Farnsworth+Lincoln+Center+Institute+Unit

**__Lincoln Center Institute International Educator Workshop Implementation__** Christina Wotton and Amy Morgan  Special Education Teachers Lura Libby School Thomaston, Maine Fall 2011

Amy Morgan and I were lucky enough to take the Lincoln Center Institute International Educator workshop this summer at the Farnsworth Art Center. We had a unique opportunity to begin building a relationship, as we were to be new colleagues in the 2011-2012 school year. We teach students in grades K-4 within a positive behavior program called CASTLES, which stands for Children And Staff Together Learning Essential Skills. The focus of our program is to help children make better choices at school and to assist them in building social relationships with their peers. The following lessons demonstrate how we used the aesthetic education approach to integrate art into social skills and positive behavior instruction.

__ Lesson #1-Introduction to Noticing & Describing Through Social Skills Instruction __


 * Work of Art-**Photo booth pictures of students


 * Line of Inquiry:** How does the concept of noticing and the act of describing help you to identify how others are feeling?


 * Focus Question for this Lesson**: How are verbal and written descriptions used to verify student noticing and learning?

__Activity #1: (15-20 min.)__
 * Goal**: Introduce the concept of “noticing” and the connection between human facial expressions and feelings.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s)**: Questioning & Art Making


 * Procedure:**
 * 1) 1. Students sit in a circle on the rug. Begin by passing out assorted feeling picture cards (pictures of real people). Ask the students the following questions: What do you notice? What do you see? How do you think that person is feeling? Why do you think that? What do you think could have made them feel that way? Record student responses.
 * 2) 2. Have students draw pictures of them expressing a particular feeling.


 * Connection to Common Core State Standards**: Speaking & Listening Standards K-5, Grade 1, #5-// Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings. //

__Activity #2: (15 min.)__
 * Goal**: For students to practice describing familiar objects.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s):** Contextual Information & Research & Reflection


 * Procedure:**
 * 1) 1. Take students outside and have them sit on the grass facing the playground equipment. Ask students to describe the playground and other things in nature around the playground. What do you notice? What do you see? Model a description for them first, such as “I see a green slide.” Suggest colors, shapes, lines, movement, smells, weather. Record student responses.
 * 2) 2. Give students 5 minutes to play, allowing them an opportunity to feel and experience what they just described.
 * 3) 3. After play, bring students back together and ask them if they noticed anything else. Record student responses.


 * Student Responses to “What do you notice?”:** The color blue, yellow, swings, the steps you go across, I see something you can climb up, I see a bridge, it’s yellow and blue, red slide, blue slide, has slots to put feet in, big blue slide, red twirl slide, go on swings, there’s a ladder, there are stairs.


 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Speaking & Listening Standards K-5, Grade K, #4-// Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. //

__Activity #3:(30 min.)__
 * Goal**: To practice noticing & using describing words in verbal & written expression.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s):** Questioning & Reflection


 * Procedure**:
 * 1) 1. Have students sit in a circle on the rug. Read aloud __My Dog Rosie__ by Isabelle Harper & Barry Moser. Throughout the reading, ask students the following questions: What do you see? What colors can you find in the quilt? What do you notice about the dogs, Rosie and Woodward? How are they different?
 * 2) 2. Look at __Carl’s Birthday,__ a picture book by Alexandra Day. Pick one or two pictures and ask the students to describe what they see. Record student responses.
 * 3) 3. Have students write about their dog, their favorite dog, or a famous dog using describing words. Generate 2 sample sentences with them first. Post list of student-generated describing words from the read aloud for them to use in their writing.


 * Student-Generated List of Words:** Red, Pink, Orange, Blue, White, Brown, Tall, Fat, Skinny, Soft, Hard, Alone, Short, Long


 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Writing Standards K-5, Grade 1, #8-// With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. //

__Activity #4 (2 sessions-30-45 mins. each)__
 * Goal:** For students to express a feeling and create a work of art out of it.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s):** Art Making & Reflection


 * Procedure**:
 * 1) 1. Take pictures of students expressing a feeling of their choice using photo booth. Have students take another picture using the same exact feeling, but changing it using photo booth effects to create a silly picture. Print pictures in 8x10 size.
 * 2) 2. While students are taking turns getting their pictures taken/printed, have students paint a background for their picture frame and color and cut out their picture frame. Give a mini-lesson on adding white to tint and black to shade.
 * 3) 3. Have students sit in a circle on the rug. Hold up one student’s pictures. Compare and discuss what they notice about the two different pictures, the funny one and the expressive feeling one. What do you notice? What do you see that’s the same? What do you see that’s different? Tell me more about that.
 * 4) 4. Reflect as a class on what they noticed about all of the pictures.
 * 5) 5. Have students frame their expressive feeling picture by gluing their picture down with the colored frame around it onto the background that they painted. Have them write how they were feeling in the picture with an “I” statement. For example, “I am mad” or “I am feeling happy.”
 * 6) 6. Create “Feelings” bulletin board with finished products.


 * Student Responses to “What do you notice about the different pictures? What’s the same? What’s different?”:** Comparison #1- Happy and silly, excited, in the silly picture, she has a big forehead, she looks like an alien, her head is huge, the first one is normal, the second one is not normal, her hair looks different and her brain (pointing to the forehead!) looks huge; Comparison #2- happy, your head looks like a jellybean, looks like a peanut, looks like a seed, looks happy in both, looks like Squid Ward from Sponge Bob, head is crooked like a water fountain; Comparison #3-Looks like he feels angry, scrunched head, wrinkles, small neck, doesn’t look mad in the second picture, looks like his face disappeared, can’t see his eyes, top of his shirt is big and the rest is small, his shirt looked the same in the normal picture; Comparison #4- He looks happy, one smile is going up and one smile is going down, looks like a roller coaster that I had to hang on to in Puerto Rico


 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Speaking & Listening Standards K-5, Grade 1, #4-// Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly. //

__ Lesson #2: Preparing Students for a Museum Visit __


 * Work of Art:** Beyond Rugs Exhibit at Farnsworth Art Museum


 * Line of Inquiry:** Can modeled and practiced museum behavior be transferred to the actual museum setting?


 * Focus Question for this lesson:** How can previewing an art exhibit and practicing appropriate museum behavior help students benefit from learning about a live work of art?

__Activity #1 (20 mins)__
 * Goal:** To practice noticing, preview Beyond Rugs exhibit, and introduce field trip.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s):** Questioning & Contextual Information & Research


 * Procedure:**
 * 1) 1. Tell students that we are going to be going on a field trip to a museum! Ask if they have ever been to a museum and if they know what a museum is. Also, ask them “What is art?”
 * 2) 2. Tell them that they are now going to look at some of the artwork that they will be seeing at the museum. Don’t tell the students what they are looking at! Project the examples of the rugs, one at a time, onto the whiteboard from the Farnsworth website. Ask students to describe them? What do you notice? What do you see?
 * 3) 3. Part way through the preview; ask them what type of artwork they think they are looking at. Tell them they are all rugs!! Ask them what type of medium they think the artist used. Discuss how rugs are made and what types of materials rugs can be made from. Continue describing. Record student responses.


 * Student Responses to “What do you know about a museum?”:** all kinds of art stuff, trains and you look for things, Santa with reindeer, cool stuff, dinosaur bones


 * Student Responses to “What is art?”:** Painting, horse pictures, mountains, camera, photos, stacking up rocks at the beach, drawing or painting, taking a picture, you could take a real lion and paint it yellow


 * Student Responses to “What do you notice about the rugs?”:** Rug #1-looks like a science lab, I see a test tube, a hat, circles look like a pie, an evil science lab, a carpet, rectangle, squares, a ship; Rug #2-Half of a face in the water, purple, circles, little circles with triangles, big flowers, looks like a well; Rug #3-White, a really big town with a random road, a ride through the dump, a junkyard road, little houses; Rug #4-a snake near a disco ball, a black and white snake, snake has a pink tongue, spikes on the tail, and polka dots, flowers, butterflies, and birds that are colorful, blue, purple, green, red, and white, a rattle on the end of the snake, something that the snake ate, the snake is in a knot, birds


 * Student Responses to “What type of medium do you think these artists used?”:** Paint, pencils, yarn, cotton, chalk, crayons


 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Speaking & Listening Standards K-5, Grade 1, #2-// Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. //

__Activity #2 (15 mins)__
 * Goal:** Introduce & practice expected behavior at a museum.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s):** Contextual Information & Research & Reflection


 * Procedure**:
 * 1) 1. Introduce museum rules including whispering voices, no running, hands behind backs or in pockets, no touching, no leaning on walls or artwork.
 * 2) 2. Role-play going to the museum by touring the school and using bulletin boards in the hallway as our artwork.
 * 3) 3. While they are touring the school, teachers ask students what they notice and practice talking in their whispering voices. Teachers model appropriate behavior.
 * 4) 4. Students return to class and sit on the rug to reflect and share what each other noticed.

// a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion). // // b. Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges. // // c. Ask questions to clear up any confusion. //
 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Speaking & Listening Standards K-5, Grade 1, #1//-//// Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. //

__Activity #3 (2-2.5 hours)__
 * Goal:** To use describing words through verbal expression with a live work of art & practice positive behaviors in a museum setting.


 * LCI Core Teaching Concept(s):** Contextual Information & Research & Reflection


 * Procedure:**
 * 1) 1. Take students to the Farnsworth Art Museum on Friday, October 21, 2011.
 * 2) 2. Visit Beyond Rugs art exhibit.
 * 3) 3. Participate in learning how to make rugs activity with docents. Each student tries his or her own stitch.
 * 4) 4. When students return to school, ask them to reflect on their experience at the museum. What was their favorite rug? Why? What was their favorite part about the field trip? Review their behavior with them individually and mark their behavior charts accordingly.
 * 5) 5. Have students write a thank you letter to the Farnsworth. Have them include what their favorite rug was and draw a picture of it. Write a sample letter and post it for them to reference as they write.

// a. Capitalize dates and names of people. // // b. Use end punctuation for sentences. // // c. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series. // // d. Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words. // // e. Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions. //
 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Language Standards K-5, Grade 1, #2-// Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. //

__Activity #4 (2 sessions-40 min. each)__
 * Goal:** For students to practice collaboration & collaborative problem solving by making their own rug


 * LCI Core Teaching Concepts:** Art Making


 * Procedure**:
 * 1) 1. Put students in pairs. Give each pair a loom and a collection of loops. Demonstrate how to use the loom and loops. Tell them that this is how they are going to make their very own rug!
 * 2) 2. Tell the students that they are to work together. They have to choose the colors together and take turns using the loom.

// a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion). // // b. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. //
 * Connection to Common Core State Standards:** Speaking & Listening Standards K-5, Grade K, #1-// Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. //


 * Differentiation of Instruction: ** While completing many of the lessons with a diverse group of learners, we found the need to either increase or decrease work depending upon the students’ learning needs. Some of the activities we differentiated for students to be challenged were:

After writing the student thank you letters, one student wrote a story about his field trip to the museum. He is a second grade student who needed to work on story structure. One of our kindergarten students created their own rug out of paper, feathers and a picture of the group. You will see evidence of the differentiation in the photos of our bulletin board that we shared with the school and parents.

We planned to have our classroom bulletin board done prior to parent teacher conferences, so they could see the work that night. In addition, we shared the students activities and lessons on the classroom wiki site: http://mrswottonscastlesclass.wikispaces.com/Farnsworth+Lincoln+Center+Institute+Unit
 * Sharing of student work with others and community: **

_

Evidence of Student Learning __

On Friday, October 23, 2011, the CASTLES program brought 5 students to the Farnsworth Art Museum to see the Beyond Rugs Exhibition. It was a wonderful experience for students who do not usually go on field trips. For some students, due to their behavioral difficulties, this was their first field trip experience. Through several carefully planned lessons, the CASTLES staff helped the students learn the skills necessary to have a successful learning experience out in the community.

Please watch our students reflection of our bulletin board.

Student Work Samples

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To find out more about The Lincoln Center Institute visit [|Lincoln Center Institute]

For more information about The Farnsworth Art Museum visit: [|Farnsworth Art Museum]