The closing credits of
West Side Story
use city walls covered with graffiti. Upon mural paper the students will re-enact the experiences of writing on city walls.
Objectives
Students will
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1. Create a graffiti wall using their own name or personal symbol.
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2. Examine their own understanding of the film as a source of inspiration.
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3. Listen to the music from the soundtrack as an effective motivation.
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4. Make connections between the characters and cultures depicted in the film to their own lives.
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5. Focus upon cultural differences and similarities between New York City in 1950 and New Haven in 2001.
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6. Express through their name/symbol and other visual means their emotional response to the film.
Procedures and Materials
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1. Students will draw on the large scale mural paper their responses to the film.
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2. Using magic maker, paint, and mixed media such as pastels, crayon, chalk or cray-pas students will work on the mural wall as a group.
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3. Discussion of the names and symbols will be further explored through specific questions:
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a. What do you think about the names Jets and Sharks?
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b. What name might you choose instead?
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c. What are the reasons behind forming a group or gang?
The mural will be on the wall and worked on over a period of several weeks. As other lessons in the unit progress, students may wish to return to the mural and make changes or additions.
Evaluation
As the mural evolves our discussion from the film and it's Puerto Rican/ Anglo conflict will be broadened and the use of other languages besides English and Spanish will be encouraged. Issues of color, line, and form will be spoken and ways to unite the overall composition of the mural wall will be talked about. Two evaluations will take place on the graffiti wall, one in the beginning and one after the five lessons are completed. (3 class periods for mural creation).
