InsideOut

Lesson Plan

Recommended for grades 4-6

Time: 4 lessons of 30 minutes each

Summary of Lesson 1

Students consider the definition of public and personal space. They use their imagination to draw something they personally identify with, representing it in a drawing of their personal space. They are then invited to scribble on their neighbor's drawing, experiencing what it's like to have their drawings "vandalized." Then the whole class reflects on the experience, sharing what it felt like and talking more about concepts of ownership. Images viewed: Graffiti Watch ad campaign.

Content Standards Addressed:

• Visual Arts 2.6
• Communication and Expression through Original Works of Art
• 2.7 Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.

Lesson Outcomes:

• Develop and reflect on concepts of public and personal space
• Experience an allegorical form of graffiti and discuss its impact, reflecting on the difference between a temporary and a permanent mark
• Discuss the concept of permission

Materials Needed:

• Slideshow: "Personal Space/Public Space"
• Drawing paper
• Markers
• Pencils

Lesson Plan:

Drawing Activity (10-15 minutes)

Let the students know that this lesson focuses on public and personal or what is yours and what belongs to everyone including you. (You may want to give additional advance notice about what will happen to their drawings, according to your judgment.)

Give students paper and markers and invite them to use their perspective skills to draw either a public place (a street, a building, etc.) or a private space (inside their house or yard, etc.) If your students have not yet learned perspective, you can modify this part of the lesson.

After 5 to 10 minutes, ask them to pass their drawings to the person on their left. Invite them to put their markers down and use their pencils to scribble on the drawing that they have received.

Discussion (Time: 15 minutes)

Questions for discussion:

· How was the experience of having the artwork you created "vandalized" by your classmate?

· If you make a piece of artwork, does it belong to you? What happens when someone else draws on it? How does it change if they ask permission to draw on it?

· Consider a sculpture in a park. Is it someone's artwork? Who does it belong to?

· What if we had used markers to scribble and the scribble were permanent? Does using a pencil make it any better, since it can be erased?

· How does this experience relate to vandalism and graffiti? Were you given permission to scribble on the drawing? Do graffiti writers have permission?

Closing (Time: 5 minutes)

Give the students time to get their drawings back and erase the scribble.

Introduce slide show: These pictures are making a statement. What do you think they are asking you to think about?

View slide show: "Public Space/Personal Space" (images created to raise awareness, by Graffiti Watch, an anti-graffiti program of the Department of Public Works.)

 

Lesson Plan

Recommended for grades 4-6

Time: 4 lessons of 30 minutes each

Summary of Lesson 2:

Students view images of public art in San Francisco. Students consider the ideas the art conveys. Students evaluate its design elements and its success in conveying those ideas. Students view images of the same public artworks after being vandalized and learn about the costs of vandalism, using math skills to plan and solve the problem of calculating how long it would take them to pay for the restoration of a damaged artwork.

Content Standards Addressed:

Visual Art 1.1, 4.1, 4.2,

Develop Perceptual Skills and Visual Arts Vocabulary

1.1 Identify and describe the principles of design in visual compositions, emphasizing unity and harmony.

Derive Meaning

4.1 Identify how selected principles of design are used in a work of art and how they affect personal responses to and evaluation of the work of art.

4.2 Compare the different purposes of a specific culture for creating art.

Mathematics

Number Sense

2.1 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide with decimals; add with negative integers; subtract positive integers from negative integers; and verify the reasonableness of the results.

Mathematical Reasoning

1.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns.

Lesson Outcomes:

Discuss the design elements used in public art
Evaluate the design elements in the public art viewed and their success in conveying ideas
Express the value of taking care of public space and public art
Use mathematical reasoning to analyze and plan a math problem. Use number sense to solve it.

Materials Needed:

Slide show: "San Francisco Public Art"

Lesson Plan:

Image Viewing/Discussion, Part 1 (15 minutes)

View slide show: "San Francisco Public Art"
Introduction to slide show: We're going to look at some of the public art works that we get to enjoy in San Francisco. You may have seen some or all of them in person. Creating these works took many years, the cooperation of many people including the artist, and a lot of money.
Stop at the first blank slide

Questions for Discussion

What ideas or values were the artists expressing in these works?
How did their design choices (i.e. placing the art on a pedestal or directly on the ground, using many colors or all one color, using realistic or fanciful representation) help express those ideas?
Ask the students to vote on the piece they think is the most successful in using design elements to express ideas or values.
Ask students to choose their personal favorite from among the last three slides (The Keith Haring sculpture, Lotta's fountain, the Garfield Monument and Rabbinoid have all been damaged by graffiti and subsequently restored.)

Image Viewing/Discussion, Part 2 (15 minutes)

Continue to the end of the slide show: view "after" images of public art that has been defaced
Ask students to guess the cost of restoration the piece they chose
Talk about the cost and ask students how they would plan a math problem to calculate how many weeks of allowance it would take to pay for the restoration. (Whose allowance? Ask for a volunteer to give the amount of their allowance.)

Costs of Graffiti Removal

 

· Rabbinoid $ 550

· Lotta's Fountain $ 350

· Garfield Monument $ 8000

· Keith Haring Sculpture $ 1177

 

Lesson Plan

Recommended for grades 4-6

Time: 4 lessons of 30 minutes each

 

Summary of Lesson 3:

 

Students view iconic designs and discuss the art elements used to create them. Students design a "sign" to express their own ideas and values and to represent themselves. They experience "installing" their art in a "public" place by posting it on the wall as a group activity, then reflect on the experience and talk about its differences from and similarities to graffiti.

 

Content Standards Addressed:

 

Visual Art 1.1, 2.7, 5.2

 

Develop Perceptual Skills and Visual Arts Vocabulary

1.1 Identify and describe the principles of design in visual compositions, emphasizing unity and harmony.

 

Communication and Expression through Original Works of Art

2.7 Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.

 

 

English Language Arts 2.1

 

Structural Features of Informational Materials

2.1 Understand how text features (e.g., format, graphics, sequence, diagrams, illustrations, charts, maps) make information accessible and usable.

 

Lesson Outcomes:

 

Describe the design principles used in public signage
Look at examples and evaluate their effectiveness in communicating ideas
Use graphic design principles to express personal values
Develop clear concepts of public and personal space
Create art as a temporary/removable public expression
Experience an allegorical form of graffiti and discuss its impact, reflecting on the difference between a temporary or a permanent mark
Discuss the idea of permission

 

Materials Needed:

 

Pad of sticky notes
Large piece of paper to cover the wall, approx. 3'x 8'
Markers or Pencil
Slide show: "Graphic Signs in Public Places"

Lesson Plan:

 

Discussion of Graphic Symbols/Drawing activity (10-15 minutes)

 

Introduction to slide show: These are signs created for public places, designed to communicate an idea quickly and clearly.
View slide show of "Graphic Signs in Public Places"
Discuss the design elements of the images used: simplified shape, solid tone, etc.
Why do you think these design elements were chosen? Do they make the drawing's message easier to understand?
Which signs are clearest in their meaning? Are any unclear? Could the design elements be changed to make them clearer?
Give students sticky notes and pencils and ask them to create a simple graphic sign that shows an idea they value (preserving the environment, kindness to others, etc.) or an activity they enjoy (skateboarding, etc,) imagining it as a sign that identifies or represents them, like a street sign that says "here comes (person's name.)" Ask them to do 3 or 4; they can make many different ones or copies of their favorite.

Hands-on Art Activity (Time: 5-10 minutes)

 

Put up paper on the wall
Invite them to stick their drawings anywhere on the paper. Make it clear that you are giving them PERMISSION to put their signs up anywhere on the paper, but only on the paper. (Talk about how this is akin to graffiti walls with open city permission?)

Discussion/reflection (5-10 minutes)

 

Before or after this discussion:
Show the last slide in the slideshow (damaged Betty Ong mural) for an opportunity to talk about permanence of damage. The damage to this mural was done with a paint mixed with epoxy that cannot be removed, so the artist has to re-paint the mural to restore it.

 

 

· Questions for discussion

 

· How was sticking the drawings on the wall like graffiti?

 

· How was it different from graffiti? Is it temporary? Permanent? Does it cause damage? Did you have permission to do it?

 

· Did anyone cover someone else's drawings with their own? What was that like? Did it feel competitive?

 

· Did anyone put his or her sign up OFF the paper? Was permission given to do that?

 

 

 

Lesson Plan

Recommended for grades 4-6

Time: 4 lessons of 30 minutes each

 

Summary of Lesson 4:

 

Building on the previous lesson, students consider what ideas and values are most important to them and choose one they would want to express in a public art piece. They consider how best to express the idea visually and then use perspective drawing skills to create a design for a public sculpture that expresses what is important to them. They then make a sketchbook to take with them as a place to continue to express their ideas.

 

Content Standards Addressed:

 

Visual Art 2.6, 2.7

 

Communication and Expression through Original Works of Art

2.6 Use perspective in an original work of art to create a real or imaginary scene.

2.7 Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.

 

Lesson Outcomes:

 

Discuss personal values
Express personal values though a work of art
Use perspective to create a drawing of a public artwork each student designs
Create a sketchbook as a personal space for their artwork

Materials Needed:

 

Drawing paper
Pencils
Staplers

Lesson Plan:

 

Discuss Ideas/Values (10 minutes)

 

Ask students to write a list of ideas that are important to them. They may use the ideas that they had for their graphic sticky notes in the last lesson. If they chose activities for that lesson, encourage them to think of the general idea that the activity represents (skateboarding represents a physical skill, fast and easy transportation; video games represent stress relief, relaxation, fun with friends, progressing in skills and accomplishment)

Ask students to choose one idea that they most value and would most like to celebrate and communicate to others through a large-scale artwork that would be seen by thousands of people.

Design a public art piece (15 minutes)

 

· Ask students to consider how best to express their value visually. Ask them to remember the public art viewed in Lesson 2 and the choices those artists made. What design elements would convey the student's own idea? (The design may be for a two-dimensional artwork such as a sign or mural, but the drawing discussed below should use perspective to show it situated in a space.)

 

· Ask students to make a perspective drawing of a public place with a public art piece that they imagine, installed. It could be a real place in their neighborhood where they might like to see public art, or it could be an imaginary place. They might want to draw people admiring it!

 

Make a Sketchbook (5 minutes)

 

Using as many sheets as a stapler will go through, hold them horizontally and fold in half to make a booklet. Open and staple along the fold. Write your name on the front. You may take this sketchbook with you wherever you go and use it as a place for your artwork. It is yours, so you always have permission to make art in it.

 

 

State Content Standards

 

Specific standards listed are for 5th grade. For 4th or 6th grade, general standards are met. Please refer to http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/vamain.asp

 

Visual Art

 

Develop Perceptual Skills and Visual Arts Vocabulary

1.1 Identify and describe the principles of design in visual compositions, emphasizing unity and harmony.

 

Communication and Expression through Original Works of Art

2.6 Use perspective in an original work of art to create a real or imaginary scene.

2.7 Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.

 

Derive Meaning

4.1 Identify how selected principles of design are used in a work of art and how they affect personal responses to and evaluation of the work of art.

4.2 Compare the different purposes of a specific culture for creating art.

 

Visual Literacy

5.2 Identify and design icons, logos, and other graphic devices as symbols for ideas and information.

 

 

English Language Arts

 

Structural Features of Informational Materials

2.1 Understand how text features (e.g., format, graphics, sequence, diagrams, illustrations, charts, maps) make information accessible and usable.

 

 

Mathematics

 

 

Number Sense

2.1 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide with decimals; add with negative integers; subtract positive integers from negative integers; and verify the reasonableness of the results.

 

Mathematical Reasoning

1.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns.

 

 

 

Additional resources:

 

Additional graffiti curriculum

 

http://graffitihurts.org/

 

Article on graffiti culture as an alternative to violence

 

http://www.graffiti.org/faq/graffiti_edu_christen.html