Yet another pet peeve - "can I have your lesson plan?"

For several years, I have willingly and openly used this blog to share projects I've done with my students, including instructions.  And I will continue to do so.  But instructions are not the same thing as lesson plans!

Often, particularly in various Facebook groups, someone will post images of a really cool project they've done.  It is not unexpected that people will get excited and want to know how it was done.  But more often than not, the request is "can you share the lesson plan?"

So today's post is a little reminder about what is and what is NOT a lesson plan.  "How-to" instructions  and lists of materials are NOT lesson plans.  A lesson plan will usually outline objectives, using whatever jargon is appropriate.  It might be that your objectives are written as Essential Questions and Student Outcomes, or Big Ideas, or SWK (student will know) statements, etc.  It might include Anticipatory Sets, Guided Practice, and so on.  You may need to include the Standards being addressed in the lesson.  There are many formats for writing lesson plans; a lot may depend on your education and training, the philosophy of the school district where you teach, and so on.

So, when you see a post of an interesting project by me, or by someone else, and you are intrigued and would like to try it out, think about what you are asking for.  I will gladly give you my instructions, a "how-to", but I will NOT give you my lesson plan, because your lesson plan should be unique to your situation.  Plus, if I give you my lesson plan, I'll feel like I'm doing your job for you.  And I don't want to. 

For example: I recently posted tooling foil samples.  Many people asked me for my lesson plan.  I gladly gave instructions, via some videos, some photos and text, and even a Google doc.  But none of those things were lesson plans.  What might my lesson plan have been?  My lesson objectives are individual to me and my unique needs, according to my teaching philosophy, my schedule, my student body makeup, and so on.  Perhaps my objective is for my students to learn to use tooling foil with appropriate tools to achieve deep relief.  Perhaps there's an expectation for my students to learn the vocabulary of working with tooling foil.  Perhaps the objective is to use the medium of tooling foil to create masks that share various characteristics used in African masks, like symmetry, use of geometric shapes, exaggeration, and decorative pattern.  Perhaps the objective is to discover how tooling foil can be used in a collage, whether as an animal, a robot, or whatever.  Perhaps the objective is to use the foil to explore the tooled metal folk art of various cultures from around the world.  Do you get my point?

And maybe there will be, in your situation, a written companion piece to the art-making project.  Perhaps your lesson plan will include how an objective about completing the piece for display.   Maybe there will be a critique element to your lesson plan.

Lots of times, I see projects that seem to exist for the fun of the project, and nothing more.  In my current business teaching after school art to kids who simply want more art-making time, this is absolutely OK.  If anyone were to ask for my objective, it would simply be for my students to explore various materials, and have a positive art-making experience.  But that might not be enough in your school.

 By the way, if you want some instructions for any of the projects pictured in this post, please feel free to ask.  Just don't ask for my lesson plan!

Picasso again - blue period, rose period

Sorry, it's not a Sunday comic (I didn't have one available today) but that guy on the left is pretty funny anyhow, isn't he? Kind of an evil smile...

Anyhow ~ Fourth graders learned about Picasso. After a BRIEF review (due to the time limitations of an impending vacation) of facial proportions etc, they drew a slip out of a bucket. Some were red, some blue. Those students who pulled a blue slip took a blue sheet of construction paper (dark, royal, or sky blue, or turquoise) and those with a red slip took a red-based sheet (I had a burgundy color, a couple of different mid-range reds, and two different pinks available to choose from). Time permitting, students began drawing a face, with a sad expression for blue period, happy for rose. These faces were "made up" - not representative of anyone in particular.

In the next class, the faces were quickly completed and traced with a black marker. After a very BRIEF demo (again, those time limitations) students began painting. Two tables were set up for blue period, two for rose period paintingts. The BLUE period students were given paints in blue, turquoise, black, white, and a silvery purplish color. The ROSE period students were given red, magenta, orange, black, white, and a silvery coppery peach color. They painted without water, sometimes wiping excess color off the brush on newspaper, remembering NOT to stir the paint when they dipped their not-so-clean brush in a new color (that way the color doesn't get "dirty"). They had just the one 40 minute art class to trace the drawing, watch the brief painting demo, and complete their painting. So if some don't look quite finished, it was the result of a student "time-management" problem!

I expected the students to be upset that they couldn't make their own choices whether to do a rose or blue period painting, but they went along with the color selection process without any arguments. Everything went GREAT - the kids mixed colors and painted enthusiastically! One student at each table was given a small bucket with some water, and they collected and cleaned the brushes for their table at the end of art, while their table-mates washed the table and put away the paintings to dry. Of course, one boy decided to spoil the perfection by offering to lick the paint if his buddies would give him money. By the time I got to the table, his tongue had a slash of deep magenta on it. Sigh... WHY?!!!!

"Fauve Fauves" by grade 3

Well. I think we're finally done with Matisse and the fauves, and this may be my favorite project of everything we did with Matisse. The paper was I think 16 x 20" (or thereabouts), and I had the students leave a frame of about 1-1/2" on the paper. Students practiced drawing African animals by looking at lots of visuals, and the kids each picked one for their painting. They did the drawings on white paper with yellow chalkboard chalk. Some of the details of the original drawings unfortunately got lost in the re-drawing, but I like the childlike freshness of what turned out.

I had ordered a package of animal print tissue paper without a plan in mind, and it turned out to be perfect for the frames. I cut it in strips and the kids used starch to adhere it.

OOPS. I hung this bulletin board explaining the project after attending this afternoon's union meeting, and now that I'm looking at the photos I see a BIG error. The signs say the work was done by 2nd graders, but it was not. It is THIRD grade work and I'd better get into school early tomorrow morning to fix it before the kids see it. YIKES!