In this lesson, we continued to expand on the brainstorming and storytelling techniques from the previous lessons. Students created a storyboard, and were evaluated on the inclusion of a character, setting, and working in sequential order. Storytelling is an essential way to communicate and share personal experiences and creativity. Students were provided a prompt to use as a starting point as we pushed them to think about how to use their imagination and expand upon the prompt with their own unique style and personality.
Essential Understandings
Artists/designers use art to tell stories, memories, and experiences.
Artists/designers use critical thinking and organizational techniques to create artwork.
Artists/designers express and explore their own creative identity through art.
Artists/designers formulate new ideas through the process that enhance their artwork.
Outcomes Students will be able to: 1. After a short Introduction on storyboards, students will be able to connect with each other at table groups and share ideas that involve a story by demonstrating their ability to discuss together, follow classroom etiquette, and utilize brainstorming techniques. 2.. After brainstorming about a couple possible stories, students will be able to create a drawing for each part of the story in a sequential order, shown by a successful structure utilizing character and setting to configure a storyboard that represents their own interpretation of the prompt or own idea. 3. Sharing their artwork, students will be able to reflect on their piece with each other; by presenting their piece to their table group, discussing their illustrations and creative decisions.
Skills
Critical thinking and organizational techniques
Storyboard techniques
Creative problem solving
Expansion of ideas from a prompt
Establishing a sense of comfort with the studio, materials, staff, and peers
Drawing Techniques
Critique Etiquette
To start the creative process, the teachers introduced the concept of storyboards and demonstrated with real world examples. This provided an immediate hook, and a sense of relevance which connected them to other stories they like or have seen recently. Through expansion on the first lesson, and techniques they have learned, the students expanded on the prompt and created new ideas of their own. These ideas followed a format that addressed sequential order, and the inclusion of a character and setting.
The Prompt:
You put your Halloween candy in a secret hiding place… but when you come back later to eat some, it is gone! What happened to your candy?!?
After teachers shared the project guidelines and the prompt, students brainstormed with different characters and inspirations. They reflected on the lesson about book covers, the new examples of storyboards, and applied their previous learning to the current project’s prompt. Through this process the students created illustrations and a story that embodied their unique personalities while abiding by the lesson's evaluated standards.
Reflections: Art Journal reflections can be found by clicking on the link below: https://khinchsliffart.weebly.com/ (Link to an external site) What went well: At the beginning, we designed the lesson as a free for all, but it was a little too unguided. Then we got feedback, and added a prompt. It was very successful and set students up well to understand what a beginning, middle, and end. The student knew EXACTLY what their story was going to be and how they were going to tell it visually and verbally. We learned this while listening to their stories and during reflection time with the class.
What didn't go well: Personally, I think that it was difficult to introduce in a way for students to apply and connect to their personal lives. The prompt was very successful, but was about Halloween. Some students went beyond the box, what we shared, but some stayed within. A different prompt could have tied back to more application to self and world.
What I would do differently: To go along with the idea of storyboards, I would incorporate another media, something to interest students beyond pencil, marker, and sketchbook. Some students were very motivated by the idea of storyboards, but some students may have been more successful by interacting with another media, like cut out pieces of magazines or pastel.