Lesson 2


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 Spanish speaking artists


Topic: Importance of Art in the culture of Latin America part I


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. Add to art chart containing works of art and artists
2. Discuss the role of art and especially muralism in Mexico after reading about Siqueiros, Rivera, and Orozco
3. write a summary of the article based off the new reading strategy: GIST


Performance Assessment:
1. Graphic organizer entry #2,3, and 4
2. class discussion
3. journal entry


Reading Type: reading to be informed


Macrostructure Thinking for Reading:
Description


Materials:
- Adaptation of, and the Introduction from Rochfort, Desmond. Mexican Muralists. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998.
- Reading for differentiation of text
- Graphic organizer for continual work of artists/artwork

Procedure


I. Readiness:
a. Motivation: “Today we are going to talk about probably the three largest names in Mexican art; David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jose Clemente Orozco. There are several paintings on the board by these muralists that we need to add to our art chart. Can the students who are presenting Diego Rivera and “A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park” come up and share with us their information to add to our art charts.” The students share their information while the class adds the appropriate information to their art chart. “Can you tell a difference in the colors of the mural as a whole? Look on the left and right sides compared to the middle. The middle represents the upper class and the outsides represent the poorer classes of Mexico. Rivera put himself in his mural, which he does many times. He also added his wife, Frida Kahlo. There are a ton of other famous figures that I could point out but unless you know a lot more about the history of Mexico you probably would not be familiar with who they are. This is definitely one of his most famous paintings. Thank you for sharing!” Students then go on to share about Orozco, and his work “American Civilization – The Arrival of Quetzalcoatl,” and Siqueiros, and his work, “The new democracy.”

b. Tapping and Developing Background of Experience: "Yesterday we talked about Fernando Botero who is one of the most famous Latino artists still living and working today. You may have already heard of the “big 3.” Has anyone ever heard of them? These three men have revolutionized art and especially the world of muralists, which we will talk about more later. In a time when art was a lot of what we think of as of art, like on a canvas or sculptures or what have you, these men changed art to be for the people, painting representations of the people on public places where everyone can experience and enjoy them."

c. Concept development: “This reading I have for you comes from the book Mexican Muralists by Desmond Rochfort."

Lower Text

Middle Text

Advanced Text

"In these readings they are going to be talking about a revolution of art. These revolutions were not violent revolutions like we think of with wars and such. These revolutions they are talking about are changes in the world of art that are very different from what art used to stand for and what art used to be.”


d. Purpose-for-Reading: “You will be reading today to be informed. I want you to read a little of the history and tremendous importance these three have had on the art world and the revolution of art in Mexico during the 1920’s and later. After we read we will talk more about these three and what the revolution of art meant.”


II. Silent Reading: “You are going to read this selection to yourself. I am going to teach you a new reading strategy that you can use for when you are reading. This reading strategy is called the GIST reading strategy. This strategy works really well for shorter texts. What you do is basically summarize what it is that you are reading. You read the first section of your reading which I have marked for you. Go ahead and do that." (For differentiation of process, let the advanced students write their own GIST statements. For the middle group, give them a note card with the words who, what, when, where, why and how for them to fill out and use for help in writing the GIST in the end. For the lower group, give them a sheet with 20 underlined blanks to fill in, plus you could even put at the top of the sheet the who what where when why and how of the reading to use in deciding what was important.) When students get done reading, “Ok, now that you have read the first section, you are going to write a 20 word, no more, summary of what that section was about. Make sure you include in the summary the most important details of the text. When thinking about what is important, consider the who what when where why and how of whatever you are reading.” Give students time to write. “Ok, can I have someone share their GIST summary?” An example would be ‘Art in Latin America has changed so it’s now created for the people in the form of a mural.’ Students share until all have the idea of what a GIST statement is. “Ok, now go ahead and read section 2. Once you get done, create a second GIST statement. I think you have the idea of the statements about the sections. After reading the 3rd section, create a GIST statement about the article as a whole. Go ahead and get to work.”

Lower group

Middle group


III. Discussion: “What did you think about this article? Can you tell how this changed art in Latin America? This made a huge change in the art world. Can anyone tell me why they think that may be?” Someone may say that now that art is created about the people in public places, the rich of the world do not get to have anything more than the poor. They are all equal in how they have to go to the same place to view it. “You are right, and muralism became so popular that Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco were being commissioned by tons of people to do murals for them. What do you think was so wrong with traditional painting, or what didn't the Big 3 agree with?” Students talk about how anyone could buy those, they were not created for the common man in mind.


IV. Rereading: “I want you to reread these two paragraphs (make an overhead because the students all have different readings). What do you think the main concept is of a mural, instead of a sculpture or a canvas painting?” Murals are for the people, and about the people. Everyone can enjoy them. No one can buy a mural and hang it in their own home. Murals show the truth of how the people feel. Murals can get a message across to a large amount of people. “I wanted to point out how big of a deal this revolution was. To think that these three men were basically criticizing everything that every artist had ever done in the past was a huge step. This was just huge in the art world and eventually affected the rest of the world.”


V. Follow-up (Reinforcement): “Ok, from your reading, I want you to do another journal entry for me. I want you to take your GIST statement for the whole section, and then I want you to do a double journal entry on it. I have the form for it. You need to write your final GIST statement in the left hand column, and then journal on that in the right and on the back if you need to, then turn it in to me today if you get done or tomorrow." (For differentiation, you could provide a GIST statement for students to write about. For example, "Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros have changed art by forever by making popular the form of muralism.")

Assessment:

Lower group

Middle group

Advanced group

 

 

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