Strategies
Inquiry Based Discussions
During this unit students will focus on a unit question and three overarching or guiding questions adapted and revised from the Pittsburgh Public Schools Core curriculum: What can we learn about life from art and historical fiction? How can art and literature illuminate human struggle? What does art and literature illustrate about the human experience? 27 Do the perspectives of life in regards to race, class and gender during the American Revolution still exist today?
Students will explore these questions as they examine and analyze art and the novel Forge through Inquiry Based Discussions. These discussions will require students to be the facilitators and will require a standard for discussion that will be explained further. The common core requires students to take ownership of their learning and the teacher to serve as a resource as students probe their way through gaining a deeper understanding.
An inquiry based discussion requires the students to facilitate the discussion. This can be done in a variety of ways. Students may sit in a semi-circle or may face one another. Students may be assigned roles such as facilitator, recorder, and time keeper. The teacher may allot a certain amount of time sufficient for discussion. The teacher may pose a question for discussion or present it as a "write about" that students may have done earlier so that they have time to gather or organize their ideas about a particular topic. Students are then given the opportunity to develop questions that they may ask other students during the discussion. The role of the facilitator is to keep the discussion going by asking students to elaborate more on their ideas such as "tell us more" or "can you explain a little further?" The goal is to actively engage students in the process of inquiry, critical thinking, and analysis.
Visual Thinking Strategies
The Visual thinking Strategies that are often employed in both art classrooms and museums are also a strategy to get students to "enter" an image. The following questions can be used to engage students in a work of art: 1.What's going on in this picture? 2. What do you see that makes you say that? 3. What more can we find? 28
The goal is to get students to think deeper about the historical events depicted and the history of the work without leading them. The art work should serve as a primary source for students to learn about the time period. Any works that are used in retrospect should be explained as that and students can engage in a comparison of what the find between the two.
Close Reading Strategies
Shorter pieces of nonfiction can be used as a close reading strategy that is implemented in order for students to understand background on the artists and key figures from the Revolutionary War. (chunking the text, creating margin notes, highlighting key words, and analyzing the paragraphs) Students may also examine portraits of key figures. These pieces will provide students with some background knowledge while understanding events and figures from the set time period. Students will also examine the epigraphs throughout the novel Forge and make connections with works of art and how they understand the historical time period better from the art work.
Writing and the Writing Process
Students will utilize the writing process as they write from different perspectives of figures contained in the works of arts. These writings will require students to demonstrate an analytical perspective of the time period and historical context not just creative writing. Students can then begin to evaluate today's society and whether or not race, gender, and class equity issues exist today. They can also start to think about change as well.
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