Imaginative Thinking Assignment

The following is the original lesson plan created for participants during the Sharing Portfolios with Teachers session. We offer this example as a very basic way of sharing the ideas and objectives behind student work in an online portfolio.

Lesson Plan (10-15 minutes)

Objectives:
Participants will use creativity to express their ideas
Participants will create a piece of art
Participants will brainstorm their hopes for the future

Materials needed:
Misc. art supplies: paper, tape, scissors, marker, pens
Process:
As participants enter the room, ask them to consider the prompt: What inspires me about being a teaching artist. Encourage participants to incorporate multiple modes of artistic expression: words, images, 3D paper folding, collaboration with a partner, etc.Ask each participant to create a piece of art that expresses their hope for what the summer holds.

Evaluation:
Participants will display their art for others to view
Participants will evaluate one another’s art for expressive qualities
Participants will use interview questions to examine their artistic process.

Portfolio building assignment: Break into five groups;  Decide as a group which art piece is the most thought-provoking. Each participant considers the work on their own, and interviews  the chosen artist. Compose at least five shots that show the work and the artist’s thinking. After digitizing the work, it is uploaded and the portfolio is discussed among the to the full group.

Poetry In Motion

This project explored how young poets might bring their words into three dimensional life.  Using Anne Bogart’s “Viewpoints” movement techniques, high school students in Tempe, AZ collaboratively staged their personal narrative poetry by developing a set of interesting spatial relationships that enhanced the words they had written.

Self-Portraits as Monster Project

This project goal was to have students envision their most mischivious selves taking over and writing a short story about what they would do. They then created self-portraits to share their traits using the color symbolism we had been discussing in class.