Wednesday, October 10, 2007
How to bring literacy into the Art classroom...
Art and literature are natural companions. By introducing a work of art in an art classroom, it motivates students to use descriptive language. Students become engaged in the studies of both art and written language. Before the introduction to the work of art I would first pose the following questions to the students to begin the lesson: What is a description? When do we describe things? What are some of the reasons that we describe things? What kinds of words might you use to describe this room? By using these questions it would initiate a group discussion of description, describing words, and descriptive writing. Then I would provide the students with an overview of the objectives for the lesson, for example, "Today we will be using what we know about describing words to describe a work of art. We will identify and describe the artistic elements (line, color, shape, mood). This will help us to see the importance of using descriptive language when we write." Then I would introduce the work of art, for example, Violin and Guitar, by Pablo Picasso. I would then model a description of what I see in the art work. I might comment on the shapes, color, lines and the size. After modeling, I would then ask the students what they see. After a few responses, I would ask them questions to focus students' descriptions on the four artistic elements: color, shape, line and mood. What colors do you see? Can you see any shapes that the artist has drawn? What are the lines like? How does this painting make you feel? Then I would introduce another piece of work and have the students write descriptions using descriptive language. Then I would have them exchange writings with a partner, and have the partner read the description and then have them draw a picture that matches the written description. As a class we would then compare the art works paired with the descriptive writings and as a group have a final critique.
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2 comments:
i love some of the questions that you came up with for the students regarding art, like how does this art make you feel, and what descriptive words would you use to describe the art. you put a lot of thought into this post, clearly, but i find that a few of the comments are a little repetative. and personally, i dont really care for sitting down and writing answers to specific questions about art. i much prefer the idea of a group discussion, maybe have them round robin their initial reaction to the art, then throw a question out there for the class (seated in a circle) and just let them bounce ideas and thoughts off each other, every now and then directing them in a new thought process rather than allowing such little right of expression by having them answers very particular questions, which i feel will merit many one or two word answers from the un-enthused.
I never considered art and literature to go hand-in-hand, but now I do and I get what you mean. I will be teaching English and I plan to incorporate art into the class sometimes -- I think language can help describe art and art can help describe langauge. Both art and literature are creative ways of expressing ideas so I definitely agree with after reading your post that art & lit go hand-in-hand.
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