Lesson Plan

I think that if I were to incorporate Digital Storytelling into the classes that I would teach I would allow the students to discover where the ideas for certain artistic styles came from. I would first have the students each select a specific artist to research. The students would then go onto the Internet and research everything that they could use to make a similar product that the artist did.

For example, let's say a student wanted to create something in the style of Pablo Picasso. I would first recommend that they investigate Spain in the year 1881. Use the programs that we used this semester to transport the class back to 1881 digitally. This can be done with any number of storytelling effects. If the students wanted to visually go back, they could. See what life was like in Spain in 1881. See the images, and compare them with the images of Spain in the present day. This would allow them to see culturally the differences between Picasso's Spain and the Spain that exists today.

I would also expect the students to research the paintings and art of the the individual that they had chosen. These can also be reproduced digitally, either in a program like a Microsoft Paint or simply by scanning the picture into the computer. Study the technique that was used to create the masterpieces, write some kind of summary on how the painting or the art was created. What styles were used to create the piece? This could be done in an outline form, or as simply a paragraph.

The final thing I would do with this project is I would have the students create a piece, themselves in the style of the chosen artist. Upon completion of the piece, I would have the students just write a simple paragraph about their experience doing this.

Rubric:

Since grading artwork is a very subjective thing, I would allow the students to grade each other on the work. If the effort put forth by the student is exceptional, the grade would be an A. I think that being an artist, I can tell when someone is really trying to produce quality work, and when they are not. If all sections of the project are completed an A will be given. For each missing element, a letter grade will be docked.