The first part of the unit takes place in the museum. The partnership that the Yale British Arts Center has with Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School gives us the chance to visit the museum with the same class for three trips during the school year. Scheduling of the trips depends on a lot of factors, but we try to schedule the trips fairly closely together so as to allow students to get comfortable with the museum, the artwork and their own interpretations of the artwork.
A Note on the Viewing Method
Students are led through their museum visits in a method of open discussion introduced to New Haven teachers through the Yale British Art Museum and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The teacher’s role in the discussion of the paintings is really that of a middleman; the teacher helps the students to respond and discuss their observations without any interference. By beginning with the phrase “What do you see here?” teachers are inviting students to make their own observations and draw their own conclusions based on their own viewing. Basically all of the students have some feeling or point of view about what they are observing. It is simply the teacher’s role to help them communicate what they feel, think or see. Simply repetition, paraphrasing and questioning allows teachers to do what they naturally do in class on a daily basis; strive to help students realize and share their own potential and abilities that make them individuals. There will be more said on the method in the first lesson plan presented later in the unit.
Objectives
The objective of the museum visits is to introduce students to the museum atmosphere, encourage them to make their own oral and written interpretations of the work, and build a comfort level in the interpretation of visual art.
Procedure
During the first day visit to the museum one of my main objectives is to get the students to understand what is expected of them in the museum (behaviorally). Some of my students have never been to a museum, so part of the learning here is on the museum atmosphere. Students need to know to keep their voices down. They need to know that the artwork and the walls are not to be touched. They are given a brief overview of the museum, what is on which floor, who is in charge, who the security guards are and why they are there. They need to know that gum chewing and eating or drinking are absolutely out of the question. Sometimes they are introduced to the director or curator of the museum and they are welcomed. Students are also introduced to their first piece of artwork during the first museum visit. Students sit in front of the work, observe quietly for a few minutes and then are asked to share their feelings on the work. I ask probing questions to get the students to share their thoughts; what do you see? What makes you say that? Does anyone see anything else? What else do you see? What is this? What do you think this is? Why? Does anyone else see that? Does anyone else see anything different? All the students’ comments are welcomed and encouraged. No answer is wrong and no answer or interpretation is any better or worse than any other. When we get back to the classroom I take photocopies of slides of the artwork (provided by the museum), frame them on construction paper and hang them on the wall. We talk about the artwork again in the class.
The second scheduled museum visit goes very much like the first one. Students are just given brief reminders of museum etiquette and expectations before leaving the bus to go into the museum. During the second visit we are able to see three or four paintings and the oral interpretation of the artwork proceeds as it did on the first day. When we return to the classroom, I again display the photocopies on the wall of our classroom. Students are encouraged to talk about the work and add anything that was not touched on in the museum.
The third visit to the museum proceeds in the same manner as the first and second visits with students interpreting artwork and voicing their opinions of several aspects of the work, except that on the third visit, when they are responding to the last painting, students are given clipboards with paper and pencils and asked to take notes on their feelings and interpretations of the artwork. The last sets of paintings that we view are portraits. We hold off on the discussion of the last painting. When we return to the classroom all of the paintings that we examined during this visit are again posted on the wall of the classroom. Unlike the conclusions of the other museum visits, this time I ask students to write about their portrait based on the interpretations that they noted in the museum. They are to become that person in the portrait they chose. We review first-person point of view and review the portraits that we viewed. Students are asked to imagine what kind of person was in the portrait and write a first person introduction of one of the paintings to share with the class. This writing takes place in their journals and should be about one page. Students may need to finish their monologues at home.
When students have completed their creative monologues, I ask them to share their work with the class. Students stand next to the artwork in the classroom and read their interpretations to their classmates.
A Note on the Writing Process
For a student to truly understand how to write and how to develop his/her own writing style he/she must go through the process of writing. Whenever my students are asked to write something they must go through several steps before getting to a first draft. The production of any piece of writing goes through several stages or steps;
Brainstorming
: Usually done as a class, brainstorming takes place when we pool our ideas on a topic. Usually I will have a student write the ideas on the board while the others share their ideas.
Quick Write
: This is when I give the students an idea, perhaps one that we came up with in brainstorming and ask them to write a few quick sentences about the idea. The students are thinking a little bit deeper about their topics at this point.
Graphic Organizer
: Once we know what our focus will be, a graphic organizer helps us to get more details organized before we begin to create a draft.
Teacher rubric
: These are my instructions. Students should always be given a rubric before they begin writing a piece. A rubric gives clear instructions to the students as to what you, the teacher, expect from the students.
First draft
: Students create their first draft or “sloppy copy.” Students need to know that a first draft is for editing.
Peer edit
: Students check each other’s work. Often the students need to know exactly what they are expected to check, i.e., grammar or content or both. One or two students may check a single copy.
Second draft
: Students rewrite their first drafts based on the input their classmates have given them.
Teacher edit
: After the second draft is written, the teacher makes corrections to the draft and gives it back to the student.
Final draft:
The students’ final publishable copy.
While I do try to follow all of these steps in the writing process, the one exception to this procedure is journal writing. I use the journals for a sort of expanded quick write. My focus in the journal writing is not on grammar and punctuation, but on content. Journal writing is a good way to let students get their feelings and ideas down without thinking too, too much. As a writer, I think that this type of exercise is also important for the development of a student’s writing. Journal writing is not as complex as the writing of essays or publishable material, but is without a doubt a worthwhile endeavor. Sometimes parts of the writing process will be used in journal writing (brainstorming, quick write) but rarely are all the steps followed in this type of writing. In this unit, the museum monologues and the Thurber fables will be written in journals. The Poe tale and the autobiographical piece at the end of the unit will follow the writing process, although the details of the process will be omitted in the writing of the unit.
Student Assessment
Students will be told before the writing begins that they will be given a grade for their work. It will not be graded for grammar and/or spelling mistakes. In fact, I will not collect the work, but they will be graded on the basis of the creative story rubric that will be given to them at the beginning of the writing section of the third visit. The criteria for the evaluation will be based on five points:
-
1. Student’s monologue displays his/her own interpretation of the work.
-
-
2. Student’s monologue displays his/her eye for detail in the work.
-
-
3. Student uses sensory details in monologue
-
-
4. Student shares work with class
-
-
5. Student welcomes discussion/interpretation from classmates.
Students will be encouraged to share in their interpretations of both the artwork and the written work of their classmates in an open forum after everyone has read their individual pieces.