CEP 800: Digital Graffiti Lesson Reflection

Lacey Spieth

CEP 800

Lesson Plan Reflection

Digital Graffiti- Illustrating a Social Issue 

Kaitlyn, 12th Grade: Bullying

Holley, 11th Grade: Marriage Equality

Ed, 11th Grade: Suicide Prevention

Description of Lesson:

The lesson I taught was a digital arts lesson in which students used photo manipulation in a free online photo editing software called Pixlr to create a scene that depicts graffiti on a wall. The twist was the students had to successfully illustrate a social issue of their choosing. The lesson began with a video as a mind capture of a graffiti artist’s stop motion production. I then taught the students a brief history of graffiti using a presentation I downloaded and tweaked from slideshare.net. The students then created their piece using a free online graffiti font generator and pixlr.

Implementation of Lesson:

I taught this lesson to an upper level high school digital arts course. The lesson went great! The student loved the lesson and the ability to choose their social issue to address. There are always a little technology hiccups when programs don’t run smoothly, but nothing that ruined their experience. Below I have posted some student examples. 

Lesson Reflection:
The learning objectives of this lesson were for the high school students to learn and understand the history of graffiti and it’s role in modern culture. The integration of social issues relates to a common reason for graffiti, and art, to be created. A good reason to create art, is to deliver a message to the public. Although, illegally delivering the message is not the best approach. In the lecture we discussed when and where to do graffiti or street art.
The information was delivered through a video, PowerPoint presentation and demonstration. Multiple learning styles were employed in order to reach all learners. The information was also posted on the classroom website in order for students to refer back to any of the information addressed. While completing the lesson the students are able to receive one on one guidance when needed.
The technology chosen allows for students to build on prior learning and construct a visual representation of the information learned. The students will use the technology as a tool to produce an art piece with deeper learning of graffiti and social aspects in art. Elements of cognitive constructivism are present in which the students construct their understanding into a visual representation rather than record their understanding. The learning was intended to fulfill a content standard already in the high school art curriculum.
The knowledge assumed for this lesson is basic computer skills. The teacher and students should already be familiar with navigating the internet and saving and opening files through the internet. Before teaching this lesson, the students should be taught how to use Pixlr.com or any other photo-editing software in which student ahve the ability to manipulate layers with a document. Basic art and design skills are assumed as well, this lesson was written for upper level high school art students.
The students were graded on a rubric for the final product they created. During the lesson and creating portion I observed students and had verbal explanations from each student on why they created what they did. Some students had a hard time choosing a topic, others were very passionate about a social issue and started right away. The students are responsible for producing their digital art and posting it to their online portfolios for grading.
This lesson is highly dependent on technology, without it  the lesson would not exist. The Pixlr program is the most essential piece, although without the other components it would not be a successful lesson. I suppose without the technology we could go out and spray paint the buildings in our local town, but I think that would be frowned upon.

How Do I Love Thee: Embodied Thinking

Piet Mondrian's Boogie Woogie

 Primary Colors 

This artwork may be protected by copyright. 

It is posted on the site in accordance with fair use principles. 

 When studying color theory it is typical to introduce artists' work that illustrate a color scheme or other vocabulary. Piet Mondrian was an abstract artist known for his use of primary colors and geometric shapes.The piece shown above is titled Broadway Boogie Woogie and was painted in 1942. To encourage embodied thinking show the video of the couple dancing the boogie woogie. after the video discuss the relationship of the dance and the painting. Why do you think the artist painted this peice? What was happening in the world during this time and would that encourage the artist to paint such a cheerful subject? Students should make connections to the war and may have thoughts on why the artist would concentrate on subjects such as dancing. 


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After discussing the culutral context of the art and text have the students partner up and try to do the boogie woogie. Use youtube how to videos to help teach the dance or get a dance instructor to come to your classroom.

Embodied thinking is learning with our bodies. Normally when studying color theory we would not use our bodies in the notion of dance. Studying he artist Piet Mondrian offers a great learning experience. As mentioned above Piet Mondrian is known for his geometric paintings. Inside the MOMA you can view one of this most interesting peices, Broadway Boogie Woogie. The time period in which this peices was created offers a great way to teach cross curriculum with history, being the year 1942. Having the students reflect on the piece of why the artist may have created this peice in correlation to the time period is one type of embodied thinking using the notion of empathy. The students will be thinking as another person trying to figure out why they made the chooses they did. After the reflective thinkng students will actually learn the dance the peice was based on.

Learning the dance allows the students to kinetically be active in learning. The students will have a deeper connection to Piet Mondrian's work and most likely have a greater appreciation of the art. I also think the students will begin to think about different subject matters for their personal art other than landscapes, animals and portraiture. Many times students are hesitant to appreciate abstract art. They think that anyone could paint that and it's "stupid." I think learner deeper meaning in an artist's work will grow their art appreciation and give deeper thought into abstract art. Asking questions and putting yourself in the artist's shoes is a great way to begin to understand and appreciate art. Hopefully the questioning will continue when the students analyze other works of art.

Using embodied thinking teaching methods takes a lesson of looking at a peice to art to a cultural learning experience. The lesson will have a lasting impact on them and they will remember the piece, Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian.

How Do I Love Thee: Abstracting

Abstracting Complementary Colors:

I choose the abstractions of complementary colors in two different mediums: digital photos and song/video. I choose the image as an activity in which students would create a Pop art inspired art piece using a digital photograph of a person or animal. This will allow the student to have a hands on approach to using complimentary colors. I choose the song on YouTube so students could see an entirely different perspective of complementary colors, giving the colors a character in which they compliment one another a way a couple (people) would. This would allow the students to make the real life connection to compliments in art.

Using abstraction as a cognitive tools allows for the learner to view a topic in a different perspective that may allow for understanding that was not there before. The learner can see the topic in a new light, so to speak. Abstracting is an art term as well, in art abstracting is reducing a subject to basic shapes, lines and colors. I think this correlates with using abstracting as a cognitive tool, because the purpose is to allow the learner to create a better understanding by reducing a subject matter to the fundamentals for deeper understanding.

The video and visual representations allows for a real world connection to complementary colors. Did you know that many professional sports teams use complementary colors as their team colors? When you look through a magazine many advertisements use a complimentary color scheme. This notion of color theory and color schemes is not useless information art teachers teach, but basics of design that are used throughout our popular culture. Abstracting this information will allow for students to create a deeper understanding of color theory and complementary colors.

How Do I Love Thee: Patterning

Patterning in Color Theory

Color theory is derived from an organization of color on a wheel. Using the color wheel artists can find relationships of colors to use within an art piece. The wheel is set up to allow artists to easily understand color theory and how colors relate to one another. Within the color wheel patterns can be found.

Example:

Tertiary Colors are colors created by mixing a primary and secondary color, such as yellow and orange create the tertiary color yellow-orange. The tertiary colors are always located between the two colors in which create it. This is relevant for all secondary colors as well. Green always lies between yellow and blue on the color wheel.

Color Wheel Re-Designed

The Color Fish

Creating the color wheel in a linear system may allow the students to see the color mixing easier and the relationships of the colors next to each other. For early elementary purposes I created the linear system to represent a fish, you could also do this with a snake or any other animal with a long body. 

CEP 800: Technology Lesson Plan

Lacey Spieth

CEP 800

Fall 2012

Lesson: Digital Graffiti: Illustrating a Social Issue
Course: Digital Arts
Grade Level: 9-12
______________________________________________________________

Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks:ART.II.VA.HS.6 Create media productions that demonstrate knowledge, contexts, values and aesthetics.

Content: The high school students will learn the definition and history of graffiti. Students will be able to answer the following questions:
“What is graffiti?”
“What is the definition of “modern” graffiti?”
“When did street art begin being appreciated as “art” and shown in   galleries?
Students will also use prior knowledge of the online program, Pixlr.com to create a digital grafitti wall to illustrate a social issue, such as poverty or gay rights. The students will be introduced to a new program, GraffitiCreator.net to produce graffiti styled text to incorporate in their Pixlr document.

Pedagogy: The learners will participate in cognitive constructivism using prior knowledge in design and using Pixlr to construct their learning in a visual product.
Reaching different learners:
-Auditory: Lecture/Step by Step Instructions (Print out provided as well)
-Visual: Video, PowerPoint, and Demonstration on Smartboard
-Kinetic: Students will apply the knowledge learned in a digital arts project

Content Pedagogy:
Using a mind capture will get the students attention and grab their interest in the topic before beginning the lecture.

Mind Capture: Learners will watch a video from Vimeo in which an artist who used graffiti and stop motion animation. http://vimeo.com/13085676# (Big Bang Big Boom By: Blu)

The lecture will consist of a PowerPoint that will allow for visual and auditory learners alike to understand the teaching on the history of graffiti. The presentation was taken from Slideshare.net and edited in PowerPoint. the presentation contains a timeline that shows the progression of graffiti as well as its meaning. Below is the link to the presentation on Slideshare before teacher editing. http://www.slideshare.net/ksumatarted/history-of-graffiti-11726335?ref=http://artfulartsyamy.blogspot.com/2012/03/lesson-plan-creating-digital-graffiti.html
The lesson will conclude with a step by step demonstration that will guide the students through producing their own graffiti styled digital art, which will illustrate a social issue. The students will have a visual, auditory and print copy of the directions in order to fully understand the steps needed to use the Pixlr and GraffitiCreator application.

Technology:
-Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/13085676#
Video used for mind capture to gain students’ interest.
-Slideshare.net: http://www.slideshare.net/ksumatarted/history-of-graffiti-11726335?ref=http://artfulartsyamy.blogspot.com/2012/03/lesson-plan-creating-digital-graffiti.html
Presentation used to teach the history of Graffiti.
-Pixlr: http://pixlr.com/
Online image editor in which students will create their digital piece.
-GrafffitCreator: http://www.graffiticreator.net/
Online application to create graffiti inspired text which will be placed into their pixlr document.
-SmartBoard: Interactive whiteboard to show the above programs and demonstration.

This lesson is highly dependent on technology to teach this lesson without technology would alter the lesson into a completely different lesson. The pixlr program is the most essential piece, although without the other components it would not be as successful of a lesson.

Technology & Pedagogy:
The technology chosen allows for students to build on prior learning and construct a visual representation of the information learned. The students will use the technology as a tool to produce an art piece with deeper learning of graffiti and social aspects in art.

Technology & Content:
The technology chosen to teach the information will assist in student understanding by keeping the students attention and adding visual aspects to the lecture piece.

Assessment:
Students will be assessed by observation, participation and production of a final product. Their participation and interaction in the lecture portion will allow the instructor to assess their understanding on the subject. The students final product will be assessed using a rubric with critical pieces:  Creativity: Did the students use creativity when creating the piece?
Digital Craftsmanship: Did the student use good editing skills when producing the pixlr documents with multiple layers?
Completion: Did the student fully complete the project, does it illustrate a social issue? Does it have a style of graffiti inspired art?