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Daily Plans for Content Areas
Reading Mini-Lesson Focus:Activating Task
Standards: ELACC5RL1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
EQ: How can I make inferences when looking at an artwork? How do I make inferences when I read? How can making inferences make me a better reader?
Inferring From Art (Day 1): Display two artwork (see below) on Promethean board or Elmo so that each piece is shown side by side. “Let’s take a look at these two pieces of art and think about how we can get information from a piece of art. Turn to your partner and quickly talk about everything you notice about the work from Benny Andrews.” Give students 90 seconds to talk. “Turn to your partner and talk about everything you notice about the work from Andy Warhol.” Give students another 90 seconds. Call students back together and discuss their thinking. Using chart paper (see below for example), record information that students give about the pieces of art. Constantly ask students what in the art supports their thinking. “Let’s make some inferences about what the people in each of these pieces are doing or thinking. Turn to your partner and make some general observations about the people in each piece. Remember you must be prepared to support your thinking with explicit reasons from the artwork.” Bring students back together to discuss their observations. Record inferences on chart paper (see below for example). Lead the discussion by continually asking students why they think that way and what supports their thinking in the actual artwork.
Reflection: “As readers we should constantly be asking ourselves questions about not only what we are reading but also about what inferences we can make as we read. Using what we already know and what the author says helps us to make those connections. It is important that we continuously have an inner dialogue with ourselves as we read.”
Summarizer: Have students choose one artwork and write the inner conversation and questions they have as they carefully observe the piece.
What do you notice about these two artworks?
Ingrid the Nun / MuseumscapeMaking Inferences using Art
Math Workshop Daily Plan
ReadingMini-Lesson Focus: Activating Task
Standards: ELACC5RL2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. ELACC5RL9: Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
EQ: How can knowing the theme help me better understand what I am reading? How can summarizing help me better understand what I am reading? How does comparing and contrasting help me understand theme and topics in reading?
Themes and Messages in Art: (Day 2):Display six pieces of artwork from Benny Andrews on two different sides of the room. “Today we are going to take a gallery walk of some additional pieces of artwork by Benny Andrews. As you are walking around I want you to record any questions you might have about what the people are doing or thinking in each piece of art.” (see below for example of organizer). Give students 5 or 6 minutes to walk around room observing artwork and writing down questions. Call students back together. “Turn to your partner and discuss some of the questions you each had about particular pieces of art. Remember to talk about why you had those questions based on specific details in the art.” Give student 3 or 4 minutes to discuss. Listen for partners to cite specific evidence in the art. Bring students back together as a whole group and discuss some of the questions. “Are there any questions or comments that are common to all of these pieces of art? By looking at our questions could we come up with what theme or message Benny Andrews may have been trying to express through his art?Turn to your partner and talk about what message or theme Benny Andrews may be expressing through his art.” Bring students back together and have them share their thinking.
Reflection: “As readers it is important that we understand the theme of what we are reading. It is also important that we make connections between themes in other texts that we have read. Comparing and contrasting themes and ideas helps us look at text at a deeper level. Finding common themes helps make it easier for us to understand not only fiction reading but nonfiction reading as well.”
Connect to Writing: Have students write a quick summary explaining the theme or message of one of the pieces. Tell them to make sure they support the theme or message with specific details from the artwork.
Additional Art from Benny Andrews
Title of Art / Questions
Going Somewhere West
New Home
Goodbye
Education Quest
Migrant Camp
Trail of Tears
ReadingMini-Lesson Focus:Making Connections
Standards: ELACC5RI1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. ELACC5RI2: Determine two or more main ideas from a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. ELACC5.RI.8: Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s).
EQ: How can I use information from several sources to help me understand more than one event, idea, or concept? How do I use similarities and differences from several sources to help me understand point of view? How do I integrate information from several texts so that I can write and speak about a subject.
Making ConnectionsWith Art and Text (Day 3): Show students the artwork, Education Quest by Benny Andrews from Day 2. “Turn to your partner and talk about what message you think the artist is giving through this artwork.” Give students a few minutes and then discuss their thinking. Remember to ask them to support their thinking with details from the art. “This artwork reminds me of the struggles we went through during the Civil Rights Movement as we began to integrate schools, especially in the south. Let’s take a look at a website about Benny Andrews and see if we can make some inferences about why he might have paintedEducation Quest.” Connect to the Benny Andrews page on ArtNet.com. Click on Chronology on the left side menu. If you are in a computer lab have students work with a partner and scroll through this page. If you are modeling for whole group instruction, scroll down paying attention to some of the protests he participated in. “Now that I am seeing some of the events in Benny Andrews’s life and I am thinking about his paintingEducation Quest, I am making a connection to famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Today you and your partner are going to read articles about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Benny Andrews. As you read, take notes on the similarities and differences between these two men as they relate to civil rights. As you gather information make sure you notice biographical information about each man. In Language Arts you are going to write a speech about one of these men. Your speech will need to include background information as well as important points that relate to civil rights.”
Differentiate by giving groups of students the articles or websites that will be appropriate based on readability. Scaffold learning for students by giving a compare/contrast graphic organizer or note taking organizer to students who may need them. Many of these graphic organizers can be found on the P5 Teacher Website.
Reflection: “Making connections is an important reading skill. As we read, we should make connections to ourselves, other things we have read, and the world in general. These connections help us to think closely about what we are reading and allow us to analyze texts at a much deeper level.”
Connect to Writing: Working in pairs, students will gather biographical information as well as facts about Benny Andrews and Martin Luther King, Jr.and their involvement with civil rights. Students will compare the lives of these two men and how they represented their views through speeches or art.
Additional Notes to Teachers: Benny Andrews illustrated several children’s books including, The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rowe Fraustino. You may want to introduce this artist by reading this book and showing some of the illustrations.
Addendum –Newspaper Articles for Reading Day 3
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 29, 2004
Section: Arts
Edition: Home; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Page: M3
Correction: 03/04/04, page A/2: A story in Sunday's Arts & Books section about artist BennyAndrews provided the wrong street address for the gallery where his work is being presented through March 27. The Savannah gallery is located at 3096 Roswell Road.
VISUAL ARTS: BACK STORY / THE ARTIST BEHIND THE ART: A genius for caring
For Andrews, involvement is essential
CATHERINE FOX
It's a long way from BennyAndrews' beginnings as the son of a MadisonCounty sharecropper to Savannah, the sleek Buckhead gallery now showing his work. Unlike some who never look back, Andrews has always used his own success as a bootstrap for others.
Andrews, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Litchfield, Ct., was among those fighting mainstream exclusion of African-American artists in the 1960s and '70s. He ran the visual arts program of the National Endowment for the Arts in the early '80s.
At a robust 73, Andrews shows no signs of slowing down, either as an artist or activist. His exhibition at Savannah gallery -- works on the theme of people visiting galleries, done in his distinctive mix of painting and collage -- demonstrates a fertile creative life.
"I always set up a problem in response to my last series," he says. "Since my 'The Human Spirit' series was up in the clouds, I decided to do interiors."
He made it an opportunity to indulge in lighter-than-typical fare. The artist likes the idea of the viewer looking at a painting. Or not: In one piece, a couple ignores the painting on the wall to look out the window at the moon.
Andrews will tackle a more serious subject in his next series, "The Migrants." It will look at those who were part of the Great Migration, the Dust Bowl and the Trail of Tears. He has been reading Flannery O'Connor, Langston Hughes and John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," and plans field research as well.
"I'm going to take a five-week trip to Oklahoma to follow Route 66 to California, and I plan to do the same with the Trail of Tears," he says.
The series, which will take three years to complete, will debut at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, a place to which Andrews and his wife, artist Nene Humphrey, have special ties. They have promised the museum some 200 works as well as material from their archives, and there is a gallery in the permanent collection devoted to the work of the couple and their extended families. Four generations of creative Andrews are represented: his parents George and Viola, Benny and his brother Raymond and his sons Christopher and Thomas. Humphrey's parents are included as well.
"I am supporting the museum not only because of its focus on the South but also because it is interested in the totality of the artist -- family, history," says Andrews, whose family has also given archival material to EmoryUniversity. "There is much more to an artist than style and medium."
Andrews is also busy on the philanthropy front. He recently founded the BennyAndrews Foundation, aimed at helping African-American art institutions and young artists.
"I want to help institutions that can't afford work by important African-American artists by enlisting the artists to donate major works," Andrews says. Al Loving and Reginald Gammon are among those who will donate works, he says.
Mindful of his own difficulties starting out, Andrews plans for his foundation to run workshops that teach young artists how to break into the art world -- how to prepare portfolios, how to interview and so on. He also wants to create an award to honor teachers, artists and institutions that have supported young talent.
Andrews continues his advocacy of racial enlightenment in his children's books. For example, when Andrews was asked to illustrate "The Hickory Chair" (Scholastic $15.95), he was told that the young male protagonist was blind but that the story was not about blindness.
"I told them that I wanted to make the boy an African-American child without the story being about race," he says.
He most recently illustrated "Pictures for Miss Josie" (HarperCollins, $16.99), which tells the story of one of many young black men influenced by Josephine Carroll Smith, a respected African-American educator in Washington, D.C.
Andrews likes these projects because, he says, "I feel like I reach an audience I could never reach."
Not content to raise the consciousness of this generation, Andrews is already on to the next.
Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
February 7, 1988
Section: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Edition: The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Page: J/1
Life is a rich palette for BennyAndrews
The artist remains true to his (grass)roots
SMITH, HELEN C.Helen C. Smith Staff WriterSTAFF
Helen C. Smith interviews BennyAndrews whose works commends a large price tag, and hangs in more than 20 major art museums. A selection of his prints is part of the "Black Printmakers" exhibit at the McIntosh Gallery through Saturday. He heads the list of artists selected for the seventh annual Spotlight on Georgia Artists auction Feb. 20.It embarrasses BennyAndrews a bit that some of his large paintings command up to $92,000. But Andrews, a sharecropper's son from Madison, Ga., is not sufficiently discomfitted to refuse such a reward.
"You have to deal with the fact your work continues to increase in price, especially when museums want it," says the 57-year-old artist, who now lives in New York and whose work hangs in more than 20 major art museums.
Once unable to set foot in Georgia's white-only schools, Andrews will be well honored in his home state during the first half of this year. In Midtown, a selection of his prints are part of the "Black Printmakers" exhibit at the McIntosh Gallery through Saturday. He heads the list of artists selected for the seventh annual Spotlight on Georgia Artists auction Feb. 20 for the benefit of TrinitySchool, a private elementary school that places strong emphasis on the arts. The High Museum Georgia-Pacific will display 19 recent works in "BennyAndrews: Portraits of . . .," a solo exhibition March 10 through June 10. (The High Museum, which has five Andrews works in its permanent collection, exhibited a collection of his murals in 1975.)
In Atlanta recently for the opening of "Black Printmakers," the wiry artist holds casual court in the gallery. Drop-in visitors pause to listen to the grizzly-goateed Andrews spin stories of his experiences. The palette of this artist's life has many colors, which he mixes at will.
The latter-day Renaissance man is not only an inveterate storyteller ("telling a story is the same thing as creating a picture"), but also a committed social activitist, art professor (at Queens College), lecturer, writer, editor, book illustrator, curator, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts' Visual Arts program, husband of a sculptor, father of three grown children - and a thoroughly engaging fellow in his scrappy way.
"To me, life is to be an adventure," he says. "I don't have to turn myself on and off to work; I work all the time. Most of us could do much more than we do. When I travel, I write and think. It's the idea thing that takes time. The technical - putting brush to canvas - is easy."
When he is not bouncing around on the lecture circuit, he divides his time between his principal studios in Manhattan and Athens, Ga. (designed by his architect son, Christopher), and temporary pads in places such as Mexico, the Southwest and Europe.
"I need to keep myself interested, so I often change my place," Andrews says. "The landscape and coloring in New Mexico or France are so different it challenges me, keeps me stirring the molecules."
Having recently returned from Italy, where he was a Rockefeller Scholar, Andrews says he is thrilled that the Metropolitan Museum of Art bought his "American Gothic" (its first Andrews painting) several months ago for an undisclosed price and that the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), which already owns several Andrews works, selected two of his prints ("At Home," "Right On") and a 1972 book he co-edited ("The Attica Book," photos of the 1971 uprising at the New York penitentiary) for its "Committed to Print" exhibition, which runs through April 19 before going on national tour.
"His prints are absolutely first rate," says Deborah Wye, MOMA's associate curator of prints, who assembled the show of 180 works, each with a social or political theme. "I think he's terrific. We had lots of work by many artists to choose from, so you know he has to be one of the best."