Student Performance

I feel that the students were excited by the lesson.  We were working within a themed format, which helped to create a sense of excitement.  The students were engaged in the discussion of the collage by Matisse and enjoyed the hands on nature of working with scrap paper.  As an art educator I encourage students to discuss works of art- The integration of art and literacy was a natural progression.  I feel that the students learned the material and had a positive art-making experience.  They were able to recall the artist’s name and country of origin.  In addition, the students were able to identify and describe the various vocabulary words discussed, such as abstract and collage.  The students applied the concepts to their own artwork, creating cut paper collages in the style of Matisse. 

The students worked diligently on the collage.  One thing that I noticed was that they enjoyed ‘finding’ shapes and colors in the scrap paper box, there were many exclamations such as ‘look!’.  One problem that I did have was that many of the students wanted to cut and glue the shapes down right away, rather than cutting out several shapes and then thinking more about the composition before committing.  I called for the students’ attention, and reminded them to cut several shapes and to ‘play around’ with those shapes on the vertical white paper before gluing them down.  Another reminder that I had to give the students was not to use too much glue.  In my regular classroom, I always repeat ‘Just a dot, not a lot’ to remind my students not to use too much glue. Passing this on to this small group helped, however I hope to have better results with my regular classes when I teach this lesson to them this year.  There were no major management issues.  I feel that the hands on nature of the media helped to act as a classroom management tool- keeping the students involved.

Teacher Performance

My introduction of the lesson went well, but with some additional work on my part could be much more effective.  I began the lesson by pulling up the related images on my classroom computer, as I did not have access to a print- while at the computer, we viewed the work that inspired the lesson, ‘Beasts of the Sea.’  During this portion of the lesson we discussed the elements of the work, as indicated in the ‘Teacher Input’ portion of the six-point lesson plan.  Students were engaged in viewing and discussing the work.  I started with learning to pronounce his name correctly; the students really liked the idea that they were ‘learning French.’  The students responded very positively to viewing the images on the computer, but I do not feel that this would work with a normal sized art class.  

I had thought about having the students view a web site, but one problem that I found was that many of the Matisse sites had examples of the artist’s work featuring his  nudes, and I did not want this to come up in front of the students.  One thing that I would like to do when I present this in my classroom this year is to create a PowerPoint presentation to share with the students that would include photographs of the artist as well as pictures of the work and the related art terms. I believe that this portion of the lesson would be more effective is if I projected the presentation on a large screen.  One reason that I had to do this was because it is summer and the school technology resources are locked up.  However, when I present this in my class this year I feel that making this change will improve the visual impact of Matisse’s work.

One thing that I learned from this lesson is that concepts used in reading are not so different than those used to discuss and create artwork.  In both instances we are constructing or deconstructing a form of communication- in the case of art we use the elements and principles of art and design, in literacy we use words.  It is very valuable for me to consider weaving literacy concepts in my curriculum- not only to keep up with current legislation, but also to add to the total education of my students.  I look forward to preparing this lesson to teach with my regular classes this coming year, and to adding a PowerPoint presentation.  In addition, I would like to spend time at the end of the lesson allowing students to share and discuss their own work.  I am pleased with the lesson, but welcome any feedback to make it a more effective lesson for my art students this coming year.