Introduction
Standing in my third grade art class, I observe the bewildered and terrified looks on the faces of my students as I eagerly await their response to the simple question: “What do you think about this artwork?” I am introducing my third graders to the concept of critiquing art for the first time. It is a method which I use to start every class in grades 3 through 5. It is an exercise that involves analyzing images and discussing our questions and opinions as a group. It is a new concept for these students because in the previous school years they didn’t engage in art critiques. It is not a strategy used in the lower grade art classes, so imagine their horror when they are faced with the perplexing task of expressing their individual thoughts on the subject of art. The discomfort of the moment is intensified by my reassurance that there are not any right or wrong answers. Can you hear the booming of the cannons? No. That’s something else. Their minds are blown!
It often saddens me that such a simple request is met with such resistance. What is the problem? Students have an opinion on everything; what they think of their friends, their clothes, the food they eat, the music they like. Surely they can conjure up one utterance that expresses an opinion about a painting filled with colorful dots. So the struggle continues as I encounter similar issues when introducing poems, stories, and cultural history related to art. How do I get students to analyze anything if they don’t engage in or understand the process of developing an opinion? How do I get them to express the thoughts that articulate all that they are curious or concerned about, if they only subscribe to the theory that everything is either right or wrong? The thought is to teach them to interpret and express an idea through art and to tell a story seasoned with their preferences and opinions in an un-intimidating way that has positive outcomes for them in other areas of instruction.
I was struck by the idea of using film to teach the content of ancient cultures in the class, to utilize film as a platform for discussion and examination, to encourage reflection and critical thinking amongst my students. The following unit is my attempt to craft a plan for learning, discussing, interpreting and retelling the history and narratives related to the art curriculum.
This unit is intended to provide students with a dynamic experience and method of interpreting content by using film in the art class. I believe that film enhances the understanding of content through visual representation. “Art” tells a story and seeks to be understood by the viewer. Each film audience and reader of a book may have a different interpretation of a story based on their experience with the work. These experiences may be related to the images created in the mind of the reader, as they imagine the details described by the author. The visual experience of a film is influenced by the director and the cinematic elements utilized in a film. The process and techniques of analyzing film adaptations will help my students develop the skill of better interpreting art in the classroom. The ability to interpret art serves my students in multiple ways; it also builds their verbal and writing skills. As an art teacher, I teach a cross curriculum approach that connects the visual arts curriculum to core subjects such as language arts and history. Using these skills to critique and engage in discussion related to film will also help the students to better express an idea through writing. In my course, the “Visual Art of Writing”: Exploring Chinese Culture Through Film and Storyboard Illustration,” students will use imagery found in film, photographs, animation and storyboard renderings to engage in interpreting content through visual means. By creating their own illustrations, the students will use those images to help create a written narrative that is the retelling of a story. This may be the story of a culture, an artist, a piece of art or events in history.
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