Brainstorming the characteristics of a mural Art/PE/Music class Color print one of Diego Rivera's murals and transfer it onto a transparency. Project the transparency onto a wall so as to make it life size. Ask students to look at the mural and give you their impressions. Record them on the board. Discuss with students the characteristics and purposes of a mural, and make a list that students can copy on paper. Interpreting Diego Rivera's murals Language Arts, Arts/PE/Music pair Print out several murals from Diego Rivera, preferably in color. Blow them up if possible. Pair students and give each pair a color printout. If possible, try to give students different murals so as to make the discovery more meaningful. Ask each pair to examine their mural and list all the things they can see on it. Ask students to answer the following questions: a. For them, what is the meaning of the mural? b. In their opinion, why did the artist choose the topic? c. What do they think the choice of topic and the way it is depicted say about the artist, about his ideas, about his time? Ask students to share their insights with the rest of the class. Students are to listen carefully to their classmates' understandings so as to be able to detect patterns, or recurring themes in the artist's work. Discuss the signification of Diego Rivera's work with students in terms of: a. being a witness to an era b. social and historical legacy c. artistic movement. Assign the writing of a short paper recounting the experience of discovering a Diego Rivera mural. What were their feelings when they looked at their mural? Sequencing Diego Rivera's life Social Studies, Language Arts pair Print out Diego Rivera's life and cut each sentence into a strip, leaving out the dates on the left had side. Place strips in an envelope. Make one envelope for every two students. Pair students and give each pair an envelope. Ask students to order the strips so as to reconstruct Diego Rivera's life in a linear fashion. Making a timeline of Diego Rivera's life Language Arts, Social Studies class , individual Introduce or review with students the concept of timeline. Explain that in western civilizations, time is seen as linear, with a beginning and an end, and that much of the West's philosophy is based on this linear view of life and events. Point out that the western representation of linear time always goes from left to right and is marked with dates and events. Brainstorm with students different ways to look at the concept of time, such as circular, spiral, exponential time, etc. Give students a set of dates and events and a piece of poster paper. Have them draw a timeline and place dates and events according to a logical sequence in Diego Rivera's life. Assign as homework for them to look into Diego Rivera's life and organize his life according to a circular or spiral concept of time. Making a visual timeline of Diego Rivera's life Art/PE/Music individual Give each student a copy of Diego Rivera's life as well as poster paper, crayons and paint. From Diego Rivera's life story, ask students to pick a significant moment in the artist's life and illustrate it on their poster paper. You may allow one or several class periods for this project, or assign the completion of the project as homework. Collect all artwork and ask students to help you sequence them into a linear timeline. Take virtual pictures of individual artwork and whole timeline to place into students' virtual folders, and exhibit the visual timeline at the end of the Diego Rivera unit. Making a Diego Rivera t-shirt Art/PE/Music individual Ask students to choose a scene from a Diego Rivera mural, or a picture of the artist himself. Ask students to trace their subject and transfer it onto a white t-shirt. Provide fabric paints and let students interpret their subject onto their t-shirts. On the day of the Diego Rivera exhibit, ask each student to wear their t-shirt. Take class/individual pictures to place into students' individual folders as well as on the class website. Painting a mural Diego Rivera-style Art/PE/Music, Social Studies small group Have students form groups of 2 to 4. Ask each group to brainstorm themes in the United States ' society and to select one that is of interest to them. Provide enough butcher paper (or poster board) to make a mural as well as painting/art supplies. The painting needs to follow the characteristics of a mural (see Brainstorming the characteristics of a mural ). Every student in a group must participate in the conceptualization and in the drawing/painting of the mural. Include murals in the final exhibit for the Diego Rivera unit, and take a picture of each mural to place into students' individual folders as well as on the class website. Writing about the process of making a mural (follow-up to Painting a mural Diego Rivera-style ) Language Arts individual Take pictures of the students, of their interactions as well as of the artwork at all stages of conceptualization, creation, and completion of the mural. The pictures can be digital or paper. Give each student in a group a set of pictures of the conceptualization and realization of their mural. Ask individuals to place these pictures into a photo album. If pictures are digital, set up space on the server for each student to create a digital photo album. Students are to write an extensive narrative to accompany their pictures. They are to express the artistic process of conceptualizing and creating the mural, working as a team, solving difficulties, conflicts, etc. Their narratives are to be personal, detailed and focusing on their feelings and perceptions. Collect the narratives, evaluate them, and return them to students to edit and place them in their unit folders. Give students the opportunity to publish their work on their personal websites, or on the class website. Since the narratives will express personal feelings and perceptions, students should be able to decide whether they want their work to become public or not. Creating a U.S. history mural Social Studies, Art/PE/Music class Suggest events or concepts in US history that would lend themselves well to a mural depiction, and let students choose which one they will be responsible for. Help each student conceptualize how they can represent their event or concept. Once this initial, topical conceptualization is done, conceptualize as a class how you want the mural to be organized. In other words, decide as a group where each event/concept will be drawn and how the mural will look as a whole. Not all events/concepts should be of the same size or have the same prominence in the mural. Lightly outline on the mural paper the shape of each event/concept in the agreed location and in the agreed size. Over a period of a few days/weeks, have students work on their event/concept. Include the mural in the final exhibit for the Diego Rivera unit, and take a picture of it to place into students' individual folders as well as on the class website. Researching social themes in Hispanic countries Social Studies, Language Arts individual, class Give students access to newspapers that cover international news and themes. These can be either Internet-delivered or physical papers. Have students look into these newspapers and identify themes of a social nature in Hispanic countries. What are the themes that are covered and how are they treated? Are there themes that students would anticipate finding that are not covered? If you have Hispanic students in your classroom, ask them to assess the prominence of these themes in their respective countries. Discuss these themes and compare them with similar themes in the United States . Are there social themes in the US that are particular to the US and not present anywhere else? Ask students to write a summary of their findings and of the class discussion. Painting personal hardships Arts/PE/Music individual Explain to students that Diego Rivera painted, among other themes, hardships of everyday life. Brainstorm with students what everyday life hardships can be for them. They could, for instance, be house chores, younger or older siblings, homework, etc. Ask students to determine what hardships they have in their lives and which ones they would like to depict in a painting. Help students conceptualize how they can represent their hardships. Assign the drawing/painting as homework or set class time for the completion of the artwork. Collect artworks and include them in the final exhibit for the Diego Rivera unit. Take a picture of each painting and place into students' individual folders as well as on the class website. Drawing a mural in commemoration of September 11, 2001 Art/PE/Music individual Provide students with a large sheet of butcher paper and crayons. Discuss as a class the events of September 11, 2001 and, as you brainstorm the events, ask individual students to make a list of the most significant events/emotions to be included in their personal commemoration of the day. These events/emotions can and should be personal (if old enough where they were on that day, what they felt or what they feel today) as well as more public images/concepts. Ask students to sketch and color their mural, including all the topics/events they have on their list. Take pictures of the artwork and include it in students' folders. Include the original artworks in the exhibit on the Diego Rivera unit.