A Story Through Impressions

018.jpg
017.jpg

In this lesson we asked students to tell a story by making impressions in clay.

Essential Questions:

  • What can objects from the past tell us?

Standards:

  • VA:Re7.1.1 Select and describe works of art that illustrate daily life experiences of one’s self and others.

  • VA:Cr2.1.1 Explore uses of materials and tools to create works of art or design.

Linked Assessment Outcomes:

  • Students will select a collection of objects that will tell a story when pressed into clay all together

  • Students will organize their objects spatially to imprint the story

  • Students will reproduce a story by making impressions in clay

  • Students will recall a story that they want to tell through impressions

  • Students will analyze the objects before them and decide which objects would leave a clear impression in their clay

  • Students will plan how to impress the objects into their clay

  • Students will analyze their peers’ clay impressions and will guess what their story is

  • Students will predict what their peer’s clay impression story is

  • Students will imagine what the impressions their peers’ made might mean

Reflection:

I was really pleased with how students were able to use the comics we provided them as a model to create their own impressions. In the future I would provide students with a tool to pull up the items they pressed into their clay slabs, such as a butterknife. I would have also given students a rolling pin so they could make a deeper impression in their clay.