Beauford Delaney
week 1 lesson plan by Lily Rice

Big Ideas:  

Building personal connections, respect for peers and others, demonstrating abstraction, introducing identity and narrative. 

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Overview and Essential Questions:

In this lesson, students will pair up and use oil pastels to draw their partner. Their portraits should not focus on realism, but reflect Beauford Delaney’s principals and ideas of abstraction and light. By focusing on their one subject, students will build a connection about with their partners and learn to appreciate and respect the through making art about them. Prerequisite knowledge includes exposure to Beauford Delaney portraits and his artistic process, as well as proper use of materials (pastels).  The lesson will also include discussion and introduction of the bigger themes of the curriculum, such as identity and intentionality in artistic choices. 

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Relevance/Rationale: This lesson will highlight an influential Black and Queer artist and expose the students to art about personal one on one connection that is unique to Beauford Delaney. Hopefully, by spending time to build a connection with their partner before and during their portrait time, students will have a better understanding and respect for their peers, which can bleed into their real lives. 

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Outcomes/Objectives: 

After this lesson, students will be able to effectively use oil pastels on drawing paper, as well as be able to add elements of intentional abstraction to their artworks. Students will submit a “Get to Know You” handout as well as their Partner Portrait for assessment. Students will be assessed for the completion of these two assignments as well as their respect for materials and respect for their partner. 

Content Standard(s):

(1c: Setting Instructional Outcomes)

Speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art. (VA:Re.7.1.3a}

 

Develop a work of art based on observations of surroundings. (VA:Cn10.1.3a)

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Artists:

Beauford Delaney

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Works: Self-portrait (1964), Portrait of Delila Delaney (1963), No. 6 Portrait, JFK, (1963)

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Class Information:

I know that the demographic of this school is primarily Black, so I will try to help highlight Beauford’s experiences as a Black and Queer man to hopefully strengthen the student’s connection to the artist and his work. 

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Technologies and Other Materials /Resources:

Materials: Oil Pastels, Large Drawing Paper, wet wipes, tables or flat surface if none provided, projector or smart board to play Artist Video, “Get to Know You” Handout. 

 

Academic Vocabulary:

• ABSTRACT: explain to students the difference between abstraction and realism to show understanding of the expression and emotion in Beauford’s work. 

• IDENTITY: discuss how the students see themselves, and how their experiences connect to that. 

• SUBJECT: the student’s peer who they are drawing. 

Lesson Procedures: 

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1. Students walk in at 2:20pm. First someone will read out the name of the first student on the attendance list, and that student will line up on the line first and we will give them their name tag. We will continue this with the second, third, and so on until every student is on the line with a name tag. We will tell students to look and remember who is in front of them and who is behind them. 2:30 done. 

2. Marching outside to recess! Bring chalk on first day, 15 min recess, last 3 minutes is back in their line order. Recess will be free drawing with chalk or an organized game (red light green light) 

3. When students come in from recess, they will sit at the front of the classroom by the projection for a presentation.  

4. Communal agreements presentation: students suggest a class values, class agreements: when someone is speaking make sure you aren’t talking over them, be an active listener to show respect to their opinion, just like how you wanna be heard, keep your hands to yourself, you wouldn’t want someone touching you, ask questions because someone else may have the same question and we all can learn something, no question is a bad question. Raise your hand to ask a question. 

5. This will be the first day of our curriculum, so we will first spend some time introducing all of the instructors and explaining why we are here, seated in a circle in front of projection. 

6. We will go around the circle and tell the group our name, age. In this circle, we will start to explain and discuss the concepts of identity and narrative fairly casually. Some questions I plan on asking the group include “Why is it important to think about ourselves and our stories? What do you really like about yourself? What do you like to do? How do your experiences affect what you like to draw? 

7. After welcoming students to class and making sure everyone is comfortable, the instructors will begin by giving a brief PowerPoint introduction about Beauford Delaney. This initial introduction will include the artist video made for ARTE 203. After the video, we will take more time to connect Beauford’s narrative with their own: “Do you guys have anything in common with the artist’s narrative? What are some connections between his life and the art that he made? Why did he like painting portraits? Why were some of his portraits not realistic?”  “what was something that you liked about this artist?” 

8. After viewing Beauford’s work and learning more about his life, students will now have a better understanding about Beauford’s life and work. After the viewing, we will split into our assigned  groups and have small group conversations. During these discussions, instructors and students will be encouraged to draw on the tables to help communicate their thoughts. This also can be an alternative activity if students need so. Instructors will ask essential questions about the video as well as revisit the terms “Abstract” and “Subject” Essential questions asked to the students will consist of (but are not limited to)

1. What was Beauford Delaney’s art usually of? Why?

2. Do you like his more abstract or his more realistic art better? Why? 

3. What are differences between realistic and abstract art? 

4. Why might it be good to spend time to draw your friends?

5. What was he thinking when making these portraits? 

END OF DAY 1

1. Attendance, recess, bathroom, and snack routine

2. After a short class recap of the things we discussed last lesson (what did we do last time? What did we learn about? What did you like about last lesson?), they will now be given instructions for their assignment. Instructors will provide an overview of the rest of the lesson,(“today we are going to be drawing our friends, everyone is going to get a partner and we are gonna take time to learn about our partner before we draw them) and explain the activity at hand. Instructors will also give a demonstration on how to safely and effectively use oil pastels, (explain how they are messy, but they have a really rich color, explain how pressure can change color, encourage them to explore how they can use colors or materials in new ways) as well as clean up procedures (which will be repeated at the end of class, return all pastels to their original container, all facing the right way). Two instructors are going to demonstrate the portrait making process (we have filled out our planning worksheet ahead of time) and demonstrate how to use the pastels, how we begin making the portrait, how we choose colors, and how we incorporate what we put on our planning sheet in to our portrait. 

3. Students will next be divided into predetermined  pairs. First, students will take turns talking about the questions on the “Get to know you” worksheet (question examples: “if my partner were a color, they would be____ because” “My partner loves ______ because_____” “My partner is feeling _____ today because.” “My partner hates it when ____ because” the worksheet will be structured with fill in the blank questions like these but also free open space for them to experiment with the material as well as play and try out things for their portrait (planning sketch essentially) Students can answer these questions with words or colors, this will help them begin to see how color can be associated with meaning. 

4. Next, a timer will be set for the students to begin drawing. Both partners will draw at the same time. They are to use oil pastels to draw a portrait of their partner keeping in mind the principles of abstraction that were discussed in the instructional period. 

5. After every portrait is done, students will put all oil pastels away and submit their drawings along with their worksheets, both of which will come with a reminder to add their name. Each student will wash their hands and clean up their workspace with a wet wipe if needed, and students will throw away their own wet wipes as well as put away their own oil pastels and stack them on the materials table. 

6. Finally, the class will come back together in a circle at the front for another short discussion/q and a about the lesson. This is a space for students to share what they liked or disliked about the lesson and for us to solidify our key ideas about personal connection. 

Differentiation:

For students with special needs or who have disabilities, instructors will be aware of the challenges that the student may face prior to the lesson. Proper accommodations will be planned before the lesson depending on the specific student. (examples: if a student is bothered by the specific material an alternate material will be available, if a student does not feel comfortable interacting alone with a peer an instructor can mediate the conversation, if a student is uncomfortable in the work space, headphones or sunglasses or earplugs can be provided, and many more solutions that depend greatly on the student’s achievements and challenges). 

 

For high achieving and older students, an extra challenge can be emphasis on the abstraction and what it represents. Questioning students about interpretation of abstract art can help build their creative thinking skills as well as forming an opinion about aesthetic and style.

 

For younger students, we can provide more specific guiding questions on the partner planning worksheet and work individually with them to get a better gauge on how we can help them. We also can trace an outline of a bust for their partner portraits. 

 

For English Language Learners, the instructional materials and videos can be translated or use subtitles so that it is more accessible to students who are not as comfortable only using the English Language. We also will encourage students to communicate through colors and drawing so that we all have a deeper means of communication. 

 

Encouraging students to seek help online can be done by giving all students access to the artist video so they can replay to solidify their knowledge and understanding of the artist and instructions. All online and in person students will have access to an instructor that can individually answer questions.  

Assessment Criteria for Success:​

1. I will assess the students learning by supervising their use of materials and taking note of any disrespect towards their materials or their peers.

2. Students will successfully meet the expected outcomes for this lesson if they submit a completed “get to know you” work sheet and a completed portrait of their partner that demonstrates the ideas of abstraction as discussed in the lesson. 

3. The criteria for mastery of these outcomes is completion of both assignments that connect to each other. I will see mastery in the outcome if I can draw connections between the artist video, the worksheet, and the final art work

Anticipated Difficulties:

One difficulty I suspect is the students understanding the importance of the worksheet before the portraiture. I want to emphasize personal connection and respect and appreciation for peers, and the purpose of the work sheet is to establish that connection going into the drawing session. I anticipate some students may not take this part seriously, and see an opportunity to talk and play with their friend (which is personal connection, just not connected to the art or the artist) and not complete the assignment.  To help divert attention back to the assignment at hand, I will encourage friends to use what they already know about each other and what they want to talk about and put it into their work. 

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