UNIT INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIT
b. Rationale for the Unit.
· Within this unit, I will be teaching art students about concepts of materialism and consumption. Throughout the unit, the students will be required to critically examine and reflect on some of their own habits in relation to the concepts discussed. While they personally and collaboratively explore these new ideas, they will learn about some of the positive and negative effects of our consumption and material habits, from both individual and global perspectives. The students will also explore and analyze the differing habits of other cultures in relation to our own. There will be a total of four projects within the unit, each building off of the prior in some way. One unit end goal is for the students to gain a new appreciation for paper as an art material, something that is seemingly insignificant or simple, and often taken for granted. Thus, the entire series of unit projects being based on some sort of paper practice or technique. The students will create and use paper in many different ways throughout the unit’s project series, and this focus seemed appropriate in relation to the discussed concepts of materialism and consumption because paper has been used, reused, and repurposed for ages. From a global perspective, paper plays different roles and serves different functions in other cultures, and they will get to see how artists from around the world have utilized paper in creating their own artworks. Relating to concepts of materialism in particular, paper is often used as a platform for the media to communicate with the public through advertisements, and this idea will be examined more towards the end of the unit. It is important for the students to be exposed to these concepts of consumption and materialism, this age group especially, because of their accessibility to most of what is offered to our society. The media so overly saturates us as a culture, that rarely do we take the time to analyze the real messages behind their promotions. This over saturation ultimately ends up blurring perceptions of our wants and needs, and desensitizes us to the real effects that our material and consumption habits and choices have on our world, and what better place than the art classroom for students to work through these meaningful ideas!
· Lesson 1: Students will be introduced to concepts of materialism and consumption, such as what defines them, how they are determined, differing values that are placed on objects depending on culture and belief, and also how balance and imbalance in materialism and consumption can impact people, communities, and the world. The students will construct definitions for the concepts introduced through class dialogue, and they will investigate a range of related perspectives through creating a Venn diagram. Students will also be examining a series of artists and artworks that work with these concepts while they begin preparing for their first project that will take place during the following class session.
· Lesson 2: This lesson will begin with a brief recap of what was introduced in Lesson 1. The main focus will be for the students to successfully create sheets of homemade paper, for the purpose of progressing into later projects. I will give an instructional demo, showing the steps necessary for creating sheets of homemade paper. During the following day(s) of this lesson, students will create individual journals using a sheet of their created paper, and their journals will be utilized for the remainder of the unit. This lesson will be especially significant in deepening their understanding of consumption/materialism. Through their paper making processes, the students will they gain a new appreciation for something that is a mindless consumer good, often used in context with advertisements, promoting consumption. A formative assessment will take place during this lesson.
· Lesson 3: The purpose of this lesson will be to shift perspectives. The concepts of materialism and consumption will be explored on a more global level as I discuss key concepts such as: consumption is central to many economies, and to the current forms of globalization; demands on items affect the requirements placed upon the environment. Students will analyze these key concepts along with some of the key concepts introduced in prior class sessions by responding in their journals to some of the essential questions provided. Students will be introduced to Origami as an art form, and they will be required to independently produce five pieces of their own. Another formative assessment will take place during this lesson.
· Lesson 4: The purpose of this lesson is to get the students thinking about who/what is in the background when it comes to the influences that affect what we consume and materialize. They will be introduced to more art that works with advertisement aspects of materialism/consumption. I want them to really think about how these different influences, whether obvious, or possibly subconscious- play a certain role in our culture and society. They will create their final artworks within this lesson, utilizing their other piece of created paper created to tie it all back together. A summative assessment will take place during this lesson.
b. Rationale for the Unit.
· Within this unit, I will be teaching art students about concepts of materialism and consumption. Throughout the unit, the students will be required to critically examine and reflect on some of their own habits in relation to the concepts discussed. While they personally and collaboratively explore these new ideas, they will learn about some of the positive and negative effects of our consumption and material habits, from both individual and global perspectives. The students will also explore and analyze the differing habits of other cultures in relation to our own. There will be a total of four projects within the unit, each building off of the prior in some way. One unit end goal is for the students to gain a new appreciation for paper as an art material, something that is seemingly insignificant or simple, and often taken for granted. Thus, the entire series of unit projects being based on some sort of paper practice or technique. The students will create and use paper in many different ways throughout the unit’s project series, and this focus seemed appropriate in relation to the discussed concepts of materialism and consumption because paper has been used, reused, and repurposed for ages. From a global perspective, paper plays different roles and serves different functions in other cultures, and they will get to see how artists from around the world have utilized paper in creating their own artworks. Relating to concepts of materialism in particular, paper is often used as a platform for the media to communicate with the public through advertisements, and this idea will be examined more towards the end of the unit. It is important for the students to be exposed to these concepts of consumption and materialism, this age group especially, because of their accessibility to most of what is offered to our society. The media so overly saturates us as a culture, that rarely do we take the time to analyze the real messages behind their promotions. This over saturation ultimately ends up blurring perceptions of our wants and needs, and desensitizes us to the real effects that our material and consumption habits and choices have on our world, and what better place than the art classroom for students to work through these meaningful ideas!
· Lesson 1: Students will be introduced to concepts of materialism and consumption, such as what defines them, how they are determined, differing values that are placed on objects depending on culture and belief, and also how balance and imbalance in materialism and consumption can impact people, communities, and the world. The students will construct definitions for the concepts introduced through class dialogue, and they will investigate a range of related perspectives through creating a Venn diagram. Students will also be examining a series of artists and artworks that work with these concepts while they begin preparing for their first project that will take place during the following class session.
· Lesson 2: This lesson will begin with a brief recap of what was introduced in Lesson 1. The main focus will be for the students to successfully create sheets of homemade paper, for the purpose of progressing into later projects. I will give an instructional demo, showing the steps necessary for creating sheets of homemade paper. During the following day(s) of this lesson, students will create individual journals using a sheet of their created paper, and their journals will be utilized for the remainder of the unit. This lesson will be especially significant in deepening their understanding of consumption/materialism. Through their paper making processes, the students will they gain a new appreciation for something that is a mindless consumer good, often used in context with advertisements, promoting consumption. A formative assessment will take place during this lesson.
· Lesson 3: The purpose of this lesson will be to shift perspectives. The concepts of materialism and consumption will be explored on a more global level as I discuss key concepts such as: consumption is central to many economies, and to the current forms of globalization; demands on items affect the requirements placed upon the environment. Students will analyze these key concepts along with some of the key concepts introduced in prior class sessions by responding in their journals to some of the essential questions provided. Students will be introduced to Origami as an art form, and they will be required to independently produce five pieces of their own. Another formative assessment will take place during this lesson.
· Lesson 4: The purpose of this lesson is to get the students thinking about who/what is in the background when it comes to the influences that affect what we consume and materialize. They will be introduced to more art that works with advertisement aspects of materialism/consumption. I want them to really think about how these different influences, whether obvious, or possibly subconscious- play a certain role in our culture and society. They will create their final artworks within this lesson, utilizing their other piece of created paper created to tie it all back together. A summative assessment will take place during this lesson.