Teresa Strohl, Art and Writing, Barringer Academic Center
Synopsis:
This curriculum unit introduces a new genre to my fifth grade students, memoirs. This unit will look closely at the writing process. Students will observe how writing and art are similar in the revision process. Mapping memoirs through writing and art will establish a strong foundation for students to understand the creative process.
My students will examine artist Romare Bearden who grew up in Charlotte and moved to Harlem. By creating a Google Map of local landmarks to make a map quilt, my students will track their own memories. Students will continue to use the studio habits of mind strategies and project-based learning to create well balanced art.
I will introduce four examples of memoirs, When I was Nine by James Stevenson, Memory String by Eve Bunting, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and The Block by Langston Hughes. These books will be read aloud. After each lesson there will be an assessment in the form of a Kahoot, a virtual reading comprehension game. The culminating event that will wrap up this unit will be an Art Buddies project. Through this project high school students will collaborate with my fifth graders on a joint collaborative project to display at a local museum.
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