In the spirit of... (museum visit)

This is an integrated unit that focuses on masks in cultures as reflections of individual spirits. This lesson focuses on students' observations of masks while visiting a museum.

A lesson plan for grades 5–6 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies

By Shannon Kelly

Learn more

• Ackland Art Museum This website can be used in lieu of a visit to an actual museum. The Ackland Art Museum website has many pictures of their collection available.

Related pages

• What do you see? (post-visit): In this lesson, students will use observations and reflections made while visiting the Ackland Art Museum to draw conclusions about interpreting artwork (and other works/events), make quality scientific observations, and see how these concepts are related. Students will be reproducing artwork they viewed at the museum, sharing their personal interpretations of various works, and analyzing how the presentation of information (in any situation) can influence our interpretations of a work or event. This lesson is the final lesson in the series of lessons, "What Do YOU See?", which uses the Ackland Art Museum as a resource.
• What do you see? (visit): This lesson outlines activities for students to complete while visiting the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, NC. Students will observe and reflect upon a variety of artwork. In doing so, they will develop observation and communication skills, and learn to understand and appreciate others' interpretations and opinions of works of art. This lesson applies skills learned in the previous lesson, "What Do You See" (Pre-Visit).
  
  This lesson may be adapted for use in a school/classroom by using museums and artwork found online (see Web sites listed below). A Powerpoint presentation which displays some artwork from the Ackland Art Museum is attached to this plan, as well.
• Time - Light and shadow (visit): This lesson focuses on light and shadow. Students will examine several paintings at the Ackland Art Museum for light and shadow.

Related topics

• Learn more about arts and museum education.

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Learning outcomes

While at the museum, the student will observe the way color is used in different works of art, how artists use color to express their emotions, and the way various cultures use and interpret color. The student will write a letter of thanks to the museum docents and include a description of their favorite work of art from the visit.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 day

Materials/resources

Student, teacher, & parent nametags
Parent volunteers
Worksheets for bus trip (Colors Worksheet and What Is Your Cultural Identity?)

Technology resources

Digital camera

Pre-activities

• Students should have some background knowledge with looking at use of color and symbols to represent a culture or society from the “In the Spirit Of… (museum pre-visit)” lesson.
• Teacher and students should discuss proper museum and bus behavior.
• Students need to discuss the role of a docent in a museum and of the museum in the community.
• Students should know the proper letter-writing format.
• The teacher needs to discuss his/her objectives with the docent before visiting the museum, so the docent can plan activities for the students.

Activities

Bus

1. Before arriving at the museum, give students nametags to be worn at the museum. Divide them into groups of 7-10 for touring the museum with a docent. A parent and teacher will be assigned to each group as well.
2. Students will be given worksheets related to masks and culture to be completed while on the bus. Use the Colors Worksheet and What Is Your Cultural Identity?.

Museum

1. Students will spend a minimum of 30 minutes in each gallery with docent-led activities.
2. Teacher will take pictures of students working in the galleries.
3. Individual and group writing samples will be provided to teachers for reference in post-visit lesson.

Classroom

1. Students will reflect upon and discuss the museum visit in small/large groups using the pictures from the digital camera along with the Spirit Mask Power Point. (Further assessment will occur in the post-visit activity when the students use colors to symbolize their cultural heritage.)
2. Each student writes a letter to the museum docents to thank them for the day at the museum. Each student will need to write about their favorite work of art. What did he/she like about it? How did it make him/her feel? Use the Thank You Letter Criteria, Checklist, and Thank You Letter Rubric.

Assessment

Teachers will observe students while at the museum and further assess the success of the visit during the post-visit activity. Thank you letters will be given a grade using the rubric below.

Supplemental information

If the teacher is unable to attend a museum, I have attached a PowerPoint presentation on masks from different museums and websites. Also, the section on relevant web sites will take the user to some locations on the internet where he/she will be able to find various kinds of masks.

Comments

Please see In the spirit of… (museum pre-visit) for a supplemental social studies lesson. Also look at In the spirit of… (museum post-visit) for a supplemental mask-making lesson plan.