Critical Theory Unit

Teachers: Kaylee Jensen and Danielle Thompson
Grade: 1
Time Needed: 45 minutes
Objective: Students will understand the Critical theory of art and learn how to question the way in which they see the world. Student will show this knowledge by creating their own Fundred Dollar Bills.  Then they will write a couple sentences about how this project helped them become more aware about their importance in the community and how creating these unique dollar bills will help the people in New Orleans.  

Standards:
State Visual Art Standard 1
Objective 3
Develop and use skills to communicate ideas, information, and feelings.

1. Recognize and express feelings in a variety of ways (e.g., draw, paint, tell stories, dance, sing). 
2. Express how colors, values, and sizes have been controlled in artworks to create mood, tell stories, or celebrate events. 

State Social Studies Standard 3
Objective 1
Identify and use geographic terms and tools.

1. Identify Utah on a variety of maps and on a globe. 
2. Identify the United States on a variety of maps and on a globe. 

National Standards: Visual Arts:

USING KNOWLEDGE OF STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS

Achievement Standard:

• Students know the differences among visual characteristics and purposes of art in order to convey ideas

CHOOSING AND EVALUATING A RANGE OF SUBJECT MATTER, SYMBOLS, AND IDEAS

Achievement Standard:

• Students explore and understand prospective content for works of art
• Students select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning

REFLECTING UPON AND ASSESSING THE CHARACTERISTICS AND MERITS OF THEIR WORK AND THE WORK OF OTHERS

Achievement Standard:

• Students understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art
• Students describe how people's experiences influence the development of specific artworks
• Students understand there are different responses to specific artworks

National Standards: Social Studies: Geography:

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

As a result of activities in grades K-12, all students should

• Understand how human actions modify the physical environment.
• Understand how physical systems affect human systems

Materials Needed:
-Powerpoint
-Colored Pencils/Markers
-Scissors
-Fundred Dollar Bill printouts
-Following books: Not a Box, Not a Stick, Amelia Earhart: Legend of the Lost Aviator, A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman.  

Intro:
Critical Theory is the idea of rejecting the world as it now exists.

Start off the Lesson by reading Not a Box by Antoinette Portis.

After reading the book, ask students if they have ever used their imagination to create something else out of an ordinary object.  Ask them what they think the book is made out of.  Ask them why they think the author wanted to make the book out of a box.

Introduce following artists:

 Yinka Shonibare is an artist who helps people look at everyday people in a different way. He also challenges himself as an artist as he has evolved from painting, costuming, photography, to moving images.  He is very famous for his costumes.  What can you tell me about the picture below?




 What is this a picture of?  How is it different from what you have seen before? Why do you think he changed things like the flag? His suit? Can you tell if he is White, African American, Hispanic? What country is he from? Why do you think the artist made this so? 
 Show the students the above picture.  Have you ever seen someone like this before? How is this picture from what you are used to? Why do you think this is?

Alfredo Jaar: He is considered a Critical Theory artist because of the way that he presents his research. He thinks a lot about how to represent his experiences in the most effective way and then tries and tries again until he gets it right.

Teach the students about Jaar's Rwanda Project. He learned about the Rwanda from a clip in the newspaper and found that many people had died. He wanted to show the importance of this event and finally found the following way to represent his research on Rwanda.
Watch the following clip: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/alfredo-jaar from 1:36-4:52

About video clip: Talk to the students about why his way of presenting his research with one pair of eyes was so effective? What made it so real for the viewer compared to other ways? Why did people understand?

Mel Chin: Teach the students that Mel Chin represents the Critical Theory with the Fundred Dollar bill project because he is making people aware of a big problem in New Orleans, Louisiana where there is lead in the soil which is dangerous for the people there, especially for the children.

QWERTY Courbet. Ask the students what they think this picture is. Teach the students that this is an actual keyboard. Ask them why every keyboard looks the same. Who said it had to look like that? This keyboard still works, it still types, but looks much different. Teach that this is critical theory because he is freeing us from what we would think of as a keyboard and what we are used to.


Teach the students about the U.S. map. Ask if they know where different states are. Point out where New Orleans is in relation to Utah.
Explain how the Fundred Dollar Bill project is mainly for kids who want to help other kids in New Orleans where the soil is dangerous. We are going to make our own Fundred Dollar Bills to help raise awareness of the victims in New Orleans.
Show the following video about children who have been involved with this project and what they have learned from it.
Fundred Dollar Bill Video
video clip about Mel Chin: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mel-chin
To download the printout for the Fundred Dollar Bill, go to fundred.org. Or here is the PDF link.
Allow the students to create their own fundred dollar bill with crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. Let them use their imagination to create their own money that represents themselves.
Prototype
Step 1: Print out Fundred Dollar Bill from fundred.org.
Step 2: Cut out your bill

Step 3: First draw in pencil what you would like on your fundred


Step 4: Use markers or another coloring utensil to add color to your drawing.

Step 5: Share your work with the class

Step 6: Mail all of the bills from your class to the following address so they can be counted and used towards the goal of 300,000,000 Fundred Dollar Bills!

The Fabric Workshop and Museum
a.k.a. The Philadelphia Fundred Mint
1214 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Attn: Christina Roberts

Assessment:
After finishing their art project, have each student choose two of the following questions and write four sentences as their answer.
-How does your Fundred Dollar bill represent you? Explain why.
-Tell me about one of the artists we talked about and why you liked them.
-Why is it important to look at things in a different way?
-What did you learn about the different ways that art can be created?
-Like the box from the book, what is one thing that you see differently from others and why?
 Have a few students share their answers with the class.