Fifth Grade Lesson Plan #2

Kayla Wilson
wilso3km@dukes.jmu.edu
11/18/2014
Lesson Theme: Whats Your Opinion? A Lesson In Critique
Grade Level: Fifth Grade
Time: One 40 minute lesson
Lesson Overview: Near the end of the school year students will get back the work that the
teacher has collected for the entire year and have a small group end of the year critique
discussion. Students will learn how to properly critique work without putting others down. They
will then grade each other on their work. Students will learn how to critique art by starting
with Pablo Picassos work.
Visual Culture Component/relevance: Students will have to be able to verbalize and write
down their opinions for the rest of their lives. Students who realize their opinion matters are
more likely to express themselves in the future. Being about to talk about art in a educated
manner is a useful skill that could be useful to the students at least all the way through high
school if not beyond. This sort of lesson will be valuable for other classes such as English as
well.
Virginia Standards of Learning:
Fine Arts:
5.20 The student will use specific criteria to evaluate a finished product.
5.22 The student will select a preferred work of art and defend the selection.
English:
5.1 The student will listen, draw conclusions, and share responses in subject-related group
learning activities.
a) Participate in and contribute to discussions across content areas.
d) Communicate new ideas to others.
e) Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams.
f) Demonstrate the ability to work independently.
Lesson Objectives: Students will:
Use specific criteria to grade other students work
Pick a favorite work of art that isnt theirs and defend their answer.
Listen to others and participate in a scholarly art discussion.
Vocabulary Words for Visual Analysis:
Critique A detailed assessment.
Opinion Something that isnt fact, but how you feel.
Intent What someone meant to communicate.

Elements of Design Shape, Form, Value, Line, Color, Space, Texture.

Principles of Design Movement, Unity, Balance, Proportion, Pattern, Variety, Contrast
Historical/Cultural/Artist Information:
Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Spain. As a young child he was very, very
good at drawing. At the age of 16, he has already been through two famous fine arts schools,
which he despised for their strict formal rules.
Image Descriptions: These images by Picasso were chosen to help the students learn how to
critique a piece of art. Students will be asked the same questions about each piece in order to
delve into the work and discover its meaning.
The Blind Man's Meal
Date: 1903
Media: Oil on canvas
This piece is from Picassos Blue Period, named because of the
striking blues that are seen in his pieces during this time.

Head of a Woman
Date: 1960
Oil on canvas
This piece shows both the front and profile views of the woman at
the same time. Its like she was drawn at different points of her
turning.

Questioning Strategies:
Before Critique:
Who knows what a critique is? Can you explain?
Who is Pablo Picasso? Can anyone tell me something about him?
To be asked during the teacher led example critique and for the students to ask during the small
group student led critiques:
What do you see? What elements and principles of design are present in the works?
What do you like about it? What do you not like about it? Why?

What do you think it means? Why?

What was the artists intent? Why do you think that?
What does this piece remind you of?
How does the color choice make you feel?
Do you think that is important to the piece? Why or why not?
Lesson Procedure:
The teacher will welcome the students into the classroom and ask them to sit quietly at
their seats.
The teacher will then introduce the lesson and tell the students that they will be learning
how to critique and then participating in small group critiques and grading one another
for the lesson. The teacher will then ask the before critique questions to start the
learning process.
After that the teacher will bring up the images of Pablo Picassos work. The teacher will
then lead a class discussion/critique about the pieces chosen. The teacher should be sure
to ask all of the during critique questions and make it clear that these are the kinds of
things to be thinking about during the small group critiques. This should take no more
than 10 minutes.
Then the teacher will have some of the students help pass out the project that the teacher
has chosen for the students to critique. While the students hand out the projects, the
teacher should hand out white paper and a pencil for each student so they can write down
their ideas if they think of something while someone else is talking. After the students
finish passing out the projects the teacher will ask the students to write their names on the
back of their paper.
Students will then be asked to get into pre-determined groups of 4 or 5 people and be
asked to begin their small group critique. Students will be reminded what questions to ask
throughout the critiques and the teacher will spend a few minutes with each group and
rotate around. Students will critique for 25 minutes.
About halfway through the critique time the teacher will hand out the grading criteria that
the teacher used for grading the projects. Students will be reminded to grade each others
work by the end of the lesson.
The last 5 minutes of class will be used as a review of critiquing and what the students
learned from the lesson. Students will be asked to sit quietly and wait to line up to leave.
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on a check system. If they fulfill the criteria they will get
a check. Students will be graded on:
Being able to fairly grade other students work.
Picking a favorite work of art that isnt theirs and defend their answer.
Listening to others without interrupting
Participating in a scholarly art discussion.
Materials and Preparation: First the teacher will need to decide which project to hand back for
the students to critique. This will be up to the teachers discretion. The teacher will also need to
prepare one piece of paper and one pencil for each student so they can write down their thoughts
if someone else is talking.

Resources:
Pablo Diego Jos Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mara de los Remedios Cipriano de la
Santsima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruz y Picasso. (2014). Biography.com.
Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/pablo-picasso-9440021
Picasso, P. (1903). The Blind Mans Meal [Image of oil painting]. Retrieved from
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/50.188
Picasso, P. (1960). Head of a Woman [Image of oil painting]. Retrieved from
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1990.192
Special Populations: Students with a physical handicap could do this lesson just as easily as
students without a physical handicap. If the student feels uncomfortable talking then they can
write down all their ideas on the paper that will be handed out instead.
Extra Materials: The teacher will need to print out copies of the evaluation rubric used to grade
the project chosen to critique.