Little Girl in a Blue Arm Chair, by Mary Cassatt
Based on your growing knowledge and experience, was Image #2 an appropriate choice for your students, considering their age, stage, interests, and abilities?
· Yes. The image was accessible, open to interpretation, narratives were easily implied, the subject matter was a scene from everyday life, and the painting was realistic. The only thing missing was diversity. Even though the painting is from the 19th century, I don’ t think my students picked up on it.
Did this image motivate rigorous and engaging discussion for students?
· Yes, the students have moved past listing and matching recently, and make up a variety of narratives. They stayed seated for our 10-minute discussion.
Was Image #2 rich enough to encourage continued discussion &/or independent student investigation?
· For some, yes. For most, no. It may be their age. I did a drawing activity after the VTS session based on the artwork. One of their literacy standards is to have a beginning, middle, and end sequence in a story. I asked them to draw what happened after the story in the painting. I videotaped some of the students explaining their drawings. I will post stills of that soon.
Did Image #2 suggest opportunities to explore the big idea through art making or expand art making already in progress?
· If I knew what my big idea is……….. don’t know.
There are no better story tellers than young kids. I cant tell you how many times they will stop me in the hall to share an unsolicted (sometimes TMI) story,...lolol. So it seems to me your big idea is spot on. The what happened before or after is also good idea.
ReplyDeleteMaybe have them imagine it is them, what would they be feeling if that were them in the painting? What would they want to do about it, or what happened to make them feel that way? I bet they can come up with a million stories to tell just like artists do. Maybe coming up for reasons why a story is important to tell? Who is the story for? Story as history? (aboriginal art etc) Your idea is so big ! I love it!
Amy, thank you for your comment. I have been so overwhelmed by coming up with a "Big Idea" unit for the little ones. I know they are bright, but have an issue with the attention spans and 20 minute class times.
DeleteI love your suggestion , " what would they be feeling if that were them in the painting? What would they want to do about it, or what happened to make them feel that way?" It is right for so may reasons! They enter the artwork through their point of view based on their experiences, they need to explore consequences and different points of view. It is like getting the golden ticket!
I truly think that elementary art teachers should unite and write a version of Walker's book for elementary. Framed in the knowledge and experiences of the youngest learners, big ideas are totally within their grasp. I even wonder if their resulting work would be richer because of their lower "inhibition threshold?"
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