Stories of Art Teachers’ Supplement

Welcome to the Teachers’ Supplement for Stories of Art. Click below for:
• information about and objectives for this extensive curriculum resource
• links to artworks to accompany each theme in the resource
• writing lessons for each theme
• inquiry extensions with Art Making and Meaning (new DVD/CD resource)

Stories of Art
Introduction to Stories of Art: Curriculum Resource
How Can Stories Increase Learning?
Making Connections with Stories of Art
The Big Picture
Art Objectives

ArtsConnectEd Supplements: Artworks for Each Stories of Art Theme

Click on any theme below for links to artworks available online through ArtsConnectEd, a service of the Minneapolis Art Institute and the Walker Museum of Art. You may want to print out these artworks to add to your Stories of Art notebook. NOTE: The ArtsConnectEd site can sometimes be pretty slow.

Theme 1: Our Place in the World
Theme 2: Farm Folk City Folk
Theme 3: Great Teachers Long Ago
Theme 4: Spiritual Worlds
Theme 5: When Cultures Meet
Theme 6: Powerful Families
Theme 7: Protest and Persuasion
Theme 8: Technology
Theme 9: The Individual
Theme 10: The Global Village

Stories of Art Writing Supplement by Karla Primosch

Art and Writing
National Writing Standards
6 + 1 Traits ®

The following lessons will usually require more than one class period, especially to accommodate pre-writing, writing, revision, and presentation. You may want to print out the following lessons to add to your Stories of Art notebook.

Our Place in the World
Farm Folk City Folks
Great Teachers Long Ago
Spiritual Worlds
When Cultures Meet
Powerful Families
Protest and Persuasion
Technology
The Individual
The Global Village

Art Making and Meaning: Understanding through Questions
Click here to read about a new resource that builds on what students learn in Stories of Art.



Introduction to Stories of Art

Stories of Art is a collection of eight short stories written especially for use in elementary and middle school art classrooms. In each story, young people use art to solve a real problem in their lives. The fictional stories are based on broad interdisciplinary themes that parallel developments in cultures across the globe. Two additional units provide students the opportunity to write their own stories.

The themes include:
Our Place in the World
Farm Folk City Folk
Great Teachers Long Ago
Spiritual Worlds
When Cultures Meet
Powerful Families
Protest and Persuasion
Technology
The Individual
The Global Village

In addition to the story, each unit presents ideas for research projects and art-making activities that use the story as a springboard for learning about art in different cultures. Also included is an extensive list of interdisciplinary activities that help students transfer their knowledge across the curriculum. National Visual Art Standards are aligned to each unit.



Art Objectives

These are the fundamental art objectives for each theme in Stories of Art. The many follow-up activities offer opportunities to teach additional application skills. You may want to print out these objectives to add to your Stories of Art notebook.

Theme 1: Our Place in the World
Students recognize different types of shape.
Students recognize features of the natural and/or built environments in which artists live and work.
Students identify how artists use tools and materials from their environment.
Students identify how artists incorporate features of their environment into their art.

Theme 2: Farm Folk, City Folk
Students recognize different types of form in space.
Students identify threats to the physical condition of artworks.
Students recognize obvious (and not so obvious) functions that artworks serve.

Theme 3: Great Teachers Long Ago
Students recognize subject matter details.
Students analyze how parts are balanced within artworks.
Students recognize cultural factors that can affect how artworks are made.

Theme 4: Spiritual Worlds
Students analyze how parts are organized into patterns within artworks.
Students recognize cultural factors that can influence individuals’ viewpoints on art.

Theme 5: When Cultures Meet
Students recognize differences in value (light and dark).
Students distinguish an artist’s intention from other viewpoints.
Students identify features of their own and others artworlds.

Theme 6: Powerful Families
Students recognize different types of texture.
Students recognize qualities of original artworks that are not captured in reproductions.
Students recognize how art patrons who commission artworks may view them differently from other viewers.

Theme 7: Protest and Persuasion
Students identify focal points within artworks.
Students identify major events in artists’ lives.

Theme 8: Technology
Students recognize different types of line.
Students investigate tools, materials, and processes used to make art.
Students recognize stylistic similarities among artworks.

Theme 9: The Individual
Students analyze how visual elements are organized within artworks.
Students recognize how earlier art influences later art.

Theme 10: The Global Village
Students analyze how visual elements are organized within artworks.
Students recognize themes addressed by various artists.



Art and Writing

Stories of Art is an art-driven curriculum resource. This writing supplement provides teachers with tools to reinforce writing standards. James Blasingame, a Six Traits® writing expert, concludes in “Educational Reform and Its Connection to Art Instruction: Art and Writing” (Translations, 2005) that “student writers have been proven to find much greater success in writing about topics in which they have a personal interest and investment, such as their own artwork and experience with art.” Not only do the stories in Stories of Art involve young people as protagonists, they also help students generate and refine ideas for their own art making.

The purpose of this resource is to increase achievement in both art and writing – neither discipline in service to the other but each complementing and augmenting the other. This writing supplement, like Stories of Art, is written for elementary and middle school teachers. Teachers are invited to review lessons to select and adapt those they deem most appropriate for their students and curriculum.



National Writing Standards

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) identifies 12 elementary and secondary writing standards. Each writing lesson begins by listing one or more of these standards. Each is identified by number and name. Refer to the Website of the NCTE (http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm) for the complete set of standards. You may want to print out these standards to add to your Stories of Art notebook.



6 + 1 Trait ®
The Northwestern Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) has identified a 6 + 1 Trait® writing approach. Each writing lesson employs specific traits identified by name. Refer to the Website of the NWREL (http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/scoring.php?odelay=3&d=1) for the complete set of traits. You may want to print out these traits to add to your Stories of Art notebook.



Art Making and Meaning: Understanding through Questions

Art Making and Meaning is a DVD/CD resource also available from CRIZMAC, which uses the same key questions as the Stories of Art lessons. Stories of Art is a foundation for inquiry-based art instruction. Art Making and Meaning builds on that foundation. Though designed for secondary and beginning college students, much of the content is adaptable for younger learners, especially if students have already been introduced to inquiry through Stories of Art.

The Art Making and Meaning DVD provides interviews with artists focused on the key questions introduced in Stories of Art. Interactive CD activities: 1) review what students learn from the artists on the DVD, 2) apply each question to objects from our everyday visual world, and 3) practice making distinctions among choices of questions to increase students’ awareness of art inquiry strategies.