RUNNING HEAD: Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan
Megan Waddell
Raritan Valley Community College
Professor Kimberly Schirner
April 25, 2019

EDUC 230 03 Field Experience

Lesson Plan 2

I. Subject, Grade Level, Topic of Lesson:

Visual and Performing Arts, Grade 7, Diverse Cultural Art
II. Curriculum Standard:
“1.3.8.D.5 Examine the characteristics, thematic content, and symbolism found in works
of art from diverse cultural and historical eras, and use these visual statements as
inspiration for original artworks.”
(Visual and Performing Arts Standards, 2014)
III. Learning Objectives and Assessments:

Learning Objectives Assessments

Students will be able to adapt ideas from
the research and demonstrate their
findings in their own way on their
personalized masks.
The teacher will be able to assess
students’ knowledge by analyzing their
completed masks and how they adapted
their cultures elements into their own
piece of art.

IV. Materials
○ Computers
○ 8 ½ x 11 paper
○ Pencils
○ Colored Pencils
○ Scissors
○ Plaster Cloth Rolls
○ Plastic mask template
○ Plastic bowls with water
○ Acrylic Paint in various colors
○ Paintbrushes
○ Palette paper
○ Markers

V. Pre-lesson assignments knowledge and/ or skills:

Students should be familiar that there are different cultures around the world. They
should be aware that not every person follows the same traditions and daily life that they
grew up with in America. If they are knowledgeable in the area of cultural traditions then
they will be able to complete this project with more ease.

VI. Lesson Beginning/ Hook:

The instructor will show the cultural mask presentation with the students. In this
powerpoint the instructor will address 3 different historic cultures that made masks to use
in daily life. The cultures include African, Mexican and Chinese. The masks were made
to celebrate Festima in Africa, The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Chinese New Year in
China. The presentation will explain the meaning behind each celebration but will not
address specific elements and components each culture uses when decorating the masks.
Lesson Plan 3

VII. Instructional Plan:

1. Welcome the students and ask them to share any traditions they know that
different cultures celebrate. They will be asked to share some that are different
than the ones celebrated in America.
2. The instructor will share the presentation about the three different cultures and
how they use their masks.
3. The class should be split into three different groups so there is about 5-6 students
for each culture.
4. The students will be asked to research their culture’s celebration. They should
find 2-3 specific elements of the masks. For example they could focus on shape,
color, the use of lines, etc.
5. With pencils and 8 ½ x 11 inch paper, they should them brainstorm their own
mask. They should use their examples from their culture for inspiration but
should not copy any of the masks.
6. They can use colored pencils to loosley add color to sections. Because the
drawing is not their final product, they do not have to be perfect but should still be
neat.
7. Before moving on to starting their three dimensional mask, they should get
approval from the instructor. They may have to add or fix some elements
depending on how well they adapted the cultures ideas.
8. The instructor will then ask the class to pause for a few minutes in order to
demonstrate how to work with the plaster strips. The students may or may not
have worked with plaster strips before so it is best to go through step by step in
order to get the best result.
9. The instructor will show the how to lay down the plaster strips on their plastic
masks. They first will have to cut off 4 inch sections, dip the strip in the water
bowls and squeeze the excess water off. Then they will then lay it on their mask,
making sure to smooth out it out, focusing on the edges and avoiding the eye area.
10. They will repeat this process until their entire mask is covered in 2-3 layers of
plaster strips. The instructor may have to help with this step until the students get
the technique down.
11. The masks will have to dry overnight before any other elements are added.
12. Once dry, the students can carefully peel their masks off the mold and cut any
rigid edges with scissors. They may also have to cut around their eye holes if they
covered too much.
13. The students can then refer to their sketches and draw with pencil on the mask.
They will draw in their contour lines without any color yet.
14. Once they have mapped everything out, they can begin the painting process.
15. Each student will need a paintbrush, water cup and palette paper. The acrylic
paints will be shared with everyone on the classroom so the students will need to
return the paints once they have poured the colors they need into their paper.
16. Once they have the needed colors, they can mix and show their painting skills.
The students are also welcome to bring in feathers, beads or other elements that
they feel would appropriately add to their masks. They can glue those on after
they have finished painting.
17. Once finished, they can set down their masks to dry on a table out of the way.
 Lesson Plan 4

18. The students will be reminded about 10 minutes before class ends to wash their
brushes and water bowls and throw away their palette paper.

VIII. Lesson Wrap Up:

As an exit ticket, each group of the cultures will be asked to share with the class
one or two interesting facts that they learned about their culture. This will give
information about all three cultures to every student, even those who did not research that
specific group.

IX. Cultimilating or Follow Up Activity:

The following class, the students will gather their dry masks and bring them back
to their desks. The instructor will given each group a large piece of poster paper. They
will be asked to largely write in marker at least two elements that the cultures used in
their masks. Once completed, the teacher will hang up the paper and the masks on the
wall/bulletin board. They will display the similarity of mask making between the cultures
but also the diverse traditions that they were used for.

X. References:
New Jersey Student Learning Standards Visual and Performing Arts. (2014). Retrieved
from https://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/2014/arts/