FUTURE PROJECT IDEA: Communicating and Connecting Through Public Art

(this is a work in progress)

Essential Question:

How does public art connect us to our communities, provide beautiful spaces for communication, or affect change?

Key Product:

Collaborative mural created in a community in which the students live or within our school site.

Key Audience:

Our school community and the broader San Diego community at large

Key Learning Goals:

Students will explore ancient cultures from across the globe through stories and legends that were depicted on caves, rocks, and monuments to represent the artists' history, religion and beliefs. Students will analyze and examine how specific cultures have communicated with various audiences through their artistic representations and how that relates to the ways in which we communicate with various audiences in our own communities.

Students will:

• evaluate connections between economics, geography and historical events

• examine the cause and effects of early humans’ transition from hunting and gathering societies to agriculturalists to empire builders

• participate in an in-depth study of murals and their meanings from cultures including Ancient Egypt, Pre-Columbian Meso-American cultures, cave paintings in France, frescoes from Pompeii, Bhimbetka rock shelters in India, and Australian Aboriginal art

• develop skills that will enhance their ability to be independent thinkers and community members

• build on their understanding of literary terms

Academic skills students will practice:

• writing constructed responses

• writing descriptive paragraphs

• reading strategies

• response to text

• use of narrative strategies

• personal writing

• summarization skills

• research skills

• building a strong argument based on evidence

• understand cause and effect of historical events

• making inferences

• use of digital tools & resources

• use of appropriate English conventions

Social-emotional support:

• providing students with a variety of opportunities to practice, demonstrate and master literacy skills

• providing integrated technology instruction & support

• journal writes

• reading a variety of texts

• utilizing a variety of digital tools & resources

• engaging in classroom discussions

• providing opportunities for students to contribute to and connect with people in their communities

• analyzing history from multiple perspectives and cultures from across the globe in order to decolonize our education

Anchor Texts:

Exploring Mesoamerica by John Pohl

Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark

The Lost City of Pompeii by National Geographic Kids

Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert by Geoffrey Bardon

Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman

Connections to Critical, Culturally-Responsive Pedagogy

• providing opportunities for students to contribute to and connect with people in their communities

• analyzing history from multiple perspectives and cultures from across the globe in order to decolonize our education

• providing students with a variety of opportunities to practice, demonstrate and master literacy skills

• analyzing how muralists throughout time have used the art of their heritage to express themselves in contemporary ways

• providing instruction so that students can develop skills that will enhance their ability to be independent thinkers and community members