Portfolio of an Art Educator
Saturday School Teaching Experience
For 8 consecutive weeks, a partner and myself created a Unit Plan for 14 students, ages 9 and 10. Our unit, Illusions and Confusions, was based around "the visual magic and mystery of art". Throughout the 8 weeks, we designed 6 lessons under the idea of illusions and confusions. The following are examples and overviews of the lessons we created, along with Essential Questions and Vocabulary Terms.
Lesson 1: Magical Metamorphosis
This lesson introduces the theme of Transformation and Metamorphosis through the making of Metamorphosis drawings. While working in groups of 2 or 3, students explored and controlled the transformation of two objects, inanimate or animate, each. In these drawings, students worked with their partners to depict the progression of transformation between the inanimate and/or animate objects. One partner started the object, with the first and second phase of transformation; while the other partner created the third and fourth stage of transformation of the resulting object. Students collaborated with one another to brainstorm ideas and discuss the changing and evolving characteristics of their objects. Throughout the project, students considered why they chose their transformation of objects and were encouraged to choose two objects that have something in common.
Vocabulary Terms:
- Illusion
- Transformation
- Metamorphosis
Essential Questions:
- “What do the words illusion and transformation mean to you?”
- “Where have you seen illusions and transformations in real life?”
- “What are some examples of metamorphosis?”
Lesson 2: Tricky Tessellations
This lesson allowed students to explore illusions and transformations by creating tessellations using the “gap method”. Each student cut out a shape from a 3x3 inch piece of paper that would become the stencil and be traced in a repetitive, symmetric way. After tracing, two different repeated shapes were formed on the students’ paper. From these shapes, students brainstormed what they saw and if the shapes were related in some way. During the lesson, students also explored the tessellation work of M.C Escher.
Vocabulary Words:
- symmetry
- repetition
- tessellation
Essential Questions:
- “Who is M.C Escher?”
- “What is a tessellation?”
Lesson 3: Puzzling Paper Weaving
In this lesson, students created paper weavings using warm and cool colors, which in return created an optical illusion when weaved together. To begin, students created identical designs or patterns on two separate pieces of paper using watercolors. On one paper, the students created their designs with warm colors, while the other was created using cool colors. By cutting one painting into strips and cutting the other to create slits, students weaved their images together to create an optical illusion!
Vocabulary Words:
- Warm Colors
- Cool Colors
- Color Saturation
Essential Questions:
- “What are the differences between warm and cool colors?”
- “What is color saturation?”
- “What are some real life examples of weaving?”
Lesson 4 & 5: Trick Photography and Photo Editing
In this lesson, students were taught the basics of how to use a DLSR camera, such as how to focus, how to properly hold a camera, and how to zoom to name a few. Students examined trick photography work from various artists and different compositions that created trick photography illusions. Broken into groups, students discussed with their group different compositions they could and would like to create. We all traveled to the Penn State Arboretum, located on the North East part of campus, where students had ample space to create their compositions. Within each group, students took turns being the photographer and being models to create their optical illusions. Once all images were taken, students worked in the Patterson Computer Labs in the program iPhoto and a version of Adobe Photoshop where they created edited photos.
Vocabulary Words:
- Perspective
- Composition
- Trompe l’oeil
Essential Questions:
- “What key element of composition is essential for trick photography?”
- “What is perspective?”
- “How to you create trick photography?”
Lesson 6: Yarn Sculptures
In this lesson, students were taught to create yarn sculptures using yarn, balloons, and liquid starch. Students explored 3D optical illusions through their sculptures and through viewing the following artists: Francis Tabary, Rafael Barrios, and Gavin Worth.
Vocabulary Words:
- Three Dimensional
- Sculpture
Essential Questions:
- “What makes something three dimensional?”
- “How do you create a sculpture?”
We created a blog used to connect and inform parents/guardians on the work begin completed each Saturday. Through this blog, we were able to example weekly projects, display student work, and provide an area for constant parent/guardian feedback. Please visit our blog for more details and images at illusionsandconfusions.wordpress.com