Lesson Plan

Title: City Building

Length: 2 days

Note: Before you plan and write art experiences; pre-assess your students based on the
proposed concepts, enduring understandings, and objectives of the unit/lesson(s). You may
also gather this information from (previous) teachers, by reviewing already completed art
work, consulting curriculum materials, etc., to get a better understanding of what content
students already know and what they will need to know to be successful.

Pre-Assessment:
This will need to be done prior to teaching your lesson. Outline the method you will
use to determine the skill/knowledge level of your students based on the
concepts/enduring understandings/objectives of the lesson. (Hint: turn these into
questions.) Be specific in describing what you would recognize as proficient
skill/knowledge.
Say, You went to Old Town last week, so we were wondering what all buildings you saw
They would shout them out and we take down everything they say on a piece of paper.
Ask about buildings and transportation and people.
Do you know what elements make up a city?
Do you know what a city planner is and what they do?
Can you explain what a blueprint is and what it looks like?
What does aerial perspective mean?
What are 3 key parts of city planning?

Performance:
What will students accomplish as a result of this lesson? This can be presented to
students in the form of a story. In this narrative the students take on a role and create a
learning product about a specific topic for a certain audience. (RAFT Role / Audience /
Format / Topic)
You got promoted and now youre a urban/city planner. Youre trying to build a town in
which everyones homes fit nicely and where everyone is excited to live where they do.
How are you going to make living in this town enjoyable? We are going to, as a class,
decide what would make a great city. Then we will create each of those elements and add
into one giant diorama by planning it out on a blueprint first.

Concepts:
List the big ideas students will be introduced to in the lesson. These ideas are universal,
timeless and transferable. Examples of concepts used in art might include: Composition,
Patterns, Technique, Rhythm, Paradox, Influence, Style, Force, Culture, Space/Time/Energy,
Line, Law/Rules, Value, Expressions, Emotions, Tradition, Symbol, Movement, Shape,
Improvisation, and Observation Look for concepts in the standards, content specific
curriculum, etc.
Systems and structures

Enduring Understanding (s):

Enduring Understandings show a relationship between two or more concepts;
connected with an active verb. The best enduring understandings not only link two or
more concepts; but demonstrate why this relationship is important. Like concepts, they
are timeless, transferable and universal. Align Standards, Prepared Graduate
Competencies (PGCs) and Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) to Enduring
Understandings.
Art media, techniques and processes work together to create art.
Artwork elicits personal response.

Standards: (All lessons should address all standards.)

1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend
2. Envision and Critique to Reflect
3. Invent and Discover to Create
4. Relate and Connect to Transfer
Objectives/Outcomes/Learning Targets:
Objectives describe a learning experience with a condition behavior
(measurable) criterion. Aligned to: Blooms Standards GLEs - Art learning and,
when appropriate, Numeracy, Literacy and Technology. Should be written as: Objective.
(Blooms: _____ - Standard: _____ - GLE: _____ -Art learning: _____ -Numeracy, Literacy,
and/or Technology)
Using the city list, SWBAT identify an element to make their city better by collaborating
with their peers to create a new structure.
(Blooms: evaluate- Standard: Reflect- GLE: 2 -Art learning: reflect and assess/literacy)
Given examples, SWBAT create a blueprint and to explain verbally why their city will work
well.
(Blooms: application- Standard: Transfer- GLE: 1 -Art learning: reflect/literacy)
Given a prompt, SWBAT describe and identify 3 key parts of urban planning by accurately
completing a worksheet.
(Blooms: Remembering- Standard: Comprehend- GLE: 2 -Art learning: art and art
history\literacy)
Using art materials, SWBAT create city elements from the list we create as a class, utilizing
shape, form, and detail
(Blooms: synthesis- Standard: Create- GLE: 2 -Art learning: Inherent Characteristics of Art
and Design)
Given paper, SWBAT create a successful painting of another city element (place, building)
from our class list.
(Blooms: apply Standard: transfer- GLE: 1-Art learning: technique)

Differentiation:
Explain specifically how you have addressed the needs of exceptional students at both
end of the skill and cognitive scale. Describe the strategies you will use for students who
are already proficient and need growth beyond what you have planned for the rest of the

class, as well as modifications for students with physical and/or cognitive challenges.
Students must still meet the objectives.
Differentiation:
(Multiple means for
students to access
content and multiple
modes for student to
express
understanding.)
Extensions for
depth and
complexity:

Access (Resources and/or

Process)
IPC
Different materials as option

Expression (Products and/or

Performance)
Writing about it, talking about
it
Found objects, cardboard,
foam board, craft paper

Access (Resources and/or

Process)
IPC

Expression (Products and/or

Performance)
Talk about details - who lives
there? what is the purpose?

Literacy:
List terms (vocabulary) specific to the topic that students will be introduced to in the
lesson and describe how literacy is integrated into the lesson.
City planner - We are becoming the city planner. The three types are listed below.
environmental planner, transportation planner, community planner. They will create a
drawing with an aerial view - perspective that you see your city from (birds eye view).

Materials:
Must be grade level appropriate. List everything you will need for this lesson, including
art supplies and tools. (These are the materials students will use.) List all materials in
a bulleted format.
Day 1:
Markers,
Colored Pencils,
Oil Pastels,
Pencils,
Day 2:
Watercolors,
Acrylic Paint
Cups,
Water,
Paint Brushes
Palettes

Resources:
List all visual aids and reference material (books, slides, posters, etc. Be specific; include
title, artist, etc. Make reference to where the material can be found. (These are the
resources used by the teacher to support/develop the lesson.) List all resources in a
bulleted format.
Day 1:
Posters labeled (Environment, Community, Transportation)
Tokens (with examples of each above)
PowerPoint
Example blueprints/city grid/city map/ Fort Collins map

Day 2:
Worksheet for identifying what kind of planning

Preparation:
What do you need to prepare for this experience? List steps of preparation in a
bulleted format.
- create posters
- three types of urban planning
- create tokens
- create worksheets
- gather materials
- find concrete examples - Fort Collins map
- create PowerPoint

Safety:
Be specific about the safety procedures that need to be addressed with students. List all
safety issue in a bulleted format.
Don't eat materials,
Action to motivate/Inquiry Questions:
Describe how you will begin the lesson to stimulate students interest. How will you
pique their curiosity and make them interested and excited about the lesson? What
inquiry questions will you pose? Be specific about what you will say and do to
motivate students and get them thinking and ready to participate. Be aware of the varying
range of learning styles/intelligences of your students. Some ideas might include: telling a
story, posing a series of questions, role-playing, etc.
You got promoted and now youre a urban/city planner. Youre trying to build a town in
which everyones homes fit nicely and where everyone is excited to live where they do.
How are you going to make living in this town enjoyable? We are going to, as a class,
decide what would make a great city. Then we will create each of those elements and add
into one giant diorama by planning it out on a blueprint first.

Ideation/Inquiry:
Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas,
where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be visual, concrete or
abstract. List and describe inquiry questions and processes you will engage students in to
help them develop ideas and plans for their artwork.
What makes a city run well?
What are important services in a city?
What are important places in a city?
Where do you go often in your own city?
How do you get around? (transportation)
What does the building look like?
What are the parts of each structure?
Do animals live here?
What shapes do you use?
What is the weather like?
Where do you go for fun?
Is there a place to have a quiet time?

Instruction:
Give a detailed account (in bulleted form) of what you will teach. Be sure to include
approximate time for each activity and instructional methodology: skills,
lecture, inquiry, etc. Include motivation and ideation/inquiry where appropriate;
including what student will understand as a result of the art experience
Day
1

Instruction - The teacher will... (Be

specific about what concepts,
information, understandings, etc. will
be taught.) Identify instructional
methodology. KNOW (Content) and
DO (Skill)

Welcome back! Youve just been

promoted and now youre a city
planner. Youre trying to build a town in
which everyones homes fit nicely and
where everyone is excited to live where
they do. How are you going to make
living in this town enjoyable? We are
going to, as a class, decide what would
make a great city. Then we are going to
design our own city!

Learning - Students will...

i.e.: explore ideation by
making connections,
comparing, contrasting;
synthesize possibilities for
each painting technique;
etc. (Be specific about
what will be the intended
result of the instruction as
it relates to learning.)
UNDERSTAND

Ideation

Lets begin with thinking about the field

trip you took last week to Old Town,
what did you see? What buildings?
Kinds of transportation? What about
people? What kinds of people did you
see on their trip? Women? Men?
Teenagers? Kids?
(We will call on students and write
down their responses.)
Now that weve created a list of things
weve seen in a city we are going to
talk about what a city planner is and
what they do, can anyone tell me what
a city planner is? (someone who plans
how cities are built) There are 3 kinds of
planning a city planner does community planning, transportation
planning and environmental planning.
Depending on which one of these three
kinds of planning a city planner is doing
they are going to be thinking about
different things. So were going to do an

Time

2 min.

5 min.

Clarifying and analyzing

the meanings of words or
phrases

7 min.

activity to figure out what those terms

mean. Each of you in going to get a
token with a little picture on it, one at a
time you are going to come up and
stick it on the poster under the word
that you think your pictures goes with.
So if I had a picture of a bicycle, what
term would I put that with?
Environmental, Transportation or
Community? What about if I had a
picture of a house with a person?
Where would that go? Great! Now stick
your token to the poster.
Now that we know what an urban
planner is and the three kinds of
planning they do we are going to show
you some blueprints that they make.
We talked about blueprints a little when
we made our homes, but this kind of
blueprint does something different. It
includes many houses and buildings
instead of just one house. Its a plan
that shows a more simple drawing of
where everything goes in a city. This is
done by zooming way out and viewing
an entire city from the top. Its what we
will call an aerial view. What that
means is that we are looking at the city
as if we are in a plane, or how a bird
might see it. Its from the sky looking
down onto the roofs.

2 min.

7 min.

2 min.

Show blueprint examples and

PowerPoint
Everyone is going to draw their own
blueprints of how they want their city to
look. We are first going to draw our
sketchbooks and then we have drawing
paper to draw on afterwards.
Release to work time, materials to be
used on each table. (Students who ask
to finish their diorama will be given the
first 15 minutes of work time to finish
after they decide what item from the
list they will be responsible for)
Clean up time. One person for each
duty
Make sure that the
ground around your table is
clean.
- Names on drawings

45 min.

Studio Habits

10 min.
Evaluating and analyzing
actions.

10 min.
Gaining insight into the
artistic process.

Circle up when your table and area is

clean.
To wrap up class today we are going to
have everyone write down something
they learned or discovered today for
our discovery board.
Day
2

Welcome back city planners! Last week

we got promoted from architects to city
planners and we began working in our
new jobs. This week we are going to
work on finishing our designs from last
week as well as starting and finishing
our last project, which is a painting of
your favorite part of your city!
Review PowerPoint:
Lets begin by looking at some of the
city blueprints and aerial views we
looked at last week. Pay attention to
birds eye view, shapes and details.
Now, who can remind me what a city
planner is? And what are the three
kinds of planning a city planner does?
Excellent! Now we are going to give you
a worksheet to fill out. On this
worksheet there are pictures of
different things that a city planner
might think about when planning. We
want you to circle each picture to tell us
which picture goes with each kind of
planning. If the picture represents
community planning youll circle it in
red, if its environmental planning youll
circle it in green and if its
transportation planning youll circle it in
black. So if you had a picture of a train
what color would you circle it. (Black)
Perfect! When you complete your
worksheet with your NAME on it, put it
on the table next to Brittanys next and
Andie will get your drawings so you can
begin working.
(Students will work to finish blueprints
and name their city. Students who finish
will be given individual/small group
instruction to move to the final
assignment: paint your favorite part of
your city (cannot be your home).
Release for work time.

7 mins.
Ideation

4 mins.

Developing insight into

artist practice.
11 mins.

Clarifying and analyzing

the meanings of words or
phrases.

3 mins.

50 mins.

Studio habits
4 mins.

Clean up time. One person for each

duty:
- Any paint brushes and
cups go in the sink
- Make sure that the
ground around your table is
clean.

Developing insight into

artist practice.

Circle up when your area is clean.

Great job! Finally - Artist Presentation
and Critique:
Students will be assigned pairs and
each pair will look at each students
artwork. Each student will present their
artwork and talk about what they built,
how they built it and why. Their partner
will then give them feedback about
their artwork remembering to give
reasons (I like . because.). Then the
pair will switch and the other student
will present their work following the
same process.

Analyzing and evaluating

actions.
Understanding other
perspectives.

7 mins.
(remind
them to
switch at
3.5 if
they
havent)

2 mins.

Final words.

Student reflective/inquiry activity:

Sample questions and activities (i.e. games, gallery walk, artist statement, interview)
intended to promote deeper thinking, reflection and refined understandings precisely
related to the grade level expectations. How will students reflect on their learning? A
participatory activity that includes students in finding meaning, inquiring about materials
and techniques and reflecting about their experience as it relates to objectives, standards
and grade level expectations of the lesson.)
Artist Presentation and Critique:
Students will be assigned pairs and each pair will look at each students artwork. Each
student will present their artwork and talk about what they built, how they built it and why.
Their partner will then give them feedback about their artwork remembering to give
reasons (I like . because.). Then the pair will switch and the other student will present

their work following the same process.

Post-Assessment (teachercentered/objectives as questions):

Have students achieved the objectives and
grade level expectations specified in your
lesson plan?
Students use the city list to collaborate
effectively, identify and create a structure
that would make their city better.

Post-Assessment Instrument:
How well have students achieved the
objectives and grade level expectations
specified in your lesson plan? Include your
rubric, checklist, rating scale, etc.
Rubric to be attached

Students collaborate and use the blueprint

examples to create a map of their city.
Students accurately complete the
worksheet to describe and identify all three
key parts of city planning.
Students use art materials to create city
elements utilizing shape, form, and detail.
Students use cardboard to create a
successful freestanding structure utilizing
assemblage techniques.

Self-Reflection:
After the lesson is concluded write a brief reflection of what went well, what surprised
you, and what you would do differently. Specifically address: (1) To what extent were
lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize assessment data to justify your level of achievement.)
(2) What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to
teach again? (3)What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice, reteach
content, etc.)
What worked well for this art experience? Why?
The students were really excited about their promotion. They got into character and
were happy to have the change. I think it worked because it didnt add another element to
the same project (even though it totally does), and instead it was new and exciting (which
is is). They were really excited to create their own new world.
What didnt work well for this art experience? Why?
Time. I think while this is also a positive, its real hit to our original plan. We thought we
would have time for our blueprints and that they would be done super fast by the end of
class and we would do something different next class time; however, the students were so

focused on this new project that they didnt finish. Maybe one or two said they did. Which
would be another problem. We think we will just adjust next time and let them continue
their homes if theyre done with their blueprints. Or maybe the original plan still. Lots to
think about with the time given!
What would you do differently? Why?
Im not saying it went perfect, but I dont have any complaints on what to do differently.
The time was strained, but Im also really glad they were involved in the project. Some of
them didnt realize that it was a rough draft before the large piece. So some clarity with
the sequence of events could have been beneficial. They have one they are used to
seeing every day with Brittanys plan for the day. So if we had something more clear like:
1. draft in sketchbook
2. check with teacher when done
3. get large paper for final drawing from teacher
That could have been easier for time.

Appendix: Include all handouts, prompts, written materials, rubrics, etc. that will be given
to students.