Creative Lesson BAL

Your Name: Rebecca Bal
 
Grade Level:11th-12th Grade Contemporary Literature

Title of Lesson: “A Choice of Weapons”

Objectives/Outcomes:
 The students will analyze what it was like for an African American in the early/middle 1900’s in terms of racial intolerance by examining photographs taken by photographers at that time and by reading a piece of literature written by an African American Photographer at that time.    Finally the students will be asked to take a picture of something they consider to be a societal problem today.                                                                        
 
Art Standard Addressed-Subject Integration:
Anchor standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning of artistic work.
Anchor standard 11: Relate artistic ideas with societal, historical, and cultural context to deepen understanding.

 
Materials /Resources Needed:    
Copy of the text “A Choice of Weapons” by Gordon Parks
Images by Gordon Parks          
Notebook to write down meaning of images before and after reading the story.  
Student chromebooks
Cameras                                              
 
Technology Used:
Projector to project images
Cameras
Google classroom/chromebooks

 
Lesson Procedures:
 
Step 1:Project several pictures by “Gordon Parks” for the students to see. Ask the students to write down in their journal what they think the meaning and purpose of the pictures is.
 
Step 2:  Read “A Choice of Weapons” by Gordon Parks. Then go through the pictures again, asking the students to once again write down what they think the purpose of each picture was. After, discuss this as a class.
 
Step 3: Ask the students to come up with a current societal problem. Ask them to upload a picture they took that they feel captures that societal problem. They should include a paragraph explaining the picture and the issue.
 
             
 
Assessment/Evaluation:   Assessment will be done 3 ways. First it will be done with the student’s journal entries, the entries should reveal that they understand the issue in the story and pictures, and that they understand that often art has a purpose or lesson for us. Second, it will be done during the in class discussion. Lastly, it will be done with the pictures and paragraphs they upload to google classroom.