Final Project: Increasing Student Understanding of the Effects of Color on Mood in Still-Life Photography

My Google Spreadsheet

For the final project, I decided to work with the lesson plan I used for Interactivity #4. I made some changes to the lesson plan for this project in order to accommodate the use of more technologies. Originally, the lesson I chose was for grades 3-5, however I decided to make the project more involved and raised the grade level to grades 4-6. My lesson teaches students about still life photography, value, and finding art in everyday objects, but I added a color studies component to the lesson. In the original lesson, the second half of the project involved students writing poems about their photographs. I decided to alter this part of the lesson and instead of having students write about their photographs I would have them use photo editing software to change their photographs in order to evoke three emotions. This helps students understand how color can affect emotion, even in a still life. Throughout this project, students will increase their understand of art vocabulary and will practice describing art critically using the vocabulary they have learned.

In the first column of my Google Spreadsheet, I have listed the Visual & Performing Arts standards that coordinate with the pedagogical strategies imbedded in my lesson. The first standard deals with comparing and contrasting art in various mediums. This coordinates with the class discussion about still life photography and the lecture and PowerPoint presentation about still-life photography with examples following the class discussion. The second standard used corresponds to the elements of art and design which are evident in everyday life. In relation to these standards, students will refer to an “Elements of Art” handout while participating in an inquiry about photographic subjects, shape, texture, and balance. They will then have to go home and find aesthetically pleasing objects to bring to class in order to create their own still life. The “Elements of Art” handout could be made in Google Docs and embedded on a class website so that students could access it from any computer.

The next standard addressed in this lesson is the creation of works of art based on observation of life. Students set up their still life and photograph it, paying careful attention to balance, value, shape, and texture. Along with this, I have added the NETS Standard relating to creativity and innovation (1). This states that students will “demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology” (ITES). I did not change much in this part of the lesson. Next, students will address the standard relating to differentiating between various art-making processes by using imaging editing software such as Microsoft Paint, Photoshop, Gimp, or iPhoto. I added these technologies to enhance the lesson and help students understand how changing the tint or tone of a photograph can alter the mood of said photograph. This corresponds to NETS-S 6, referring to technology operations and concepts. Through making and editing their photographs, students will gain a greater understanding of technology and how it works to support their art.

Finally, students will address NETS-S 2, communication and collaboration, by posting their finished photographs depicting three emotions to an online photo album such as Picasa or Flickr. Students will then look at their classmates photographs and choose three on which to comment critically, using appropriate art vocabulary. This is another technology I added to the original lesson plan, because I feel that it is important to establish a class portfolio and doing so with an online gallery allows for access when outside of school as well as within. Technology in the art classroom is becoming increasingly more important, but teachers often have a fear that incorporating technology into their room will somehow diminish the quality of their subject. However, the opposite seems to be true.

This generation of kids is growing up with technology and therefore schooling must grow with them and art is no exception. Incorporating technology into the art classroom makes art as a discipline more relevant to the ever-changing students who come through its doors. In order for any subject to remain important in a curriculum, it must offer something to students that they will then be able to apply to everyday life. The technologies added in this lesson enhance its effectiveness, rather than detract from it. Students will gain a new understanding of still life photography and color in both a traditional way by using a camera to produce an image and a technological way by using photo editing software and online galleries to enhance their images.

The lesson plan from which I worked can be found here.

Integrating Technology Into the Art Curriculum

Essay by Harold Olejarz, 1996
http://www.olejarz.com/teched/essays/arttech.html

Harold Olejarz teaches the Technology for the P-12 Art Classroom here at MSU. For those of you who did not already take the course, it is something to consider. This essay, though it was written some time ago, gives the reader a good look into the world of not only technology, but technology as it relates to the art classroom. For those who are not familiar with integrating technology into their art room, it can be very intimidating. But this essay gives future art teachers (and even current art teachers) a good idea of how it may be accomplished.