Latin American Murals
Introduction_____________________________________________________________________
Murals are a common form of art in Latin America. These paintings, frequently
done on walls, convey a thousand words. Unlike literal artwork that tells a
clearly defined narrative, murals achieve this by using color and symbols to
convey emotion. Although growing, Latin America still faces political corruption, social inequality,
poverty, and devastating environmental issues.
Goal______________________________________________________________________________________________
You are going to work in a group to create a mural depicting both a problem facing a specific Latin
American country and depict a way that your chosen country can address that problem that problem.
The mural is not to include any words, only symbols of your research. You may use maps, flags, people,
symbols, illustrations, anything to depict your chosen country and its struggle(s). Your mural must address
each of the four points stated later in the assignment.
Task_______________________________________________________________________________
1. Tell Mr. Milbert your chosen country and issue(s)
 My country and issue(s) are:_______________________________________
2. Research Your Topic
 You will meet with your group to do your preliminary research on your topic. Each team member is
responsible for researching one aspect of your topic (for a description of the content for each topic,
check out page 2):
o Background of the problem
o Tactics used to perpetuate and to combat the problem or tactics that should be used.
o Short-term effects of the problem
o Long-term effects of the problem
 While you will have time in class to begin on this research, you are expected to continuing researching
over the next several class periods. Your research will ultimately form the basis for your elements that you
place on the mural and the description that you will compose in order to explain this mural.
 Your will be to complete the research worksheet using at least three credible, non-Wikipedia sources.
This research worksheet should be brought to class. You should record citation information, as well, for a
group works cited page to be submitted along with the mural.
3. Creating the Mural
 You will spend your class time creating a rough draft of your mural. Each student’s research
should be expressed. It should be expressive and clear in meaning. You are being assessed more
on meaning than artistic talent.
 In addition, you will create a supplies list of needed materials that you will use the following Tuesday to
create the actual mural. This includes art supplies and printed images, if necessary.
 Once you have created your design element(s), you will begin writing a rough draft of your description
explaining the elements in your mural and how they relate to the historical circumstances surrounding the
revolution. Descriptions should be between 2-3 pages long and give both an explanation of your topic
and an explanation of your elements. You will peer-edit scripts.
4. Viewing the Exhibits
 On presentation day, we will walk around the classroom (and maybe the school, we’ll see what I can
do) as if visiting an exhibit and we will view the murals.
 An MLA-formatted bibliography should be submitted along with the mural on this day.
Product Timeline____________________________________________________________________
 Day 1 Group Assignments, preliminary research on topic
 Day 2 Creating rough draft of mural and supplies list, script-writing
 Day 3: Peer-editing of description and mural creation time
 Day 4: Mural Viewing
Evaluation_________________________________________________________________________
Mural: TBA
Description: TBA
Bibliography: TBA
Total Points: TBA
Contemporary Latin American Issues (Just some ideas)
Economic Disparity in Argentina
Drug Trafficking in Mexico
Rainforest Deforestation Brazil
FARC and Columbia
Argentina : http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/world/americas/25argentina.html
Mexico :
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/mexico/drug_trafficking/index.html
Brazil : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13449792
Columbia : http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/farc.htm
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Latin American Murals
Students:
Country/issues:
Mural:
 Effective use of color and style (5 points)
 Element is clear and relates to the topic of discussion (5 points)
 Minimal use of text (3 points)
____/13
Description:
 Questions relating to topic are addressed in the Description (10 points)
 Explanation of elements is clear in the description (10 points)
____/22
Bibliography:
 Correctly formatted bibliography included with mural (2 points)
 At least three sources are used (3 points)
Comments:
____/5
____/40
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