NATURAL COLLABORATION:
Building with the Five Elements of Art
The lesson plan I chose to work with for this final project uses the artwork of Andy Goldsworthy to increase student understanding of the five elements of art – line, shape, color, form and texture. Students will gain in-depth comprehension of the five elements of art and demonstrate their knowledge by creating and documenting their own artwork, requirements of the NJCCC standards. The lesson provides opportunities for students to integrate environmental art and technology usage, individual work and collaboration, and includes multiple forms of assessment to optimize their success and ensure achievement of the NJCCC and NETS-S standards. It should be assumed that computers, a printer, basic word processing software and internet access are readily available within the school.
Days 1-2: Access Information
Several strategies will be used to orient the students to
the work of Andy Goldsworthy. The teacher will provide an introduction to the five
elements of art and an overview of the lesson's components. Next, students will use Artcyclopedia to research Goldsworthy’s work and begin to identify how he uses the five
elements in the creation of his art. Students will acquire a deeper
understanding of the artist’s purpose and methods by reading a brief biography using the Read-Write-Pair-Share
method, then view a portion of Rivers and
Tides, a film about the artist on a Smartboard. Information gathered from all sources will
be reviewed and categorized in a large group discussion, followed by a teacher
demonstration of the art project students will create.
Days 3-4: Analyze & Evaluate
Students will begin to analyze the information they have learned
about the five elements of art through Goldsworthy’s work. They will use small One Minute Answer Circles to review and assess each others
understanding of the five elements of art with their peers. Responses will be
shared, discussed and clarified as a large group. Next, the class will scour
the school grounds for natural art materials and possible locations for their
sculptures, the products of which will help assess student understanding of
material and process requirements. Students will experiment with artistic arrangements of
the materials they have collected and keep a record of the results with
sketches, in order to make evaluations regarding their final art design. They will continue to consult Artcyclopedia and the other resources used on days 1 and 2 to
reference Goldsworthy’s work as needed. A brief question and answer session and peer
critique to identify the five art elements in the sketches will ensure that
students have acquired the knowledge necessary to move to the next steps.
Days 5-6: Produce
At this point in the lesson, students will be prepared to use
what they have learned to produce their own art. They will construct their
sculptures, document their work photographically using digital cameras, then use Adobe Photoshop to crop
and manipulate lighting in their images. Students will each write a brief narrative
for their piece, which describes and supports how they incorporated the five
elements of art as well as the relationship between their art and the
environment. They will print a composite
containing the manipulated photograph and typed narrative to keep in their art portfolio.
Next, students will collaborate as a class to produce an art slideshow
presentation consisting of one digital photograph and the accompanying
narrative from each student. They will produce this using the presentation software
in Google Docs as a homework assignment.
Day 7: Communicate
Students will communicate their knowledge and usage of the five elements of art and evaluate their
own work as well as that of their peers. The collaborative student art show they produced will be presented
via Smartboard, with each student providing an oral narration to coincide with
their digital slide, describing how he or she created his or her artwork, the elements
of art which dominate the work, difficulties they encountered
throughout the lesson and how they found solutions. Students will be assessed on the visual, written, and
oral and technical components of their portion of the presentation. Classmates
will listen to the speaker respectfully, ask relevant questions and provide constructive
feedback to their peers throughout the presentation. A class discussion will be
used to close the lesson, and students will complete and submit a
self-assessment of their own learning from this lesson using a teacher-created form on Google Docs.
The lesson plan used for this project was edited and enriched according to NJCCC and NETS-S standards and course requirements. It may be viewed in its unedited form here: Original Lesson Plan - Natural Collaboration.
The lesson plan used for this project was edited and enriched according to NJCCC and NETS-S standards and course requirements. It may be viewed in its unedited form here: Original Lesson Plan - Natural Collaboration.
