Lauren Costello | Inarte Journal

Lauren Costello

3rd Year, Art Education Specialization

Map of Kindness Artspiration

My internship experiences have taught me that typical holiday art lessons need to be re-evaluated. Too many educators fall into the cookie cutter craft routines during the holidays, leaving creativity and critical thinking behind. Thus, I wanted to produce a unit plan that would suit any age group and could be introduced during the holidays without falling into the traditional holiday craft approach.

This unit plan is designed to provoke students to be aware of their surroundings, their community and the ways we function within it. This unit plan encourages students to consider how individuals can make a difference and enrich their community through simple acts of kindness.

Rationale

This unit plan fosters critical thinking and examination of social issues. Participants will initiate acts of kindness to recipients. During this process, students will learn to document their acts of kindness using a photo-sharing website. This will reinforce how small gestures can spread happiness and help others.

Lesson Plan Description and Objectives

Designed for cycle two high school art classes, this unit plan asks students to document different acts of kindness using Panoramio, a free online photo sharing website. Each week, students will discover a new artist and learn a different art technique. During each weekly session students will explore a new technique and create an individual work of art. Students will give their work of art to someone meaningful to them. The act will be photographed and documented on Panoramio, using the visual map network features on the website. Students will also be encouraged to create a digital art work using web-based programs and email it to someone they may not be able to reach on foot.

Procedure:

Students will create an individual work of art.
Students will learn about a new artist and technique every week.
Students will give away their artwork.
Students will document their gesture and upload them to Panoramio.

Visual Art Competencies

Competency 1: To produce individual works in the visual arts.

Students will make a meaningful artwork, which will be given to a chosen person. Students will think about the meaning of the gifts and design the artworks according to the receivers. They will make multiple sketches for each work of art, in order to critically design and customize each artwork.
Students will give their artwork to a meaningful person and share their experience in the art room.

Cross-Curricular Competencies

To use information: Works of the chosen artists will inspire students to develop their own ideas using similar artistic approaches. Communicating appropriately: Students will think critically about their artworks to express their feelings appropriately towards the recipient.

Questions of Inquiry

How can we help others?
What kinds of creative art works will impart positivity to others?
When you perform an act of kindness, how do you think this will make the recipient feel?
Do you think the recipient will be in turn motivated to perform their own a good deed?
Will happiness propagate?

Vocabulary

Acts of kindness: Selfless actions that help others or brighten their day.
Visual Mapping: A map that contains pictures of places, events, or actions.
Activist Art: Art that responds to contemporary issues.

Featured Artists

Rene Magritte
Keith Haring
Banksy

Materials

Educator Materials:

Smartboard for visual resources and lesson introduction.

Student Materials:

Access to a computer and digital camera.
Watercolor medium and brushes.
Acrylic paint and paintbrushes.
A range of charcoal and graphite pencils.

Assessment

Evaluation of the unit plan and individual lessons will be based a on a rubric using the “Framework for the Evaluation of Learning” by the QEP (MELS, 2011). In addition, students will be encouraged to continue their acts of kindness and document them on their map, to which a participation grade will be attribute at the end of the term.

References

Ministère Éducation, Loisir et Sports du Québec (2011). Frameworks for the evaluation of learning: Timetable for Preschool Education and Elementary School. Downloaded from: www.mel.gouv.qc.ca Panoramio (2013). Panoramio. www.panoramio.com