Picturins America

Target audience: University freshmen or sophomores / high school students
Duration of the lesson – two 45-minute sessions

to help students understand and appreciate modern art
to help students develop their English language skills
to help students develop their critical thinking and learning skills

to expose students to a work of modern American art and help them understand its cultural value
to help students understand the cultural context that fostered the given artwork

to allow students to get acquainted with the dominant African-American leaders of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

to develop students’ writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills through a variety of learning activities
to allow students to use productively the English language through exploration of cultural context and creative writing
to encourage students to formulate in writing the ideas and assosiations the given artwork inspires
to enrich students’ vocabulary by introducing and reinforcing arts related terms

to help students practice using active learning skills and strategies
to help students learn to cooperate with others in discussion, pair, group and project work
to teach students to compare, analyze, and evaluate the information through reading, writing, and listening
to teach students to make inferences from the text
to encourage students to formulate and share their ideas and opinions
to enhance students’ public speaking skills through presentations of the results of a team project
to encourage students to use graphic organizers to organize and present the information

* Jacob's Ladder is a ladder to heaven, envisioned by the biblical patriarch Jacob and described in
the Book of Genesis.

Activity # 2 Getting information from a Culture Note

Directions
1. Read a short culture note. What information was new to you? Mark it in the text.

Martin Puryear is a famous modern sculptor. Over the years he has been exhibited in museums throughout the world, and is one of the first African American artists who received international recognition. However, he isn’t well-known in Russia. Puryear’s sculptures are truly innovative. Puryear has lived and traveled all over the world. He links American and multicultural values, world cultures, 19th-century craft traditions, and the latest fabricating technologies. His art is a fusion of metaphor, sculpture, architecture, and craft. He works primarily in wood but also uses many unexplored materials (such as tar, wire mesh, rawhide, and rattan).

Martin Puryear ‘s “Ladder for Booker T. Washington” was made from a thirty-six foot long tree. It’s remarkable that the title came after the work was finished. Puryear explained in one of his interviews*: “I didn't set out to make a work about Booker T. Washington, the idea of Booker T. Washington**, the resonance with his life, and his struggle, the whole notion that his idea of progress for the race was a long slow progression. And the antithesis was W.B. DuBois who was a much more radical thinker and who had a much more pro-active way of thinking about racial struggle for equality. And Booker T. Washington was someone who made enormous contacts with people in power and had enormous influence, but he was what you would call a gradualist. The joining of that idea of Booker T. Washington and his notion of progress and the form of that piece—that came after the fact. But when I thought about a title for it, it just seemed absolutely fitting”.

*      adapted from: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/puryear/clip2.html#
* * The title of Washington’s autobiography is “Up from Slavery” which can be interpreted as a
       challenging and effortful ascension of an Afro-American to a better existence, in material,
       intellectual and psychological sense.

Analyze the ideas with your partner and sum up what inferences you can draw about Booker T. Washington’s life, views, role in history.
Share your inferences with the rest of the students.

Study the sculpture in detail. Make a mental note of everything that caught your eye.
What is unusual about the ladder? Share your observations with your partner.

Where does it lead? Would it be difficult to get to the top of it? Why? Share your ideas with the class.
Think, why the artist found the notion of progress and the form of the sculpture “absolutely fitting”?
Formulate the arguments to prove your point of view. Put them down.

Martin Puryear (American, b. 1941). Ladder for Booker T. Washington, 1996. Wood (ash and maple). 432 x 22 3/4 in., narrowing at the top to 1 1/4 x 3 in. (1097.28 x 57.785. cm, narrowing to 3.175 x 7.6 cm). Gift of Ruth Carter Stevenson, by Exchange.Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Retrieved from: http://arthistory.about.com/od/educator_parent_resources/ig/picturing_america/pa_neh_40.htm

“We are climbing Jacob's ladder
Brothers, sisters, all …
Every rung goes higher and higher…”

2. Return to your inferences from Activity #3.
It is known that he artist left the final explanation of his sculpture open.
Think about what else a ladder can symbolize.
2. Sum up the ideas in a cluster on the board.
3. Choose one of the ideas and write a three-paragraph essay (not more that 250 words). ( can be done on paper or using wiki for writing)

Helpful hint: Use freewriting ( put all the thoughts that come to your mind,
without thinking about the structure; then mark connections
between the ideas; cross out the ones that are extra).

Helpful hint: write on every other line;
don’t worry about spelling and handwriting at this stage.

What is the paper mostly about?
Is there any place I need to put more information?
Can I leave out some words and make the main points stand out more clearly?
Do my words show (with vivid detail) and not tell (with vague generalities)?
Do I lead the reader from point to point in a way that makes sense?
Is my introduction clear?
Is my conclusion strong and to the point?
Does each paragraph develop the Topic Sentence?

Editing - Proofread and put the final touch

Helpful hint: revise what you’ve written. Focus on correctness, word choice,
sentence structure, use of connectives, indenting, etc.

The teacher can use a number of activities to help students share,
appreciate and discuss the product of writing: “The Author’s Chair”;
classroom newspaper, web log, etc.

Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – – November 14, 1915), was the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. The scope and influence of Booker T. Washington’s public life in the twentieth century rival that of Frederick Douglass in the nineteenth century.

* Jacob's Ladder is a ladder to heaven, envisioned by the biblical patriarch Jacob and described in
the Book of Genesis.

Activity # 2 Getting information from a Culture Note

Directions
1. Read a short culture note. What information was new to you? Mark it in the text.

Analyze the ideas with your partner and sum up what inferences you can draw about Booker T. Washington’s life, views, role in history.
Share your inferences with the rest of the students.

Study the sculpture in detail. Make a mental note of everything that caught your eye.
What is unusual about the ladder? Share your observations with your partner.

Where does it lead? Would it be difficult to get to the top of it? Why? Share your ideas with the class.
Think, why the artist found the notion of progress and the form of the sculpture “absolutely fitting”?
Formulate the arguments to prove your point of view. Put them down.

Directions
1.Return to the spiritual from Activity #1.
What do the following words from it tell you now?

“We are climbing Jacob's ladder
Brothers, sisters, all …
Every rung goes higher and higher…”

2. Return to your inferences from Activity #3.
It is known that he artist left the final explanation of his sculpture open.
Think about what else a ladder can symbolize.
2. Sum up the ideas in a cluster on the board.
3. Choose one of the ideas and write a three-paragraph essay (not more that 250 words).
To organize the process of writing follow the five steps below:

Helpful hint: Use freewriting ( put all the thoughts that come to your mind,
without thinking about the structure; then mark connections
between the ideas; cross out the ones that are extra).

Helpful hint: write on every other line;
don’t worry about spelling and handwriting at this stage.

What is the paper mostly about?
Is there any place I need to put more information?
Can I leave out some words and make the main points stand out more clearly?
Do my words show (with vivid detail) and not tell (with vague generalities)?
Do I lead the reader from point to point in a way that makes sense?
Is my introduction clear?
Is my conclusion strong and to the point?
Does each paragraph develop the Topic Sentence?

Editing - Proofread and put the final touch

Helpful hint: revise what you’ve written. Focus on correctness, word choice,
sentence structure, use of connectives, indenting, etc.

                               ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

                                          GLOSSARY
rung (noun)                      - one of the bars or rods that form the steps of a ladder -
ступенька стремянки, приставной лестницы
recognition (noun)           - the act of recognizing or fact of being recognized -
признание
innovative (adjective)      - using or showing new methods, ideas, etc. -
новаторский
multicultural (adjective)   - consisting of, relating to, or designed for the cultures of
several different races -
относящийся к разным культурам, поликультурный
craft (noun)                      - skill or ability, esp. in handiwork -
ремесло
to fabricate (verb)            - to make, build, or construct -
производить
fusion (noun)                  - something produced by fusing -
слияние, синтез
tar (noun)                       -   any of various dark viscid substances obtained by the
destructive distillation of organic matter such as coal,
wood, or peat -
смола; дёготь; гудрон
wire (noun)                    - a slender flexible strand or rod of metal-
проволока
mesh (noun)                  -   net -
сетка
rawhide (noun)              - untanned hide -
недублёная, сыромятная кожа
rattan (noun)                 - the stems of any of the climbing palms -
часть ствола ротанга ( пальмы)
progression (noun)        - the act of progressing; advancement -
движение, продвижение вперёд
pro-active (adjective)     - tending to initiate change rather than reacting to events -
активный, действующий,
equality (noun)              - the state of being equal -
равенство
enormous (adjective)     - unusually large in size, extent, or degree -
громадный; гигантский, огромный
influence (noun)            - an effect of one person or thing on another -
влияние, воздействие
fitting (adjective)          - appropriate or proper; suitable -
подходящий, применимый, соответствующий