Reflection questions: What does art mean to you? What is art? What isn't art? Why do we need art? What do artist do? How has art impacted you? In the community?
Teaching Strategy
WHAT IS ART FOR?
Teaching Strategy--WHITE BOARDS
Each student gets a whiteboard and writes their name at the top (in some cool font).
An artwork is shown on the board.
Students draw a happy face or a sad face (on their whiteboard) which represents if they like the artwork or not. Students also write 2 or more sentences why they think that.
At the count of three students hold up their drawing.
Teacher then calls on students to explain their answer.
Students are encouraged to answer other questions like: What does this artwork teach you about warfare? Or can graffiti be an artistic expression or a public statement? Or what do you think the main message of the artwork is? Why do you say that? What do you think the main message the artist wanted to communicate? Randomly choose three students to read their answers to the class.
At the end of the activity I usually ask my students to write a paragraph explaining, “What is ART?” I then have them read their answer to a partner. I give them a 1 min to add or change their answer, then I randomly select 3-5 students to read their answer to the class.