This lesson requires students to think outside of the box. The purpose of this lesson is that students will become creative and descriptive writers through art. I knew this lesson would be great when reading that this would be easily adaptable for students with special needs and English Language Learners; I have both in my classroom. Through this lesson not only is art integrated into writing but also technology.
Before requiring students to jump into writing teachers should introduce basic descriptive writing and the use of adjectives. This lesson is broken up into 2 sessions. During the 1st session before actually reading the teacher should begin with a series of questions to get students thinking: what is a description? when do we describe things? what are some of the reasons that we describe things? what kinds of words might you use to describe this room? Then four artistic elements are discussed to prepare them for what they should be look for when reading. The four elements are: color, shape, line, and mood. The book that is to be read together is Anna's Art Adventure. After reading discuss book and pictures. Questions should be recorded on chart paper for later reference. Session 1 is preparing students for session 2 which is independent practice.
This is a great lesson plan. It is very detailed and provides many great resources for viewing art. One adaptation that I would do for my students would be instead of forcing them to write I would ask them to tell me or tell it into a recorder.