Lesson 1

Class description: Spanish IV; High school, grade 12; Spanish course; this course is entirely elective; prerequisite for this course is Spanish III; achievement range is average, above average, and slightly below average

Unit: Art of Latin America and Spain

Topic: Importance of Art in the culture of Latin America, Spain and other Spanish speaking countries

Unit Goals:
1. Experience the artwork of the various countries
2. Gain specific knowledge of at least one artist
3. Gain general knowledge of several artists
4. Describe one piece of art and its relevance
5. Learn and utilize various reading strategies

Lesson Objectives: The students will:
1. list the artwork by Fernando Botero “A Family”
2. write a journal entry response to a quote from the reading
3. select an artist and piece of work for artist project and paper
4. talk about the role of art in the Latin America and Spain

Performance Assessment:
1. Graphic organizer entry #1 for artist
2. Graphic organizer entry #1 for work of art
3. journal entry turned in to teacher
4. project exit slip turned in to me
5. class discussion

Reading Type: reading to be informed

Macrostructure Thinking for Reading: Description

Materials:
- July-August 2001 Issue Features of Hispanic Magazine.com “Colombia’s Fernando Botero” www.hispaniconline.com/magazine/2001/julaug/Features/index.html
- For references to artwork, Fumaroli, Marc. Botero Drawings. Bogota: Villegas Editores, 1999.
- Exit slip for paper/project
- Graphic organizer for continual work of artists/artwork

Procedure

I. Readiness:

a. Motivation: The motivation for the unit and for today’s lesson is going to be having 13-15 pictures of pieces of art on the board. These pieces of art will be of a wide variety. Some may be shocking, but I think with the age group and maturity level it takes to make it to Spanish IV the art will be ok. Some of the artwork is going to be famous and some of the students may never have seen any before. The lesson is started by naming the piece of art (today it is “A Family” by Fernando Botero), and the artist. Students will receive their graphic organizer that is simply a matrix with a box for the title of the work, a box for the name of the artist, and as the unit moves on, a larger box for the summary of the importance or significance of the work of art. ART CHART (For differentiation of process and eventually product, some students will receive a blank graphic organizer, and others will receive an organizer with some of the artist’s names on them, and the third graphic organizer will have some of the descriptions/ significance in them.) For the first lesson, I will pick a work of art from Fernando Botero (“A Family”), because the reading is an interview with Botero.

“Take a look at these works of art!" (The teacher needs to provide other works of his to show along with “A Family.”) "What do you notice right away? What things stand out at you?” Students mention things that they notice (bright colors, rotund people, and cartoon like paintings) and the class talks about the works of art in general. “Many of his works of art represent people that are rotund, which is how Botero sees much of the world. He thinks most of the people of the western world that are depicted in his drawings are rather large. In all of these works, what kind of people are they? Notice how they are rich? Botero is trying to say something about the rich of the world. Many of his works are brightly colored and almost appear to be a cartoon of sorts. He did a lot of sketches that were printed that were not cartoon like. He also did a lot of fruit and things like that. I have some gorgeous books that you can look through for more examples of his work. But let’s move on now to talk about our connections to art in Latin America and Spain.”

b. Tapping and Developing Background of Experience: “Art in Latin America and Spain is SO important. Do any of you know why that is?” Students may give their answers. “Art in Latin America and Spain became so important because people could express how they felt about the government, rulers, interpretations of history, current dilemmas of the society, etcetera, and no one but their followers had any idea about it or about what they were trying to do. You have all been doing research on a particular artist or work of art. Now your work will come in to play as you get to present and share with the class what you have learned. We are starting our unit on Spanish and Latin American Art today and you are going to have a broad horizon of information about artists and works of art done by these Spanish-speakers. Every day we will talk about a new artist and several of his/her works of art. I may have a reading for some and others we will just talk about, but before we read and discuss everyday, whichever one of you did the research will present what you learned to us, and we will add the information to this ART CHART that I made you. Then we hear from the person who researched a particular work of art by that person, and add that to our art chart also. You will be held responsible for this information when we have the test. On the test I will give you a chart similar to this with several boxes filled in, and you will have to fill in the rest based all on what you present in class.”

c. Concept development: “Ok, today we are talking about Fernando Botero remember, so can we have the people sharing about Botero and “A Family,” come up to the front and share.” The student tells us the information that they learned. Each student fills out a GRAPHIC ORGANIZER SEARCH TICKET and presents to the class the information on the ticket. While the students are sharing they need to present all of the information for the rest of the students to complete their charts for studying.
For the vocabulary section, the words are important, but not so important that we need to take a lot of time defining them. (For differentiation of process, I will print out a list of the words and their definitions, and for the rest of the class I will give them the vocabulary words as we go and describe them in context). The reason for this is that the context clues are not that great, but as we learn more about art, the vocabulary will be used in everyday context.
-Medellín
-impressionists
-rotund, voluminous
-abstract expressionism
-pomp and pageantry
-carnal sensuality
-warm nostalgia
-piquant whimsy
-satirical sense of humor

d. Purpose-for-Reading: “You will be reading today to be informed. We are going to do a journal entry based on a quote from the reading. Journaling is an awesome reading strategy that gets you thinking at a deeper level than just what the article brings up. You simply take a quote from a reading and write how you feel about that quote, explain it on a deeper level, or try to tap in to what the author means by saying it. Sometimes you get to pick your own quote, but for today, I have already picked the quote for you. The format can be very informal. I have made a graphic organizer for you to use for the first time and then you can just recreate the format in the future. As you are reading I want you to apply the quote to the artist and also apply it to your life. How does the quote fit with what we already know about the Spanish culture? (For differentiation of process, I will reword the quote for more of layman’s terms) The quote is “…man needs spiritual expression and nourishing…Man needs music, literature, and painting-all those oases of perfection that make up art-to compensate for the rudeness and materialism of life.” (Man needs to be able to express and take care of his own spirit. He needs music, books and painting, all of these works of art to make up for the pressures, wants and demands of everyday life) “How can you interpret this quote? This quote is going to go on the left hand column and you are going to write your journal response on the right hand column to turn in to me before we leave.”

II. Silent Reading:

The students will read this silently first and make ‘think aloud’ notes in the margins. “I am going to teach you a new reading strategy today for when you read things for meaning called the “think aloud” reading strategy. Some of you may have learned this before so this will be good review. For those of you who have never learned the “think aloud” strategy, this is a great idea for problem solving and capturing your thoughts as soon as you read something that catches your attention. There are several things that you will want to look for as you read. While you are reading, you are going to make notes in the columns next to the reading about anything that comes to your mind pertaining to the reading. This is called the THINK ALOUD reading strategy. As you are reading this selection, look for talking points on culture, Botero's purpose for creating his art, home life, the image of the hispanohablantes through art, and anything else that you find interesting. Remember that our ‘think aloud’ asks you to pause at any time and make notes in the margins for us to discuss later. Also as you are reading, look for things that go along with the quote that I want you to journal about. I really want you to make a connection to the quote, what do you think that is all about? Here is your reading.” Remind them that good comprehenders often have to go back and reread parts that they did not get the first time through. The reading is from Hispanic Magazine.com http://www.hispaniconline.com/magazine/2001/julaug/Features/index.html For differentiation of text, I would suggest for a lower group, who may just need the facts (if you numbered the paragraphs), to cut out paragraphs 7, 8, 19 and 20. These paragraphs may be a little confusing and are not necessary. For the upper group, let them read the whole article!

III. Discussion:

“What did you think? I will start by saying that Botero can be connected with a lot of other artists we will study in the way that he is trying to represent things that often get passed by. He is trying to represent the people and the injustices that many people face. Was there anything that surprised you?” Someone may be surprised by the comment about how he is rather rich and how some artists try to act like they are sad and poor and that is the only way to be when you are an artist. “I agree, I thought that was funny and interesting too. You can be happy and be an artist but I know what he is talking about with the stereotypes of being an artist. What else did you find interesting or surprising, or have questions about? Could you relate to anything?” One student may point out the part about the bomb outside the building that ruined his work of art and killed many people, how he just kept going and representing the people. “I am glad that you brought that up because that is another important part of art, is that the representations of the people are not always and not often glamorous and glorified, they are true depictions of what the people have gone through and what the people think about certain situations. What did you think about the quote ‘It’s not even a matter of changing our image; it’s a matter of changing our reality, so that image evolves into something better?’ What did you think that means?” I think that goes along with showing in the artwork the true representation of the people. To change the art, the life has to change for the better. “Anyone want to add anything else?” One student may reply, if not the teacher should pinpoint the quote “And a painter can do things a photographer can’t do, because a painter can make the invisible visible.” I think this means a lot because so many things can be added to a painting that a photograph can’t show. A painting can show so much more feeling and perspective than a photo may be able to. “I agree; nice connection! You guys did a great job with the reading and it seems like you got a lot out of it! Let’s take a look at the quote I wanted you to reflect on.”

IV. Rereading:

“Now is the time for you to reflect on what you read and complete your journal entry for me." For differentiation of product, give the upper level students the direct quote from the text Top Journal Entry. For the lower level readers, give them the revised quote Lower Level Revised Quote. Have students look over the quotes again (The quote is “…man needs spiritual expression and nourishing…Man needs music, literature, and painting-all those oases of perfection that make up art-to compensate for the rudeness and materialism of life.” (Man needs to be able to express and take care of his own spirit. He needs music, books and painting, all of these works of art to make up for the pressures, wants and demands of everyday life) and the rest of the reading and thoughtfully respond to the quote. Give the students time to reflect and write and share how you feel. “I think that this quote has a lot of relevance to the art world. I think people need to be able to express themselves through all mediums of art, music, etc, to show how they feel and what they think about life in general. Does anyone else want to share what they thought? Ok, I need you to turn in to me your journal entries and I also want your art charts to see if you are all on the write track for recording the presentation information.” Then have the students turn in their journal entries and also the start of their graphic organizers containing the future daily additions of the artist and works of art.

V. Follow-up (Reinforcement):

“I hope you have a little taste now in how extremely personal this artwork can be. We are going to be taking a lot deeper look at the real sentimental connections that are made between an artist and his or her work. Tomorrow we are going to talk about the “big three.” Fernando Botero is a little more modern because he is still living, where as these three men we are going to talk about tomorrow are like the grandfathers of the Latin American art revolution. Take one last look at your journal entries. I want to see that you put thought into the entries. I also want you to hand in your articles with your think aloud notes because I am going to be looking to see that you made some notes and attempted to use the reading strategy."

Assessment: The teacher can be the judge on how well the students did with journaling. Suggestions for criteria would be if you can tell that they really dug into the quote, they put a lot of thought into the journaling, or just if they did journal and make a conscious effort. For the think aloud, you could just see that they were making notes and working hard to connect but to bring those connections to the class.

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