The teacher briefly reviews the cultural movement of Dada that was introduced to the class in the previous lesson. He/She explains how Dada is related to the exquisite corpse activity that they will be participating in today. They will discuss the fact that the art work they create will not need to have meaning but will be collection of ideas that are combined and represented in often a nonsensical manner. Also, we will briefly discuss the goals for the class period. This will inform the students of what they will be learning about and the activities that they will be doing during the class period. (3-5 minutes)
We will introduce the Surrealist movement, including the main ideas surrounding it and the most influential artists associated within the movement. The students will be viewing images of art made during the Surrealist movement. They will be asked questions pertaining to these works and critically thinking about them and discussing their ideas about them. (7-10minutes)
After we explain what exquisite corpse is, the students will then do an example of their own. Each student will take out a sheet of paper and will write an adjective at the top of the paper and fold it over so the word can’t be seen. They will then pass the paper to the person behind them. Everyone should have someone else’s piece of paper. Now they will write a noun. Again, fold it over so the words cannot be seen, and pass it back again. Do this three more times. The third word they will write will be a verb, then an adjective, and finally another noun. Pass the paper one more time and have the students unfold their paper to reveal their 5 words. These five words will make a sentence. Students may fill in words (the, a, an, to, etc) but they cannot change the order of the words. While they are doing this, the teacher will pass out sheets of paper that will have a letter and number and a bolded line. Using drawing and coloring materials, the students will draw their sentence to the best of their ability in the space provided on their paper. During this time, the teacher should walk around the classroom and offer help to any students. Students may have a hard time visualizing their sentence because the words may be very different from each other. The teacher should offer suggestions and help come up with ideas the students may build upon. Also, some students may not know certain words. Let the students know they can ask the person who wrote it, ask the teacher, or refer to a dictionary or check online. (15-20 minutes)
Once the students have been given sufficient time to draw their sentence, the will get into their groups based on the number/letter on their paper. The letter will be the group name. The group will get together and arrange their exquisite corpse drawings so that they make up one large drawing. The number will associate where each paper belongs and the line on the papers will line up once they are connected. Bring tape around to each group so they may connect their papers. Now give them a chance to unify their drawings to make one whole drawing by asking them to add colors or smaller drawings that cross the boundaries of their individual papers. (10 minutes)
Once they have done this, ask them to hang up their drawings somewhere on the wall or white board. Give the students a chance to look closely at each group’s drawing. Go through each group and ask the students to say their sentence aloud so the other students will be able to connect the drawing with their sentence. Then take a moment to focus on each group’s drawing and ask the student to make comments. First ask for things they like about it. Then ask for suggestions that the group could apply to future drawings. (5-10 minutes)
Teachers will bring the studio project to a close and recap what we learned through a short question and answer session. Teachers will introduce the topic of discussion for tomorrow, giving them a heads up on what is going to happen. (2 minutes) Materials and Procedural Issues
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