Modern Messages

Students examine aesthetic movement known as modernism, discover why organizers chose modernism as World Fair's design pattern, interpret photographs of modernist fair buildings and identify artifacts that reflect modernist ideas, and...

21st century learners live in a media world. Help them develop the skills they need to be able to analyze the barrage of propaganda they face daily, with a resource that introduces them to the type of persuasive appeals found in news,...

What are the short and long-term consequences for consumers and producers of modern media propaganda? Class members ponder this essential question as their unit study of ethics of propaganda concludes. After examining two case studies,...

What is the difference between myths, legends, and folktales? From greek mythology and creation myths to heroes and heroines, here is a nice series of lessons for providing your kids with solid foundational knowledge about myths.

Tenth graders analyze a biographical piece of art by Raymond Saunders. They identify shapes, symbols, and lines that are used, and how the piece relates to the artist's life and modern society. They design and create an original piece of...

There are a lot of different ways a learner could respond to this New York Times article discussing the effects of modern culture on childhood. After reading the article, pupils construct a thoughtful blog post. The guiding questions...

Twelfth graders learn art is an effective way to convey a political message. They learn how political messages are created to convey a message. They analyze a piece of artwork and then write a short paragraph from the point of view of...

Can a neon sign be considered art? Kids consider two different works that use neon text as the basis for conveying artistic social messages. They then analyze a truism from Jenny Holzer's web site that holds meaning to them personally....

Like Mark Twain's introduction to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz warns readers not to search for a hidden message or moral in his tale. Yet many, such as Henry Littlefield, have done just...