Unit of Study:            Non-fiction Texts

Lesson Title:             Considering Perspective and Bias in Text

Subject Area(s):        Advanced Placement Language and Composition

Grade Level:             11th Grade

Author:                      Sarah Mahoney

County:                      Montgomery County

Length of Time:        Six days over the course of a semester

Unit will begin with a two day unit, be visited again for two days in three weeks, and be visited once more for another two days at the end of the semester.

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Abstract:

Advanced Placement Language and Composition is a class centered on non-fiction texts. This is a difficult and sudden shift for students accustomed to literature based English classes. Perspective is a concept not easily grasped by most students. Evaluating and Analyzing changes in and reasons for perspective is even more complex. Students need and benefit from extensive exposure to various perspectives. They spend the year looking at a range of texts: essays, memoirs, articles, photographs, mosaics. Even more importantly, they view these texts hoping to understand the subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and “speaker”. An understanding of perspective is essential for all these areas.

While students look at a variety of texts, there are some limitations. Some cultures, or “perspectives” are under-represented. Providing students with readings and art from Early America will give them a glimpse at a different perspective.

Background:

Students will need background on the Middle Passage and early encounters between the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors and the native peoples of the “New World”. They will also need a basic understanding of artistic vocabulary.

Materials:

Excerpts from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African

Excerpts from The Sermons of Padre Antonio Vieira, Bahia, and Sao Luis do Maranhao (Sermon on the First Sunday of Lent, 1653).

"America," ca. 1575. Engraving by Theodor Galle (1571–1633) after a drawing by Jan van der Straet (Stradanus, 1523-1604).

Excerpts from Christopher Columbus’ Journal of the first voyage

Pair of bi-conical effigy incense burners. Central Mexican Highlands. Mixtec, AD 1200–1500. Polychromed buff ceramic. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (10)

Large polychrome tripod plate. Guatemalan Lowlands. Maya, AD 600–900. Painted orange-gloss ceramic. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and
Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (27)

Theodor de Bry. Americae pars quinta nobilis & admiratione plena Hieronymi Bezoni. [Frankfurt: 1595.] Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (83.00.02)

“The Meeting of Cortes and Moctezuma” second half of the seventeenth century Mexico. Oil on canvas. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (92)

Resources:

Crossing Borders website

Library of Congress

Montgomery County Public Schools Online Curriculum Archive

Early Americas Digital Archive

Standards/Learner Outcomes:

Fine Arts Standards:

CONTENT STANDARD I: The student will demonstrate the ability to perceive, interpret, and respond to ideas, experiences, and the environment through visual art.

Indicator 1
Identify, describe, and interpret qualities of form that affect visual perception and response.
I.1.HS1.b. The student will use appropriate art vocabulary to describe, analyze and interpret qualities of visual form perceived and recorded in works of art.
Indicator 3
Compare the use of elements of art and principles of design in selected works of art and demonstrate their application by executing expressive compositions.
I.3.HS1.a. Use verbal and written expression to explain the selection of unique or special ways artists use specific elements of art and design concepts to convey feelings, ideas, or meaning.

CONTENT STANDARD II:
The student will demonstrate an understanding of visual art as a basic aspect of history and human experience.

Indicator 1    
Propose ways that visual art reflects significant historical, cultural, and social issues.
II.1.HS1.a. Create an artwork that explores a contemporary cultural or social issue.
II.1.HS1.b. Determine how works of art provide social commentary, document historical events, and reflect the values and beliefs of the society in which they are created.
Indicator 2
Determine factors that influenced the creation of art in specific historical eras and places by studying artworks and other sources of information.
II.2.HS1.a. Create an artwork that connects art history with personal values or contemporary issues.
II.2.HS1.b.Examine the information from a variety of sources and propose factors that influenced artists and inspired works.
Indicator 3
Draw relationships between the stylistic choices artists make and the context within which they work.
II.3.HS1.a. Create individual, expressive works of art based on the same subject or theme, selected by a student group.
II.3.HS1.b. Compare similarities and differences in style and technique among schools of art and periods in art history, using information from a variety of sources.
Indicator 4
Explain and support historical, theoretical, and aesthetic assumptions to explain how artistic processes and content influence, and in turn are affected by, other disciplines.
II.4.HS1.a. Working within a group, students will create individual artworks that represent a collective commitment to philosophical or cultural ideas.
II.4.HS1.b. Use a study of historical periods to identify shared underlying philosophical values and cultural ideals that influenced the artists, authors, poets, and musicians who contributed to a specific stylistic movement.

Content Standards:

The student will interpret and comprehend a variety of print, non-print, and other media
1.2.2— Determine the critical or central idea(s) of a text.
1.2.3— Determine the relationship among format, structure, and meaning of informational texts.

The student will evaluate and analyze a variety of print, non-print, and other media
2.1.1— Analyze organization, structure, and syntax that reveal an author’s purpose.
2.1.2— Analyze stylistic elements in a text or across texts that communicate an author’s purpose.
2.1.3— Analyze connections between and among themes, ideas, and/or styles of two or more texts.
2.1.4— Analyze and evaluate the purpose and effect of non-print texts, including visual, aural, and electronic media.
2.1.5— Analyze and evaluate evidence and determine the credibility of information in a text.

The student will compose in a variety of modes

3.2.1— Prepare for writing by generating and developing ideas.
3.2.2— Select and organize ideas for specific audiences and purposes.
3.2.3— Revise and edit texts for clarity, completeness, and effectiveness.
3.2.4— Use general and specialized resources to correct or confirm revisions and/or editorial choices.
3.3.3— Evaluate the appropriateness of information to accomplish a purpose.

Objectives/Skills:

Fine Arts Objective
The student will be able to use learned vocabulary to analyze the use of perspective in an artistic piece

Content Objective
The student will be able to use knowledge of perspective to alter/revise an original piece

Keywords/Vocabulary:

Perspective
Style
Pattern
Repetition
Subject
Occasion
Audience
Purpose
Speaker
Style

Motivation:

Students will choose their own personal photograph to begin their study of perspective. They will revisit and revise their original writing and understanding throughout the year.

Scope and Sequence:

DAYS 1-2

Teacher Directed
Teacher will begin unit by sharing own photograph and writing.

Guided Practice
Students will work with a teacher selected photograph and practice “capturing the moment”. Students will discuss strengths and weaknesses of these practice pieces.

Independent Practice
Students will choose their own photograph and write individual pieces.

DAYS 3-4

Teacher Directed
After asking students to focus on expectation vs. reality from Columbus’ journal, teacher will read excerpt from his journal.

Guided Practice
Students will look at “America”, again with a focus on expectation vs. reality. A discussion will be held that helps students understand the inherent bias in some texts, using this “America” piece.

Independent Practice
Students will read excerpts from Equiano and Vieira. A Socratic Seminar will be held so students can explore their experiences with the readings.

DAYS 5-6

Teacher Directed
Teacher will briefly review the semester’s focus on perspective.

Guided Practice
In groups, students will choose a piece of art from the Early Americas Library of Congress exhibit and practice changing the work’s perspective.

Independent Practice
Students will rewrite or recreate their original “capturing the moment” piece.

Assessment:

At the start of the school year, students write a piece entitled “Capturing the Moment”. The goal is to capture in words what a self-selected photograph captures in an image. After this unit, students will revisit that piece and change the original perspective. Instead of writing from their point of view, they will write from another individual’s or object’s. These rewritten pieces could explore the perspective of the photographer, the landscape, etc. Students would also be given the option to create this change in perspective with alternate texts. These texts could be a photograph, drawing, painting, etc.

Closure/Reflection:

Albert Einstein said “never stop questioning”. This is always my ultimate objective, indicator, standard from my students. I want them to consider their world as their textbook and question everything and everybody in it. Considering this, I am disappointed in myself that I have ignored a large part of the world in my teaching. I have used art in the past but I have never used it as this lesson uses it. As I have mentioned, I use SOAPS (subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and speaker) as the main strategy for reading non-fiction. My epiphany is that I can use this same strategy to teach and read any text. This lesson is an attempt to do just that.