The final section of this unit is meant to bring the unit together through the utilization of the art classroom. While Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School provides an excellent setting for this part of the unit, it is not totally necessary to use an art classroom to complete the unit. All you need is the supplies; some paper, paints, chalk, charcoal, pastels, pencil and whatever else you think your students might need to create their self-portraits. If there is an art teacher in your school willing to help you with the final section of the unit it will surely be an asset. This section of the unit should be fun for the teachers and students and hopefully will help students to make some discoveries about themselves.
Objective
In this section of the unit I want my students to be able to create a self-portrait and an autobiographical essay to accompany the piece. I want them to draw some conclusions by looking at the self-portraits of both Thurber and Poe and to make connections between the art and the writing that these artists produce. I hope that my students will once again be able to see something of themselves and make connections between their writing and their self-portraits.
Procedure
We begin this section of the unit by examining some self-portraits as a class. We will spend a class period simply looking at self-portraits and making observations and drawing inferences as to what we see. We will look at self-portraits of artists such as Van Gogh and Picasso as well as writers such as Dylan Thomas, Tennessee Williams and others. Finally we will look at the self-portraits of James Thurber and Edgar Allen Poe. Students will once again reveal what they know about the author/writers and I will ask one student to come up, hold up the portrait and say a few words as if he were that author. There is always at least one student ready to take a chance. Once the student has said his piece on Thurber, Poe or any of the other artists, I will explain to them our goals. We will create our own portraits and write a brief autobiographical piece on ourselves. The piece will be set in the future, as if the author/artist’s life has been a long and prosperous one.
Basically students need the tools for this part of the project and then they will be on their own. First students need to decide what medium they will use (watercolor, pencil, etc.). Immediately they are putting a part of themselves into the work. Their choices will eventually tell something about themselves. The students will also need mirrors. Ask students to do a really rough draft first before beginning on the self-portraits. They can simply use pencil or crayon on smaller paper for their rough draft, but they do need to have an idea of where they are headed with the self-portraits. Once they’ve done their rough drafts, they should be given the materials they need and set to work.
The second section of this part of the lesson, the autobiographical essay, can be taking place simultaneously if the art section is done in an art classroom. Students can brainstorm titles for their essays, quick write a few important points, and then utilize the graphic organizer and teacher rubric to complete the assignment. Drafts, peer editing and teacher editing as mentioned before should be utilized on these essays.
Final copies of the essay can be typed and stuck to the back of the self-portraits. Students should share their work with the class and final products should be displayed in the classroom.