Call to Art
In this activity, students will create a work of art that raises awareness of a current war, armed conflict, or human rights abuse.
WAR & ACTIVISM LESSON 2:
FINE ART
1-2 class periods (45-90 min) + visual, musical, oral, or written assignment
VIDEO:
A Culture of War Video and Transcript (as needed)
HANDOUTS:
Unit Research
Handout 1 (as needed)
Handout 2 (as needed)
Handout 3 (as needed)
Handout 4 (as needed)
WORKSHEET:
Fine Arts/Creative Writing Worksheet
TEACHING PLAN:
- Art and Culture
Medium > Visual Arts
Subject Matter > Art History
Subject Matter > Music
- History and Social Studies
Place > Africa
Place > The Americas
Place > Asia
Place > Europe
Place > The Middle East
Themes > Civil Rights
Themes > Culture
Themes > Immigration/Migration
Themes > Politics and Citizenship
Themes > War and Foreign Policy
World > The Modern World
- Literature and Language Arts
Genre > Biography
Genre > Drama
Genre > Fables, Fairy tales and Folklore
Genre > Essay
Genre > Novels
Genre > Poetry
Genre > Short Stories
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Creative writing
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Discussion
- Gathering, classifying and interpreting written, oral and visual information
- Historical analysis
- Interpretation
- Journal writing
- Letter writing
- Literary analysis
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Media analysis
- Musical analysis
- Musical skills
- Oral presentation skills
- Painting
- Photography
- Poetry analysis
- Poetry writing
- Report writing
- Representing ideas and information orally, graphically and in writing
- Research
- Role-playing/Performance
- Synthesis
- Visual art analysis
- Visual art skills
- Visual presentation skills
- Writing skills
- ELA Reading: 7
- ELA Writing: 2-7, 10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-2, 4-6
- HSS Reading: 7
- HSS Writing: 2, 4-7, 10
LESSON 2 HANDOUTS
- Present finished works as part of a class initiative to raise awareness of a specific war, armed conflict, or human rights abuse (see Class Action Activity), with individual students responding to different aspects of this conflict.
- Allow additional time for peer review, editing, revision, and critique of work.
- Assign a longer essay or response paper in place of the short reflection, asking students to research the history of this war, armed conflict, or human rights abuse and incorporate these findings into their writing.
- Publish a selection of art and writing in the school newspaper or literary/art journal, coordinate a class blog, vlog, podcast, or web gallery, or encourage students to submit their work independently.