Monday, December 10, 2018
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Art and Content-Area Literacies
Hello!
This week you will explore the intersection of art and content-area literacy. Take a moment to look at the painting below:
The above painting is Rafael's "Canigiani's Holy Family" (1508), a great example of Italian Renaissance art. It's easy to see how the painting could fit within an art and/or art history class, but the question we're interested in considering is how paintings like this one by Rafael might complement a content-area classroom. I suppose the most direct connection would be to a history class of some sort, one where learners could consider how the Renaissance approach to art reflected an attempt to synthesize classical antiquity (e.g., Greece and Rome) with Christianity.
For this particular painting, however, I want to suggest that it could conceivably be used in a math lesson about triangles and/or dimensionality. Take a moment, then, to look at the painting and find as many triangles as you can, and consider how they operate as the geometric foundation for "Holy Family." Students could do the same, of course, and their teach could distribute printouts of the painting and ask students to draw triangles where they see them, and then do a think-pair-share where they compare the triangles they found. Because students are likely to observe some of the same triangles, it will be fairly clear that triangles are important part of the painting's visual infrastructure.
Scroll down through the images below to see if you noted the same triangles:
Note how overlaying the painting with three dimensional triangles demonstrates how triangles give the painting's subjects their "shape" while also emphasizing how basic shapes can help artists give their paintings three-dimensions, an important trait of high Renaissance art. Also, note how baby Jesus' head is centered within the painting at what we might call a sort of triangular intersection. Given that Jesus is central to Christianity, it makes sense that his head would be central to the painting, and the artist is using geometric shapes to call the viewer's attention to the idea. The other figures in the painting--Joseph, Jesus's "father"; Mary, Jesus's mother; Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother; and John the Baptist himself--are structured around Jesus, supporting his centrality in the image, which again is an effect of Rafael's use of triangles.
Importantly, triangles aren't the only shape one can examine in a painting, and one doesn't even need to rely exclusively on geometry. For example, one could use a ruler to draw straight lines along each figure's sight line to emphasize how their gazes establish intersecting lines, and those intersections may, too, relate to the painting's subject matter. (I haven't done that myself, which is why I'm speculating.) What I've tried to demonstrate here is that a painting like Rafael's can help math teacher's demonstrate abstract concepts in concrete way, and they could also lead to interesting creative work with math concepts for students.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Your job this week is to visit the Georgia Museum of Art and find a work of art (e.g., painting, sculpture, photograph etc.) that you could use to emphasize a core content-area concept(s) in one of your specializations. In case you don't have it with you, I'm going to copy and paste below what I wrote in the end-of-semester roadmap document I recently gave you:
As always, please let me know if you have any questions about the assignment. Excited to see where you take this!
BR
This week you will explore the intersection of art and content-area literacy. Take a moment to look at the painting below:
The above painting is Rafael's "Canigiani's Holy Family" (1508), a great example of Italian Renaissance art. It's easy to see how the painting could fit within an art and/or art history class, but the question we're interested in considering is how paintings like this one by Rafael might complement a content-area classroom. I suppose the most direct connection would be to a history class of some sort, one where learners could consider how the Renaissance approach to art reflected an attempt to synthesize classical antiquity (e.g., Greece and Rome) with Christianity.
For this particular painting, however, I want to suggest that it could conceivably be used in a math lesson about triangles and/or dimensionality. Take a moment, then, to look at the painting and find as many triangles as you can, and consider how they operate as the geometric foundation for "Holy Family." Students could do the same, of course, and their teach could distribute printouts of the painting and ask students to draw triangles where they see them, and then do a think-pair-share where they compare the triangles they found. Because students are likely to observe some of the same triangles, it will be fairly clear that triangles are important part of the painting's visual infrastructure.
Scroll down through the images below to see if you noted the same triangles:
Note how overlaying the painting with three dimensional triangles demonstrates how triangles give the painting's subjects their "shape" while also emphasizing how basic shapes can help artists give their paintings three-dimensions, an important trait of high Renaissance art. Also, note how baby Jesus' head is centered within the painting at what we might call a sort of triangular intersection. Given that Jesus is central to Christianity, it makes sense that his head would be central to the painting, and the artist is using geometric shapes to call the viewer's attention to the idea. The other figures in the painting--Joseph, Jesus's "father"; Mary, Jesus's mother; Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother; and John the Baptist himself--are structured around Jesus, supporting his centrality in the image, which again is an effect of Rafael's use of triangles.
Importantly, triangles aren't the only shape one can examine in a painting, and one doesn't even need to rely exclusively on geometry. For example, one could use a ruler to draw straight lines along each figure's sight line to emphasize how their gazes establish intersecting lines, and those intersections may, too, relate to the painting's subject matter. (I haven't done that myself, which is why I'm speculating.) What I've tried to demonstrate here is that a painting like Rafael's can help math teacher's demonstrate abstract concepts in concrete way, and they could also lead to interesting creative work with math concepts for students.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Your job this week is to visit the Georgia Museum of Art and find a work of art (e.g., painting, sculpture, photograph etc.) that you could use to emphasize a core content-area concept(s) in one of your specializations. In case you don't have it with you, I'm going to copy and paste below what I wrote in the end-of-semester roadmap document I recently gave you:
· Art and Content-Area Literacy
o Visit my blog and read the post about art and content-area literacy.
o Visit the Georgia Museum of Art and browse the galleries.
o Find a work of art you could integrate into one of your specializations, and snap a photo of it with your phone.
o Blog Entry: Due by 11:59 pm on Thursday, 11/29
§ Write a blog entry of 200-250 words in which you explain how could incorporate your selected work of art into your content-area classrooms.
§ Be sure to include the photo of the art in the blog entry.
§ Also, be sure to include the artist’s name, the work’s title, and any relevant background info you gain from its museum label.
§ No additional comment required, but it is encouraged.
o Note: You may visit the museum alone or with your classmates, and you may also browse the galleries together and even select the same work of art. You may also discuss with your fellow museum goer(s) how you might integrate the art into your one of your specializations. However, everyone needs to post their own individual blog entry.
o Another Note: Feel free to use the work of art you select in your text set if it make sense to do so.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions about the assignment. Excited to see where you take this!
BR
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Welcome!
Hello Students!
Welcome to my blog.
Here's your assignment:
Step 1: Create your blog.
Step 5: Comment
Welcome to my blog.
Here's your assignment:
Step 1: Create your blog.
- Go to blogger.com
- Click "sign in." Use a Google account. You'll need to create one if you don't already have one.
- Click "New Blog"
- Give your blog a title!
- Create your URL (Mine is ugarobinson.blogspot.com)
- Select a template (You can change this later if you want. There are more themes available once you create your blog.)
- Click "no thanks" for the Google Domains thing.
Step 2: Post the URL for your blog in a comment on this blog entry.
- Please include your first name in the comment if it's not clear who you are from your account name.
Step 3: Post your for first blog!
- From your dashboard, click "New Post."
- Look at the two tabs labelled "Compose" and "HTML" at the top left of the document window. Be sure to paste your draft using the "Compose" mode, not the "HTML" mode.
- Once you've entered the text, add an image/gif/video that complements the content of your blog. Consider using "text wrapping" rather than simply post the pic at the top or bottom of the blog.
- Be sure to post the word count at the bottom.
Step 4: Personalize your blog.
- From your dashboard, click "layout."
- Find the "About Me" widget. Add a pic of yourself, or if you don't want to add a pic of yourself, add a pic of something else!
- Add some basic information about you--your specializations, for example--but not too much. Avoid including your last name, for example.
- Make sure you save your changes.
- Feel free to add any other widgets that make you happy. (e.g., Twitter)
- Now, go back to your dashboard and click on "Template." Make changes to it if you'd like.
Step 5: Comment- Consult the syllabus for guidelines on commenting on a peer's blog.
- Click on one of your classmate's names to visit their blog. Read it and leave a comment!
- Respond to a different classmate each time, making sure you look for classmate's whose posts haven't been commented on yet.
Done!
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