of a crime might be tried by ordeal. In one such trial, the accused person had to hold a red-hot metal bar in his bare hands. If the person’s skin burned, then he was found guilty. If it was not burned, then he was declared innocent. Choose one member of your fiefdom. That person must keep one hand in a bucket of warm water for an entire class period. If their hand becomes wrinkled, then they are innocent. If they have to use the restroom, then they are guilty. 4. Lost in the wash. King John was not a lucky king. He is said to have lost all his treasure while crossing The Wash, a shallow bay on the east coast of England. He was marching to battle and lost his baggage train, with all his jewels, in quicksand. Today, the queen will take two points from one fiefdom to make up for the lost riches. (Roll the dice to choose http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ the fiefdom.) File:Bern_M%C3%BCnster_Passionsfenster_ 5. The word “chairman” comes directly from the detail3.jpg Middle Ages, when a house had only one chair, for the exclusive use of the man of the family. Choose one chair in which your entire fiefdom will sit. The men may take turns sitting in the chair. The women must stand the entire class period. 6. Joan of Arc was a French peasant girl who became a military leader. She claimed that voices helped her to accomplish her tasks. Some people thought she was a witch, and they burned her at the stake. If you are a peasant, then spend the entire class period whispering in order to show respect for your hero, Joan of Arc. 38

7. Troubadours. During medieval times, troubadours traveled from town to town, singing for their supper. A talented troubadour could feast with a king and charm the royal guest. His songs were often ballads about love or glory. Choose one person in your fiefdom who will be the troubadour for the day. He or she must hum or sing softly during the entire class period. 8. St. Valentines Day. In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentine would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. Draw a name from the basket and think of a good deed or a kind act that you can perform for that person. Once the action has been performed, pin the name to your sleeve and wear it for one week. Continue to draw names from the basket until everyone has received a kind deed. 9. The Middle Ages were a bilingual time when at least two languages were spoken in every town. In our world today, understanding grows when people speak more than one language. One way to get started is by saying “Good Day” in different languages. Practice these phrases out loud, and use them during the day. French=Bonjour, Spanish=Buenos dias, Portuguese=Boa, DutchGoeda middag, Italian=Buon giorno. English=Good day, German=Guten tag. 10. Feast and Famine. In medieval times there were many occasions when the Nobles feasted and the Peasants starved. Today all Nobles will receive special treats from the Queen and everyone else will go without. 11. Dishonest shopkeepers who broke trading rules were locked in the town stocks. Draw straws and send one person to the stocks for the day. Stocks will be made of cardboard, and will confine either the feet or a combination of the hands and head. Townsfolk will come to jeer and laugh at the dishonest person. 12. Nobles played board games, such as chess and backgammon. If you are a Noble, you may spend the class period playing chess or checkers. 13. One of the reasons young Knights liked tournaments was that they got to keep the armor. To the victors go the spoils! Roll the dice in your fiefdom. The person who rolls the highest number will win the “spoils” from the Queen today. 14. Having a day of nonsense was vitally important to medieval people. To celebrate Widdershins Day, you must do everything backwards. Walk backwards, greet your friends by saying “goodbye” instead of “hello,” even wear your clothes backwards if possible. 15. Ring Around the Rosy comes from the days of the Black Death. “Ring around the Rosy” stands for a traditional dance with everyone holding hands and marching around a tree in a circle. “Pocket full of posey” stands for the flowers people carried in their pockets to cover up the awful smell of the sores caused by the disease. “Ashes, ashes: stands for the piles of bodies that had to be burned so that more people wouldn’t be infected. “All fall down” stands for all of the people that died. One out of every three people died of the bubonic plague. Today, one out of every three people in your fiefdom will die. Draw straws to see who will be doomed. Send these “bodies” to the extra credit corner for the day. Plague victims being blessed by the priest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plague_victims_ blessed_by_priest.jpg

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Heraldry 1. Motivation: Show a short video clip of A Knight’s Tale and ask students to identify the elements of heraldry, or read to them from a book about knights such as The Best Book of Knights and

Castles by Deborah Murrell.

2. Explain that heraldry is a system of identification using a visual symbol called a coat of arms. Families developed this system of identification because warriors were difficult to recognize when they were covered with armor. Soldiers would look at the coat of arms to see whom they were fighting with or against.

Image from an illustrated volume of Shakespeare plays, public domain http://karenswhimsy.com/knights-armor.shtm

3. Students will create an original coat of arms to be worn during class activities. One section should have an animal, tree, flower, weapon, or ship. The other sections will have designs or symbols that represent students personally. Students may choose to use medieval symbols or contemporary symbols for their personal designs. Students may use the “Heraldry Packet” as a resource or a brainstorming tool . When their designs are complete, students will place a small piece of clear tape across the back of their shield near the top center to reinforce it. The shield can be pinned to the students’ shirts through the reinforced section. 4. Assessment: Students will complete the “Heraldry Checklist” before they are allowed to wear their shield.

Heraldic Registry, left, from an illuminated text and right, above, a list of shields 41

Heraldry Heraldry is a system of identification using a visual symbol called a coat of arms. In the Middle Ages, designs were placed on flags, banners, shields, and clothing. Because most of the people could not read, tribes and families used these shields as a way to recognize each other. Soldiers and citizens would look at the coat of arms to see if strangers were friends or enemies. To develop your own coat of arms, choose a shield shape, using the outline on the back of this page, and divide it into sections. One of the sections should have an animal, tree, flower, weapon, or ship. The other sections should have designs or other symbols that represent you. All sections should be carefully colored. Use the pictures in this Heraldry packet to help you.

Resource: www.heraldicclipart.com

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Heraldry ~ My Coat of Arms Name _________________________________ Date ___________

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Heraldry Checklist

Name_____________________________________________________ Period_______



As you complete the requirements for your coat of arms, place a check in the box provided. Please take your time and review the requirements carefully. Please place checkmarks here!

Choose a shield and divide it into sections. Look through the Heraldry packet to search for ideas. Carefully draw an animal, tree, flower, weapon, or ship in one section of your shield. Fill the other sections with other designs and symbols that represent you. You may choose to use modern day symbols or icons to represent your life in the present. Carefully color your shield using the medium of your choice. Double-check your entire design, checking for errors and making improvements. Wear your completed shield to school

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Illuminated Manuscripts 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Begin by introducing the Lesson Motivation as mentioned previously.

Show an “Illuminated Manuscript Slideshow” (see the Illuminations on the CD) Explain concept of illuminated manuscript and discuss examples of different ancient manuscripts. Invite students to analyze how factors of time period and location have influenced the content of the works. Inform students that Saint John’s University in Minnesota has decided to draw upon the time tested tradition of this classic artform by creating a contemporary illumination. Show DVD clips of The Saint John’s Bible or images from youtube and the web (http://www.youtube.com/SaintJohnsBible#p/a/u/2/DrFFVpRnOqY http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/ http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/stjohnsbible/stjohns-exhibit.html) The Illuminator and a Bible for the 21st Century http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/35 Ask students to compare and contrast the contemporary illuminations with the ancient examples seen previously. What are the similarities? What are the differences? Explain that students are now ready to create their own illuminated manuscript. Give each student a copy of the handout entitled “Illuminated Manuscripts”

Discuss possible patterns and motifs that students may investigate in order to illuminate the diverse topics they will explore in the written part of their manuscript. The teacher may wish to distribute the handouts entitled “Knotwork,” “Thatchwork,” and “Illuminated Letters” in order to accelerate the brainstorming process (see Knotwork, p. 67, Thatchwork, p. 68, and Illuminated Letters, p. 69)

6. Show students how to bind a simple book that will become their own illuminated manuscript (see Bookbinding).

7. Invite students to create several brief sketches of possible themes or patterns based on the manuscripts they have observed. Students will choose their best ideas to be transferred into their final manuscripts.

8. In order to give their manuscripts a hint of authenticity, students will use rich colored pencil with gold accents, if possible.

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Illuminated Letters

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Illuminated_manuscripts 49

Illuminated Manuscripts

illumination

journal

Only the richest and most scholarly people owned books in the Middle Ages. Monks wrote books by hand using quill pens and decorative letters. They added frilly vines, flowers, and sometimes even real gold to the letters. This was a time when calendars and journals were used only by the wealthy in order to mark the passage of time. You will create your own manuscript and fill it with your thoughts about the Middle Ages. Assignment: Choose 10 journal topics from the following list. Place a check next to the ideas that you would like to explore. You will also choose several ideas that you would like to illuminate or illustrate. Please investigate historical examples of manuscripts in order to gain inspiration. Look for borders, patterns, and design ideas. In addition to the journal topics below, you must also choose one contemporary topic from your life or from modern day society that you wish to explore. You might choose to write about your favorite hobby, a vivid memory, or a current event that you think is worth remembering. You will also illustrate this theme using your own contemporary style, just as the artists working on the Saint John’s Bible have done. Please carefully define your idea before you begin.

Journal Topics (Choose Five)

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1. King Arthur had a large, round table built for discussions with his knights. The round shape was chosen to show that every knight, and even the king himself, had equal worth. The message of the circle was: “We’re all here, and we all count.” When you are in class at school, do you sit in rows or in a circle? Do you think the people in the back participate as much as those in front? Do you think sitting in a circle makes people feel equally important? 2. Laws in the Middle Ages stated that women had no rights. They could not own land and they had to give all of their money to their husbands. How would it feel to be a woman in the Middle Ages? What challenges would you face? 3. People were in a hurry to grow up in the days of castles. Boys could marry at fourteen and girls at twelve. Why? Because only half of the population lived to be the age of thirty. Do you think medieval kids missed anything by growing up so fast? At what age do you think people should be considered an adult? What are the best things about being a child?

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Being a servant to the rich could be very demanding. Peasants complained when one highborn lady ordered them to stop the frogs from croaking at night. What would you do if you were one of these peasants? How would you feel about the nobles?

If you were a king or a queen with a crown and loads of money, then what would you do with your power? Would you be a kind leader or a bully? What would be your first proclamation shouted by the herald?

6. People behaved rather crudely at the dinner table in the Middle Ages. How do you think we went from spitting across the table to chewing with our mouths closed? Do you think manners are important? Why do you think manners evolved? 7. In the middle ages, a “mess” was the bread under the trencher that kept the meat juices from running on the table. At the end of a feast, the mess was left uneaten. That’s how we get the expression, “Clean up that mess!” What other expressions could have come from the middle ages? Make up a few expressions of your own and create a story about the origin of each one of them.

8. A catapult is a mechanical device that hurls objects into the air, over castle walls. Attackers used them during castle sieges. If you had a catapult today, then what would you do with it? Design your own catapult or write a story about an adventure you could have with a similar device.

9. An open mind is ready for new ideas. A closed mind thinks it knows everything already. People in the Middle Ages were extremely closed minded. They were afraid of new ideas and people. About what things might you be considered “closed minded” ? How can you open your mind to new ideas? 10. Believe it or not, you live far better than the wealthiest king or queen of the Middle Ages. Some of the everyday items that you frequently use would be incredible luxuries to medieval people. Make a list of some of the things you might not have in the Middle Ages. How would your life be different without these things?

11. In the Middle Ages, scholars thought they knew everything. Here is a list of common knowledge at the time: a. The earth was flat b. Eating basil hatched snakes in your head c. Eating eggs caused freckles d. Noble people and peasants had different blood e. Fireflies were the souls of babies who died before being christened Make up your own list of “absurd” knowledge. You might use medieval logic to explain why the sky is blue, or from where rain comes. 51

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12. In medieval times, students were beaten with willow branches or punched and kicked if they disrupted the class. How would you handle students who interrupted the class?

13. People who can read and write are called “literate.” In the Middle Ages, only the very rich or religious people were literate. How would your life be different today if you couldn’t read? What are some of the things that you wouldn’t be able to do? 14. Jewish people had a hard time in the Middle Ages because of intol-

erance. They had to live in special neighborhoods. A strange thing happened during the Black Death. The Jews did not get sick. Many accused the Jews of poisoning the water wells of the sick. This idea spread hate and fear. What is the real reason that the Jewish people didn’t get sick? They were forced to live apart from other people, so they didn’t catch the disease. Have you ever had to deal with intolerance? What would it have felt like to be Jewish? Can you think of another time in history when the Jews were not welcome?

15. At the end of medieval times, knights were suddenly unemployed be-

cause of the invention of the gun. What else do you think has changed as a result of this invention?

16. Look around. Do you see any buildings that resemble castles? Watch for flags and banners. Can you find knights, castles, or kings in advertisements? What evidence of the Middle Ages can you find around you?

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Bookbinding

In order to create a simple telescope book for your illuminated manuscript, carefully complete the following steps in order. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Fold six sheets of paper in half and place them inside one another Lay three sheets “A” together and cut a triangle from the center of the spine. Lay “A” on top of the other three sheets “B” and mark triangle area. Cut wedges from top and bottom of “B.” Telescope right side pages of “B” and slide through slot of “A.” Let right side of “B” spring into place on right side of “A.” Johnson, P. (1998). A book of one’s own. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

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Illuminated Manuscript Grading Sheet

Name__________________________________________________Period____________ Please carefully evaluate each of the entries in your Illuminated Manuscript. Rate your performance by circling the number which best describes your work. L=1 point= OUCH! This needs serious help. L=2 points= Not so good. Needs improvement K=3 points= It’s okay, but I could do better. J=4 points= Good! I met all of the requirements. J=5 points= Wow! Amazing! Outstanding Job! 1. My journal entries contain original thoughts and creative ideas that pertain to the topics I chose. a. 1 2 3 4 5 2.

I have chosen at least five journal topics a. 1 2 3 4 5

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All of my journal entries are at least 50 words in length. a. 1 2 3 4 5

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I have chosen several ideas (at least three to “illuminate” in my manuscript. a. 1 2 3 4 5

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My drawings are completely finished. a. 1 2 3 4 5

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My drawings show evidence of effort, improvement, and skill. a. 1 2 3 4 5

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I used my time wisely and worked on my Illuminated Manuscript at the start of each day. a. 1 2 3 4 5

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What is my overall impression of my illuminated manuscript? Is it quality work? a. 1 2 3 4 5 My Score__________________/40 points possible

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Knotwork

© Elicia Timpson Gray, 2004 55

Thatchwork Step One: Create a grid pattern using a series of dots. Step Two: Draw two vertical lines just inside the dots of the first square. Skip a square and then repeat the process until you have completed the first line. Step Three: Draw two horizontal lines just inside the dots of the empty squares. Make sure that the horizontal lines meet up with the vertical lines, forming a “T” shape. Step Four: For the second row, draw two horizontal lines just inside the dots of the first square. Skip a square and then repeat the process until you have completed the second line. Step Five: Draw two vertical lines just inside the dots of the empty squares. Make sure that the vertical lines meet up with the horizontal lines, forming a “T” shape. Step Six: Repeat steps one through five until you have created enough thatch. Color in the squares that frame the dots. Add color to the thatch if desired.

© Elicia Timpson Gray, 2004 56

Art for Everyone

Using Music, Drama, Art, & Movement

Research has demonstrated that students, as a whole class, will have the most success when ideas and concepts are explained in a variety of ways. In addition, we all know that most students get tired of sitting in chairs and working quietly or just listening. One way to both reinforce concepts and reach the largest group of students as well as preventing boredom and disinterest is by using the arts in your class. This section presents a wide variety of ways to use the arts as a vehicle for greater understanding. Spelling/ word comprehension

1. Try using movement for appropriate words. Reseachers have discovered that students learn a second language best when they link things like movement or images to the vocabulary. You can do the same thing with English, both for any students who are learning a second language and for those who are native speakers. For example, if your class’s spelling list contains the words jumping, running, walking, sitting, hiking, etc., have the students say and spell the words out loud as they perform the action (some will be more mimed than actually performed). So students say “walking” and spell it as they walk around their row of chairs or their table. Then they run in place while saying and spelling “running.” They can end with “sitting” in their chairs while they say and spell the word. 2. Have students draw a simple picture to go with any words they are having difficulty with. They can use the letters of the word to draw a picture that will help remind them of the correct spelling.

3. Use the tune from a simple song the students know to help them learn how to spell difficult words. Students can then sing to themselves to remember the spelling.

4. For comprehension, have students draw or act out words they need to learn. For example, have them stand and stretch up high for “tall,” and crouch down low for “little,” or reach to each side for “long.” Students may also be able to spell out the words by making similar shapes to the letters with their bodies (remember YMCA?) Students can use movement to reinforce and explore comparisons such as slow, fast, faster, big, bigger, biggest and to learn words like levels, timing, direction, as well as the different directions. Teach your class the Hokey Pokey to help them learn right and left. 5. Students can make up a rhyme about words and their meaning. You could divide the class into groups that each are assigned a couple of the words. Then each group can teach its rhyme to the rest of the class. Math

1. Using manipulatives is a good way for many students to learn. As a variation, have the students be the manipulatives. For example, have 2 students stand at the front of the room. Ask the class how many more students it takes to make 5 students, and have 3 students come join the first 2. Then ask how many it takes to make 9. Now take 3 students away, and ask how many are left, etc. You can also divide the class into a few groups. Indicate a line that is about equidistant

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from the groups. Call out a number or simple addition or subtraction problem and have the students see which group can be the first to make the number or problem out of their group of students.

2. Allow students to demonstrate that different combinations of numbers can add up to the same number by dividing the students in groups and giving them differing numbers of + signs, 1 = sign and one sign with a number such as 9 (each group must have enough students to perform the function). One student must hold each + sign, the = sign and the total number. The other students must be divided into groups so that they make an accurate function. So if one group has 15 students, 1 will be the = sign, 1 the numeral 9, and then, if they have 4 + signs, 4 students will hold those signs. The group must figure out a way to use the 4 + signs by dividing the 9 students into 4 groups. Give the students a few minutes to figure out what they’re doing and to assemble themselves as the equation. Then explain you are going to make a change, and they must make new groupings to make a new arrangement that is still true. So if the first grouping was 2 + 2 + 2 +2 +1 = 9, and they now have only 3 + signs, they will regroup into an equation that uses only 3 groups to add up to 9. If the number of + signs the group has allows different configurations, you will not have to change the number of + signs but can just ask the groups to make a different arrangement. If you want, one or two students can be the directors and tell the other students what to do. Give different children a chance to be directors. If they get stumped, allow the students to get help from a member of their group. To avoid embarrassment, you can make the help be like the TV game, and they each get one chance to call on someone else for help. 3. Have students make up a rap, a chant, or a song, to memorize things like the times tables, or something as complicated as the periodic table. Drama

Readers Theater Creating Scenes or very short plays based on books

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Creating Scenes or very short plays that illustrate appropriate interactions Creating Scenes or very short plays based on historical events Creating Process Dramas based on historical events or different times or cultures Mime for the Hard of Hearing

Art for Everyone

Music and Music Games

Music can be a way to reach all students, to change pace, alleviate or avoid boredom, to learn, and to have fun! According to the Sound Piper, certain musical activities are particularly useful for certain kinds of learners:

Auditory learners: Use activities and promote experiences that develop auditory discrimination.  Auditory learners tune in to the sounds of music.   They hear and imitate rhythms and melodies.  They can discriminate between different types of sound (environmental, noise, and musical), pitches (high and low), and timbre (wood, metallic). 

Visual learners: Visual learners recognize visual cues, musical notation, watching a performance, and looking at instruments as they are played. Kinesthetic learners:  Most students excel through kinesthetic means: touching, feeling, experiencing something with hands-on activities.  Kinesthetic learners will enjoy playing instruments, singing songs, and moving to music.   Here are some resources for Music and for Music Games: Web sites National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has Children’s Songs with midi files and lyrics at http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/musicchild.htm (This same page has links to other kinds of songs such as patriotic or holiday songs.) Color Songs http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/music/colorsong.php

Musical clip art to teach your students note values, staffs, etc. plus images for different in struments http://www.abcteach.com/directory/clip_art/music/

Links to a variety of web sites. I especially liked this one, which includes many things to teach as well as sections on Literacy and Numeracy Elements: http://www.soundpiper.com/mln/activities.htm http://www.funmusicco.com/musicteachersblog/2009/07/15-free-music-activities-and-lessonplans-for-the-classroom/ Movement Activities and Games for Elementary Classrooms (Part 1) By Leah Davies, M.Ed. also has a link to Part 2 http://www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticles/TeacherTip69.html 59

50 state rhymes http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Music/IDEAS_FOR_CLASSROOM_USE.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_children%27s_songs List of Nursey Rhymes Learn a song from a time period or country you’re studying or that goes with a book the class is reading. Find short videos on youtube, such as this one by Jean Ritchie and Pete Seeger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iCkCIBDRyE&feature=related

Teach your students, boys and girls, to jump rope. It’s great exercise and the rhyming is good for students’ reading. American rhymes http://www.gameskidsplay.net/jump_rope_ryhmes/ English Directions and Rhymes and http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/studentssite/playgroundgames.htm#1 http://www.mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope.cfm Books (try your own library and consider buying used, often very cheap, and some can be purchased as downloads, also inexpensive) Singing Games Children Love, vols 1 & 2 Chosky’s 120 singing games (very expensive, but school or district may own a copy) 150 American Folk Songs: To Sing, Read and Play (BH Kodaly) American Folk Songs for Children, by Ruth Seeger The Pete Yarrow Songbook: Favorite Folks Songs (and many others) Look under Folk songs for children in Music on amazon.com

Use folksongs about historical events to help students remember and understand what happened, such as “Paddy Works on the Railway,” “The Erie Canal,” songs from the days of the Underground Railroad, which gave information to the slaves about where and when they should go (Follow the Drinking Gourd, Steal Away, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot).

EXTENSIONS

For students who are more advanced than the rest of the class, they can • Be the accompanist on rhythm instruments or an instrument they play • Write a new version of a song • Learn to direct

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Art for Everyone

Social Studies Extensions

1st – 6th Grade by Vicki Gehring

tion about the kind of rocks found in the Grand Canyon and find photographs of other places with the same kind of rocks and draw a picture of a similar landscape. Then have them show their picture to the class and tell about why this kind of rock looks the way it does. Project 2 Using the poster, Handcart Pioneer’s First View of Salt Lake Valley, ask the student(s) to name all the ways the pioneers in the picture are working together. Then have them draw a picture of our day that shows people working together.

Have them show their drawing and tell why it is a good thing when people work together.

1st Grade – safety of self and others Show the student(s) the poster Keeper of the Gate, and read or have them study the information on the back about why the artist called this picture Keeper of the Gate. Then have them draw a picture of someplace they have been told not to go, or some thing they have been told not to do. When they are finished with their drawing, have them show the poster and their drawing to the class and explain the poster and their drawing.

2nd Grade – geography and citizenship project 1 Using the poster, Sunrise, North Rim Grand Canyon, have the student(s) research some informa-

3rd Grade – community and change are a part of life Show the student(s) the poster, Immigrant Train: Away to the Mountain Dell, the Valley of the Free, and have them draw a picture of their family today going on a trip. Have them show their picture and tell all the ways other people made it possible for them to make this trip. (For example: road builders, car makers, maps (GPS), etc.) Then have them show the poster and conduct a class discussion of how and why the pioneers worked together on their trip, and what are the differences today when we go on a trip. Sample question: Why did they travel in wagon trains instead of going by themselves? How long did it take them compared to how fast we travel today? Where did they get their food? Where do we get our food when we go on a trip?

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What are the differences if the trip takes more that one day? How are the effects of the weather different?

Optional: Have the class discuss: 1. How art helps maintain our appreciation for the great leaders of the past. 2. What are some things they can do to honor the service of great leaders of the past.

4th Grade – connections between past, present, and future Have the student(s) draw a picture of their family doing something in their house. Show them and/or the class the poster of, Boy and Cat: My Little Son, Heber James. Tell them when the picture was painted. Then have them compare the drawing and the poster and identify some things that are different today and discuss how the life style of the boy in the poster would have been different from their lifestyle. Discuss some things that might be the same.

6th Grade – World History Have the student(s) choose a famous building or structure and draw a picture of it. Have them research the history of the building or structure, what country it’s in, and what makes it so famous. Write a paragraph about why they chose this for their drawing, and why it is famous.

5th Grade – US History Have the student(s) find a picture of either John Hancock or Paul Revere and draw a portrait of one of them. Have them show the Cyrus Dallin poster of his sculptures of John Hancock and Paul Revere to the class and share the information on the back of the posters about both Cyrus Dallin, Paul Revere, and John Hancock. Have the student(s) explain why they chose the one they did for their portrait. Have them discuss what might be different in their life if these men had not preformed their service for our country.

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Art for Everyone

Building in Extensions

Middle School or High School Drawing By Cindy Clark Art is a natural for helping those students who excel.

In art class, a student can ALWAYS have a chance to go beyond requirements. Just give them the opportunity. Suggest that they try to use new media or be creative in some way. For example, I wanted to teach students about proportions, and so we drew a spray bottle to check proportions or relationships of the top part to the bottom part. I told students to draw the spray bottle, but they could choose their own media and could add a creative element. Students were excited to do MORE than the requirement, as you can see from their drawings. To incorporate extensions in a lesson, just make sure the assignment is not so limiting that students can’t add their own ideas, demonstrate their skills, and stretch their abilities. All exampes are of junior high school students

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Art for Everyone

Self-Portraits:

Adaptations & Extensions One common art lesson is to have students compose a self-portrait. The self-portrait is a natural lesson on proportion, can easily encompass many other elements and/or principles of art, and it carries with it a psychological means of expressing and gaining insight into one’s own personality and increasing self-worth. One way to adapt such a lesson for children with physical and/or mental limitations is to use technology. The following list gives a few ideas:

1. Have students photocopy their faces. They can choose to include their hands or perhaps some object that has meaning or interest for them (depending on the child, you may want to offer some choices). Allow the students (or help them) to make several photocopies, and then choose their favorite. The photocopy can be used as is or students can add color or pattern. Mount the photocopies and display as part of the class artwork exhibit. 2.

Make digital photographs of the students. You can let students choose a background or something to hold. Download the photographs and let the students choose their favorite. The photographs can be printed in color or can be printed in black and white. If students have the ability, have them add color to the black and white photographs. Try giving students with limited ability to hold crayons or pencils versions that are easier to hold.

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Make photographic prints of the students and allow them to create a collage using several photos or a photo and items cut from magazines. Students who don’t have enough dexterity to cut or paste well can be matched with a student with good skills. The student being helped should be allowed to make as many decisions as possible. Some students will be able to indicate what they want done, while others may need to be given two or three choices by the worker student.

4. Have students photocopy their hands, either just their hands or perhaps their hands holding an item they like.

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Take photographs of students from different angles or making different faces. If they can’t create their own photomon- tage, have someone else help the student.

3. Students with limited abilities can lie on a large sheet of paper while another student or an adult draws their outline. Let students add color to their “self-portraits.”

Technology can also provide ways for experienced or exceptionally talented students to extend an assignment. 1. 2.

Have students scan their self-portraits and open them in a graphics program. If you do not have such a program, you can download Gimp for free at (http://www.gimp. org/). Demonstrate a few techniques, if necessary, and let students create a collage using multiple images of their work, changing portions of the image by size, color, or by using filters, or whatever appropriate technique they are interested in. Print a copy of the finished collages. If you have imovie or a similar program, fast finishers or advanced students can be given the opportunity to create a short video as a self-portrait. The video may include music or talking and may be done in small groups.

Although their work was not portraits, artist Brian Kershisnik and Joe Adams have created many artworks together and have had 8 exhibitions of their work over the last 15 years. The painting below was a collaborative effort, with Joe doing drawings (he loves dogs) and Brian creating a painting based on Joe’s drawing.

Another way to deal with both limitations and varying abilities is to use partners or small groups.

1. Partner the student who needs help with a student who is ahead. Encourage the helper to get as many directions as possi- ble from his/her partner. You may want to evaluate students more on their willing- ness to work together rather than on the finished product. Or simply give students points for completion. 2. Divide students into partnerships. A stu dent with some kind of limitation can be mentored by an advanced student. They should work on their artworks together, discussing their ideas and sharing information and techniques.

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Art for Everyone

Creating an Artist’s Studio

Upper Elementary–Secondary Art Lesson by Louise Nickelson OBJECTIVES Students will cooperate on an artwork that utilizes every member of the group in some capacity. Students will increase their understanding of art history by participating in an artist’s workshop experience.

Teachers may add whatever specific art objectives they want to the activity as criteria for the finished artwork. See the STATE CORE for appropriate objectives. MATERIALS paint large sheets of paper whatever media the finished art project will need Images of Chihuly’s artwork from CD Video excerpt(s)

Using workers/craftsman to carry out an artist’s ideas is a very old tradition in the artworld. Artists had studios with students/ apprentices who worked under the master artist’s direction and did the simpler areas of the paintings by themselves. Some artists still work this way because of the amount of effort or specific skill required in creating the finished product or because of limitations they have. For example, Louise Nevelson had workman who created her large sculptures at her direction. Sculptors whose work is cast in bronze usually make an original sculpture in clay or plaster, which is then cast in bronze by a professional foundry. Dale Chihuly, the worldfamous glass artist, lost an eye in a car accident.

Dale Chihuly, Explorartory Artwork used for inspiration and direction for his glassblowing studio Because he no longer has good depth perception nor peripheral vision, glass blowing became difficult. He says he also just liked working as part of a team of glassblowers—making large pieces requires several people to work together. His physical limitations and the difficult task of trying to be the head glass blower and the director of a team of 18, made him decide to give up the glass blowing and concentrate on directing the team.

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Dale Chihuly, from Baskets photograph by Robert Nickelson

studio to specific tasks. Team members may interpret the ideas expressed in the “paintings” as they think best, but the artist can accept or veto individual works or sections or make suggestions on how to better produce hi/her ideas. Remind the students that this must be a team effort—if the artist is not open minded and respectful, the team members won’t produce their best work and some might not want to continue to work as part of the team, and team members need to work well with the artist because they want to keep their jobs.

Using a similar model, you can create an artist’s studio in your classroom. That “employs” students of varying abilities.

Show the class the images of Dale Chihuly’s work as well as a brief excerpt from one of his videos (a section showing the team working with Chihuly). If possible, show a section that includes Chihuly painting as a method of inspiration and a way of communicating his ideas to his team. If you can’t show a section of the video, watch one of the short videos on youtube so you can describe how Chihuly works with his team. Netflicks has two videos on Chihuly and one with a section on him. Blockbuster has the video with a section on Chihuly (See SOURCES at the end of the lesson.)

Divide the class into groups. Give the groups large pieces of paper and paints or other colored media. Have one student in each group be the “artist.” The other students will be the craftsmen. The “artist” gets to experiment with the paint as inspiration for an artwork. The artist should talk to the other members of his or her “studio” about his/her ideas. The studio members can offer feedback, but must be respectful. When the artist has decided what the artwork will be, the artist will assign members of the 70

Wall of Glass at the Chihuly Studio photograph by Robert Nickelson

SOURCES Netflicks has Inspirations, Chihuly: Gardens & Glass and Chihuly: River of Glass Blockbuster has Inspirations (has a section on Chihuly) A short video at http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2337114/chihuly_the_nature_of_glass/ Websites http://www.chihuly.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Chihuly Site has Bio, some images (on CD) http://www.pilchuck.com/default.aspx Information about the glass blowing school http://c-monster.net/blog1/2008/07/16/photos-dale-chihuly-at-the-de-young-in-sf/ Large Images http://wapedia.mobi/en/Dale_Chihuly Contents: 1. Biography 2. About his work 3. Galleries 4. 2006 lawsuit 5. Permanent collections 6. Exhibitions 7. Gallery 8. References 9. Bibliography 10. External links VARIATIONS Instead of using Dale Chihuly, make a brief introduction about painters’ studios and how they worked (see http://www.humanitiesweb.org/ human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=280 and http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens for information). Divide the students up and have each group create a large painting as a studio. You may want to let each group choose who will be the “artist” for the group. As was usual, have a patron either for each group, or you be the patron for all the groups. The patrons will give the student groups a subject and some limitations such as where the artwork should go, so size, etc.

Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Workshop of Rubens) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baroque_Rubens_ Assumption-of-Virgin-3.jpg

Arrange an exhibit with the finished artworks and a label and an explanation from each of the artist studios. Photography version: Divide the class into small groups and give each a camera or a turn with a camera. Each group will work together to produce some kind of finished photo montage. One way to involve the whole group is to print the images in black and white and have each of the “apprentices” add color, texture or detail to an individual image. The “artist” will make or accept the final arrangement of images before they are glued to a large sheet of paper or poster board.

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EXTENSIONS Exceptional students or advanced classes may be able to get permission to create one or more “commissioned” works. They could arrange with local businesses or city offices to “commission” a work by agreeing to display a work around a subject that relates to the business or display site. Students need to remember that the person(s) who commission the work can approve or disapprove the work, so they must agree to what their “patron” wants them to do or risk not having the work displayed. Students who do not get their work accepted must find another place to display their work.

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Art for Everyone

Create a Jolly Roger

Middle School/Junior high, grades 6-9 By Elicia Gray

This lesson is what is known as a rich task. Briefly defined, rich tasks are lessons that are designed to incorporate cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and social skills that researchers have deemed to be important. They are designed to give students interesting, thought-provoking experiences that are memorable and powerful. Because of their diverse nature, rich tasks are suitable for advanced students, as well as for students with disabilities.

OBJECTIVES Students will design and craft an original Jolly Roger out of fabric and HeatnBond adhesive. Students will cooperate and work together as they brainstorm a design that represents their group aesthetic. Students will investigate pictures of historic pirate flags in order to understand symbolic meaning. Students will learn to adapt historical information in order to apply contemporary themes. STATE CORE OBJECTIVES Standard 1: Students will assemble and create works of art by experiencing a variety of art media and by learning the art elements and principles. Standard 2: Students will find meaning by analyzing, criticizing, and evaluating works of art. Standard 3: Students will create meaning in art. Standard 4: Students will find meaning in works of art through settings and other modes of learning.

Jolly Roger For My Husband

MATERIALS Assorted fabric scraps, HeatnBond adhesive, Glue, Paper, pencils, Irons, ACTIVITY Motivation: Ahoy Mateeees! Have you ever wanted to

be one of those daring figures who swooped down on treasure ships in order to acquire millions of dollars in just one evening? Well, my friends, your opportunity has arrived. Adventures and riches await you as you set sail for the 17th century, but be warned, pirates wear patches for a reason. Although their journeys are often exciting, danger is afoot! Watch out for mutiny, scurvy, white squalls, and seasickness. You must play by the rules, or you might find you’ve been marooned on a desert island, living out the rest of your days with a pelican. So, put on your best sneer, pack your wooden leg, and practice your “Yo-Ho” because you’re about to start singing “A Pirate’s Life for Me!”

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1. Introduce the Jolly Roger (see Jolly Roger Brainstorming Sheet,) and invite students to create their own flag for their pirate ship. Students must use symbols that represent their crew members. (Divide students into groups that mix abilities.) When students are brainstorming, ask them to consider questions, such as the following: Are you the friendly pirates? The tidy pirates? The clever pirates? How do you wish to be known? 2. Show color overhead of authentic pirate flags (see Jolly Roger Visuals) and demonstrate how students may use similar ideas, but apply a more contemporary theme. 3. Demonstrate the correct manner of bonding fabric together by using HeatnBond iron on adhesive, made by Therm O Webb (see Constructing a Jolly Roger,). Remind students that similar techniques are used by textile artists today. 4. When students have defined their idea, they may begin constructing their Jolly Roger out of fabric. Encourage students to use the checklist entitled “Constructing a Jolly Roger” (see Constructing a Jolly Roger,). Students must carefully complete the items from the checklist in succession.

ship to go with their flag. This ship should take into account the various attributes of the crew that they outlined earlier. Ships could be drawn on paper, or sculpted/constructed out of threedimensional products.

ASSESSMENT: Use the Jolly Roger Grading Sheet (see Jolly Roger Grading Sheet). Invite students to rate their peers according to the categories provided. The teacher will average the scores and award points accordingly.

VARIATIONS These flags can be made easily out of paper— even on a large scale. If budget is an issue, use butcher paper, or have students design their own jolly roger on paper. Because of the nature of this assignment, students are working in teams, and therefore they must be responsible to help slower students. The teacher may also make adaptations by dividing up responsibilities to make sure that all needs are being met. This lesson could be adapted to other topics, especially ones related to a time period or culture. EXTENSIONS If you have groups of fast finishers, or students who wish to extend ideas, give a brief demonstration about needlework and they can actually stitch the work that they have appliquéd. Students could also design an imaginary pirate

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The Jolly Roger Brainstorming Sheet Customarily, a ship flies the flag of the country from which she originated. Pirate ships would sometimes deceive passing ships by flying the flag of a friendly country. Most of the time, however, pirate ships would fly the Jolly Roger, a flag covered with symbols about death and fear. Contrary to popular belief, not all pirate flags were black and white. Mariners feared a plain red flag most of all, because it signaled death to all who saw it. As a crew, create your own flag for your pirate ship. How do you wish to be known? If you are the hungry pirates, then you might create a skull swallowing a hot dog. The tidy pirates could show a skeleton with a broom and a mop. Be creative and work as a team. Choose a theme, and then use this paper as a brainstorming sheet. Fill in the spaces below with symbols, colors, and ideas that support the theme you have chosen. When you have defined your idea, create a sketch of your Jolly Roger on a large sheet of paper. Theme__________________________________________________________________

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Constructing a Jolly Roger Jolly Rogers were generally designed and sewn by the pirate ship’s sail maker, who enlisted other crewmembers to help him complete the time consuming task. Follow the directions below to create a genuine Jolly Roger for your pirate ship. After completing each of the following steps in order, place a check mark in the space provided. 1. Carefully complete the Jolly Roger brainstorming sheet. 2. As a crew, complete a sketch of the Jolly Roger that you have envisioned. 3. Double check your sketch to make sure that your ideas can be “read” and understood from a distance. 4. Carefully choose your background fabric and make sure that it has been pre-washed before proceeding to step five. (If you are not going to wash your flag, you can skip this step.) 5. Preheat your iron to the silk setting. 6. Trim your background fabric into a perfect rectangle, measuring 24 inches wide and 18 inches tall. 7. Choose a contrasting fabric for your detail work, and make sure it has been pre-washed as well. (If you are not going to wash your flag, you can skip this step.) 8. Place HeatnBond UltraHold adhesive onto the wrong side of your contrasting fabric. Make sure that the paper side of the HeatnBond faces the iron, and the plastic side is toward the fabric. 9. Glide the iron across the paper side of the HeatnBond for one or two seconds in order to attach it to the wrong side of your contrasting fabric. 10. Draw your symbols and designs onto the HeatnBond paper that has been attached to your contrasting fabric. Be careful to draw your designs in reverse so that they appear correctly when you transfer them. 11. Carefully cut out your designs and save all scrap pieces. 12. Allow HeatnBond to cool, and then peel off the paper backing. 13. Check to make sure that the remaining adhesive is milky in color. Shiny, clear, adhesive is a sign of overheating. If your adhesive is shiny, then increase the ironing time in step 15, but be careful not to overheat your fabric. 14. Place your symbols and designs in the desired position on top of your background fabric. Make sure that the adhesive side of your design is placed against your background fabric, away from the iron. 15. Gently iron on top of your designs for four to six seconds in order to bond your contrasting pieces to the background fabric. You may choose to increase your ironing time if you have used heavier fabrics. 16. Using fine tip fabric markers or paint markers, complete your Jolly Roger by adding small details and designs. Be careful not to make your flag too busy. 17. Attach the edge of your Jolly Roger to a wooden dowel with the glue gun. 18. Secure your flag in a wooden base, and display it in the center of your table.

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Jolly Roger Examples f

The Flag of Jack Rackham Many pirates probably fought under this symbol of a skull and crossed swords. It was the flag flown by captain Jack Rackham. It seems that Jack was not as brave as his flag might suggest. When the British Navy finally caught up with his ship, he hid in the hold with a gang of drunken men while two women pirates were left to fight the battle of an entire crew (Platt, 1994).

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The Flag of Blackbeard Blackbeard was one of the cruelest pirates of them all. His flag shows a skeleton with devilish horns holding an hourglass, an arrow, and a bleeding heart. Anyone encountering this flag would know that treacherous pirates were nearby (Platt, 1994).

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The Flag of Christopher Moody The hourglass appears on Moody’s flag, as it did on many gravestones during the 17th century. In this case, the glass has wings to show how quickly time is flying. The hourglass warned other ships that the time to surrender was rapidly approaching (Platt, 1994).

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Jolly Roger Examples Continued f

The Flag of Henry Avery This flag closely resembles the traditional skull and crossbones Jolly Roger from pirate folklore. Although bones were commonly used to portray death, many pirates adopted other symbols in order to instill fear (Platt, 1994).

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The Flag of Thomas Tew Because the sword has always been a symbol of power, it seemed to be a perfect symbol for Thomas Tew. His choice of a curved scimitar, however, may have been prophetic. It may have been a similar sword that took is life during a battle for an Indian ship (Platt, 1994).

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The Flag of Bartholomew Roberts Roberts was not afraid to rub elbows with death. In this flag, he makes a toast with a skeleton as if to say that he is not afraid to send sailors to greet other members of the underworld (Platt, 1994).

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Jolly Roger Grading Sheet Name ___________________________________________________________ Period _______________

For each of the categories below, please rate the performance of each pirate on your crew. Place a number in each of the boxes according to how well each pirate contributed to the success of your Jolly Roger. When you have finished, tally the number of points and place them in the space provided. =1 point=OUCH! This pirate needs serious help. =2 points= Not so good. Needs Improvement =3 points= It’s okay, but they could do better. =4 points= Good! They met all of the requirements. =5 points= Wow! Amazing! Outstanding Job!

Name of Pirate:

Pirate#1

Participation

Effort

Craftsmanship or skill

Pirate#2 Pirate#3 Pirate#4 Pirate#5 Pirate#6

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Creativity

Overall Quality

Total Points: (25 possible)

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Art for Everyone

Create a Pirate Pendant

Middle School/Junior high, grades 6-9 By Elicia Gray

RICH TASK: Briefly defined, rich tasks are lessons that are designed to incorporate cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and social skills that researchers have deemed to be important. They are designed to give students interesting, thought provoking experiences that are memorable and powerful. Because of their diverse nature, rich tasks are suitable for advanced students, as well as students with disabilities.

OBJECTIVES Students will understand and demonstrate the difference between organic and geometric shapes. Students will understand and demonstrate the attributes of pattern. Students will investigate pictures of historic jewelry in order to generate ideas for their own pendant. Students will design and create their own pirate pendant. Students will design and create their own pirate chain. STATE CORE OBJECTIVES Standard 1: Students will assemble and create works of art by experiencing a variety of art media and by learning the art elements and principles. Standard 2: Students will find meaning by analyzing, criticizing, and evaluating works of art. Standard 3: Students will create meaning in art. Standard 4: Students will find meaning in works of art through settings and other modes of learning. MATERIALS: Mat board scraps, Glue, Copper tooling, Liver of

sulphur, finishing nails, scrap wood, spray lacquer, craft gemstones or model magic, copper wire, Magic Metallics, jump rings ACTIVITY

1. Now that students have created a Jolly Roger, they must transform their appearance. They will create a golden pendant, and a pirate bandana, which must be worn at all times in order to receive doubloons. 2. Students will create several sketches of pendant designs. Designs should consist of layered geometric or organic shapes. Students must also incorporate at least one gemstone into their design. Acrylic gemstones may be purchased for this purpose or students may create their own gemstones. If students choose to fabricate their own gemstones, they will sculpt them out of a selfhardening clay, like Crayola Model Magic, and then paint them with a high gloss acrylic paint, followed by a spray gloss finish. 3. Remind students that many pirates stole precious jewelry from merchant ships carrying treasures from all over the world. Students will refer to examples on the Jewelry Poster for inspiration (see

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Jewelry). Encourage students to look for patterns and designs that they could use for their own pendants. After creating a number of sketches and choosing their favorite, students will cut and layer shapes out of mat board. They will attach the smaller shapes to a larger base with white glue. Encourage students to blot away any excess glue with a moist paper towel. Students must also create a center of interest by using contrasting shapes or by introducing a pattern. When all of the shapes have been firmly glued in place, students will place a thin sheet of copper tooling over their design. Using a wooden stylus, students will carefully manipulate the copper so that it takes on the shape of their design. Students will then wrap the excess copper around the mat board and secure it with glue. Finish the piece by gluing another piece of copper tooling to the backside of the pendant. Students will also “etch” a small hidden message onto the back of their pendant. Pierce a hole in the pendant and add a jump ring for the chain. To create an authentic metallic patina, paint with three coats of Magic Metallics made by Mayco. It is okay to mix and match colors. Allow paint to dry after the first two coats. While the third coat is wet or still damp, spray with Magic Metallic patina. Watch as different metallic effects appear. Once students have achieved the desired look, seal with matte sealer to stop the oxidation process. For further details and instructions about Magic Metallics, visit www.magicmetallics.com. Create the pendant chain by coiling various lengths of 20-gauge copper wire in order to form intricate links. By creating a simple jig with finishing nails and a block of wood, students will be able to wrap and twist wire in a myriad of different ways. Using the jig, students may create numerous links that are uniform in size. With a pair of pliers and a number of jump rings, students will then connect the links and attach the pendant. Students may choose to use Magic Metallics or the following method to create a patina on their pendant chain. Instruct students to scrub their chains with a soft, one-inch, natural bristle brush, then wipe them with a clean cloth. Dip the chain into a solution made with one-half cup warm water and enough liver of sulphur to turn the water dark brown. Then rinse the item in cold water to remove the excess black. This should give the chain an antiqued look. Students should scrub away any excess patina until they are satisfied with the appearance of their jewelry. Finish with two or three

coats of spray lacquer. 9. If time permits, then the teacher may choose to further investigate the scientific processes that contribute to the various patina effects.

ASSESSMENT

Using the Pirate Pendant Grading Sheet (see Pirate Pendant Grading Sheet,) students will assess their work. The teacher may also choose to review student work in order to add compliments and suggestions. Students will be required to wear their pendants in order to earn coins.

VARIATIONS Using a variety of old magazines, students may create a collage version of their pirate pendant. If students look for different values and shades in the magazines, they can create interesting pendant designs out of just about any picture. Students may also create 3-D collages by taking old costume jewelry and re-making it. They can paint it, add pieces to it, or adapt it in a variety of ways.

EXTENSIONS If you have groups of fast finishers, or students who wish to extend ideas, you can introduce other jewelry techniques. Making beads and pendants out of clay would be an interesting challenge as well. Students may also create a box or a “home” for their valuable artifact. Boxes should be intricate, and should reflect the detailed nature of the pendant.

The next page shows a small copy of the jewelry images included on the CD. There is a copy like this that can be projected, or individual images that can be printed out and glued to a piece of poster board or a large sheet of colored paper.

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Pirate Pendant Grading Sheet Name______________________________________________________________Period______ Please read the following items carefully. Circle the number of points you think you deserve for each item. When you have finished, tally the number of points and put your total at the bottom of this sheet in the space that says “Your Score”. Please be honest. Thanks. =1 point=OUCH! This needs serious help. =2 points= Not so good. Needs Improvement =3 points= It’s okay, but I could do better. =4 points= Good! I met all of the requirements. =5 points= Wow! Amazing! Outstanding Job! 1.

2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

I completed several sketches of pendant designs in order to plan out my idea. a. 1 2 3 4 5 My designs are composed of layered geometric or organic shapes with at least one gemstone. a. 1 2 3 4 5 My sketches are inspired by Mayan and Egyptian designs. 1 2 3 4 5 a. Please explain how you incorporated Mayan or Egyptian designs. __________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ I cut my shapes out of mat board and glued carefully in order to form a paper mold. a. 1 2 3 4 5 I carefully manipulated copper tooling over the paper mold. a. 1 2 3 4 5 I added an “etched” message to the back of my pendant. a. 1 2 3 4 5 I used a jig to create interesting links for my chain by coiling copper wire. a. 1 2 3 4 5 Student properly connected chain links with jump rings. a. 1 2 3 4 5 I applied Magic Metallics or liver of sulphur in order to create an interesting patina. a. 1 2 3 4 5 What is my overall impression of my pirate pendant? Is it quality work? 1 2 3 4 5 a. Please explain: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Your Score__________________/ 50 points possible

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Art for Everyone

Create a Pirate Bandana

Middle School/Junior high, grades 6-9 by Elicia Gray

RICH TASK: Briefly defined, rich tasks are lessons that are designed to incorporate cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and social skills that researchers have deemed to be important. They are designed to give students interesting, thought provoking experiences that are memorable and powerful. Because of their diverse nature, rich tasks are suitable for advanced students, as well as students with disabilities.

OBJECTIVE(S) Students will understand and demonstrate the difference between organic and geometric shapes. Students will understand and demonstrate the attributes of pattern. Students will investigate pictures of historic batiks in order to generate ideas for their own ACTIVITY bandana. 1. Motivation: Relate the following information, Students will learn and apply techniques of batik and display the items mentioned. Pirates did to create their own pirate bandana. not wear a uniform. Usually, they were poor Students will learn how to use complex equipmen who had simply set sail wearing the most ment and step-by-step processes. durable clothing they owned. Most pirates seem to have worn a scarf or a kerchief of STATE CORE OBJECTIVES: some sort. Scarves were tied around the head Standard 1: Students will assemble and create to keep dirt and dust out of the eyes. They works of art by experiencing a variety of art mewere also rolled and tied around the forehead dia and by learning the art elements and prinas a bandana during battle to keep sweat from ciples. running down the face. Longer scarves were Standard 2: Students will find meaning by analyzworn around the neck as a cravat, or used as a ing, criticizing, and evaluating works of art. sash around the waist to hold up breeches or Standard 3: Students will create meaning in art. to holster weapons. In modern days, a pirate Standard 4: Students will find meaning in works bandana continues to be one of the most imof art through settings and other modes of learnportant identifying characteristics of a seafaring. ing evildoer. Pirate scarves would have been made out of everything from simple cotton MATERIALS: Fabric, Beeswax, paraffin, tjantings, to the finest silk stolen from merchant ships. irons, acrylic paint, old paintbrushes, newsprint. 85

Valuable batiks from India and the Orient may have been used to create these commonly worn items. A pirate costume would indeed be incomplete without the telltale bandana. Show the Batik slide show (see Batik Slide show,) and display a variety of textiles that may have been used to create pirate scarves. Include a variety of batiked fabrics and examples of modern day bandanas. Point out the different patterns and designs that add interest to the fabric. 2. After reviewing modern day examples of bandanas and a variety of patterned textiles, students will design and create their own batiked pirate scarf. Review the history of batik and demonstrate the technique. Students will use a mixture of 50% paraffin and 50% beeswax in order to create a dye resist. Wax should be melted on a small hot plate with teacher supervision. Using small paintbrushes, and tjantings the wax will be applied to pieces of pre-cut fabric. Students must use repetition, variation, and pattern in order to create a pleasing design. Students may choose to base their patterns upon traditional cultural designs or more contemporary textiles. The teacher may hand out the Batik Pattern Worksheet as an added resource (see Batik Pattern Worksheet,). 3. When the designs are complete, fabric will be dyed with diluted acrylic paint. Color may be applied with a paintbrush to give students a bit more control. Pirate crews may choose to have a crew “color” to dye their scarves so that they can better identify their own teammates during competitions. 4. After the scarves have dried completely, remove the wax. Place the scarf in between several sheets of newsprint and press with a warm iron. This process will also help to set the dye. Finally, soak the scarf in fabric softener. ASSESSMENT Students will complete the Batik Checklist (see Batik Checklist,). 86

VARIATIONS Students who have difficulty with this authentic batik experience can try dying coffee filters. Simply add color with water soluble markers to the coffee filter, and then spray gently with water. You may want to place a stack of newspaper underneath the filter, as colors will bleed quickly. You can achieve a similar wax “resist” technique by adding wax crayon to the filter before you begin. EXTENSIONS Have students create sashes or other parts of their costume. Brainstorm how they could create a peg leg, or an eye patch, for instance. What other costume elements make a pirate recognizable? What are these attributes, and can you re-create some of them?

Batik Patterns and Designs

Donahue, L. O. (1931). Encyclopedia of Batik Designs. London: Cornwell Books. 87

Batik Checklist Name ______________________________________________________________ Period ________________ As you complete each of the following steps, place a checkmark in the space provided.

1. Investigate various historical examples of batik from around the world. 2. Identify patterns, shapes, and designs that are appealing to you. 3. Create several preliminary sketches of patterns or designs based on the examples you have studied. 4. With teacher supervision, melt equal parts of paraffin and beeswax in a pot on a hot plate. 5. Stir the wax thoroughly until all of the wax chunks have melted sufficiently. 6. Apply the wax to your pirate scarf with a small paintbrush or a tjanting.

7. Create a pattern by repeating shapes and using variable sizes. Refer to your sketches for ideas. Remember that the designs you draw with wax will appear white at the end of the process. 8. Cover your entire scarf with patterns and designs. 9. When the wax on your scarf has completely dried and cooled, prepare the “dye.” 10. Prepare the “dye” by diluting assorted colors of acrylic paint.

11. Apply the paint to your scarf with a large watercolor brush. Allow colors to bleed together and saturate the entire scarf. 12. Once the scarf has dried completely, remove the wax. Place the scarf in between several sheets of newsprint and press with a warm iron. 13. Soak your scarf in fabric softener. 14. Briefly rinse your scarf, and hang to dry. 15. Wear your pirate scarf in class.

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Art for Everyone

Stolen Treasure

Middle School/Junior high, grades 6-9 by Elicia Gray

RICH TASK: Briefly defined, rich tasks are lessons that are designed to incorporate cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and social skills that researchers have deemed to be important. They are designed to give students interesting, thought provoking experiences that are memorable and powerful. Because of their diverse nature, rich tasks are suitable for advanced students, as well as students with disabilities.

OBJECTIVES Students will formulate an opinion in regards to authenticity, creativity, and originality. Students will attack and defend artworks by conducting a Pirate’s Court. Students will compare and contrast historical artworks with “imitation” artworks. Students will complete a peer critique. Students will research the life and works of van Gogh, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Picasso, and a number of other artists.

Do you know who painted this version of the last supper? What makes it a copy or not a copy?

ACTIVITY 1. Motivation: Equipped with their Jolly Roger and their pirate apparel, students are now ready to set sail. The captain has decided that new crewmembers must practice sniffing out hidden treasures before attacking any ships. 2. In preparation for the next activity, the teacher must enlarge and print the desired STATE CORE OBJECTIVES images shown on the Pirated Images workStandard 1: Students will assemble and create sheet (see Pirated Images,). All of the images works of art by experiencing a variety of art mechosen should show how some artists steal dia and by learning the art elements and prinideas from other artists. Cut the images into ciples. puzzle pieces, mix all pieces together, and then Standard 2: Students will find meaning by analyzplace a handful of pieces in separate packing, criticizing, and evaluating works of art. ages around the room. The teacher may also Standard 3: Students will create meaning in art. choose to hide doubloons or treats around the Standard 4: Students will find meaning in works room as well. of art through settings and other modes of learn3. Give the students two or three minutes to piling. lage the classroom, but warn them not to open the packages, as they are cursed! Some stuMATERIALS dents will madly grab a number of packages Pirated images worksheet, large envelopes and some students will not receive any packImages from CD and web sites ages at all. When the tumult is over, remind 89

4.

5.

6.

7.

students that cargo must be divided fairly among the crew, and the Captain may demand one and a half shares of the plunder! Invite students to open the packages together. Instead of the gold or jewels they were expecting, students will find only fragments of famous artworks—pieces of stolen art treasure. Realizing that the paintings are not worth much in their current state, they must wander the classroom, searching for the rest of the puzzle. Students must identify similar colors, technique, and style in order to correctly reassemble the pieces of the paintings. As the students assemble the paintings, help them to recognize that some artworks are strangely similar… almost as if one artist had stolen an idea from another. Help students to pair the original artworks with the imitation artworks. Place the images side by side and discuss questions, such as the following: What are the similarities? What are the differences? Can all of these creations be considered art? Which pieces are the “real” artwork? Which artist had the original idea? Is it okay for artists to steal ideas from one another? Is there a difference between these artworks and artworks that have been forged? Which artworks should be the most valuable? Which artwork is “better,” the original or the imitation? Inform students that they must search for answers by putting the artworks on trial. In the 18th century, pirates knew that if they were caught they would be sentenced to death by a judge in a courtroom. For fun, many pirates would stage mock trials to entertain themselves on long sea voyages. Students will follow this time tested tradition by staging a mock trial, only this time it will be the artwork in the hot seat instead of a surly pirate. Each crew will be assigned to one of the artworks. Some crews will be given the original artworks, and some crews will be given the “imitation” artworks. Crews representing original artworks will compete against those representing the “imitation” works. In order to prepare for the trial, they must learn more about the pieces they will attack and the pieces they will defend. Crews must complete a detailed Artist Brief Worksheet for their own

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artwork, and for the opposing artwork as well (see Artist Brief Worksheet,). 8. As a crew, students must devise strong arguments for their case based on the information from the Artist Brief Worksheets. In addition, students will critique the works by assuming the roles of a host, a witness, a reporter, a detective, a lawyer, and a judge (see The Pirate’s Court,) Trials will be viewed by the other pirate crews. 9. Motivation: (Optional activity) Pirates who have not been contributing sufficiently will be asked to Walk the Plank! These crewmembers will lose coins for the team unless they complete the plank activity as explained. (see Motivations). ASSESSMENT Teacher will review the Artist Brief Worksheet and award points for quality completion and accurate data. Using the Pirate’s Court Grading Sheet (see Pirate’s Court Grading Sheet,) the teacher will monitor for accuracy and participation by placing check marks in the boxes provided.

VARIATIONS Students who have difficulty with this project may complete a simpler version, sort of like a memory game. Students must be able to figure out which images are similar, and which are different. The teacher can make flash cards of sorts by printing off two of the same images, and then changing one slightly. Students would then have to identify the changes or the differences. EXTENSION(S) Have students create an imitation artwork of their own. They can choose any type of media, and any type of artwork.

Pirated Images

Instructions for the teacher: Choose a number of images from the following list. Use the CD and the web sites to obtain and enlarge the desired images. Before the activity, print out the images and cut them into puzzle pieces. Mix them together in different envelopes and hide them around the classroom. Students must find the envelopes and reassemble the artworks.

Figure 1

Figure 3 Figure 5

Frankenthaler, after the manner of Manet.

Marisol, after the manner of Leonardo. Figure 6

Figure 7

Rivers, after the manner of Rembrandt.

Figure 8

Duchamp, after the manner of Leonardo.

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Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 9

Picasso, after the manner of Velazquez

Figure 11

Figure 13

Figure 10

Figure 12

Fitch, after the manner of van Gogh

van Gogh, after the manner of Hiroshige 92

Figure 14

Comprehensive List of Pirated Images

Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14

Artist Helen Frankenthaler Edouard Manet Marisol Leonardo da Vinci Marcel Duchamp Leonardo da Vinci Larry Rivers Rembrandt? Pablo Picasso Diego Velazquez Rick Fitch Vincent van Gogh Vincent van Gogh Ando Hiroshige

Title of Work For E. M. Still Life with Carp Self-Portrait Looking at the Last Supper The Last Supper L.H.O.O.Q. Mona Lisa Rainbow Rembrandt The Polish Rider Las Meninas (after Velazquez) Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor) It Feels so Good to Take Them Off The Artist’s Room at Arles The Bridge Rain Shower on Ohashi Bridge

Year 1981 1864 1982-84 1495-97 1919 1503-05 1977 1655 1957 1656 1989 1888-89 1887 19th Century

 Gilbert, R. (1992). Living with art. New York:McGraw Hill.  Sayre, H. M. (1994). A world of art. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Some of the above images are copyrighted. All are used according to Fair Use in Education: they are small images of artworks of which no copyright free images exist and are only being used to demonstrate an educational concept to students. For images not in the public domain:

Marisol, Self-Portrait Looking at The Last Supper http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.430.1-129

Larry Rivers, Rainbow Rembrandt http://www.rareposters.com/index.php/rivers-rainbow-rembrandt.html Duchamp, LHOOQ http://sites.google.com/site/sfaambc/

Frankenthaler, For E.M. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_eg2cOtuEbVk/RwlxdIbCclI/AAAAAAAAARI/hZhFdjMVYsE/s1600-h/frankenthaler1.jpg OR, at http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Frankenthaler_Helen-To_E.M. Picasso, Las Meninas (after Velazquez) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/picasso/meninas.jpg.html 93

Artist Brief Name_____________________________________________________Per___________ Please answer the following questions in detail. 1. What is the title of the painting you are investigating? _____________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the full name of the artist who created the painting? _____________________________________________________________________ 3. From what country does the artist originate? _____________________________________________________________________ 4. After reviewing as much historical information as possible, fill in the boxes below with the ten facts you feel are most important with regard to the artist’s life and the artist’s work. Be as specific as you can. Please note that the Artist Brief continues on the back of this sheet. His/Her Artwork

His/Her Life

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

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5.

5.

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His/Her Artwork

His/Her Life 6.

6.

7.

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8.

8.

9.

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10.

Please reflect upon the lists you have made about your assigned artist. What connections can you make between the artist’s life and the artist’s works? How has the artist’s life affected his or her artwork? How might the artwork have changed or influenced the artist’s life? What other links can you make between your two lists?

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The Pirate’s Court: Art Criticism Activity Before the trial begins, each crewmember must be assigned a new court identity. Make sure that each pirate knows what is required of him or her before the trial begins. It may be helpful to provide each pirate with a note card that contains the following information. The judge may choose to call additional witnesses, reporters, detectives, or lawyers from the audience in order to obtain more evidence.

The Host:

Your role is to welcome everyone to the court. You must introduce the artist on trial and the title of the painting in question. Be sure to mention the size and the medium of the work you are presenting.

The Witness:

Your job is to identify what you see in the artwork. As a witness, you can only report on what you definitely see.

The Reporter:

Much like the witness, you can report only the facts. You must also tell the other pirates about the lines, shapes, colors, textures, space, or form that you see in the work.

The Detective:

You must carefully investigate the artwork for hidden clues. Look for ways that the artist has created unity, emphasis, repetition, balance, variety or rhythm.

The Lawyer:

Your job is to interpret the artwork using language that the judge will understand. What is the message of the artwork? What do you think the artist intended?

The Judge:

Your job is to listen and look at all of the available evidence. Consider the testimony of the witness, and the statements given by the experts. Using this information, you must make an informed evaluation about the artwork or artist in question. You must ultimately decide who has presented a stronger case and will walk away with the victory. What is your verdict?

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Pirates’ Court Grading Sheet

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Note to the Teacher:

Motivations

Because middle school is the targeted grade level for this unit, it is helpful to give students an enticing introduction to each project. The following activities are designed to be brief motivational tools. Because they are intended to be introductory activities, it is important to limit the time spent on these activities, or they will consume too much class time.

The Haunted Treasure Cave: Introduction to Aesthetic Experience

In a dark corner of the classroom (or the stock room), design a haunted cave. Each student must experience the terror by handling monkey brains (slimy spaghetti), pirate eyeballs (peeled grapes), pirate cuisine (tuna fish), and so forth. Students will be given only moments to touch, smell, taste, or listen to the items in the haunted treasure cave. Teachers may choose to blindfold students in order to help them more fully concentrate on senses other than sight. Coins will be awarded to crews who safely return from the cave.

Walk the Plank: Consequence for non-participation

A plank is resting either on the ground or 1-2 inches above the floor. Pirates who have been ordered to walk the plank will look through the large end of a pair of binoculars as they walk. This makes it seem as though their feet are miles away; therefore, it is more difficult to balance. Pirates will be timed, and the pirate who receives the fastest time will receive coins. Pirates who fall off of the plank must give up a number of coins.

Marooned: Pirate consequence

Pirates who have been greedy or disobedient were often marooned. Choose one person from your crew who will be left alone on a desert island. These crewmembers will be required to sit alone in different corners of the room for the entire class period. They will be assigned an alternate activity that must be completed by the end of the class period. If they move from their spot, speak to anyone, or do not complete the assignment, then they will lose all of their coins. If they manage to complete all of the above, then they will win coins for their crew and be welcomed back onto the pirate ship.

Mutiny: New leadership

Your crew has noticed that your captain is becoming sluggish and lazy. Out with the old, and on with the new! Draw straws to elect a new captain.

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Art for Everyone:

Adaptations & Extensions Aids & Resources

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Celebrate Abilities Books November 2009

Book Title Susan Laughs* It’s Okay to be Different* Rolling Along with Goldilocks & The 3 Bears The Crayon Box That Talked* Don’t Call Me Special Zoom! Whoever You Are Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon Howay For Wodney Wat I Can, Can You? My Up & Down & All Around Book ABC for You and Me Daniel’s World Hi, I’m Ben!... And I’ve Got a Secret! We Can do It! Someone Special, Just Like You I Just Am Be Quiet, Marina! Keisha’s Doors, An Autism Story And Don’t Bring Jeremy Rules Of Mice and Aliens, An Asperger Adventure My Thirteenth Winter Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key Holy Smoke The curious incident of the dog in the night-time The World at her Fingertips (Helen Keller) My Friend Isabelle Since We’re Friends: An Autism Picture book A Is for Autism, F Is for Friend Everybody is Different All About My brother I Am Utterly Unique Andy and His Yellow Frisbee My Brother, Matthew Ian’s Walk

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Author Willis, Jeanne Parr, Todd Meyers, Cindy DeRolf, Shane Thomas, Pat Munsch, Robert Fox, Mem Lovell, Patty Lester, Helen Pitzer, Marjorie Pitzer, Marjorie Girnis, Meg DeLoach, Kathleen Bouwkamp, Julie Bunnett, Rochelle Dwight, Laura Lambke, Bryan and Tom DeBear, Kirsten Ellis, Marvie Levinson,Marilyn Lord, Cynthia Hoopmann, Kathy Abeel, Samantha Gantos, Jack Eden, Alexandra Haddon, Mark Dash, Joan Woloson, Eliza Shally & Harrington Keating-Velasco, J. Bleach, Fiona Peralta, Sarah Larson, Elaine Thompson, Mary Thompson, Mary Lears, Laurie

In Jesse’s Shoes The Best Worst Brother We’ll Paint the Octopus Red A Very Special Athlete What’s Wrong with Timmy? Different Like Me Mother Goose in Sign All Cats have asperger syndrome When I’m Feeling Scared When I’m Feeling Happy When I’m Feeling Angry When I’m Feeling Sad

Lewis, Beverly Stuve-Bodeen, S. Stuve-Bodeen, S. Flynn, D. B. Shriver, Maria Elder, Jennifer Collins, S. Harold Hoopman, Kathy Moroney, Trace Moroney, Trace Moroney, Trace Moroney, Trace

Layered Curriculum Layered Curriculum is a way of teaching a class of varied abilities and levels a single subject. It involves adapting the basic materials for students who are behind or who have some difficulty as well as those who are ahead or are gifted students. The following diagram can be used to plan lessons. The “regular” student is in the minimal essential, section and then you work out material for those who need extra help in the Adapted sections and material for those students who are ahead in the Advantage sections. You can use this form or approach for all kinds of assignments, and it works for all the slots if you are creative.

For more information about layered curriculum, go to Dr. Kathy Nunley’s web site at http:// Help4Teachers.com.  Although her specific approach is designed for a high school class, elementary teachers can use the basic ideas for the different subjects they teach, designing lessons that include activities, approaches, and material for five different levels of students. You will soon learn which students need help or extended assignments for any given subject. 102

Subject____________________________________________

ED NC O VA TW AD VEL LE

Unit of Study______________________________________ ____________________________________________________

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Taken from Working Together: Tools for Collaborative Teaching • DeBoer & Fister (1995) • Utah Personnel Development Center • Carriage Hill Office Building • 2290 East 4500 South • Suite 220 • Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 • (801) 272-3431 In Utah (800) 662-6624 • Fax (801) 272-3479 • Mark Riding, Project Coordinator

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Useful Websites for Extensions and Adaptations

http://www.kinderart.com/special/ KinderArt® features many activities and lesson plans which have proven successful with children and adults with disabilities. http://adventuresinartstudentswspecialneeds.blogspot.com/ This is a site dedicated to art ideas for children with special needs. There are project ideas as well as simple tool adaptations.

http://snrmag.com/ Special Needs Resource Magazine. Providing information and resources to assist students with special needs. There is a whole section of creative arts, such as music, art, puppets & drama, cooking, and more. Also included are free printables and a variety of information about different disorders. http://www.vsarts.org/x11.xml The international organization of arts and disability. VSA is an international nonprofit organization founded to create a society where people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. There are program ideas, art contests, and resource ideas.

http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/25/the-ultimate-guide-to-special-needs-teaching-100resources-and-links/ Teaching tips and web sites for a number of different disabilities, including blind students, deaf students, ESL students, and more. http://incredibleart.org/ An extensive list of art lessons and activities for various age levels and stages of development. http://www.jacksonpollock.org/ Create your own digital Jackson Pollock painting. Easy online activity.

http://bomomo.com/ This is an easy computer art program for students who may have limited mobility. It would also be used by young children.

Very Special Arts Wisconsin provides art programs for children and adults with disabilities http://robertmaynord.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/sands.jpg

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http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/ Simple mural projects for students. Each mural is divided into different sections that are easy to divide among students. Some murals are for purchase, and some are free. http://www.susanstriker.com/come_play.html Printable versions of the Anti-coloring book. Simple drawing and coloring activities that encourage creativity and variety.

http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/ A children’s craft collective. Some of these projects would be great extension activities for fast finishers or small group activities for centers in a classroom. http://www.crayola.com/ Home to over 1000 coloring pages, crafts and lesson plans.

Examples of a page from the Anticoloring Book 2. Permission: Fair use for education because the copyrighted page is available for download and is a small copy being used only as an example for educators so they understand the resource available

The page asks “What do you think the tooth fairy looks like?” The two examples are by children who are 9 years old.

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Drawing: At the Heart of the Studio Experience

Children, at any stage, are more involved with the process than the product. Encourage the exploration of media and provide ample time for experimentation. Help children express visual information by asking questions (accretion), but refrain from imposing pre-conceived outcomes, e.g., “Tell me about your drawing” rather than “Is that your house?” This not only helps the child develop descriptive language skills but it rewards the child’s creative efforts. Note: the bullets are numbered, not to establish a hierarchy, but to aid in discussion. The Manipulative (Mark-making) Stage (ages 2-5) 1. Children work quickly and spontaneously, often making marks that are placed randomly and overlap with no depiction of space. 2. Children work best with markers, pencils, and crayons, but any media that makes a mark is acceptable, e.g., a stick in wet sand, a house paintbrush dipped in water on a sidewalk. 3. Children enjoy repeating a mark and later will enclose the mark/line to create shapes. 4. Later in this stage children will name their marks and their subject matter is often related to their immediate life experiences and associations, e.g., me and my family. 5. Initially objects are created with one mark or line but later objects are formed by uniting a variety of shapes, e.g., a circle for the head, a triangle for the body and lines for legs. 6. Objects or details are not drawn to scale and those objects with the strongest emotional appeal are often displayed proportionally larger, e.g., head is larger than the body and myself or parent is larger than other people.

Symbol-making Stage (ages 6-10) 1. Initially subject matter is derived from their imagination with later works displaying influences of visual culture, e.g., movies or TV characters, or vicarious experiences, e.g., a recent trip to a dinosaur museum. 2. Children often develop schemas, e.g., a lollipop tree shape, the sun in the corner of the format. Educators can help children recall the facts and features of depicted objects through accretion, e.g., “Does your house have bushes in front of it?” or by direct observation. 3. Initially children will depict objects as floating and unrelated. In the later part of this stage children will organize their drawings by lining up objects along a baseline. Often a skyline is also used within a drawing. Help the child by having them observe real-life situations, e.g., the sky goes down to the ground and objects overlap, and by exploring varying viewpoints, e.g., a bird’s eye view. Realism Stage (ages 11-12) 1. Children become more critical of their art efforts and are eager to learn how to depict objects in a realistic manner. This is an ideal time to introduce perspective, value studies, and other drawing techniques such as rendering textures, figure drawing or facial features. 2. Subject matter is often derived from real life experiences or concerns. Art making often becomes 107

an outlet for emotional and physical stress. Educators should promote themes for art making that involved the social and emotional concerns of the student. 3. Children should be able to master techniques, e.g., adding values to a circle to make it appear as a three-dimensional object and to complete processes, e.g., printmaking, or brainstorming, sketching and composing an artwork. 4. Children should continue to explore and experiment with various media and art forms. In addition to skill development the child should be encouraged to develop expressive qualities, e.g., what mood or emotion does a thick, black line portray? 5. Children can be taught to recognize and transfer compositional/design elements of art by observing masterworks. Art making that combine various elements such as line, value and space with principles such as a emphasis, unity and variety will help the child to understand the relationship of the parts to the whole. Appropriate Motivators: 1. Explore a wide variety of media and formats. Children should use large formats that involve the whole arm and hand in making marks. 2. Choose themes or subject matters that relate to the child’s experience. 3. Encourage individual expression/creativity. Do not promote pre-conceived ideas, i.e., coloring books or pattern work. 4. While there are some specific skill-building techniques that should be learned such as creating a value scale or blending colors, promote the application of the skill within a larger context, e.g., use of low-keyed values to produce a specific mood or feeling within the artwork. 5. Younger children should be encouraged to describe their art making experience. Children should be made aware of the potential of art to create meaning or tell a story. Older children should be encouraged to take an abstract concept such as freedom or happiness and render the concept in a concrete, expressive art form. 6. Help the child to create a visual record of the experiences and images they have encountered. Promote sketchbooks and portfolios. 7. There is little merit in encouraging children of any age to make art with photographic accuracy; rather help the child make a distinction between working for a realistic rendering and the development of skills to heighten their visual acuity. Often creativity is blocked when too much emphasis is placed on technique and skill. 8. Promote a variety of direct observations/accuracy activities with imagination, free-flowing activities. As an educator you should be able to distinguish the need and purpose for both. 9. Provide a stress-free environment for art making. Promote the pleasurable nature of self-expression and the mastery of certain skills. 10. Promote the nature of successful art making while allowing for the option of re-doing or correcting an artwork too. Failure is permanent if children are not allowed to try again. 11. Provide art-making experiences that exercise the imaginative powers and memories of children with the skills of concentration and expression. Encourage the child to brainstorm, envision and produce. 12. Help the child to develop the vocabulary and skills necessary to succeed within their visual culture. Encourage critical thinking, problem-solving and evaluation/judgment skills learned from art making so they can thrive in the consumer, media-saturated world. 13. Promote direct observation when available. Children can observe contour (edges), details and structures easier when viewing an actual landscape, object or figure. 14. Encourage the students to move away from visual clichés to a fresh regard for subjects they may have lived with but never truly examined. 108

15. Reinforce the art skills that promote eye-hand coordination. Allow the children to “warm-up” with sketches, brainstorming, etc. prior to beginning a big project. Most skills, when taught as individual techniques, should be put into the broader concept of art as a process.



Strategies for Students with ADD/ADHD

Lecture less and use the arts as a way to break up instruction or work time into smaller periods. For example, have students get out of their seats and act out a scene from a book. Give students time to draw an illustration for a story. Get up and sing a song or say a rhyme that relates to a topic you’re working on. For students who struggle with writing, allow a picture or display instead of a written report.

Use cooperative tasks such as acting out a scene as part of a group or creating a group art project.

Create work completion routines Provide opportunities for self-correction Accept late work Give partial credit for work partially completed Add interest and activity to tasks Allow doodling or other appropriate, mindless motor movement Use activity as a reward http://www.teachervision.fen.com/add-and-adhd/resource/10503.html

Give extra time for certain tasks. Students with ADD may work slowly. Do not penalize them for needing extra time. You mat be able to get parents to help students finish art projects at home. Use positive feedback and teach student to use positive self-talk such as “I did that well!”

Design lessons so that students have to actively respond-get up, move around, go to the board, move in their seats. Design highly motivating and enriching curriculum with ample opportunity for hands-on activities and movement. Use any of the arts to eliminate repetition from tasks or use more novel ways to practice. Change evaluation methods to suit the child’s learning styles and strengths Set timers for specific tasks

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Disabilities and Art

Descriptions and Suggestions

Intellectual Disability This special population group is identified, classified and given special consideration in art education because of the characteristics of the student’s inadequate adaptive behavior resulting from impairment of intellectual functioning.

Students with an Intellectual disability vary in the levels of impairment ranging from mild to severe to profound. General characteristics of intellectually disabled students could include: • Difficulty learning or understanding language • Slow motor skills • Learning better with concrete rather than abstract materials • Learning concepts in very small units and sequences. • Having a rigidity to learn situations and resist change. • Having a short attention span/ easily distracted. • Needing praise and reinforcement. • Needing built in success experiences. • Require systematic teaching concepts and methodology. • Have a low self- attitude. Things to keep in mind while teaching intellectually disabled students: • Strive for activities that are age and ability appropriate. • Emphasize a comprehensive approach to art • Hand-eye coordination activities are important. • Staying longer on a task or concept until learning takes place. • Repeat instructions and procedures frequently. • Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Art should be integrated into the education program. • Acquiring skills and techniques with art materials • Perception, response and an understanding of art works • Development of a store of images, recognize art works and artists • Reinforce lessons with concrete concepts (tactile or sensory). • Task organization focus on materials and production. • Focus on art elements with emphasis on art fundamentals. • Gross and fine motor muscle development tasks are needed. • Success oriented lessons bolster confidence and self-confidence. • Focus learning on learner, environment, and attitude development. • Break projects into small, specific steps that are manageable for your student. Complete one 111

step and move them on to the next step only after the previous is completed • Use large format tools to make handling easier. Mentally handicapped students have usually not mastered fine motor skills; small tools are not as functional for them. Educable Mentally Disabled This special population is limited to a very low level ability of thinking abstractly. They evidence less ability to function socially without direction than intellectually average peers (I.Q.= 50-70). The learning rate is about ½ that of normal peers. At the elementary level, there is a two-year gap socially. At the Junior High School Level, this gap widens to three or four years or third-fourth grade academic level. At the high school level there may be five or six years difference in maturation or mental age level. Instruction must focus on mental maturation-mental age level (American Association on Mental deficiency or AAMD classification of mild retardation). General characteristics: • Students tend to: • Be capable of being educated. • Learn concretely. • Have difficulty with abstract thoughts. • Have judgments that are impaired. • Be slower than normal at solving problems. • Have no distinguishing physical characteristics. • Have short attention spans and poor memory recall.

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Focus on sensory experiences • Use of manipulation of tools and materials. • Focus on basic shapes and colors. • Development of motor skills in art activities. • Focus on creativity and self-expression. • Success experiences that build self-concept. • Reality orientation activities regarding environment. • Utilize concrete experiences in art (more time needed). • Task should be demonstrated (no recall is presumed). • Art focus on family, seasons, holidays, interests, etc.

Trainable Mentally Handicapped This special population is unable to function socially without close and direct supervision. Most of these students are capable of learning self-care and simple vocational skills and many are capable of learning-simple functional academic skills (I.Q. range of 35-50 corresponds roughly to the American Association of Mental Deficiency or AAMD Classification of moderate retardation). 112

General characteristics: Students tend to: • Be capable of self-help and socialization skills. • Communicate and carry on repetitive routine tasks. • Learn about ½ the rate of a normal peer. • Reach a mental age of six to eight ears in adulthood. • Be passive and slow with gross and fine motor skills. • Not relate wells to space (laterality-directionality). • Not abstract, synthesize or transfer learning. • Have more than one handicap or heath problem. • Have short attention span and poor memory recall. • Be stubborn if a Mongoloid (Down’s Syndrome).

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Emphasis on art fundamentals (elements and principles). • Focus on sensory experiences. • Exposure to and manipulation of materials (bend wire-explore clay). • Acquiring skills and techniques with art materials. • Focus on basic shapes and colors. • Development of motor skills in art activities. • Success experiences that build self-concept. • Reality orientation activities regarding environment. • Utilize task analysis—break task in to sequence sections. • Task should be demonstrated (no recall is presumed). • Art Focus on family seasons, holidays, interests, etc. Neurologically Impaired This special population has experienced a disturbance in normal maturity development of the nervous system in the head and brain area, which are characterized by hard and soft neurological signs. Hard signs refer to physical symptoms or brain injury identified through medical diagnosis. Soft signs refer to specific behavioral indicators such as distractibility, impulsivity, in coordination and perceptual problems that may occur in brain damaged or non brain damaged individuals. These individuals are unable to progress normally in learning situations related to various sensory modalities. General Characteristics:

Students tend to: • Have visual, audio, and tactual motor disturbances. • Be clumsy with dexterity and coordination learning tasks. • Have normal potential and normal ability. • Evidence one or more behavioral disorder—Distractibility, hyperactivity or hypoactivity, preservation, poor fine/gross motor skills, short attention span, speech, hearing and language disorders, compulsive tendencies, disassociation, disinhibition, and wide swings in emotional stability. • Be capable of routine functioning tasks despite handicap. 113

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Utilize all senses in the approach to learning. • Activity analysis approach—lessons into discrete parts. • Dress plainly without flashy jewelry that distracts. • Movement experiences for motor disinhibition person. • Standing and boundary work areas for hyper individuals. • Create standing or movement activities for the lethargic. • Focus lesson on specific needs—awareness of body image, integration of facts or gestalt, motor skills, coordination, form constancy, etc. • Demonstrate more and talk less. • Progress slowly—repeat and reinforce concepts continuously • Observe the learner and provide help as required. • Provide tactile and three-demsional experiences. • Stress art elements and generic principles. DBAE Goals 1. Exposure to art materials, acquire techniques and gain skills with materials. 2. Perception, response, and an understanding of specific art works and artists. 3. Increased understanding of visual metaphors

Perceptually Impaired: Learning Disabled The special population that exhibits a learning disability regarding the basic processes of listening, thinking, speaking reading, writing, spelling, or arithmetic. The disability must have a perceptual etiology without prime reference to sensory disorders, motor handicaps mental retardation emotional disturbances, or environmental disadvantaged. NOTE: These individuals may have visual [perceptual difficulties including visual agnosia (disorder of identification, organization or interpretation of visual stimuli) or auditory perceptual difficulties resulting from inability to select, assimilate or coordinate information (cognitions) and consciously transferring this learning into performance. By definition there is nothing wrong with the motor skills of these individuals. These individuals closely parallel those of the neurologically impaired. General Characteristics:

The perceptually impaired tend to: • Have visual, audio Have visual, audio, and tactual motor disturbances. • Be clumsy with dexterity and coordination learning tasks. • Have normal potential and normal ability. • Evidence one or more behavioral disorder—Distractibility, hyperactivity or hypoactivity, preservation, poor fine/gross motor skills, short attention span, speech, hearing and language disorders, compulsive tendencies, disassociation, disinhibition, and wide swings in emotional stability. • Be capable of routine functioning tasks despite handicap. 114

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Utilize all senses in the approach to learning. • Activity analysis approach—lessons into discrete parts. • Dress plainly without flashy jewelry that distracts. • Movement experiences for motor disinhibition person. • Standing and boundary work areas for hyper individuals. • Create standing or movement activities for the lethargic. • Focus lesson on specific needs—awareness of body image, integration of facts or gestalt, motor skills, coordination, form constancy, etc. • Demonstrate more and talk less. • Progress slowly—repeat and reinforce concepts continuously • Observe the learner and provide help as required. • Provide tactile and three-demsional experiences. • Stress art elements and generic principles. Orthopedically Impaired: This special population needs special art educational programs, special equipment or special facilities to permit normal learning processes to function due to malformation, malfunction, or loss of bones, muscle, or body tissues. General Characteristics:

The ortheopedically impaired tend to: • Have physical impairments that limit physical movement. • Have walking, eye-hand and fine-gross motor control problems. • Be dependent on a brace or restraining device of wheelchair. • Have spastic movement of limbs that limit sensory development. • Have spastic movement of limbs that limit motor development. • Have weakened muscles in hands or fingers. • Create a classroom with multiple handicapping conditions- manipulative, sensory and perceptual abilities. • Require learning experiences that are individualized • Need activities broken down into simplest segments (repetition). • Have tactile insensitivity and require more visual cues. • Require self-help skills and physical independence skills. Appropriate approach for art programming would include:

Self-help and physical independence skills development. • Development of manipulative skills (eye-hand coordination). • Modification of art equipment for learner needs (mobility). • Self-awareness through visual, tactual and kinesthetic art. • Expression of thoughts, feelings, etc. in visual art. • Investigate and talk about the nature and value of art. • Increase understanding of art criticism, properties of art works and make and defend judgments about works of art. 115

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Increase understanding of art history, recognize styles, artists works. Increase understanding of visual metaphors. Understand art process and material (production). Pre-cut materials and conserve vital student energy. Plan a multi-step process for short attention span. Utilize thick utensils and thick materials. Motor control adaptations (body as well as equipment). Physical structuring of the classroom, materials, etc. Classroom must be a barrier free environment for access.

Emotionally Disturbed and Socially Maladjusted Emotionally Disturbed

This special population is defined in the Bureau of Education for the Handicaps definition from Public Law 94-142 Rules and Regulations. Seriously emotionally disturbed: a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance. General Characteristics

Behavior that goes to the extreme, a problem that is chronic, behavior that is unacceptable because of social or cultural expectations, and the emotional disturbance must be shown to be adversely affecting the student’s educational performance to a significant degree. Socially Maladjusted

This special population has a pattern of social-interaction that is characterized by conflicts, which cannot be resolved adequately without assistance of authority figures. The chief malady is the persistent inability to abide by the rules and regulations of a social structure. General Characteristics

Unsocialized, aggressive individuals are characterized by assaultive and destructive tendencies, defiance of authority, inadequate guilt feelings, and malicious mischief. They use profane and obscene language and may lie, cheat, steal, bully and exhibit temper tantrums. Also, over inhibited (retiring) individuals that re oversensitive, shy, apathetic, seclusive, submissive, daydream, overly pleasing, cry easily, too frequent physical complaints and live in fantasy world. Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Individualized instruction to compensate for disability. • Promote emotional expression in a concrete from. • Provide a constructive outlet for release of tension-emotions. • Promote a feeling of self worth, merit and confidence. • Provide a bonding to school environment (display student art). • Increase perceptual and expressive skill levels. • Provide opportunities to develop fine motor skills and abilities. 116

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Provide opportunities to use and care for art materials. Provide opportunities for basic art processes and procedures. Develop a respect for rights and art property of others. Provide opportunities for art exploration and experimentation. Develop the student behavior and art literacy to normal range.

Visually Impaired This special population may be defined from both a legal and educational perspective. From a legal point of view a legally blind individual is one who has visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye without correction. The partially sighted are those whose visual acuity falls between 20/70 and 20/200 in the better eye without correction. From an educational perspective the blind must be taught Braille or require large print books or magnifying apparatus. General Characteristics:

The Visually Impaired individual tends to: • Have limited motion in the eyes. • Have an inability to focus eyes (short period only). • Have an inability to focus eyes (inaccurate perceptions). • See a small detail in work yet fail to see the entire work.

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Involve and respond to personal, tactual, olfactory and auditory experience. • Perceive and understand textural, structural, and many spatial qualities of the environment. • Acquire knowledge of art heritage through tactual exploration from ideas created b other artists. • Acquire knowledge and experience with art elements and design principles. • Used raised lines (colors), textures, or approaches in low relief sculpture. • Exploring their own unique perceptions and experiences. • Investigate and talk about the nature and value of art. • Increase understanding of art history through learning of art periods, styles and artists.

Auditorial or Hearing Impaired The special population with hearing disabilities that range in severity from mild to profound (hard of hearing or deaf). The two categories are defined from two professional perspectives of physiology and education. Physiological point of view is defined by measurable degrees of hearing loss. Educators are more concerned with the degree to which the hearing loss is likely to affect the individuals ability to speak and develop language skills. A hearing threshold level refers to the level at which sound can be heard by an individual 50% of the time. 117

General Characteristics

The Hearing Impaired Individual tends to: • Benefit from individualized instruction. • Focus on lip reading and any hearing yet available. • Development of non-verbal communication (visual) skills. • Require short words and sentences in instruction. • Benefit from light in the teacher’s face. • Benefit if the teacher faces them and talks slowly. • Benefit from sign language if possible. • Ability to observe carefully usually allows the to excel in art. • Art products show much visual awareness of detail, but lack understanding of how part relates to the whole.

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Teaching art to the hearing impared is no different from teaching art to the haring. The Deaf have the same skills, motor control, imagination, creative experiences, and eyesight as hearing persons. If the subject matter of the assignment is within their scope of experience, the deaf can be just as creative as hear persons. It would be wise to show more examples of finished projects at the beginning of the art unit. The examples will help the students visualize and understand the art principles being taught. One picture or project is worth 1000+ words. Remember to work in stages and phrases with a clear step-by-step approach. • The deaf and hearing impaired need a lot of experience with environmental and body awareness because they lack subtle knowledge about themselves and things around them due to lack of hearing informational conversation. • Art activities should start with concrete subjects. Hearing impaired have difficulty abstracting. • Development of a store of images, recognize art works and artists.

Specific Learning Disability The special population with two critical elements or features that are common to all individuals involved; (1) the presence of a significant discrepancy between academic achievement and intellectual ability, and (2) he documentation of evidence that academic problems do not result directly from other handicapping conditions.

Appropriate approach for art programming would include: Remembering that the multiply handicapped may develop rapidly in the early stages of art drawing and need daily experience wit art materials, concepts, history, criticism, and aesthetics. The challenge is to initiate art process and art appreciation with these individuals. Art activities that are two-steps or more; i.e. Printmaking, etc. Sequencing art activities and learning. Communication Disorder and Speech Impairment

The special population with remedial problems in the area of speech and language development are defined as communication disorders and speech impairments. 118

General Characteristics

Communication disorders such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects the individual’s educational performance. Speech is defective when it deviates so far from the speech of other people that it calls attention to itself, interferes with communication, or causes its possessor to be maladjusted. Speech disorders are generally classified into threes primary areas: (1) articulation disorders, (2) voice disorders, and (3) fluency disorders. The speech reception threshold is the decibel level at which a person is able to understand speech. The individual is capable of understanding concepts; however is limited or cannot verbalize. Appropriate approach for art programming would include: • Art becoming a valuable expression and communication tool. • Emphasis on puppetry. • Emphasis on art element and principles. • Emphasis on progression sequences of art organization. • Emphasis on student response to art works (verbalization). • Emphasis on art criticism issues of who, what m why, where, etc. • Development of a store of images, recognize art works and artists.

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Applicable Law

Public Law 108-446 Individuals With Disabilities Education Act 2004 In 1975, Congress passed Public Law 94-142 (Education of All Handicapped Children Act), now codified as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). In order to receive federal funds, states must develop and implement policies that assure a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. In 2004 Congress passed an updated version of IDEA. Public Law 108-446 States that, “Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.”

The additions that were made in 2004 came from research done in schools in the past 30 years while the law had been in effect. They found several areas that improvements were needed. 1. They found that disabled students were not challenged enough and that it was necessary to challenge students to the best of their ability, whatever that level may be. 2. They found that parents and families of disabled students should be more involved with the school to ensure that the proper education is being ensured. 3. That Special Education should be a service rather than a “place where such Children are sent”. 4. Providing of special education services and aids in regular classrooms. 5. Providing better pre-service training and additional training for regular classroom teachers. 6. Focusing on teaching and learning while reducing paperwork and other requirements that do not improve educational results. 7. Using Technology to assist disabled students and to maximize their learning potential.

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Public Law 94-142 In 1975, Congress passed Public Law 94-142 (Education of All Handicapped Children Act), now codified as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). In order to receive federal funds, states must develop and implement policies that assure a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. Public Law 94-142 states that the handicapped are students with mental retardation, severe emotional disturbance, hearing impairments, visual impairments, orthopedic impairments, autism, and learning disabled individuals who by reason of their disability require Special Education. Second, the law states that Special Education means Special instruction to meet the unique learning needs of the handicapped.

Third, the law states that handicapped individuals are entitled to a free, appropriate Public Education in accordance with the Individualized Educational Program (I.E.P.).

What is I.E.P.? An Individualized Educational Program that serves as a management/placement tool that provides the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.

It identifies the individual’s problem. It outlines what corrective procedures will meet the specific problem. It defines what resources will be needed to accomplish the corrective procedures. It establishes what assessment techniques will be used to see if the problem has been met.

In other words, the IEP will guarantee, as best as possible, that the child’s placement will be directly related to the problem. Hopefully this will prevent unhappy situations where we find child and parents undergoing three years of psychotherapy instead of six months in the appropriate perceptualmotor that would have alleviated the problem.

Part of the wording in the law’s description of the IEP uses the phrase “least restrictive environment.” This means that handicapped children should be placed with the non-handicapped to the maximum degree appropriate.

If mainstreaming a child complies with his/her ISP, the child will be mainstreamed for all or part of the day. Both PL 94-142 and section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act are equal protection laws. They suggest that if a discipline like art is available to all children in a community, it must be made available to all children in a community, it must be made available to the handicapped. Where art programs are provided, the handicapped child must be allowed to join in the program.

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Learning Styles

Research has demonstrated that individual students have different learning styles. Some researchers divide students into three basic categories: Visual Learners · take numerous detailed notes · tend to sit in the front · are usually neat and clean · often close their eyes to visualize or remember something · find something to watch if they are bored · like to see what they are learning · benefit from illustrations and presentations that use color · are attracted to written or spoken language rich in imagery · prefer stimuli to be isolated from auditory and kinesthetic distraction · find passive surroundings ideal

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From: people.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learningstyle/styleres.html

Auditory Learners · sit where they can hear but needn’t pay attention to what is happening in front · may not coordinate colors or clothes, but can explain why they are wearing what they are wearing and why · hum or talk to themselves or others when bored · acquire knowledge by reading aloud · remember by verbalizing lessons to themselves (if they don’t they have difficulty reading maps or diagrams or handling conceptual assignments like mathematics). Kinesthetic Learners · need to be active and take frequent breaks · speak with their hands and with gestures · remember what was done, but have difficulty recalling what was said or seen

find reasons to tinker or move when bored rely on what they can directly experience or perform activities such as cooking, construction, engineering and art help them perceive and learn enjoy field trips and tasks that involve manipulating materials sit near the door or someplace else where they can easily get up and move around are uncomfortable in classrooms where they lack opportunities for hands-on experience communicate by touching and appreciate physically expressed encouragement, such as a pat on the back

Other researchers use ideas based on the Myer/ Briggs personality profiles, which is based on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types. Richard Felder is one of the authorities in this field. You can see an interview of him here http://ctl.csudh. edu/SpeakerSeries/Felder.htm However, the real import of learning styles is that students learn differently, and the most effective teachers take those differences into account by teaching concepts in a variety of ways, by varying their teaching style, and by giving a variety of kinds of assignments and using different kinds of activities in class. More specific information about these learning styles is available at http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles. MI.htm#Learning%20Styles%20Explained We know that . . .“Traditional schooling tends to

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favor abstract perceiving and reflective processing. Other kinds of learning aren’t rewarded and reflected in curriculum, instruction, and assessment nearly as much.” Here are some suggestions to make sure you are reaching students with other learning styles:

More information about these seven areas can be found at http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles. MI.htm#types%20of%20Multiple%20Intelligence

Curriculum–Educators must place emphasis on intuition, feeling, sensing, and imagination, in addition to the traditional skills of analysis, reason, and sequential problem solving.

Instruction–Teachers should design their instruction methods to connect with all four learning styles, using various combinations of experience, reflection, conceptualization, and experimentation. Instructors can introduce a wide variety of experiential elements into the classroom, such as sound, music, visuals, movement, experience, and even talking. Assessment–Teachers should employ a variety of assessment techniques, focusing on the development of “whole brain” capacity and each of the different learning styles.” Quoted from: http://www.funderstanding.com/ content/learning-styles

As with Learning Styles, the importance of Multiple Intelligences for teachers is that they need to understand that all students will learn somewhat differently, and to reach all students, the teacher needs to provide assignments that each different type of learner can do easily as well as activities that will stretch the students and help them develop new strengths and ways of accommodating activities and assignments outside their natural learning style. In some classes, particularly elementary classes, the teacher may be able to help individual students understand their strengths and work on their natural weaknesses. Older students may benefit from understanding their own learning styles and intelligences because they can adapt some circumstances and choose classes, and ultimately, an occupation that matches their natural strengths and interests.

Multiple Intelligences is another way to look at how different students learn. This approach was conceived by Howard Gardner and describes seven different ways people demonstrate intellectual ability: Visual/Spatial Intelligence

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence Interpersonal Intelligence Intrapersonal Intelligence

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Art for Everyone:

Adaptations & Extensions Teacher Anecdotes

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From an Elementary Arts Specialist Michael For years I have offered a before- and after-school art program in my Elementary Art classroom for all ages and all abilities because “art is for everyone.” One of my students asked if her little brother could start attending. I told her of course. The next morning she wheeled in a little boy in a wheel chair. Michael suffered from Muscular Dystrophy. He had little motor coordination, palsy and shakes, and no verbal skills. His sister had an uncanny ability to understand and communicate with him. He wanted to learn to draw pictures. I was perplexed and quite sure that I could not help out. He could not hold a drawing tool in his hand. We started by having his sister do the work while he did the problem solving by letting Krista know what colors to use and what shapes to draw and where to put the features in the drawing. The next year Michael’s family got him a computer lapboard with several vocal responses so he could almost talk to me. One morning he motored his new electric wheel chair into the room and with the wildest excited grimace on his face he struggled his hand over the controls of his lapboard, finally pushed the button and a computer voice spoke up loud and clear, “Good morning Mr. Germaine. I have come to make art.” It melted my gnarly old heart. We continued this way for a while until he got a board that had visual symbols and icons that he could manipulate with a stylus attached to a glove on his hand. We hooked up his board to my printer so he could print out his ideas. That year he and his sister did a show in our school gallery. As Michael grew up he continued to make art and even got to where he could compose music with his lapboard. He found it easier to communicate with symbols and images than he could with words. He finally got a customized laptop computer attached to the front of his “hot rod” chair. He would program sounds and noises and speed his way through the hall traffic blasting out questionable bodily function sounds and short clips of his favorite music, which just happened to be jazz. After Michael left our school and went to junior high and high school he continued his interest in computer graphics. Earlier this year I did an art workshop with Michael’s grandmother and her elder cohort of friends at the American Fork Elder Center. While there, I found out that Michael’s interest in computers and art had become full blown and was now his career choice. He is a website designer and working on some collage scholarships. The true talent in art is tenacity and perseverance. Robert Several years ago I was asked by one of the Alpine Districts teachers who worked with the blind to talk to one of her high school-age students who had recently lost his eyes and most of his face in a horrible accident. He was also suffering from deep depression, as can be imagined, and was on suicide watch. He had been a passionate cartoonist and his teacher was wondering if I could help him find some way to again make art. I agreed to try. Although he was still going through reconstructive surgery, we agreed to meet and see what could be done. Robert came to my elementary art classroom and we visited. After discussing his interest in art I thought we should try to draw his cartoon characters on a slab of damp clay. The clay would make his drawn line 3-dimensional. I thought that he could feel the lines and see with his fingers. It kind of worked, but learning to “see” and orient oneself by touch takes some practice. Robert was not terribly 127

satisfied with the process or the product. We spent a lot of time talking about the “seeing” phenomenon and how one looks with their eyes but actually sees with their mind. One can touch with their fingers but they feel with their mind and one can listen with their ears but hear with their mind. Well, the conversations were deep and exhausting, but Robert was very bright and enthusiastically embraced the theoretical. We met frequently, and he began to express interest in trying his hand at full 3-dimensional ceramic sculpture. My graduate school experience was in ceramics and sculpture, so I was at home with the process and the ideas. I didn’t know how to help him except to watch him carefully and give suggestions and advice.

While I was teaching at BYU I had occasion to teach several blind students to work on the potter’s wheel. I blindfolded myself to see what it was like and it worked. Robert and I spent many hours at the potter’s wheels in the BYU ceramics studio, both of us blind and throwing pots. Too help me understand what Robert was experiencing I began to do simple clay sculptures while blindfolded and as my own empathy with Robert’s situation grew, I found that I could give him more support and understanding. Support and understanding is what he wanted and needed, not really instruction. Robert was extremely intelligent and insightful (no pun intended) and only needed the right situation and opportunity so he could teach himself what he wanted to learn. Most of the students I have had fall into this category. My job was primarily that of empathetic cheerleader and to offer technical advice to improve the survivability of his work in the kiln. As our personal relationship grew our sessions became more entertaining and rewarding for both of us. He started sculpting his cartoon characters. At one point he told me how his blindness had opened up a multidimensional world he had never imagined and that by this he had learned much more about the cartoon characters he had invented. Robert had spent summers and a lot of time on his family ranch and had a deep love for horses. I suggested that he expand his sculptural vocabulary and that artists worked best at what they knew. He began to sculpt horses. He got better and more detailed. His horse sculptures were magnificent. A love and respect for the horse was obvious in his work. As Robert’s work developed I encouraged him to exhibit his sculptures and pottery. We started by exhibiting our work together. As his confidence grew he entered shows by himself. He finally began to do solo exhibitions and was represented by a local gallery. As his interest in sculpture grew he wanted to do portraits. One of my personal prized possessions is a portrait Robert did of me working at the potter’s wheel. He had never seen me with his eyes but by using his sight of touch he captured my ragged bewhiskered looks magnificently. He really could see me. Robert went on to finish college and become a guidance councilor for handicapped students for a while and then went on to law school. He now practices law California, is married and has two beautiful children. He doesn’t pursue art as a career, but he successfully used his art experience to find himself. That is a pretty good thing to find.

Life is good.

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From an Elementary Arts Specialist Several years ago I had student who would not talk to anyone while in school. He was capable of speech and communicated normally with his family. I think it was when he was in second grade I began to notice that there were certain classmates he would talk to. Finally, in fourth grade, he would talk to his classroom teacher, but he still would not talk to me until he was in sixth grade. I’m sure his parents had him evaluated, but I never knew why he exhibited this unusual behavior.

However, at first it also affected his performance in my class. I soon discovered that if I took the paper and art supplies to him or assigned one of the students he would talk to do this instead of expecting him to get up and get the supplies like the other students, he would do his work. I also had to be very careful to not let him think I was paying any attention to him. He must have liked art because when he was in fourth or fifth grade he started going to private art classes and won a prize in the school’s annual art contest.

Recently, while observing an art specialist, I noticed she had a student in one of her third grade classes who was just sitting with the paper in front of him but not doing anything. I asked the teacher about him, and she informed me that his behavior was typical. There was a box of crayons on the table for the students to use, so I took one out of the box and set it on his paper and said, “Here, start with this.” And then walked away. When I noticed that he had drawn some things with that crayon, I went over and gave him another one, then repeated this process until the class period was over. Conclusion: It is my opinion that some students, for whatever reasons, are overwhelmed in a classroom setting and just need to experience a “simplified situation” they can handle.

During the years I was an elementary art teacher, I had two students who were mentally under developed. Both of them wanted to draw, but they were obsessed with only drawing one thing. For one student it was cars. However, his ability to draw cars improved.

The other student’s interest changed periodically. At the time the aides and I tried to get both of these children to do the assigned project. However, in hindsight, I think it would have been much better for them if we had encouraged them to do well that which was capturing their interest. And, upon reflection, I think we did figure that out with the young man whose interests varied. Conclusion: Some times we hinder the growth process if we push students faster or beyond their growth capacity. For example, how interested would a young person stay in learning to play the piano if they had to start out mastering Bach? The Army’s challenge is, “Be the best that you can be.” Not every one’s best is the same, but every one’s best should be valued, and celebrated. Motto: Simplify and edify.

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From a Junior High Art Teacher Discovering Student’s Backgrounds I always thought or tried to connect to all of my students that are really at all different academic levels, but I had overlooked some of the more advanced students. I had a particular class filled with a majority of challenged students on both the academic and behavior levels, but I had a few really amazing little artists in there. It was a tough mix, but fun at the same time. I have one student, let’s call the student CJ, who was particularly talented when it came to drawing. CJ’s contour shoe drawing was one of the best I had ever seen come out of my class. CJ was quiet and reserved but interested in the arts. Everything was fine, then one day CJ was just out of my class. So I went to the office and asked what had happened to CJ. The person in the office said that CJ was bored and unchallenged in the class. At first I was hurt and put off by the student’s comments, but I asked more about the CJ’s conversation. I found out that CJ had been taking art lessons for years and had been taught all the basics. I wondered why this student did not come to me and tell me. I could have moved the student to a more advanced art class or given the student more complex assignments, but then I remembered the nature of the student—quiet and reserved to the point of not talking. So I realized it is my job to discover this kind of information. I do a “Get to know you questionnaire” at the beginning of every semester, and now it includes information about the art education background of the student. Now I can find out before I lose a promising student. Students with Learning and Behavioral Disabilities I have a lot of students with learning and behavioral disabilities, and some of my students with those challenges have a hard time focusing during a lecture or demonstration. Once I have gotten to know the students’ particular challenges, I start giving those students a time-out activity, for example, something as simple as coloring pages or spending time drawing their favorite subject. One student I had loved to draw buildings of all kinds, so I checked out a book on buildings for him. When he was having a bad day or just needed a break, he would go get the book out of the cabinet and start working. In doing this, he no longer just left the room or was making loud noises that were distracting. He knew that I cared enough to get him something that he was interested in, so he was easier to work with. He has now gone on to high school, and is still taking classes in art. As far as I know, he still loves drawing buildings, and he can tell you everything about the building too. So, keep a pile of fun books for a break time activity for students who cannot handle the regular class’ schedule. My general educational students like to look at them too, when they are done with their assignments. Using Art in Social Studies/ Geography To teach how to use a map, understand the parts of map and to read a map, one teacher at my school does a real creative assignment where the student has to create a land of their own. They come up with a name for their land and write about the land, for example, “Joe’s Island.” Now the student has to come up with the geographical location for the island and the look of the island. Plus the student must decide who lives there and how the people survive or feed themselves. The student has to draw an image of the island in the style of a topographical map and label all the parts of the map using traditional methods of map making. The students really love this assignment because it becomes a part of them. A simpler version of this assignment would work for upper elementary grades. 130

From a Junior High/High School Art Teacher Grand Theft Auto A student came to my class from California. He was convicted of grand theft auto, and the judge told him he could go to jail or come to Utah—an interesting option. He said that he felt discriminated against in Smith’s grocery store because managers always followed him around. I asked him if he had even stolen anything from Smith’s, and he said yes. I responded, “They aren’t discriminating against you, they are trying to catch you stealing!” I didn’t think I could ever get him to realize that stealing was not right. He always talked about stealing wardrobes from the Mall. He dropped out of school in the middle of the term, and I thought my efforts had failed. However, the day he checked out of school he gave me a drawing he had created just for me, and returned a $100 set of Prismacolor pencils I had loaned him. Then I realized he had never stolen anything from me. Perhaps the seed of trust I had planted had made a difference after all. Gothic Loner Students who struggle or feel disenfranchised are always included in an art classroom. One such struggling and isolated student was known as a “gothic” loner. Although his dress and demeanor were intimidating, he was still just a timid young man and was treated like all my other students by me and by the students in my class. Our art class was a haven. He was always late to class, however, and one day I asked him about it. He said that he couldn’t walk down the halls when other kids were there, because they would always beat him up. The students in my class treated him like an ordinary young man, and we just discussed and shared his artwork along with everyone else’s. Trauma at home One day we were doing a fun group activity that I had spent hours preparing. Everyone seemed to be participating and learning but one student sitting at the back of the room. He had his head down, and didn’t seem to care or want to participate with his group. I slipped back behind him and said quietly, “I can tell you had a bad night. Not enough sleep?” He looked up at me and said, “My parents were fighting. I think they are going to get a divorce. So I slept in the car. But I really didn’t sleep that much.” “I’m sorry,” I replied, feeling overwhelmed with compassion for this young man. “I hope you will be okay.” I really didn’t know what to say. “I will,” he replied. “Thanks for caring.”

Under some circumstances, schoolwork is just not that important. The trauma some children deal with is overwhelming. Sometimes school is just a safe place to come. Through inclusion and caring, I attempt to make my classroom into a safe haven for all my students.

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From a High School Art Teacher As a high school teacher art teacher I have probably had between 12-15 UCBT students in the last 5 years.  Usually I give them the same assignments as the other students, but if it is too difficult for them, I give them examples, and spend more time explaining how to do the assignment. One of the students I had in my painting class was autistic.  He would get extremely frustrated when his paintings did not turn out looking like he wanted them to. Sometimes he would paint over and over his work, and never feel like it was good enough.  I explained how to do a grid on his canvas, and a grid on the reference picture or photo that he was using.  This made all the difference for him.  He was so much happier with his work, and felt like his proportions were right and his paintings looked like he wanted them to.  The first painting he did using a grid was a self-portrait painted from a photo of himself. It ended up looking just like him, and he was so pleased! I usually don’t let my painting students use grids more than once a semester because I don’t want it to become a crutch for them.  With this student it worked out great though. Right now I have two students in my painting class that need extra help but would not be able to use the grid idea. They are very happy to try different mediums.  Some days they work with watercolors, and sometimes with tempera paints or acrylics.  I offer them ideas or pictures to look at for their paintings, but usually they are both happy to paint from their imagination.  I have taught them how to clean up their brushes and paints, and they are very careful to always clean up after themselves.  I enjoy having them in my class, and the other students are always willing to help them in any way that they can.

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