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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Looking Back - An Art/English/History Interdisciplinary unit

This is an interdisciplinary unit that incorporates research of historical events of the past century. By students learning to recognize that society impacts the themes within art and literature, students then take this knowledge base and interview an individual to develop a biographical narrative, a collage, and oral presentation.

The lesson can be modified to take two weeks or longer. Some of the activites are designed for long-term assignments.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Social Studies

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • research and analyze historical events.
  • develop reading, listening, speaking, and viewing skills.
  • conduct an interview.
  • use the writing process while developing a biographical narrative.
  • make connections between different kinds of texts and life.
  • create and recognize a successful art product through the use of the elements of art.
  • prepare and present a suitable story for specific groups or audiences.
  • adapt research materials to meet the needs and interests of students.
  • target specific audiences through various mediums.
  • use technology in developing a product.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 or months

Materials/resources

Student journals, access to computer and web, magazines, current events, blank newsprint (check with your local newspaper distributor for inexpensive paper), English textbook, collage materials, and a 16×20 plywood board.

Technology resources

Computer(s) with internet access

Pre-activities

Some of these activities are optional.

  • Art students study the German Expressionist (Kathe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner) and Cubist (Picasso and Braque) styles. Through this study, the students create several projects reflecting these artistic philosophies. English students study these artists and discuss theme, tone, mood, and audience through symbols. Students can do a web search for the German Expressionists to gather more information.
  • Demonstrate collage techniques and provide art history examples. (See Picasso and Braque in art textbook.) See web site lists for collage activities, possible materials to use, and completed examples.
  • Identify and discuss what makes art successful through the use of the elements of art.
  • During the first nine-weeks of class, English students read world literature titles and create literary analysis based on the texts. Emphasis is placed on recognizing tone and audience. Students are developing reading and writing skills to assist them with the Eng. II writing test.
  • After reading novels (All Quiet On The Western Front, A Doll’s House, & Things Fall Apart) that depict the human condition, students are able to comprehend, interpret, and analyze the author’s tone and message in the writing.
  • Prior to the Eng. II writing test, students then read and discuss Night by Elie Wiesel, an autobiography of a Holocaust survivor.http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/wiesel.htm
  • Identify and discuss interview techniques. See websites listed below.

Activities

  1. Create excitement by including music that reflects and looks back. Use Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” (see attachment) from “The Best of Carly Simon.”
  2. Give each student a packet containing Looking Back activities and guidelines, interview questions, and rubrics. Review with the class the purpose of project for clarification.
  3. Assign each small group a period of history to research, based on the years 1900 to 2000. (Depending on the number of students, divide the students into groups of 3 or 4.) The number of years each group researches will depend on the number of groups. Prior to going to the library, allow each group time in class to brainstorm significant events within their period.
  4. In small groups, students use the library and computer to research a period of history during the 20th century. Allow each group to decide on the size of the newsprint that they need to construct the timeline. Students then plan and organize the timeline of significant information to include: noteworthy events, famous people, fads, trends, fashions, music, artists, scientific discoveries, literary authors and pieces, controversial pieces, and weather events.
    (American studies) http://xroads.virginia.edu
    (American memory project) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
    (American Treasures) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/
    (1 or 3 days - depending on time available)
  5. After completing research, each group completes a visual timeline in class. (1 day to compile)
  6. In sequential order, students then present the timelines. After presenting, students will mount timelines in the classroom for reference in later projects. (See group presentation rubric. - 1 day)
  7. Interview. (Conducted outside of class)Students conduct an interview of an individual over the age of 60. To promote an awareness of family history, encourage students to select a family member to interview. (For those students who do not have someone to interview in their family, suggest that students interview neighbors.) Provide each student with the list of questions to ask during the interview, which should be given to the interviewee ahead of time. Discuss with the students the importance in good interview questions. Discuss the questions in class. (See attached list of questions to distribute to students. Give each student two copies: one for student and one for interviewee.)

    Create hypothetical interviews - Give students information (age, geographic regions, and occupations) on the possible interviewees. Discuss the possible historical event(s) the interviewee may have experienced. Use the timeline as a reference. This is a good activity to help students make predictions and anticipate follow-up questions.

    During the interview, the student needs to take a picture of the individual - which will be included in the collage. (Give student one month to complete the interview. Students need time to contact the individual. Time during a holiday is preferred.)

  8. Based on the interview, students will generate a one-page narrative highlighting a historical event, a personal experience, best trip, changes in professional field, and advice for today’s teens. The process includes the following steps:
    • Rough draft and peer edit - due _______
    • Revision to teacher - due _______
    • Writing conference - due _______
    • Final product - due _______

    The teacher needs to allow the student plenty of time to complete each step.

  9. Create a collage that reflects the content of the interview and research. Students will prepare a 16×20 collage containing the typewritten narrative, photo of interviewee, and vital information on the individual. A computer-generated title piece that incorporates the message of interviewee to today’s youth should accompany the collage. This information will be placed on an index card and used as a label during display.

    The final collage must also include eight objects and two textures along with the successful use of the elements of art. You may want to use different rubrics for art and English students. While a student is in a writing conference with the teacher, other students can be assembling his/her collage. (Art students have 10 class hours to construct the collage. English students work on the collages during writing conferences. The remainder of time needed to construct collage is done out of class.)

  10. Prior to final presentation of narrative and collage, give each student a presentation rubric. (See attached speaking rubric) Discuss formal presentation skills and rubric. Assign presentation due dates for each student.English Students: Assist students in developing a presentation outline. Then assist students in writing a creative introduction and conclusion to his/her project. (This activity can take an entire class depending on the number of students.)Have students complete peer-evaluations of the collages. Peers will use the same collage rubric (See collage rubric for English student) that the teacher will use for a final assessment tool. Allow students time to modify their collage before their final presentation.
  11. Final Presentations - During presentations, students introduce the individual interviewed, read the narrative composed, and explain the symbols on the collage. These symbols should reflect the individual and research.

    Final Assessment for Art students - Presentation and Critiquing of collage - Upon completion of collage, a class critique is held. A student explains how he/she successfully uses the elements of art. Positive feedback and constructive criticism is provided by peers. While a student presents, a peer completes the assessment rubric for the presenter to use as a reference for revisions. An additional week is provided to students to modify the collages before teacher assessment. (See attached collage rubric for art student. This activity takes entire class period.)

    Final Presentations for English students - After the individual presentation, the student is given positive feedback and constructive criticism on the presentation, narrative, and collage. This feedback will assist students in their next presentation. (See attached collage rubric for English student.)

  12. The final products, along with all previous edits, are due on ___________. Following presentations to the class, in which students identify the theme and explain how the symbols relate to the interviewee, students complete a Looking Back Reflections response. (See Reflections Sheet attachment) After completing the sheet, a seminar will follow. The seminar focuses on what they learned, what mistakes were made during the time period, and what could be done to try and avoid them in the future. This is a time for students to reflect and assess!

Assessment

Art and English students complete these activities the 2nd nine-weeks, if you are on a block schedule. (These students are building skills the first nine-weeks.) During the 2nd nine-weeks, students utilize their acquired skills to analysize, synthesize, and evaluate their own learning.

This unit incorporates product based assessment tools. Assessment tools are as follows:

  • Narrative rubric
  • Collage rubric for art student
  • Collage rubric for English student
  • Oral Presentation and Group Work - http://millennium.fortunecity.com/babar/269/205opck.html
  • Oral Presentation - Individual - we are including several sites for you to view different rubrics. You can select the one that will work best with your class and project.
  • Looking Back Reflection Sheet - to gain feedback from students

Supplemental information

Night - By Elie Wiesel
Art in Focus - by Gene A. Mittler

Related websites

For information/handout on interview skills - http://stringers.media.mit.edu/interview.htm

For background information on E. Wiesel -
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/wiesel.htm

Sites for students doing research
(American studies) http://xroads.virginia.edu
(American Memory Project) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
(American Treasures) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/

Comments

This interdisciplinary unit can be easily modified or adapted to meet numerous disciplines.

Again, this unit builds upon knowledge and comprehension of skills taught at the beginning of the semester.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Visual Arts Education (2001)

Grades 9–12 — Visual Arts Electives

  • Goal 1: The learner will develop critical and creative thinking skills and perceptual awareness necessary for understanding and producing art.
  • Goal 2: The learner will develop skills necessary for understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
  • Goal 3: The learner will organize the components of a work into a cohesive whole through knowledge of organizational principles of design and art elements.
    • Objective 3.01: Recognize and apply the elements of art in an aesthetic composition.
  • Goal 4: The learner will choose and evaluate a range of subject matter and ideas to communicate intended meaning in artworks.
    • Objective 4.01: Demonstrate the use of life surroundings and personal experiences to express ideas and feelings visually.
  • Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
    • Objective 6.02: Describe how people's experiences influence the development of specific artworks.
  • Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
    • Objective 7.03: Compare characteristics of visual arts within a particular historical period or style with ideas, issues or themes in other disciplines.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 9

  • Goal 8: Patterns of History - The learner will assess the influence of ideals, values, beliefs, and traditions on current global events and issues.
    • Objective 8.01: Trace developments in literary, artistic, and religious traditions over time as legacies of past societies or as cultural innovations.

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 9 — English I

  • Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences.
    • Objective 1.02: Respond reflectively (individually and in groups) to a variety of expressive texts (e.g., memoirs, vignettes, narratives, diaries, monologues, personal responses) in a way that offers an audience:
      • an understanding of the student's personal reaction to the text.
      • a sense of how the reaction results from a careful consideration of the text.
      • an awareness of how personal and cultural influences affect the response.
  • Goal 4: The learner will create and use standards to critique communication.
    • Objective 4.01: Evaluate the effectiveness of communication by:
      • examining the use of strategies in a presentation/product.
      • applying a set of predetermined standards.
      • creating an additional set of standards and applying them to the presentation/product.
      • comparing effective strategies used in different presentations/products.
  • Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.
    • Objective 5.01: Read and analyze various literary works by:
      • using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
      • recognizing and analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction (e.g., myths, legends, short stories, novels), non-fiction (e.g., essays, biographies, autobiographies, historical documents), poetry (e.g., epics, sonnets, lyric poetry, ballads) and drama (e.g., tragedy, comedy).
      • interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.
      • understanding the importance of tone, mood, diction, and style.
      • explaining and interpreting archetypal characters, themes, settings.
      • explaining how point of view is developed and its effect on literary texts.
      • determining a character's traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
      • explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
      • making thematic connections among literary texts and media and contemporary issues.
      • understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
      • producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.
    • Objective 5.02: Demonstrating increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres.
  • Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
    • Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression that:
      • uses varying sentence types (e.g., simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) purposefully, correctly, and for specific effect.
      • selects verb tense to show an appropriate sense of time.
      • applies parts of speech to clarify and edit language.
      • addresses clarity and style through such strategies as parallelism; appropriate coordination and subordination; variety and details; appropriate and exact words; and conciseness.
      • analyzes the place and role of dialects and standard/nonstandard English.
      • uses vocabulary strategies such as roots and affixes, word maps, and context clues to discern the meanings of words.
    • Objective 6.02: Discern and correct errors in spoken and written English by:
      • avoiding fragments, run-ons, and comma splices.
      • selecting correct subject-verb agreement, consistent verb tense, and appropriate verbs.
      • using and placing modifiers correctly.
      • editing for spelling and mechanics (punctuation and capitalization).

Grade 10 — English II

  • Goal 1: The learner will react to and reflect upon print and non-print text and personal experiences by examining situations from both subjective and objective perspectives.
    • Objective 1.01: Produce reminiscences (about a person, event, object, place, animal) that engage the audience by:
      • using specific and sensory details with purpose.
      • explaining the significance of the reminiscence from an objective perspective.
      • moving effectively between past and present.
      • recreating the mood felt by the author during the reminiscence.
    • Objective 1.02: Respond reflectively (through small group discussion, class discussion, journal entry, essay, letter, dialogue) to written and visual texts by:
      • relating personal knowledge to textual information or class discussion.
      • showing an awareness of one's own culture as well as the cultures of others.
      • exhibiting an awareness of culture in which text is set or in which text was written.
      • explaining how culture affects personal responses.
      • demonstrating an understanding of media's impact on personal responses and cultural analyses.
  • Goal 4: The learner will critically interpret and evaluate experiences, literature, language, and ideas.
    • Objective 4.01: Interpret a real-world event in a way that:
      • makes generalizations about the event supported by specific references.
      • reflects on observation and shows how the event affected the current viewpoint.
      • distinguishes fact from fiction and recognizes personal bias.
    • Objective 4.02: Analyze thematic connections among literary works by:
      • showing an understanding of cultural context.
      • using specific references from texts to show how a theme is universal.
      • examining how elements such as irony and symbolism impact theme.
    • Objective 4.03: Analyze the ideas of others by identifying the ways in which writers:
      • introduce and develop a main idea.
      • choose and incorporate significant, supporting, relevant details.
      • relate the structure/organization to the ideas.
      • use effective word choice as a basis for coherence.
      • achieve a sense of completeness and closure.
    • Objective 4.04: Evaluate the information, explanations, or ideas of others by:
      • identifying clear, reasonable criteria for evaluation.
      • applying those criteria using reasoning and substantiation.
  • Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of selected world literature through interpretation and analysis.
    • Objective 5.01: Read and analyze selected works of world literature by:
      • using effective strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
      • building on prior knowledge of the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and exploring how those characteristics apply to literature of world cultures.
      • analyzing literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, situational irony, and imagery and explaining their effect on the work of world literature.
      • analyzing the importance of tone and mood.
      • analyzing archetypal characters, themes, and settings in world literature.
      • making comparisons and connections between historical and contemporary issues.
      • understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
    • Objective 5.02: Demonstrate increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by:
      • selecting and exploring a wide range of works which relate to an issue, author, or theme of world literature.
      • documenting the reading of student-chosen works.
  • Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
    • Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by:
      • employing varying sentence structures (e.g., inversion, introductory phrases) and sentence types (e.g., simple, compound, complex, compound-complex).
      • analyzing authors' choice of words, sentence structure, and use of language.
      • using word recognition strategies to understand vocabulary and exact word choice (Greek, Latin roots and affixes, analogies, idioms, denotation, connotation).
      • examining textual and classroom language for elements such as idioms, denotation, and connotation to apply effectively in own writing/speaking.
      • using correct form/format for essays, business letters, research papers, bibliographies.
      • using language effectively to create mood and tone.
    • Objective 6.02: Edit for:
      • subject-verb agreement, tense choice, pronoun usage, clear antecedents, correct case, and complete sentences.
      • appropriate and correct mechanics (commas, italics, underlining, semicolon, colon, apostrophe, quotation marks).
      • parallel structure.
      • clichés, trite expressions.
      • spelling.