Mini Kehine: 5th Grade

In this unit, students will learn about artist Kehinde Wiley as well as power poses/ a brief
summary of the science behind power poses. They will then create their own works inspired by
Kehinde.
Lesson one begins with a slide show and discussion surrounding historical portraiture
compared to Kehinde’s portraiture as well as the ability to become more confident/ lower cortisol
through striking a power pose and holding it for two min or more a day. The students really
caught on to this content and the underlying issues found in historic portraiture as they only
portray wealthy white men rather than a variety of individuals. They were then to go one by one
into the hall to take two pictures with me of them striking poses. Some children enjoyed this part
and really had fun with it while others were shy or embarrassed. They did like having the option
between two photos, and being able to decide which they felt looked better. At one point, a
student became too “silly” with the poses and lost their balance. She fell and had to go home,
after that incident I had to give a warning to each class that these poses needed to be safe and
sustainable for 2 minutes or more. Otherwise the lesson went really well.
Lesson two took a few adjustments. The students had just finished up a zentangle
project so I had thought they'd be able to think of patterns fairly easily. This was not the case.
To adjust I pulled up various patterns on the projector screen during the class. After, I made a
two page packet containing a wide sample of patterns. Doing this helped with the rest of the
classes. Some students even asked to use laptops to research their own patterns which I
allowed them to do.
Lesson three we cover painting and how to finish up the pattern. I’m still having to make
corrections on their technique when painting as they tend to either hold the brush incorrectly or
they make “sketchy” movements rather than dropping and dragging the brush. Otherwise they
understand the project and are able to complete it in the time allotted.