Rationale
This curriculum unit was written for students at West Park Place Elementary School, a diverse school uniquely located by the University of Delaware. With an enrollment of about 370 students, West Park Place is one of several suburban host sites for students in the English as a Second Language program, Delaware Autistic Program, and REACH (Realistic Educational Alternatives for Children with Disabilities). West Park Place, in partnership with the University of Delaware, provides English language instruction and support to students representing over 25 countries and languages around the world. Our demographics are diverse with approximate reports of 20% African American, 26% Asian, 46% White, and 4% Hispanic children (DE Department of Education, 2014). Other characteristics show 29% of students are English Language Learners, 6% are identified Special Education students, and 47% are from low-income families.
My students coming from low-income families face the challenge of reading literature at a growing rate of complexity and independence by the end of the school year. There are few opportunities to help learners with weak critical thinking skills. Asking questions, discussing related topics, connecting learning with life experiences, and promoting empathy are ways to build critical thinking skills. One way to do this is through close reading of literature. First we choose a specific passage and then we analyze it in fine detail. We can take a close look at artwork and do the same by using the same types of questions: general understandings, key details, artist's purpose, inferences, opinion, arguments, and inter-medium connections. Being curious and asking questions serves to engage students which in turn leads them to achieve greater understanding of the content.
Just imagine taking close reading of literature to another form like portraits, paintings, photographs, sculpture, and cartoons. Students will take a break from reading text and dive into seeing images thus refreshing their minds with art. As the class learns how to see images, they will be exposed to culture and history as they learn about the circumstances that took place at the time the art was created. This two week unit is designed for 2 nd graders to learn how to see artwork and think critically by asking questions, researching facts, discussing related topics, connecting learning with life experiences, and promoting empathy.
Making learning relevant is critical and that is why I chose Howard Pyle and Mary Cassatt as they are both from the Delaware area. Both Pyle and Cassatt created iconic images of masculinity and femininity and pioneered the way for others to follow in their footsteps: both are still popular and influential today. This unit will focus on how Pyle and Cassatt used their own experiences when they painted, how they tended to articulate ideas in their paintings, and when we look closely at art, we can see other points of views.
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