Lecture: DeAnna Beachley, Ph.D. — The 1930s II

Lecture: DeAnna Beachley, Ph.D. — The 1930s II

Lecture: Dr. Michael Green — The 1930s II

Lecture: Michael Green, Ph.D. — " The 1930s II"

Session II Class Slides

Click here to access the PowerPoint slides presented during the first session of this module.

The Nine Themes of Visual Arts by Fredrick B. Lanuza, Ph.D.

The elements listed below were developed by Dr. Fredrick Lanuza and presented at the Computer-Using Educators Annual Conference in 2008.

1. The Subject: Describe what you see — person, place, thing
2. Reasons: Determine the purpose of the work in societal, chronological, and environmental terms
3. Lines: Identify line directions and types (e.g., straight, curvy, rhythmic)
4. Colors: Describe the hue (name), value (level of lighting, brightness), and intensity (brightness, dullness)
5. Form: Describe apparent shapes — regular vs. irregular, definite vs. suggestive
6. Texture: Consider materials used, surface quality, and smooth/rough aspects
7. Focal Points: To what part of the picture are the eyes drawn?
8. Imagination: What does the picture conjure for the beholder?
9. Judgment: What elements of the picture does the audience like and dislike?

Note: The first eight themes may be addressed in any order, but “Judgment” must not occur until after addressing all other eight themes.

Notes and Ideas for Art Integration

Visual Arts

• History Trading Cards
• Mock protest/advocacy posters
• Picture analysis (Cut a picture into four parts and have groups critically examine one part. Then, have all groups work collaboratively to explain the entire picture.)
• Mock movie posters
• Hide-and-seek in a picture (Have students pretend to shrink themselves and stand somewhere in the picture. They would then tell their classmates what they see, hear, smell, feel, hear while others try to guess their location.)
• Cartoons/Comics/Graphic novels
• Murals
• Photos
• Drawing/Paintings
• Sculptures
• Story maps
• Architecture

Dramatic Arts (including dance)

• Chautauqua performances/Character sketches
• Living portraits (of famous art)
• Frozen pictures (living portraits in which the student designs the image)
• Freeze frames (multiple living portraits combined)
• Create or re-create a dance from the time
• Re-enact events/“Day-in-the-Life” Enactments
• Write and perform skits and plays
• Dramatic readings of primary source documents
• Costume design (Have students design and sew period clothing)
• Design and make props and backdrops for a stage performance
• Musical Arts
• Read lyrics of the time and create a word wall of historically relevant words
• Construct a song using a musical score from the era

Written Composition Arts

• Poetry
• Novels/Short stories/Children’s books
• Scripts (e.g., reader’s theater, movies, commercials, plays, news)
• Mad libs
• Book covers
• Articles (e.g., magazines, newspapers)
• Foldable reports
  

General Notes

• “Rehearsing the imagination” can be accomplished freely in the virtual realm.” Take advantage of “technology’s ability for layering image, sound, [and] text in ways that engage learners, spark learning, and trigger curiosity.” (Donovan and Bellisaro)
• Learning happens best when it involves “active doing and seeing.” (AccessArts)
• Be mindful of the relationship between aesthetics, writing, and design. For example, make sure the graphics and text flow well together.
• When working with art, recognize and discriminate among various colors, shapes, and textures in natural and man-made forms. (Fredrick Lanuza).
• Many teachers are now including mixed-media, technology-based projects in their classrooms. One such example is a Facebook page replica to look as if it was between parties engaged in World War II. Additional examples recommended by Dr. Daniel Qualls include:
• Blog Based Examples (Ecosystem and Napoleon)
• My Space Example (Benjamin Franklin)

National Standards for Arts Education

Ways to integrate the arts to develop and retain historical content knowledge can be combined with arts education. Instead of simply using artistic products to motivate students in the history classroom, teach artistic concepts alongside requiring arts-based assessment of historical content. To learn art concepts appropriate for given grade levels and artistic forms, see the National Standards for Arts Education.

Overview of the National Standards for Arts Education (Grades K-8)
from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/standards.cfm

Dance

• Identifying and demonstrating movement elements and skills in performing dance
• Understanding choreographic principles, processes, and structures
• Understanding dance as a way to create and communicate meaning
• Applying and demonstrating critical and creative thinking skills in dance
• Demonstrating and understanding dance in various cultures and historical periods
• Making connections between dance and healthful living
• Making connections between dance and other disciplines

Music

• Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
• Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
• Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
• Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
• Reading and notating music
• Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
• Evaluating music and music performances
• Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
• Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Theater

• Script writing by the creation of improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history
• Acting by developing basic acting skills to portray characters who interact in improvised and scripted scenes
• Designing by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes
• Directing by organizing rehearsals for improvised and scripted scenes
• Researching by using cultural and historical information to support improvised and scripted scenes
• Comparing and incorporating art forms by analyzing methods of presentation and audience response for theatre, dramatic media (such as film, television, and electronic media), and other art forms
• Analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions
• Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the community and in other cultures

Visual Arts

• Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
• Using knowledge of structures and functions
• Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
• Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
• Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
• Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

Understanding Copyright, the Public Domain, and Fair Use

I highly recommend the following resources for better understanding copyright and the public domain. The Davidson table is particularly helpful for understanding what is acceptable within educational contexts.

• Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law: This comic book (available online and for download) explains the public domain and its relationship to copyright.
• The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use (Hall Davidson): In addition to an overview to fair use in educational settings, this techLEARNING article includes a link to a helpful self-quiz and chart.
  

Appreciating Artistic Forms

Two websites helpful in learning to appreciate a variety of artistic forms appear below. Each includes information about several artistic styles.

• The Lively Arts: This is a companion website for a course offered at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. It includes a wealth of study guides teaching how to appreciate a variety of art forms and topic guides for better understanding those forms.
• Access Art: This site is designed to help teachers integrate a variety of visual art forms into classrooms. It includes instructions for engaging with certain media formats (e.g., mod roc) and includes excellent online applets allowing students to learn about various art forms and how to replicate those forms.

In addition to the above sites, the attached document (source unknown) outlines guiding questions to use with groups of students when reviewing works of art. The intention of the sheet is to separate a classroom of students into groups of five students each, having each group evaluate a work of art using a different set of questions.

Finally, an excellent source for familiarizing oneself with artistically-designed primary source artifacts is the collection of primary source analysis sheets from the Library of Congress.

Lecture: DeAnna Beachley, Ph.D. — "The 1930s"

Lecture: DeAnna Beachley, Ph.D. — "The 1930s"

Lecture: Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D. — "Creativity Theory and Using Creative Composition to Learn Historical Content"

Lecture: Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D. — "Creativity Theory and Using Creative Composition to Learn Historical Content"

Videos of Bank Runs

The below video is from YouTube and provides a popular media version of bank runs.

• It's A Wonderful Life Bank Run Scene

Session I Class Slides

Click here to access the PowerPoint slides presented during the first session of this module in downloadable format.

Click here to access the slides in web format.

Dust Bowl Lessons for Intermediate Students

Thank you to Shauna Harris who shared the following website: EDSITEment — Dust Bowl Days. The site includes seven consecutive lessons for a unit on the Dust Bowl era as well as support materials (such as links to Dust Bowl information, primary source artifacts like song lyrics and photographs) for the lessons.