Melody S. Gallagher
For the purpose of this unit, I plan to teach these lessons to fourth grade students to expose them to three different artists and media representing character. By teaching the lessons in a sequential order, students can experience a variety of models for depicting character in artworks. These lessons, however, may be used individually or with slight modifications, with higher grades through the high school level. Each lesson should take a minimum of six sessions: one day for introduction, one day for developing a character, two days for creating their artwork, one day for revisions, and one day for closure. Pacing may vary if individual classes need more time on a particular concept or step within the process.
Lesson Plan #1: Hanoch Piven and how we see ourselves
For the first lesson, I will introduce Hanoch Piven and his artwork by reading students the book: My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks. In this book a little girl draws a picture of her father on a piece of notebook paper. It is drawn with pen and looks like a stick figure. The type of drawing is an example of a typical young child's depiction of a person. The little girl goes on to say that you cannot tell who her Dad really is in her picture and begins to describe him with similes and objects. When you turn the page there is a new portrait of her dad in which all of the facial features are made up of the objects she used to describe her Dad. In the book, we see her mother, brother, baby sibling, and dog's character traits all described with objects. At the end of the book she describes her own character traits and creates her own self-portrait. It is interesting to note that when describing her family members she lists only a few characteristics; however, when she describes herself she lists three pages of ways to describe herself! I will discuss with students how we know ourselves very well, much better than we know anyone else, and that when describing one's self one can list many characteristics. I have read this book to students before and they love this story. They remain completely engaged, laugh throughout the reading, and are able to apply the concepts immediately.
After reading them this book I will assess students' knowledge of how to show character traits in artwork by using objects and creating simile sentences. I will write a variety of character traits on post-it notes and set up a table with objects. Students will gather around the table and pick a character trait that can be described with an object. As they place the post-it note next to the object, students will be instructed to say, "I am as… (insert character trait on post-it) as… (insert object). An example would be: "I am as curious as a detective and the object would be a magnifying glass." Or, "I am as sneaky as a snake and the object would be a toy snake."
The next step in guiding students is to have them use the four steps of art criticism to analyze the characters in Hanoch Piven's artwork. For this portion of the lesson, I will color copy pages from his book What Athletes are Made Of and have students write written responses in small groups to analyze the characters. In this book, Piven depicts famous athletes with objects. Each page has information about the athlete that students will read to interpret why he chose the objects that he did to create the portraits. On the bottom of each page there is a bit of information that gives "clues" as to why particular objects are used. I will tell students that they are "art detectives' and must read the clues carefully to figure out why Piven chose particular objects. For instance, Piven chose to use an orange golf ball for the nose of one athlete who is from Sweden and played golf in the snow. The "clue" at the bottom of the page tells the reader that she used an orange ball so that she could find it in the snow.
Students will then begin to develop their ideas for their own characters. I will provide students with a self-portrait character sheet to guide them in this process. They will create simile sentences using character traits and objects to express who they are. They will begin to answer the essential question: How does an artist view him or herself and how do they express this in an artwork? I will have a variety of objects for students to use for their artwork and students will also have the option of bringing in their own objects from home. To keep the objects small enough to fit into their composition, I will provide students with a small bag to bring in their objects that they wrote about and to use in their artwork.
After students have filled out their character sheet and gathered their objects, I will demonstrate how to experiment with creating their portrait. As students independently work, I will discuss with students individually if their objects relate to their character traits, and if they want to use all of their objects or change any to depict their character traits in their artwork in such a way that a viewer would be able to interpret why he or she used the objects. They will be provided with time to revise their work based on peer evaluations and one-on-one teacher meetings.
As students complete their portraits they will photograph their work. This basic introduction to photography will allow me to assess their familiarity with taking photographs. This is important, as the third lesson will incorporate photography and photography techniques.
Students will then write a written description of their self-portrait. I will tell students that we will be making our own class book What East Rock Students Are Made Of, based on Hanoch Piven's book What Athletes Are Made Of. This written piece will be used in conjunction with the portrait they created for the book. Students will use their character sheet as the basis for writing in paragraph form the description of themselves.
Last, students will be given color copy examples of Piven's character portraits from his book Faces. They will use the four steps of art criticism to compare and contrast their own artwork with the work of Piven. This will allow me to assess their ability to compare their own work critically to the work of a famous artist.
Lesson Plan #2: Kara Walker and how others see us
For the second lesson students will learn about Kara Walker, the history of silhouette portraiture, and create a silhouette portrait. In this lesson they will be creating an artwork of a peer that expresses their character only using body gestures while developing their written ability to respond to artworks.
Students will be introduced to silhouette illustrations by being read the book, The Shape of Me, by Dr. Seuss. I will discuss with students the history of silhouettes as well as the use of them as illustrations for literary works, and in contemporary advertisements such as the ipod ad. After this brief introduction, I will introduce Kara Walker and her artwork. It is important to note that not all of Walker's artwork is appropriate for young students. I will carefully select portions of her artworks and particular depicted characters for the purpose of this lesson. As a whole class I will have students use the four steps of art criticism to analyze her artwork. Students will be asked to focus on the characters and through describing them and analyzing the artwork, make attempts to interpret what Kara Walker was trying to say about the characters.
Students will then work in groups of two and complete historical background worksheets about one another. These worksheets will focus students on gathering information about a classmate's character. My students live in many different neighborhoods within the district and many are new arrivals from different countries or first generation citizens of the U.S. The worksheets will focus students on learning more about each other with the hope that they will also realize that they are all very similar in many senses. Some questions would include: Where are you from? What is it like there? Who do you live with? What is your favorite food? What do you like to do for fun? What do you want to be when you grow up? What are you scared of? What do you love more than anything else in the world? What is your favorite thing in your house? Where do you like to go in your neighborhood? What do you like to do for fun? Do you play sports, what kinds?
These worksheets provide a good opportunity to create a Venn diagram on the board. Students can then see how similar or different they actually are, what they have in common and what makes them stand out as individuals.
After completing the worksheets, students will work with their partner in creating a silhouette that can describe them through body gestures and movements. They will be given time to revise their work, have one-on-one teacher meetings, and peer critiques of their work.
For closure students will display all of their work and engage in a whole class critique. They will use the four steps of art criticism to make judgments about their peers' work. They will be asked if they are able to identify which classmates are depicted in the artworks and to describe the parts of the artwork that act as "clues" to the subject's character.
Lesson Plan #3: Cindy Sherman and how we would like to be seen
For this lesson, students will be creating character photos. They will learn how to write a description of a character and then how to express their character with the use of objects, props, body gestures and facial expression in a photograph.
To bridge the second and third lessons I will first discuss with students how silhouettes were used before photography was invented. I will introduce students to the work of Cindy Sherman and discuss how she transforms herself into a character in her photographs. As a whole class we will discuss her use of props and costume and how they help the artist transform herself into a character and help the viewer interpret what they see. Students will view some of Sherman's untitled film stills series, which can be found in the book Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills and some of her transformative work from her book Cindy Sherman: A Play of Selves.
I will then discuss with students the various ways of developing a character. We will look at examples of comic book characters that transform themselves such as Superman, the Hulk, Spiderman, and Wonder Woman. I will also discuss other characters from fiction that students may want to transform themselves into and discuss examples of costumes, props, and facial expressions that may help the viewer interpret these characters. Students will be asked to focus on the question: If I were to be anybody, who would I like to be? Another way to approach this is by asking students what they would like to be when they grow up.
To develop his or her own character, each student will write a description of his or her character based on the character analysis techniques discussed above. For the purpose of this unit, and to bridge visual arts and literacy, students will pick a character from fiction or a historical character that they have read about previously. Students will describe their characters physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially by writing a dialogue between their characters and themselves.
I will then meet with students individually to discuss how they want to portray their characters and what attributes are most important. I will discuss with them the importance of posture, pose, gesture, facial expression, costume, makeup, lighting, and props.
I will then introduce photography as a medium. Students will learn about camera angles and lighting and how it can change the mood of the photograph. They will experiment with taking photographs and practice the facial expressions and body gestures that they want to use in their compositions.
Students will then bring in their costumes and props and take a series of photographs. In each photograph the character's posture, pose, expression, costume, and props should be slightly different. Different poses, expressions, costumes, and props will yield different effects. Students will be allowed time to experiment with creating the desired effect and visual character description in their photograph.
Students will then analyze their photographs to determine which one describes their character best. They will have peer critiques and one-on-one teacher meeting to discuss the interpretations that the viewer has of their artwork.
Last, students will use the four steps of art criticism to compare their work to the work of Cindy Sherman.
Closure for the Unit
An important part of every unit is the closure of the unit. The closure for this unit will allow for me, as the teacher, to review important points of character development, analysis, and depiction in artworks with students. It will also allow for students to see the continuity between each lesson's objectives.
I will ask each student to pick one of his or her artworks from the unit to use in a final display. Students should be able to provide an argument for why they are choosing the artwork as their best work. Displaying student's art gives each child a sense of pride in his or her work and I feel is important to do as part of every unit.
At the close of the unit, students will have a better understanding of how an artist can develop his or her ideas for depicting characters in artworks. They will understand that an artist can use a variety of techniques and media to create his or her artwork. Because of the ways in which this unit uses both literary and artistic analysis techniques, students will have, hopefully, become young critical thinkers of art, literature, and ultimately, the world around them.
