A PICTURE IS WORTH A

THOUSAND WORDS
BY: LUCIAN MINER

BIG IDEA:
TELLING STORIES ABOUT A PERSON IN
HISTORY WITH PICTURES
GRADE LEVEL 5
IN THIS LESSON, CHILDREN WILL BE COMBINING VISUAL ARTS, LITERACY & SOCIAL STUDIES. THEY WILL
LEARN ABOUT PORTRAIT WORK OF CHUCK CLOSE, AS WELL AS VIEW EXAMPLES BY ANDY WARHOL AND
THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT BY CANON, INC. THEY WILL READ HISTORICAL AND/OR BIOGRAPHICAL TEXTS
ABOUT A HISTORICAL FIGURE (19TH CENTURY TO PRESENT), AND ANALYZE THESE TEXT(S) TO WRITE A
SMALL BIOGRAPHY ON THEIR CHOSEN FIGURE. THE STUDENT WILL ANALYZE THEIR CHOSEN FIGURES
ROLE AND IMPACT IN HISTORY TO INFORM THEIR ARTISTIC DECISIONS. STUDENTS WILL USE A
PHOTOGRAPH OF THEIR HISTORICAL FIGURE AND USE A VARIETY OF MEDIA, INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHY
MANIPULATION AND/OR PHYSICAL MIXED MEDIA (E.G. COLLAGE, PAINT) TO EVOKE EMOTION AND TELL A
VISUAL STORY ABOUT THIS INDIVIDUAL. STUDENTS WILL PRESENT THEIR PHOTOGRAPH AND PARTICIPATE
IN A GROUP CRITIQUE TO EXAMINE IF THEY EFFECTIVELY CONVEYED THEIR MESSAGE VISUALLY.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
HOW DOES THE WAY A PHOTOGRAPH IS TAKEN AFFECT OUR PERCEPTION OF
THE PERSON?
HOW CAN THE COMPOSITION OF A PHOTOGRAPH IMPACT OUR EMOTIONS?
HOW DO I TELL A STORY WITH A PICTURE?

CONTENT AREAS INTEGRATED

1.

VISUAL ART (INSPIRATION ARTIST: CHUCK CLOSE)

PORTRAIT: DEFINE PORTRAIT ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY, HOW DOES COMPOSITION IMPACT THE
VIEWERS EMOTION AND PERCEPTION OF THE FIGURE, HOW TO TELL A STORY IN A PORTRAIT.
2. LITERACY
BIOGRAPHY: HOW TO RESEARCH A HISTORICAL FIGURE, HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHICAL
PARAGRAPH, HOW TO DEFINE AN INDIVIDUALS CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORY.
3. SOCIAL STUDIES
HISTORICAL TEXT: HOW TO RESEARCH, INTERPRET AND SUMMARIZE HISTORICAL TEXT(S) ABOUT A
CHOSEN FIGURE, HOW TO IDENTIFY AN INDIVIDUALS HISTORICAL IMPACT.

KEY CONCEPTS
1.

VISUAL ART:
THE STUDENTS WILL LEARN ABOUT THE WORK OF CHUCK CLOSE.
THE STUDENTS WILL EXAMINE PHOTOGRAPHS FOR KEY FEATURES AND COMPOSITION.

2. LITERACY:
STUDENTS WILL READ ABOUT A FIGURE FROM THE 19TH CENTURY TO PRESENT.
STUDENTS WILL USE THEIR KNOWLEDGE TO WRITE A SMALL BIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORICAL
FIGURE THEY CHOSE.
3. SOCIAL STUDIES:
STUDENTS WILL RESEARCH A HISTORICAL FIGURE AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR IMPACT ON
HISTORY.

LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. VISUAL ART: THE STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO . . .
USE MULTIPLE MEDIA TO TELL A STORY ABOUT A PERSON UTILIZING A
PHOTOGRAPH
2. LITERACY: THE STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO . . .

READ ABOUT A HISTORICAL FIGURE FROM THE 19TH CENTURY TO PRESENT

WRITE A SMALL BIOGRAPHY ABOUT THEIR FIGURE

3. SOCIAL STUDIES
RESEARCH AND EVALUATE THE HISTORICAL IMPACT OF THEIR CHOSEN
HISTORICAL FIGURE

OPENING
OPENING (GAINING ATTENTION, WHAT WILL YOU SHOW, OR DEMONSTRATE)*:
ASKING STUDENTS WHAT DOES THE PHRASE, A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS?
MEAN? AND DISCUSS. DISCUSS HOW THE PORTRAYAL OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN A PHOTOGRAPH
AFFECT YOUR VIEW OF THAT INDIVIDUAL? VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE CANON EXPERIMENT AND
COMPARE & CONTRAST THE DIFFERENT EMOTIONS EVOKED IN EACH PHOTOGRAPH.

CLOSER AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

CLOSURE (REFLECTING ANTICIPATORY SET, HOW WILL STUDENT SHARE WHAT THEY LEARNED):
STUDENTS WILL DISPLAY THEIR ARTWORKS AND PARAGRAPHS SIDE-BY-SIDE IN AN ART WALK.
STUDENTS WILL VIEW THEIR PEERS WORK. THE TEACHER WILL ASSIGN PAIRS OR SMALL GROUPS
(DEPENDENT ON CLASS SIZE/ATTITUDES) TO CRITIQUE EACH OTHERS WORK. THE STUDENTS WILL
VIEW EACH OTHERS PIECES, AND SHARE THEIR IMPRESSIONS/EMOTIONS REGARDING THE ARTWORK
BEFORE THE ARTIST SHARES THEIR INTENT (E.G., VIEWER: THIS PIECE MAKES ME THINK THAT THIS
PERSON IS HAPPY BECAUSE IT IS VERY BRIGHT AND THERE IS A SUN IN THE SKY AND THEY ARE
SMILING.).
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT STRATEGY*:

WRITTEN PARAGRAPH

MANIPULATED PHOTO

PEER CRITIQUE

PROCESS
I chose my person
and photograph to
work with.

I decide to use another image

and using the program Krita, I
insert it and change it opacity.
After this I print it out to do
some more traditional forms of
manipulation.

Now using a brush,

and straw I will put
ink on the picture.

I print off a list of

words in different
colors and fonts to
collage of them across
the picture. I take
time and choose how I
want them on it
before putting them
on with glue.

I put a black bar across his

eyes with the brush. Then
using the straw I blow the ink
down over his face in small
controlled burst.

Using watercolors I choose

what to write and to color
on the picture. I have now
finished and have the
piece that I want. I have
the story I want to tell.

FINAL WORD
WHEN MAKING THIS PIECE I WANTED TO SHOW HOW I FEEL COBAIN SHOULD
BE REPRESENTED AND TELL HIS STORY. I SEE A MAN WHO BLINDLY GIVES HIS
HEART TO OTHERS THROUGH HIS WORDS AND HIS ART. BUT HE IS WEIGHED
DOWN BY HIS DEPRESSION AND EVEN WITH EVERY THING SEEMING TO BE
GOING RIGHT FOR HIM, HE IS SAD. HE IS EMOTIONAL AND IN PAIN.
THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO GET ACROSS.