Curated OER
Northern Renaissance Art
The 15th and 16th centuries marked one of the most interesting periods in European art history. The deep symbolism, allegory, rich imagery, and iconography can be found in this extensive and well-organized slideshow. From El Greco to...
Curated OER
Medieval and Renaissance Art: Botanical Symbolism
Students study the significance of flowers in art from two periods. In this Medieval and Renaissance art activity, students research the presence and meaning of botanical illustrations in twelfth, thirtieth, and fourteenth century...
Curated OER
The Art of the Italian Renaissance
Feast your eyes on some of the most beautiful and important art of the Renaissance, including paintings, sculptures, and architecture. The slides take care to detail the characteristics of each art form, but the presentation really lends...
Curated OER
Coil Vessels with Symbols
Eighth graders explore symbolism in Renaissance art, use ceramics vocabulary, and demonstrate craftsmanship in working with clay.
Curated OER
The Body Talks
Young historians examine the gestures of human subjects represented in Mannerist, Baroque and Renaissance paintings. After they play charades and attempt to match dialogue with body language, learners create a drawing that includes...
National Gallery of Canada
Reading Symbols
Introduce your upper-elementary students to printmaking. Class members view prints, select and research symbols in a piece, and create their own sets of prints using styrofoam trays. Pupils can wash off the paint on their trays to make...
Curated OER
New York State Testing Program: English Language Arts Book 2
Practice listening and writing skills with this resource. This is a test created by the New York State Testing Program. Learners listen to a passage called "Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa" twice and write responses to the selection. They...
Curated OER
Arcimboldo Style Self Portraits
High schoolers view and discuss Renaissance art, including the work of Arcimboldo. They create their own self portraits through imagery and symbolism in the Arcimboldo style.
Curated OER
Use of Symbolism to Convey the Author's Message - The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Students identify the literary devices, symbolism, and first-person narration in the poem A Negro Speaks of Rivers. In this poem analysis lesson, students discuss African Americans and the Harlem Renaissance. Students watch a video about...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...
Curated OER
Symbolism Lesson Plan
Students define the terms symbolism and mood. In groups, they read a poem by Robert Frost and identify the concepts in the poem. As a class, they discuss how the two elements give a meaning to the writing. They also give their own...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance
Students, after researching/analyzing the movement "Harlem Renaissance" and Africa as well as reading literature from that time period, create lists of the major characteristics of the movement and its important writers. They bridge the...
Curated OER
Using the Patterns and Symbols of Mali Mud Cloth to Convey Identity
Young scholars participate in relating the role of the arts in defining identity. They examine the community in West African society and how members of that community define their role. They view how artifacts, music and performance can...
Curated OER
Numbers in Art
Students choose a number from one to twelve and tell a number story about it. They listen to the teacher read "Numbers in Art" by Lucy Micklethwait. Students choose three numbers from one to twelve and view works of art while looking for...
Curated OER
The Geography of Renaissance
Students use the internet to research the geography of the Renaissance. Using maps of Europe, they identify at least three key cities during the time period and discuss the main types of transportation. They research the various customs...
Curated OER
Power of Symbols in West African Art
High schoolers examine and analyze symbols used in the Asante community of Ghana and look at the history of power struggles in West Africa. They discover how to express meaning and power as they create their own symbols and short...
Curated OER
Shakespeare and the Concepts of the Renaissance
Ninth graders familiarize themselves with the English Renaissance period and recognize the symbolism in Act V of "The Merchant of Venice" and analyze how it relates to the Italian Renaissance Themes. They produce an extended response...
Curated OER
Embossed Rose Window Designs
Students, after researching the history and foundation of Renaissance rose windows, access ArtEmboss to create an original window design. They employ a basic metalworking technique utilizing a soft metal. The design created incorporates...
National Endowment for the Arts
Teacher's Guide: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A 10-lesson unit takes high schoolers through a novel study of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. To start, students learn about Fitzgerald's background and gain historical context that prepares them for a reading of the book. The...
Curated OER
Murals, Memories, and Making Art
Fourth grade reading students study art works by famous artists. They use various tools for learning about the artist, and they present their information by writing and speaking about the artist. They also create artwork in the style of...
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Curated OER
Getting Perspective In The Renaissance
Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the art of photography. They conduct research using the Internet and other resources. The students use the lesson plan to create context for using analytical language for class discussion.
Curated OER
The Latest Style
Students create a contemporary collage of a Northern Renaissance theme/story in an exciting group project. Through in-class examples and student work, the art of the Northern Renaissance is studied and analyzed.
Curated OER
Using West African Gold Weights and African Masks as a Way of Communication
Eighth graders discuss how communication, or lack thereof, can have either a favorable or detrimental effect on a community. They study and interpret proverbs as a means of teaching a lesson. Finally they discuss symbolism and design a...