Week five: Secret Rooms
October 30th 2021
Method of instruction: Zoom
Age Group: K-5
Teachers: Kora Burke & Rachel Meyer
Student Artwork
Reflection
Essential Questions
How can fantasy and magic exist to make tasks easier?
How do cutaways provide a unique perspective?
What is the difference between fantasy and rarity?
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Learning Objectives
By the end of class, TLW create a list of ways to go up/down stairs without stairs as a warm-up activity to start thinking about fantasy in interior spaces. (Standard 1)
By the end of class, TLW discuss how fantasy exists in interior spaces in a group discussion. (Standard 10)
By the end of class, TLW create a cutaway drawing of an interior space that utilizes at least 2 elements of fantasy, and at least 2 unique ways to travel up/downstairs. (Standard 3 & 5)
By the end of class, TLW exhibit their art, elaborating on 2 ways their space uses fantasy elements. (Standard 7)
Lesson Summary
The secret rooms lesson went very well and the students did a great job following the prompt while implementing their own style. We began the lesson with the usual small talk and welcoming of the students and then dove into our bellringer. We asked the students to brainstorm and sketch out ways to travel up a level without the use of stairs. After sharing their ideas we deepened the discussion by inquiring if the students had any prior knowledge on one of our important vocabulary words for the day, cutaways. Since none of the students responded with a correct definition, Rachel and I explained what a cutaway is and showed examples from that week's exemplary artists. I also found a window to talk to the students about why we are practicing cutaways and how drawing from different perspectives can enhance our understanding of illustrating environments.
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Next, we moved on to the next slide which articulated the prompt and provided some inspiration for their own cutaways. We tied the prompt into our bellringer by asking the students to incorporate fantasy elements into their designs. Rachel and I then shared the cutaways we made and zoomed into specific areas of our examples to give the students more context on what we expected from them.
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The remainder of the workshop was work time, where we made sure to remind them of what we wanted their cutaways to include. We had a slide prepared with specific elements that needed to be evident in their final product and could be used as an assessment tool in the future.
As per usual, the students were so inventive with their pieces and each and every one of them indicated that they put time and effort into their designs, as well as a piece of themselves.
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Final Outcomes and Modifications
A couple of aspects of the students' finished products were surprising to me, one of which was their desire to give their secret room projects a theme, and the other was to develop each room and include furniture and purposes for the visitors. I typically base my future modifications on how the students reacted to the project or how their final product turned out. Because of this, in the future, I would implement the idea of a theme in the original prompt since the students enjoyed that, but I would also push for a more finished piece. Most of the students spent a great deal of time on each room and the overall layout, which was great, however, only a few students included color or darkened finished-looking lines. Additionally, since the students responded well to specific guidelines and things they needed to include, I would use that model in my past lessons as well.