UNIT PLAN TITLE
What would a Pre-Civil War Era Election Ad Look Like?
Support / Attack Ads.
TEACHER(S)
ARTIST(S)
Chris van Buskirk
Anuradha Rana
SCHOOL
GRADE
ART FORM(S)
Bessie Rhodes
7th
Multi-media / Film
OVERVIEW & BIG IDEAS FOR UNIT
Students will create a multimedia project that is a focused, insightful, exploration of a
presidential campaign from the pre-Civil War Era in depth and present a Point of View
based on their research.
GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR UNIT
How visual elements in a film (choice of images, the order of these images in the narrative and the
transition between them); color and composition; and aural elements can be used to convey a perspective,
a unique Point of View.
INTENTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING
AS A RESULT OF THIS UNIT, WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR STUDENTS
TO KNOW AND BE ABLE TO DO IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS?
ART FORM(S) AND PROCESS:
ACADEMIC CONTENT AREA(S):
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Still Photographs
Editing
Text and Titles
Voiceover Narration*
Sound Effects*
(If time permits)
Show how visual elements in a
film - choice of images, the order
of these images in the narrative
and the transition between them can be used to convey a Point of
View.
The ability to look beyond the
visuals and audio to analyze
underlying meanings in images,
breakdown how audio affects
mood and how composition
affects interpretation.
PLANS FOR DOCUMENTING THIS UNIT
[ X] journals [ X ] photos [ X] audio
[ X] video
[ ] pre/post examples of student work
[ ] other:
PLANS FOR ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING/DEVELOPMENT
Students will work from research that they conduct into specific presidential candidates. They will make a
list of quotes that are attributable to the candidate and others. How these quotes are placed in the
multimedia project, the order they are placed in, and the visuals and audio that support the quotes will be
assessed.
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TEXT & IMAGE SOURCES OF
INSPIRATION / MODEL ARTWORKS
•
•
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EQUIPMENT & MATERIALS
1) SHOT SCALES
Imac computers
Sound recorders
Paper and pens
Projector
2) CAMERA ANGLES
3) FOCUS
4) SCRIPT
5) COMPOSITION
6) NARRATION / VO
7) EDITING
8) JUXTAPOSITION
9) POINT OF VIEW
10) MOOD
ENGAGE
•
•
Photo Essay - One in 8
Million
Short Films – Narative Arc
Photographs – To analyze
different shot sizes, shot
angles and composition.
Short films made by
students.
Election ads from past years.
Ads that speak for/against
certain issues.
WEEK
CREATE A SAFE COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS | LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF THE ARTS
1
Introduction to the group.
Show short film/photo essay. Discuss and analyze. Talk about themes, POV/perspective.
Exercise – Who is telling this story? Point of View – how does one identify it?
2
Introduction to film vocabulary – shot sizes & angles, kinds of shots, color and composition.
Watch short film – America, India IPL Cricket. How details add to information.
Exercise – Identifying shot sizes (Stand by me)
3
IMMERSE
•
ART AND ACADEMIC CONTENT VOCABULARY
Exercise : Choosing Images that tell the story you want to tell. Search online for archival
photographs and photographs to support the student’s POV.
Identify Characters, Location, Situation, POV
WEEK
4
5
IMMERSION IN THE BIG IDEAS
IMovie Workshop.
Start dropping images into Imovie timeline. What order do you place the images in? Why?
Editing – Timing and Pace. How does it affect the mood of your story?
6
Editing – Ordering elements, juxtaposition of different images.
7
Editing – Text and Titles. What other information can you give? (Split tasks between group
members – Write text info / edit)
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REFINE
WEEK
REVISE & SHARE | PERFORM & EXHIBIT | REFLECT & ASSESS
8
Editing OR Record Narration OR search for sound effects/music.* (Split tasks between
group members)
9
Lay sound effects and music into the timeline in IMovie. Reasses placement of images with
Sound.s
10
Sharing.
DESCRIPTION OF CULMINIATING EVENT
Students shared, critiqued and reflected on their Imovie presidential ads with their peers at a culminating
viewing of work in May 2012.
ILLINOIS STATE FINE ARTS STANDARDS
State Standard/Goal #
25B3
Compare and contrast
the elements and
principles in art works
that share similar
themes
State Standard/Goal #
25 A5
Define elements and
principles that define a
work of art.
State Standard/Goal #
25.A.3E
Analyze how the
elements and principles
can be organized to
convey meaning
through a variety of
media and technology.
State Standard/Goal #
26.B.3d
Demonstrate knowledge
and skills to create 2 and
3-dimensional works and
time-arts (e.g. film,
animation, video) that
are realistic, abstract,
functional and
decorative.
ILLINOIS STATE CORE CURRICULUM STANDARDS
State Standard/Goal #
14.F.3a Analyze
historical influences on
the development of
political ideas and
practices as enumerated
in the Declaration of
Independence, the
United States
Constitution, the Bill of
Rights and the Illinois
Constitution.
State Standard/Goal #
2C. 3b. Demonstrate
cooperation and team
work to promote group
effectiveness
State Standard/Goal #
4.B.4b
Use group dicussion
skills to assume
leadership and
participant roles within
an assigned project or to
reach a group goal.
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State Standard/Goal #
5.A.3b
Design a project related
to contemporary issues
using multiple sources.
DESCRIPTION OF UNIT DOCUMENTATION
AND/OR STUDENT ASSESSMENT
Completed campaign ads and looking at student work using the unit rubric.
WHERE ARE ARCHIVE MATERIALS CURRENTLY STORED?
(INCLUDING STUDENT ARTWORKS, UNIT DOCUMENTATION, ARTIST JOURNAL/BLOG, ETC.)
On CCAP website.
TEACHER’S REFLECTIONS
Students were highly motivated to find images and quotations that supported a particular view of the
candidate(s) that were the subjects of their ads. Many of the students analyzed primary sources for this
project with a higher level of discernment as they looked for information that illustrated the issues that
would have been important to voters during the historical period they were studying. Most students saw
historical figures from a different, more human, perspective than they had before. The project brought them
personally closer to historical events.
ARTIST’S REFLECTIONS
It really helped that Chris van Buskirk worked with the students on their research about the candidate(s)
before the residency even started. Once I came in, the focus was on how to transfer and present the
information already saved, to the format of an ‘election campaign ad’.
The residency took place over eleven 38 minute sessions. We both really needed to be on our toes to
make sure that they students had enough to keep the engaged and occupied, while also ensuring that the
students didn’t feel overwhelmed by what they were doing.
Students really built their pieces and integrated all the aspects of multimedia that we presented to them
including – visual photos, text, narration, music and pacing the films.
STUDENTS’ REFLECTIONS
The film project helped me feel more connected to history because we got to write/make films about
historical figures as if they lived now. I learned better (and more) doing Project AIM because I was a lot
more engrossed in and connected to what I was doing, which made the facts more memorable.
The new understanding I gained from the project was how elections have always been hard to win, just as
they are today.
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Project AIM introduces public school teachers and students to the authentic arts practice of artists by partnering teaching
artists from Columbia College Chicago and community-based art organizations with public school teachers. The talented
Project AIM Teaching Artist Cadre brings professional expertise in: creative writing, spoken-word performance, theatre,
music, visual arts, book and paper arts, photography, dance and film to the classroom.
Artists and teachers work together to infuse the classroom with creativity and experiential learning that connect arts
processes and personal experiences to the core curriculum. Using inquiry-based teaching methods, these teams guide their
students through each step of the creative process from brainstorming, writing first drafts, revision and rehearsal, to
exemplary performances, exhibitions, and documentation of their work.
INTEGRATION
Focusing on the integration of word and image, Project AIM explores the parallels between arts and literacy learning. Artists
and teachers jointly create arts-integrated curriculum that promotes reading and writing through the arts. Classrooms are
transformed into studios and performance spaces where students are engaged in a powerful learning cycle in and through
the arts. As a result, students learn higher-order thinking skills by translating their ideas across mediums.
MENTORSHIP
Project AIM provides many opportunities for mentorship between teachers, artists, students and college faculty. It
establishes reciprocal learning communities that provide professional development through hands-on workshops,
cooperative classroom learning laboratories and summer institutes. Monthly artist meetings are a key feature and an
invaluable opportunity for teaching artists to share, and learn from, their peers. Project AIM works with principals, schoolbased steering committees, and local school councils to develop arts programming that supports positive, whole school
change. Project AIM also enriches the arts-integration practice of participating faculty at Columbia College Chicago.
For more information, please visit www.colum.edu/ccap.
The Arts Integration Mentorship Project (Project AIM) is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Education Arts in
Education Model Development and Dissemination program, National Endowment for the Arts, Chicago Public
Schools, the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, Crown Family Philanthropies, Leo S. Guthman Fund,
JCCC Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and an
anonymous foundation. Special thanks to Columbia College Chicago.
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