School Partnership- Los Feliz Charter School of the Arts- 10 Hours
This week Venice Arts was still on Spring Break. However, I have been taking a course on teaching art at Otis College of Art and Design. Through this course, I had the opportunity to lead a lesson at Los Feliz Charter School of the Arts in Pasadena, CA. LFCSA is an amazing and unique school. It is an elementary school from K-6th grade. The school itself is a warehouse filled with shipping containers that have been constructed into classrooms. There is plenty of art displayed throughout the entire school. Classrooms are colorful and inviting. The classrooms are also made to be comfortable with couches and beanbags. The school philosophies are inquiry-based learning and arts-integration. Music, dance, and theater are also a part of the curriculum.
I was working with Ms. Ureno's 5th-grade social studies class. The class was learning about the American Revolution. Ms. Ureno asked me to create a lesson that focused on the causes of the revolution. The major cause of the revolution was taxes. Therefore, I decided on a lesson on creating protest signs. This lesson utilized the elements of art, particularly line, shape, and color. The lesson also focused on the essential lesson of the causes of the American revolution.
My lesson plan was reviewed by both my instructor, Dr. Susan Josepher, and Ms. Ureno. I recorded the lesson on a tripod and with the help of Ms. Ureno. I think the lesson went really well! The students were very excited to have a visiting artist. One thing Dr. Josepher emphasized was having a strong motivation: something to get the students excited about the lesson. To do this, I spoke as if it was the 1700s and we were living in the early times of the revolution. I mentioned three major taxes, stamps, sugar, and tea. While explaining the sugar tax, I told students that it was too expensive to eat sugar. You couldn't even afford a chocolate bar! The word, "chocolate" is what motivated the students. After this, I introduced the lesson: that we would be making protest signs. I then showed the class a sign that I made, and asked the class how we could improve it. This is where we discussed the elements of art. Afterward, we had work time. Then, we regrouped to show the work that the students did, and to review the implications this had in the American Revolution. It went really smoothed. A couple kids ran up and hugged me on my way out, so I knew that they enjoyed it.