Thursday, April 19, 2012

Multiculturalism Microteaching

A few weeks back, our class had our second micro-teaching seminar. We all broke up into groups and presented a smart board activity and an original lesson plan based on multiculturalism as a whole. My lesson plan had to do with creating a folk art quilt, as a collaborative project. Each student would look up their heritage and ancestry, pick two or more that they wished to further investigate, and create a paper quilt block with colored pencil. The students would base their designs from the folk art traditions of their cultures. Folk Art is a great way to introduce principles and elements of design as well as discussions about aesthetics and Art vs. Craft. Folk art is the art that is indigenous to a group of people in a specific location. For example, I worked with Folk Art patterns made from my Polish and German backgrounds. Folk Art is found on personal adornment, home decor, furniture design and other decorative and functional pieces in everyday life. Folk Art isn't traditionally regarded as "high art" so it is a fun way to get the students thinking about what art is to them! By creating a quilt with the squares from all of the students, it sends a positive message that we are all in the world together, no matter our backgrounds. There were some awesome projects in my class as well, and I invite you to watch this amazing video one of my classmates made! It's spectacular!

Untitled from Jonathan Wheeler on Vimeo.

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