Here is where you can find parts two and three of the art mini-unit.
At the end of the year, it is often a struggle to come up with content that is compelling enough to keep our students’ attention. I am always looking for something to “freshen up” my approach or move us outside of my windowless classroom. This year, our art teacher turned her room into a gallery and invited the entire building to visit. This was the perfect opportunity to expose students to art, artists, and attitudes.
I created a mini-unit for my level 3’s that just briefly touches art. Normally, if I teach a topic that isn’t a story, I go narrow and deep into that topic. However, this is art. I could teach years and not even brush the surface of the art world! So I decided that skimming the surface is better than no exposure at all.
BLACKOUT POETRY…WITH A TWIST!
I began the first day with Blackout Poetry. La poesía censurada is something that I have wanted to incorporate for a long time, but for whatever reason, I haven’t. For me, the purpose of Blackout Poetry is twofold: 1.) a reason to reread a text (the more they read, the more they acquire!) and 2.) a stress-free opportunity to produce language. I copied and pasted a text we had already read and were familiar with into a Google Doc. I removed all the paragraph breaks and indentions so that we had a page of 100% text. Before handing out this document, (or try here if that link doesn’t work!)I informed students that they had to think creatively today and that no one would earn full credit on the assignment if they talked to a neighbor. I wanted them thinking in Spanish about what they were doing.
THE TWIST!
Since students had recently completed Blackout Poetry in their English classes, and since I wanted them thinking at a very basic level about art, I added a twist. Their blackout poem had to have a corresponding image drawn onto their page. They also were given the option of adding color. The results were amazing!
I in no way wanted to penalize them for their (lack of) artistic ability, so my rubric was super simple. Five points for following directions, 5 points for a poem that made sense, and 5 points for including a drawing. You could say that I designed this activity so that everyone would receive an A… and you would be right!
WORD ART
After searching the iFLT/NTPRS/CI Facebook group page, I came across another idea that I could use on day 2. This lesson needed to be super simple because I was at a conference all day and wouldn’t be available for students to ask clarifying questions. So I used AnneMarie Hayes’ idea to create word art. If you search ‘art’ in the Facebook group, her post is one of the first that comes up.
Our results were not quite as great as AnnMarie’s because the examples I left for them were printed onto their directions… which were black and white. So instead of using a yellow pencil to fill in the space of a yellow tee with the words yellow tee yellow tee yellow tee, they used a #2 pencil to write those words.
So, admittedly, not my best effort. But, the students ran with my directions and did not have the opportunity to ask me any questions. That happens from time to time. I create an assignment for a sub that I think is crystal clear, only it’s not! I realized that it was clear to ME because I was the one who knew what I wanted. Live and learn. This is an easy lesson to fix for next year.
