Reading in the Middle, Junior and Senior High Schools, Spring, 2010

The RWT lesson that I reviewed was entitled, "Artistic Elements: Exploring Art Through Descriptive Writing". This standard lesson was created for grades 3-5, yet could be adapted for multiple age groups for students with disabilities. Although the lesson suggested that it be completed within two 40-minute sessions,I feel that it could be turned into a weeklong lesson plan revolving around descriptive writing and expressing emotions. This lesson had a featured resource in which the entire outline was centered around. A book entitled, "Anna's Art Adventure", is recommended for use in order to intially gain students' interest and engage them in art. Within this lesson, I found it valuable that it focused on art and literature within the lesson design, which allows students to develop descriptive writing skills while gaining art appreciation. As a special education teacher, I would place an emphasis on how art expresses emotion and how student's can also express emotion in order to reflect how they fill on the inside which is a commono dilemma for students with special needs.
Initially, the lesson would begin with the reading of "Anna's Art Adventure" with a focus on the artwork within the illustrations; particularly Jackson Pollock's. Students would then individually choose a work of art from an online or printed source and work individually to write a vidid descritpion of the picture. Afterwards, students would then exchange their finished descriptions with a partner and use classroom art materials to try and reproduce the picture their partner described. This art and literature focused lesson met multiple North Carolina Standards within 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade such as oral language, written language, other media/technology, etc. It had adequate resources and preparation guide that included numbered steps of how to conduct the lesson, websites for additional planning, and a list of necessary materials/technology that were needed in order to have a successful lesson. Lastly, the lesson provided an alternate or continnum of the lesson that focused on a Spanish town called Guernica. Picasso had a painting entitled Guernica after the town, in which students could gain background knowledge about and then share their impressions, along with a descriptive writing about Picasso's painting or purose for creating the painting. This would allow diversity within the lesson and even include ESL students and perhaps give them the upper hand, for they may be familiar with this Spanish town. I personally enjoyed reading the lesson plan and thought that there was alot of room to expand on the ideas given. I also felt that this lesson was easily adaptable for all students with disabilties and gave them a life skill (expressing emotions) that could potentially be applicable to their life and the quaility of it.

After completing the anticipation guide, I thought that it was an interesting way to analyze how you feel before reading an article and then assessing your feelings post-reading. I enjoyed the article and found that some of my feelings and opinions towards the questions were altered after reading the article. For example, It was brought to my attention through studies and research that women tend to utilize the internet for socializaiton and emotional purposes, whereas men tend to have an initial objective, yet get sidetracked frequently; ultimately forgetting their initial reason for beginning their search. Great article and I enjoyed this unique activity!