Curated OER
Lesson: After Nature: Visions and Visionaries
Build visual literacy, discussion, and critical thinking skills with an innovative art lesson. Young analysts discuss the use of decalcomania, surrealism, and automatism in various contemporary pieces, discuss constructed truth, and...
Curated OER
Lesson: Paul Chan: "Score for the 7th Light"
Music, art, and poetry coalesce in a single exhibition, and in a single lesson. Critical thinkers analyze the Fluxus art movement as it's seen in the work of Paul Chan's 7 Lights. They consider the use of poetry and music in his...
Curated OER
Lesson: Urs Fischer: Your Choice: Reality or Illusion?
Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...
Curated OER
Lesson: Double Album: The Collection and the Archive
An open discussion starts this lesson off. The class takes a critical look at five works of art that demonstrate the impact and purpose of identity through collections or archives. They then write a list or draw 10-15 items found in...
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: The Self in the Other's Image: Portraiture and Identity
Art, identity, and an imaginary community, three components that should make for an interesting activity. Critical thinkers explore and evaluate the work of contemporary artist, Elizabeth Peyton. They discuss her use of subject and art...
Curated OER
Looking at Portraits: Literary Monuments
Examine artwork, research literature, and create art pieces for a monument to a literary figure. Young scholars analyze the sculpture Model for a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père and compare it to other well-known monuments. They...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Shaping Ideas: Symbolism in Sculpture—Lesson 2
Young artists create a series of sketches of ideas for a sculpture, and using the criteria develop in the previous class, critique their sketches. They then choose one of their ideas and create their work of art.
Curated OER
Lesson: Jeremy Deller: Conversing about Conflict
Bridge cultural awareness, community, government, and art with an introspective and thought-provoking lesson. Upper graders become globally and socially aware as they analyze and explore the art of Jeremy Deller. They consider his images...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Ball Point Engravings
Turn simple pencil sketches into colorful engravings. After first creating hand-drawn pictures, young artists then trace over them will ball point pens, etching the images into cold press illustration boards, before rubbing...
Curated OER
Orchestra: Focus on Rhythm and Arranging
High school orchestra is a great place to play music, like The Star Spangled Banner. Upper graders create new rhythms to the old song and perform them with the class. They rehearse their updated versions of the song using their...
Curated OER
Responses To Twentieth Century Music: A High School Art Curriculum
Students explore their own responses to sound by hearing the music as a regular part of the class structure. They develop an awareness that certain art evokes certain sounds and moods and develop an intuitive responses to the music.
Curated OER
Visual Art: Romare Bearden and Group 306
Students examine the life and art of Romare Bearden. Using his "Mill Hand's Lunch Bucket" for inspiration, they write a first chapter for a book. Students observe numerous other works of his art and discuss them from artistic and...
Curated OER
Pinhole Photo Narratives
Students create original pieces of poetry and use this as a basis for a photography series using "pin-hole camera" techniques. This high school activity is cross-curricular in scope.
Curated OER
Self-Portrait With Literal Reference
Students create self-portraits using ideas from a particular theme and piece of literature in this high school Art lesson. Emphasis is placed on combining visual and literal material in a cohesive manner.
Walters Art Museum
The Symbolism of Allegorical Art
Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...
Curated OER
Gateway to the Arts
Students redesign a dead space in the school to create an interesting and stimulating visual environment. In this art design instructional activity, students look at how to redesign architectural space and research ways to enhance a...
Curated OER
High School Lesson Plan -- Music
Students are introduced to the concept of minimal music. In groups, they identify its characteristics and its relationship to minimal art. Using the internet, they research the various historical time periods in which it was popular. ...
Curated OER
Football game seating: Security or Restriction
Students read the Ohio High School Athletic Association Sportsmanship Resource Guide, paying particular attention to what it says for School Reporters. They then write a news article about the issue presented.
Curated OER
The age of majority: How old is old enough?
Students research on the Web and in books the "age of majority" in general and how it applies in their particular states. Explore, too, "emancipation" and whether this is another way for teens to earn additional rights. Students write a...
Curated OER
The death penalty; What is your view?
Pupils write a persuasive essay about the death penalty. Students respond to pupils at St. Ignatius Catholic High School in Cleveland protesting the death of Adremy Dennis. Students research both sides of the debate, before writing why...
Curated OER
Repeat Design Project
Young scholars design an individual rubber stamp and use this design to create a simple repeat pattern. This Art lesson is for the high school level and includes a possible lesson extension.
Curated OER
Papyrus to PDA
What a great project. Graphic arts students consider the social, political, and economic impact made by a chosen invention. They build an argument to substantiate their reasons for choosing said invention. They create an oral...
Curated OER
Op Art Circles
Students create Optical Art, art that seems to move when you look at it, in this Art instructional activity for the High School classroom. Included with the instructional activity is a list of recommended materials and suggested resource...