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Afterschool Lesson Plan Database

Lesson Plan

This lesson was excerpted from the Afterschool Training Toolkit under the promising practice: Expressing Yourself Through the Arts

Description:

Symbol: something that stands for or represents something else, for instance a skull and crossbones representing poison or pirates, an "X" representing a crosswalk in traffic, a pumpkin for Halloween, or a longhorn steer standing for the University of Texas football team. This lesson is one example of the Expressing Yourself through the Arts practice, and provides students an opportunity to explore the world of symbols through developing a symbol that will stand for them. As we look around us, we see numerous symbols telling us about something, whether it is about a person in relation to something (a sorority, a school, a gang), or an instruction about how to do something (as in traffic signs). What symbols mean and how they work can be very powerful.

Learning Goals:

• Understand the nature of symbols and how they work
• Be able to communicate complex ideas through the visual art medium
• Have a better understanding of self

Materials:

• Examples of symbols
• 1 sheet of white paper per student
• Pencils
• Markers or colored pencils
• Collage materials, magazines, colored paper, glue (optional)
• Sample personal symbol that you have created to show students

Preparation:

• Construct your own set of meaningful symbols to show the class. These should be symbols that you see as important to you as an individual. Be able to discuss and explain why they are important. They may also include other symbols as examples.
• Something to consider as you create your own personal symbols: This activity can help you deepen your relationship with your students and also serve as an example to help them understand the project. When you create your own personal symbol to show them, here are some things to think about: values you cherish (courage, loyalty, honesty, etc.), characteristics that define you, important events. You can explain why you chose the images you did when you show your personal symbol to your students.
• See as reference Signs, Symbols, and Ciphers by Georges Jean (London: Thames and Hudson: 1999); also the Dictionary of Symbols by J. E. Cirlot (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2002).

What to Do:

Session 1: Understanding and Finding Symbols
What You Need

• Examples of symbols
• 1 sheet of white paper per student
• Pencils
• Markers or colored pencils

Step-by-step:

• Introduce the concept of symbols and how they function.
• Have students collect or make a list of symbols they see in everyday life.
• Tell students that they are going to have an opportunity to make symbols to represent themselves, but first they are going to learn more about symbols and what they represent.
• Display examples that students have listed and talk about what they are used to represent.

Session 2: Developing Personal Symbols
What You Need

• 1 sheet of white paper per student
• Pencils
• Markers or colored pencils
• Collage materials, magazines, colored paper, glue (optional)
• Sample personal symbol that you have created to show students

Step-by-step:

• Show students the personal symbol you created and explain its significance.
• Have students brainstorm ideas for a unique symbol to represent their individual identities. Their symbol might represent:
  • Something that makes them happy or is a favorite item
  • Hobbies and other images that match their personality
  • An image that represents their values
• Remind students that this image or artifact must remind other people of "who you are" each time they see it.
• Have students sketch their ideas, refining as they go.
• Once a final symbol design is developed, students can color the symbol and work with how the colors add to the richness of the symbolic qualities.
• Share personal symbols with the group or, for more fun, invite other participants to look at each symbol and try to guess who they represent.

Evaluate (Outcomes to look for):

• Student engagement in examining a wide variety of complex images and artifacts and demonstrating their understanding of the process of selection based on what makes meaning
• Students' ability to analyze and describe how an image or artifact functions to bring up certain ideas or connotations
• Students' ability to create new combinations of images and artifacts that result in a deeper representation of meaning

Standards:
Click this link to see additional learning goals, grade-level benchmarks, and standards covered in this lesson.