SOUTHWEST CULTURE THROUGH ART:
UNIT AND LESSONS
LIST OF UNITS FOR SIXTH GRADE
* Cultural Benchmarks--Small Group Collage
* Pottery
* Woodson originally designed the unit and lessons, using Dunn's (1995) Curriculum Navigator.
Lesson 1. Cultural Benchmarks--Collage
THEMES- The following theme(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* Cultural Benchmarks (characteristics) that will allow us to relate to art and life of ancient peoples who lived in the southwestern United States
CONCEPTS- The following concept(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* What is culture? A complex system of behaviors, beliefs and artifacts. Culture is a struggle of ways of thinking, ways of believing, and ways of valuing.
* How is culture reflected through art?
* How to use the ten benchmarks of culture as a format to understand cultures other than our own. These cultural concepts are food, sports/games, housing/architecture, clothing, music, religion, language, government, art, and education.
OBJECTIVES- Students will:
* Identify ten cultural benchmarks that every civilization has.
* Identify the way culture binds people together.
* Discuss the way cultural concepts expand and bring art into a sharper focus.
* Make a well designed collage by choosing pictorial examples of 10 cultural benchmarks, cutting them out, and gluing them on a piece of cardboard.
* Present results to class by discussing criteria.
INSTRUCTION- The teacher will:
* Lead a brief discussion on each cultural concept and expound on its vivace existence in today's society.
* Divide the class into working groups (5-6).
* Explain the collage project that each group will look through magazines to find pictorial evidence of ten cultural concepts, cut out examples, collage them on cardboard to show understanding of the concepts.
* Direct each group to give a verbal presentation explaining,their choice of pictures to the class. It is often necessary to demonstrate to the students some basic speaking skills; Look at the audience, speak clearly, use hand gestures, etc.
PRODUCTION- Students will:
* As a group, complete a well designed collage of magazine pictures that represent 10 cultural concepts.
* Present pictures in a format that unifies images to produce a visually pleasing collage. To unify a design, repeat color or shape and to vary a design, include different sized images.
* Work in groups to describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate images that present cultural concepts.
* Verbally identify and explain how each picture relates to a given cultural concept.
EVALUATION- Students will be evaluated by:
* Participation in class discussions and cooperative-learning groups.
* Creation of a well designed that has all 10 cultural benchmarks represented.
* Recorder's report of the cooperative-learning assignment.
* Teacher review of narrative-collage assignment.
MATERIALS- The following materials will be used for this lesson:
* 12 X 18 tag board
* Rubber cement
* magazines from a variety of sources.
The following resources will be used for this lesson:
* Reproductions of works by Picasso and Braque.
LESSON ASSESSMENT- Notes about this lesson for future reference:
* This lesson was conducted over the course of three to four class periods.
* Presentation should include all members of the group speaking...see video.
THEMES- The following theme(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* How artists use culture as a focal point in their work.
* Explore the ways one physical location and the peoples who live in that area can have different interpretations of a single cultural concept.
* How one nation can have different cultural concepts yet still define themselves as belonging to the same national identity.
CONCEPTS- The following concept(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* How food is adapted to environment and culture.
* Language as a means to identify social and cultural strata.
* Public art as a non-gallery expression of culture.
OBJECTIVES- Students will:
* Identify culture as a living expression rather than a static concept.
* Explore the different ways English is used within the United States as a means to understand that a single civilization can hold many variables of any given cultural concept.
* Identify various ways cultural concepts such as food, sports, art, and language can create a demand for art of a specialized nature.
INSTRUCTION- The teacher will:
* Show videos that explore language, food and art as a concept that unites people.
* Lead discussions that explore cultural concepts and the many different ways they manifest in a culture.
* Define art as a leading concept and cultural benchmark that more than any other takes students to a complete understanding of early aboriginal Americans.
* Encourage students to bring in pictures, recipes, and family stories that relate to the concepts covered.
* Lead students in the creation of a class display of their lives as it relates to the cultural concepts covered.
PRODUCTION- Students will:
* Students will bring in written stories, pictures, or other artifacts that relate to the concepts covered
* Students will create a display that shows their interpretation of the cultural concepts covered within the lesson.
EVALUATION- Students will be evaluated by:
* Participation in class discussions.
* Ability to identify cultural concepts in their own life.
MATERIALS- The following materials and resources will be used for this lesson:
* VCR and television.
* Paper to write their experiences on.
* A display board to create their own living cultural museum on.
LESSON ASSESSMENT- Notes about this lesson for future reference:
* This lesson was conducted over the course of two class periods.
* Personal experiences with language differences, food likes and dislikes and art should be encouraged! The possibilities for class sharing are unlimited and very important.
* Pictures of people or situations that have occurred that lead to the understanding of the concepts should be encouraged by bringing in some teacher examples as if you were a student.
* Cover as many of the benchmarks as possible as you feel comfortable with. Exploration is limited only to your own desire. You may find other videos that explore other concepts, what I have given you is only the key not the door.
THEMES- The following theme(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* The knowledge base of the aboriginal Americans 800 A.D.
* How artifacts help us understand how and why a civilization occurred.
* How housing/architecture is a clue to the way a people lived.
CONCEPTS- The following concept(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* What is an artifact? An artifact is an object made by a human.
* What ancient artifacts look like and what were their uses for ancient people of the desert. Examples are clothing, food and shelter.
* How artifacts we create and use today will relate to how others will view us.
* What clothing can we create and where the supplies will come from.
* What food we identify in the environment and how will we process it.
* What shelters can we identify and how they serve us today.
* A shelter is a covering or protection from the weather. How shelters lead us to an understanding of aboriginal Americans as well as other concurrent civilizations.
OBJECTIVES- Students will:
* Explain how [people could live in the harsh environment of the desert.
* Identify supplies and artifacts and explain their probable use
* Discuss the way cultural concepts expand and bring art into a sharper focus.
* Identify environment and government as leading components in the development of housing.
INSTRUCTION- The teacher will:
* Take the students an imaginary trip to 800 A.D. They will arrive without any modern items. How will they cloth themselves, what will they eat, what will they use to kill game or gather food with/in?
* Explain what kind of housing the native Americans built. Give a broad overview of the hunter gatherer lifestyle.
* Discuss the limits population would impose.
* Play the Hohokam survival game. Art is not produced under dire situations when life itself is at risk.
* Discuss how Europeans at this same time period lived.
PRODUCTION- Students will:
* Drawing of tools, clothing and housing they would be able to create from the desert environment.
* Tools they can make that would help them exist in the time frame and environment of the Sonoran desert 800 A.D.
EVALUATION- Students will be evaluated by:
* Participation in class discussion and role playing.
* Creation of well designed tools that reflect a need as well as the ability to be implemented.
* Student identification of population growth as a limiting factor of the art and life of aboriginal Americans.
* Explaining the resources used to produce the tools, clothing and storage containers of the eriod.
* Comparing and contrasting European housing and society at this same time period.
MATERIALS- The following materials and resources will be used for this lesson:
* Drawing paper, pencils and markers.
* History books.
* Pictures of ancient native housing and tools.
* Video tape of artifacts and students playing the Hohokam survival game.
LESSON ASSESSMENT- Notes about this lesson for future reference:
* This lesson was conducted over the course of two to three class periods.
* The direction and depth of this lesson id open. Class discussions can vary due to the pre-existent knowledge but overall this is a great opportunity to explore the inter connective nature of art, architecture and anthropology.
THEMES- The following theme(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* How pottery came into existence.
* The development of pottery from utilitarian use to an artistic expression.
* Simplification of naturally occurring imagery to pottery decoration.
CONCEPTS- The following concept(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* Cultural changes that preceded the implementation of a sedimentary.
* How pinch pots are made.
* Decorative icons from naturally occurring resources/forms.
* Symbols.
* Painting techniques.
* Firing techniques of the ancients and today.
OBJECTIVES- Students will demonstrate the ability to:
* To make a pinch pot.
* Take a natural form into abstraction.
* Decoration of a piece of pottery using under glazes or nontraditional sources of marking.
INSTRUCTION- The teacher will:
* Discuss the basic history of pottery highlighting the basic changes in social structure that changed basket makers into pottery makers.
* Demonstrate how to make a pinch pot.
* Instruct students how natural objects can be simplified into decorative motifs.
* Exemplify painting techniques using glazes on greenware or permanent marker on bisqueware.
PRODUCTION- Students will create:
* A pinch pot made from low fire clay or a clay substitute.
* A decorative pattern on their pinch pot from their abstraction of a naturally occurring form.
EVALUATION- Students will be evaluated by:
* Construction technique of a pinch pot.
* Abstraction/simplification design of a naturally occurring object.
* Painting or marking technique on their pot.
MATERIALS- The following materials and resources will be used for this lesson:
* Tracing paper, pencils and erasers.
* Photo copies of naturally occurring objects such as insects, reptiles, mammals, landscapes, trees and clouds.
* Low fire clay or clay substitute such as flour clay.
* Glazes or permanent marker pens.
LESSON ASSESSMENT- Notes about this lesson for future reference:
* This lesson was developed over three class periods.
* Show pinch pot examples via overheads or display boards.
* Focus pottery development on ease of construction and utilitarian functions.
* Explain how the lip of the pot is the first visual a viewer judges and how smoothing this produces a pleasing effect.
* Discuss why a symmetrical pot is visually effective.
Lesson 5. Petroglyph Rock Art Pins
THEMES- The following theme(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* Why and how petroglyphs and pictographs were created.
* Various interpretations of the images.
* Creation of a personalized image based on the study of ancient rock art.
CONCEPTS- The following concept(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* How simplification of naturally occurring objects was incorporated into rock art.
* How, politics, dreams, water sources and hunting were placed into rock art.
* The possible interpretations of ancient rock art are limited by our lack of time travel.
* Protection of our nations earliest art works.
OBJECTIVES- Students will demonstrate the ability to:
* Make a pin based on rock art.
* Show an understanding for how rock art may have been developed by the use of simplification.
* Demonstrate an understanding of the value of protecting our national treasures of rock art.
INSTRUCTION- The teacher will:
* Demonstrate how to simplify a naturally occurring object into an icon.
* Show students how to flatten clay out to make an appropriate sized pin.
* Demonstrate how to use pencils of different thickness to carve an image onto a clay pin.
PRODUCTION- Students will create:
* A pin based on ancient petroglyphs and pictographs.
EVALUATION- Students will be evaluated by:
* The pin they have produced.
* Their ability to identify abstraction of naturally occurring objects as a source of possible imagery for their pin.
* Participation in class discussions on the nature and protection of rock art.
MATERIALS- The following materials and resources will be used for this lesson:
* Low fire clay or a clay substitute.
* Pencils, sticks or engraving tools.
* Bowls of thinned tempera paint create an excellent wash to dye the clay body.
* Backer pins and "Goop" brand glue to attach the pins to the clay body.
LESSON ASSESSMENT-
* Students make pins. Free project
THEMES- The following theme(s) will be explored in this lesson:
* Architectural developments of the ancient southwest.
* The relationship of human shelter to the environment.
* How architecture is an art (aesthetics).
* Building a diorama of architectural styles of the southwest.
* The relationship of environment to shelter design as a factor of supply and demand.
INSTRUCTION- The teacher will:
* Display pictures of ancient architecture.
* Show videos of Ancient America, Hohokam, Anasazi and canyon voices. Discuss implications brought up on the videos; such as, when each development took place. Stop the videos to clearly identify the different environmental lifestyle and cultural changes that effect the shelter styles.
* Lead students on a discussion about how life and shelter changed with the developing lifestyle of the people. How hunters and gatherers have distinct criteria for temporary shelter while farmers would have another for more permanent structures.
* Demonstrate how to make small clay stones, bricks, or a ground level for constructing either a pit house or an Anasazi style house.
* Display the students' architectural models. Discuss where students can find materials to help create their diorama.
PRODUCTION- Students will create:
* A floor plan.
* A diorama of an ancient architectural achievement in shelter, complete with roof.
EVALUATION- Students will be evaluated by:
* Pre and Post questionnaire.
* Participation in class discussion.
* Creation of a well designed diorama of an ancient architectural structure.
* Group final oral presentation on the concepts learned through the exploration of architecture.
* Final fill in the blank test.
* Post test: Draw what you learned about ancient houses and include the artifacts.
* List the stages of building a house.
MATERIALS- The following materials and resources will be used for this lesson:
* Clay (low fire or self hardening), white school glue, a wood board or double strength cardboard for the base, and a sack to hold clay rocks.
* Other naturalistic materials can be found at home and in craft stores. Discuss the availability of resources in our own backyard to make a diorama realistic.
* Video tape player, art appreciation videos, display board for the pictures.
LESSON ASSESSMENT- Notes about this lesson for future reference:
* Not to over kill a lesson by adding too much, due to lack of time.
* Avoid using words Z "superstitious" and "primitive" which are culturally insensitive.
* Students could add painted or oil crayon background scenes to make a true diorama.
* Many interpretations exist on the history of these ancient peoples. We must strive to find the best.
REFERENCE
Dunn, P. (1995). Curriculum Navigator: Middle school art [A HyperCard Stack for the Macintosh]. Palo Alto, CA: Dale Seymour.