Reflective Teaching Course: Lesson Plan for Questions to Create Community

Amy Ruopp/ Dr. Kathy Unrath

Kaj Lofgreen
TITLE OF LESSON: Proclaim Ourselves an Artist Community so lets make
a Banner
GRADE LEVEL - Adults
NATIONAL VISUAL ARTS STANDARDS GRADE/ Creating, Presenting,
Responding, Connecting: expectation is to include all four areas.
Collaboration, Brainstorm, Exploration, Play, Conceptual, and Exhibition
included.
LEVEL EXPECTATIONS (GLEs) - Stand 1 Color VA1 FA1, Stand Theme VA1, FA1
Strand II Color, VA2, FA2
RATIONALE and GOAL(S) FOR THIS LESSON Building community within a
group of adult learners: Exploring questions to create community.

The student/artists will be able to create a banner in collaboration as a

group
To clarify general goals from the class
To gain a better understanding and camaraderie between the
participants

Also, to encourage artists/students to trust, experiment, encourage others

and to have fun!
What do you hope to accomplish? To build trust, empathy, and encourage
self-efficacy
ENDURING BIG IDEA: A shared experience and goals are a foundation for
understanding others and building empathy for good human relationships. As
a group let us wonder about possibilities and be open to helping others
explore their artmaking goals while we work on our own.
Introductions in first meeting session: conduct a brief survey with questions
to help identify what are the reasons and expectations of those in
attendance.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
1. Can art be made spontaneously?
2. Can we make art as a group?
3. Do artists affect each other?
4. What can artist do to build community?
5. What are you goals in participating in this class?

KNOWLEDGE BASE AND KEY CONCEPTS:

Artmaking can be fun, and use of experimentation to gain and practice skills
and understanding, and help in finding a vision and a voice. We can learn
from others and from own experience. Artistic expression can be made by a
group of people. Some art is made that is not about representing a picture
but about the material, or the process, or elements of the material, being
non-objective.
Nonobjective art: Definition- artwork that does not represent or depict a
person, place or thing in the natural world. The content of the work is about
its color, shapes, brushstrokes, size, scale, and, in some cases, its process.
Discuss a few examples (Pollack, Kandinsky) of expressive, abstract painting,
but the emphasis today is about getting to know each other better and to
have fun. As a class well paint on a canvas together.
OBJECTIVES:
The learners will discuss and become aware of shared goals of the
group.
The learners will write out words and phrases that represent objectives
of the class.
The learners will use acrylic paints, to experiment with, mix, and apply
to one shared surface provided for the class.
The students will be encouraged to paint in words of encouragement or
goals on the artwork.
LESSON VIGNETTE - (Narrative description of the lesson) Write a brief but
detailed account of what you envision happening in the class. Describe what
you and the students will do and how things will unfold. How will you deal
with transitions? Supply distribution? Clean up?
Lesson: 50 min
Time: ___10 min__ Anticipatory Set- Group discussion what can we bring to
the class? Ask the question: what are our expectations? List on the board
some words that describe goals, qualities of a supportive studio environment
Open with: What do you want to do here?
Conduct a short verbal survey and discussion based on the essential
questions. (Could use a paper survey)
Time: _30 min___Body of lesson- is a risk pod!

Have all supplies ready:

Say: Have you ever wanted to just throw paint? What if? Too worried about
wasting it? Well here we can go for it. Have Fun! Hope you wore you painter
clothes!!
Say: For the next 20 minutes I want to see you cover this canvas with as
many paint colors as you want and to try to cover most of it! You can drip,
pour, stir, brush, on and more!
When canvas is covered tell them to stop with a hair dryer you could
speed up the paint drying process. Ask them to recall words that we thought
of that are words of encouragement and/or reflect goals that we have as
artists. Write down on board. If they had noticed I could reveal some words
and the name of the group in clear stencils on the canvas. The will
demonstrate to them that the canvas can be used as a banner and could be
hung in the classroom or in public. Have each student paint a word or phrase
on the piece. When Dry could put grommets in the corners and hang like a
banner or mount on a board.
Time: __10 min____ Closure-Clean-up Ask each participant what will they
take way from our activity. Summarize what was discussed and have each
one of them bring in a symbol of something that represents themselves as
artists for next meeting.
ASSESSMENT: Informalby observation and asking questions, I will be able
to ascertain if comprehension and participation is occurring.
Materials:
Liquid Acrylic Paint
Drop cloth (Scott absorbent), or canvas, or plastic sheet drop cloth. (Could
have some stencils of words like our group name, goals, and more)
Various adhesive tapes
Scissors
Glue
Adhesive stencils
Paper towels
Spray water bottles
TEACHER REFLECTION: How will you know that this lesson is successful
and meaningful? Hopefully I will get positive feedback that tells me that as
artists they learned something important today.
After our class reading in Teaching as if Life Matters on questions I have a
better understanding of why and when teachers want to use certain
approaches to questioning to bring about understanding and learning. I was

one of those people that often thought that when teachers asked me
questions it was to catch me in not knowing the right answers. I believe this
outlook hindered some my learning and can now see how the good
questioning brings about self-knowledge.
Today I got together my sister and a couple of friends to be my participants.
I introduce the lesson like I planned on doing with a real class. We did
introductions, and then we moved to questions that were intended to build
community, but mine were mostly art related like:

How many have painted with acrylic paints before?

How many have taken an art class in school? or later?
What experience do you have making art?

I was surprised that when we moved to the project phase I described and
demoed some ways to apply paint. These three adults hadnt painted
anything artistically for years, since high school for two of them, and noticed
right away that they were so enjoying the process of putting paint down on
paper. It was like I had helped open up a new world that they had forgotten
or had never really experience. Very touching they all said that this is so
enjoyable, and wondered why they hadnt done it sooner. One person
suggested that we turn on some musict was relaxing. We talked about
meeting up again soon to finish the background. I was also surprised that
they didnt take my lead and start splattering the paint right away. All three
wanted to paint layers, symbols, and watch the colors interact.