Insight Arts

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Teacher: Steven Taylor, Harold Washington Elementary School Suggested grade/s: 4-6 Illinois Learning Standards Language Arts 2, 3, 4 Fine Arts 25, 26 Estimated time: one to two week/s Mural/s addressed Mary Chambers Hauge (?), Untitled (City Children, Country Children), 1940-41, 3-panel oil on canvas, Harold Washington Elementary School

Objective

Students identify, describe, and discuss what they see. They learn and demonstrate the function of key structural elements of poetry by writing a poem about themselves that highlights their interests and environment.

Procedures

• Divide students into small groups and have them examine the mural on the Web or in the school auditorium. Ask: What do you see? What details has the artist included? Where are the children? What are they doing? Are their settings and actions the same? What is different? Have students present their findings as a group in an oral report.
• Ask students to contrast the children and the activities depicted in the mural with themselves and their own pastimes.
• Have students brainstorm individually about ideas for a poem about themselves that reveals their interests and environment.
• Explain the basic elements of poetry, such as verse, couplet, stanza, and rhyme scheme.
• Have students begin writing their poems in a self-selected format.
• For homework, ask students to look through magazines and cut out pictures to illustrate their personal poem.
• Explain the process of creating a collage to the students. Have them make their own collages with the images they brought from home.
• Have students read their poems aloud and explain their collages to the class.
• Display the students' poems and collages in the classroom or somewhere in the school.

Evaluation

Assess students according to how well they communicate what they see and think about the mural; whether or not they demonstrate their understanding of poetry elements through their written work; and their ability to express themselves verbally, artistically, and in writing.

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