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Whether it's Washington crossing the Delaware River or Christopher Columbus landing on a beach in the West Indies, historical narratives are told through the designs and colors on a canvas. In these quarterly STEAM-based lessons, students will experience the integration of the arts in project-based historical research. All students will explore a singular painting (one work), and respond in a variety of creative ways based on self-selected research (many voices).

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One Work, Many Voices: Using Art as a Springboard for Historical Research

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School:
Gulfview Middle 
Subject:
History 
Teacher:
Laura Burke 
Students Impacted:
100 
Grade:
8 
Date:
August 7, 2016

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

 

Harlan & Heather Dam - $165.79

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Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 80

“The Landing of Columbus.” “Washington Crossing the Delaware.”  “American Progress.”  “Home Sweet Home.”  These American masterpieces, celebrations of national unity and patriotic spirit, are much more than the power poses of the heroic and victorious.  While they commemorate the strength of the conqueror and the champion, they also reflect the still, small voices of those whose seminal contributions might otherwise be overlooked.   Through careful analysis, research, and creativity, Gulfview Middle School’s “One Work, Many Voices” Cambridge U.S. History project gave a voice to those disregarded populations and created art to honor their legacies.

 

Thanks to Champions for Learning, our work this year focused on lesser known contributors.   Instead of writing a monologue in George Washington’s voice for Emmanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” Kendra researched the contributions of women to the Revolutionary War and created a mixed media work entitled “Flags of our Founding Mothers.”   Chris wanted to honor the Marblehead Regiment who manned the boats in the New Jersey and New Jersey campaign, so he created a digitally altered movie poster to pay tribute to the perfect regiment – the story of the men who made it possible for Washington to succeed.

 

This work was transformative in our classroom.  During our “Studio Days’” sessions, our history classroom became a hive of research and artistic endeavor as we lifted up the supporting cast of characters that is the United States of America.  After analyzing the basics of the painting, we used our knowledge of history to ask, “Whose voice is the quietest?” and – most importantly – “Whose voice is missing altogether?”  Our answers to these questions set the direction for our research topics.

 

We analyzed the painting.  We documented the research.  Then it was up to us to create art that honored the many voices that are unseen in a masterwork.  We used the term “artwork” loosely  - hoping only that the artwork told a story and included a metaphor or symbol. The finished products included plays, found poems, science experiments, infographics, documentaries, digitally altered movie posters, collages, soundscapes, and many, many other works.

 

The culmination of our endeavor will be presented to parents at Gulfview’s eighth grade Awards Night in May.  Our work this year was also featured in the Collier County School District’s Advanced Studies newsletter and at the National Council for History Education annual conference in Atlanta in March.

 

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Carly creates Taino artwork

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Sending research letters to the U.S. Postal Servic

 

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Kishnel experimenting with materials

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Original Grant Overview

Goal

Whether it's Washington crossing the Delaware River or Christopher Columbus landing on a beach in the West Indies, historical narratives are told through the designs and colors on a canvas. In these quarterly STEAM-based lessons, students will experience the integration of the arts in project-based historical research. All students will explore a singular painting (one work), and respond in a variety of creative ways based on self-selected research (many voices).  

 

What will be done with my students

This is a STEAM unit that infuses the student-centered, inquiry-based learning strategies of Collier County's new Cambridge Secondary middle school program. There are four paintings planned for this year, one for each quarter:
1. Landing of Columbus (John Vanderlyn, 1836). Exploration Period.
2. The Peaceable Kingdom (Edward Hicks, 1833). Colonial Period.
3. Washington Crossing the Delaware (Emanuel Leutze, 1851)
4. Home Sweet Home (Winslow Homer, 1863)
For each painting, students will first analyze the painting itself, noting the setting, the action in the foreground and background, color, light and shadow, and other descriptive elements. Students will then use the painting's narrative to research the basic facts of the event itself, paying particular attention to the truths behind the public face of an event. The results of this research can be rendered in a myriad of ways, and are entirely dependent on the learner's interest. Students may choose to reflect on the painting in a haiku, tableaux, watercolor, song, video, research paper, letter, sculpture, or other possibilities. We are hopeful that we will be able to display these in a gallery format at Gulfview or to a broader audience. 

 

Benefits to my students

Commensurate with the District's goals for the Cambridge Secondary program, "Students will be required to transfer their learning to new content-rich problems that
may include multiple standards within one performance task. Students will be given the opportunity – through various
resources, performance tasks and activities – to become confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged learners." 

 

Budget Narrative

1. "Landing of Columbus" poster: 30" x 20" unframed
2. "Washington Crossing the Delaware" poster: 36" 24" unframed
3. "The Peaceable Kingdom" poster: 36" x 24" unframed
4. "Home Sweet Home" poster: 18" x 24" archival poster, unframed
5. Mixed media pad: 4 packs of 30 sheets of vellum-finished sheets for final art production
6. Watercolor pencils: Art supplies for those who opt to present their research in this way. 

 

Items

# Item Cost
1 "Landing of Columbus" poster $26.21
2 "Washington Crossing the Delaware" poster $12.00
3 "The Peaceable Kingdom" poster $31.64
4 "Home Sweet Home" poster $39.99
5 Mixed Media Pad (art paper, $7.49 per pad) $29.96
6 Watercolor pencils $25.99
  Total: $165.79

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Special Thanks to Our Presenting Partners

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