Activities
Accessing prior knowledge
To do this, I will begin by having students fill out a “What in the World do I Know?” graphic organizer about poetry. At the bottom of the same paper they will write five words about walking to my class today (or something else eventful that’s on their mind). Transitions are difficult for students affected by trauma and quite a bit can happen during these unstructured times. I want to give students an opportunity to express themselves right away with the most current activity on their mind. On the back of the paper students will be asked to draw at least one part of their face and write the words on it or around it. The goal of this is to get students to think about what they know and to apply some of those skills to visual poetry. Also, it scaffolds learning by first tapping into prior knowledge, then second, making connections between those two things. If students have difficulty completing the visual poetry I will give them an example. I do not like to do this initially because oftentimes students will not come up with an original idea. This activity will allow me to access student’s prior knowledge and begin to lay the foundation of this unit by connecting it to the bigger goals.
Creating and Using Visual Journals
Students will create a visual journal to document their reflective self-portraits, their drawings, their on-going learning and thoughts, as well as their poems (or words to be made into poems). Doing this will give students a place to document their ideas and to create a connection between students’ visual self and their verbal self. Students will be able to build on previous knowledge by accessing previous pages. I have observed that elementary level students like to do something then move onto the next project or learning goal. They don’t always connect one project to the next. I want students to learn to develop ideas and work over time to create a metacognitive connection that will deepen the impact of self-reflective learning practices.
To create the visual journals students will fold ten 9x12 sheets of paper in half and tie them together with a hole puncher and yarn. It is important to choose the size of the student’s paper based on the amount of time you have in a class period. I intentionally have students working small so they can accomplish daily goals. Students will create a title for their Visual Journal to be written on the front with their name. Creativity is encouraged. Students may include an image, if they want, but it is not required. The student’s name must be visible and neatly written on the front to aid in quick distribution between art classes.
Students will use the first page of their journal to answer the question, “How would you paint a poem?” as described above when introducing Bobbi Katz’s poem, “Lessons from a Painting by Rothko.” This will be used for reflection at the end of the poem, artwork, and information about the artist to compare student’s thoughts before and after the detailed analyses to measure growth.
On the next page students will paste a copy of the first poem in their visual journal. They should be guided through a close reading using a checklist, so students can become familiar with the process. The teacher will demonstrate the process for using “questions cards” with questions to be asked and answered by students. Students will be expected to document answers and additional questions on the third page of their visual journal.
The fourth and fifth pages of their visual journals are for students to document art criticism techniques about Mark Rothko’s work and information about him as an artist. Students will use art criticism graphic organizer(s) to guide them through the activity. The graphic organizers should be glued into the journal so that students can easily reference and connect on-going and future learning.
After the close reading and a thorough analysis of Rothko’s work, the teacher should ask the students to share what they have learned, including any connections that they have made. Documentation is required by students in their visual journals. Then they will answer the question, “How do you paint a poem?” Students will be allowed to write, draw, paint, and illustrate to show their answer.
The next poem to be glued into the student’s journals is “Early Sunday Morning” by John Stone. There is a shift in the way this lesson is taught compared to the previous poem. Instead of reading the poetry separately from the art analysis, students will alternate between the first reading of the poem and looking at and describing the art, then doing a second reading of the poem, then following that with an art analysis. I want students to combine the two in a more integrated way to begin unifying the processes cognitively.
Students can read the poem independently while the teacher reads it aloud. Students will use a new close reading checklist to begin the process of finding a deeper meaning in the poem. After the first reading, students will look at and begin describing Edward Hopper’s painting. When the description is complete students will look at the poem again and move through the checklist by using the question cards to be asked and answered by students. When they have gathered enough information, students will analyze and interpret Hopper’s painting. Students will share their results in groups of two and then with the class. Students will be asked to think about where they live. Is it a place where there is a lot of noise? What colors are there? Students will compare and contrast where they live compared to Hopper’s painting (interpretation). Students will be encouraged to explore their feelings about where they live and portray it in their visual journal. Afterwards students will be asked to draw their neighborhoods and to write a free style poem about it using the skills they have learned. If students struggle, give them a choice of graphic organizers to help them make progress. They can also work with a partner (peer assistance).
For the third ekphrastic poem and visual artwork students will read and looking at Penelope Allen’s poem, “Looking Back” about Vincent van Gogh’s Self Portrait (pictured above). Students will do a close reading following the checklist and question cards activity. Students will use the four domains of art criticism, documenting each in their visual journals. Students will then share their information in groups and as a class.
At the end of this lesson students will look at more self-portraits and portraits by Vincent van Gogh and additional ones by Jacob Lawrence, Alfred Stieglitz (of Georgia O’Keeffe), Pablo Picasso, Faith Ringgold, and Horace Pippin. Students will do a gallery walk where they look at each painting. After looking at each, they will pick one to look at while writing an ekphrastic poem. Before students begin writing they will need to describe, analyze, interpret, and judge the work. This will give them the information that they may need write the poem. Other resources students can use are: previous learning in their visual journal, graphic organizers, peer grouping, and other handouts (descriptive, sensory words, feelings, etc).
First Representational Reflective Self-Portrait and Poem
Though one could argue that the task of creating art is a therapeutic one, not all agree with that sentiment. It is important to be cognizant of the fact that some students may not feel comfortable with this task. This is o.k. Students have various backgrounds and various entrance points. In addition, by moving into the more personal aspects of creation there will be some resistance from that, as well. I am hoping the previous activities will have built confidence and perhaps comfort in the process, therefore students can open their minds to self-reflection as it relates to their identity. In the next lesson students will be asked to draw a representational self-portrait of themselves demonstrating how they feel “right now.” This requires students to think about what they are feeling. Some will find this to be an easy task, others will struggle. Next, students will need to figure out how to draw a representational self-portrait that does not focus on realism, but on symbolism that is connected to their feelings. They will need to choose their materials and the elements and principles of design accordingly. Students need to write words either on their self-portrait or around it. The words will need to be made into a poem about their self-portrait. This can be integrated into the artwork if they choose. At the end of the activity, the entire class will get in a restorative circle. Students will be asked to share one word about how they felt at the beginning of the activity and one word about how they feel at the end of the activity. Whenever students are struggling or frustrated or you want to share, students can use the restorative circle practice technique to do this.
Second Representational Reflective Self-Portrait and Poem
For this activity students will be asked to complete another representational self-portrait and poem. This will, like the first, be about how the students feel “right now” but at a different point in time. This activity needs to be repeated so that students feel comfortable with the process of self-expression reflecting their own lives. It teaches them to tune into their own feelings and use that energy to create. With each activity it is expected that students “dig deeper” and connect their feelings to the visual and the verbal more each time. It can be repeated as often as necessary. If students come to class and are agitated after riding the bus or some other negative experience, the familiarity of the therapeutic process of putting feelings to words and visuals will create a safe, relevant, and therapeutic way for students to express themselves.
“How Others View Me” Representational Self-Portrait and Poem
To move away from what one thinks about themselves the next self-portrait and poem is for students to think about how others view them. It is important to give students time to think about this concept. Because it can be hard to do this visually, it would be better to begin with the words. First have students write down words describing what their peers, parents, teachers, and coaches think of them. With these cues students should be able to think of a visual and will be able to draw themselves. Again, representational self-portraits are expected. However, this will be difficult for students because they will want to be viewed by others as “whole” or good-looking. Because of this, there will be more efforts towards realism. The avoidance of realism in this unit is primarily so that students don’t caught up in that aspect of visual creativity. The purpose of the self-portraits and poetry is to teach students to self-reflect about current, et al, states of being. This skill is not understood by students who experience trauma. Teaching them to do it in a therapeutic, safe way will aid them in repairing harm to their self-identity. It is o.k. to let students determine their level of comfort with realism, but they should not be spending too much time on it.
“A Poem for a Friend”
During this lesson students will pick one of their previously drawn self-portraits to share with the class. These will be displayed. Students will be randomly assigned to write a poem about one of them (this way every student gets a poem from another student). Students can use all of their resources to do this activity. If any struggle, they can use a graphic organizer to help them. If students feel comfortable they can share their poems with the person whom they wrote about or the class.
“Who I Will Become” Representational Self-Portrait and Poem
Students will be asked to think about what or whom they want to be when they are grown. The age level they choose to represent here is up to them, but I would recommend it to be after high school. Students will begin this activity with words that they will construct into a poem. Afterward, students will draw a representational self-portrait showing what they think they will look like in the future, adding any additional information, if necessary. At this point I expect most students will be striving for realism with this self-portrait and that is permissible, as I stated earlier. But the purpose of representational self-portraits is to encourage students to focus more on their feelings and less on proper portraiture techniques.
“How I’ve Grown” Culminating Collage of all previous art and poems.
For the culminating activity students will take apart their visual journals. They will create a collage of their previous created artworks and poems that they feel best represents themselves. Students can choose to combine them into one larger picture and poem or keep them separate. When students are finished their collages will be hung for display.
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