Instructions for Teaching
* you may choose your own elephant
Overview:
Consenses can be used to shed light on a myriad of subjects. In each class, your students will focus on a different medium (photography, music, movement, sculpture, poetry, painting, and set design). They will interpret each other's works of art and translate it into a new medium in the vein of a game of telephone.
Day 0: Students get excited about participating in this collaborative art process.
Day 1: Students are introduced to Consenses.
Day 2: Students learn about the 'Elephant & Blind Man' fable and get to practice interpreting art and translating it into a new medium.
Day 3: Students focus on photography. You will supply each student with a catalyst that will inspire a chain reaction. Think of this as the starting word in a game of 'Telephone.' For example, in Consenses' "in-school" version of this curriculum, we use different emotions to inspire each chain reaction. You can check out how that works HERE. But with the "At Home" course here, you are free to choose your own catalyst or set of prompts. We've suggested some ideas below.*
Day 4: Students focus on music. You will send them one of their peer's photographs from Module 3. They will send you a song in response.
Day 5: Students focus on movement. You will send them one of their peer's songs from Module 4. They will send you a video in response.
Day 6: Students focus on sculpture. You will send them one of their peer's videos from Module 5. They will send you a photo of a sculpture in response.
Day 7: Students focus on poetry. You will send them one of their peer's sculptures (photo of the sculpture) from Module 6. They will send you a poem in response.
Day 8: Students focus on painting. You will send them one of their peer's poems from Module 7. They will send you a painting in response.
Day 9: Students focus on set design. You will send them an entire chain reaction (a photo, song, video, sculpture, poem) They will send you a set design in response.
Exhibition: Having collected the art your students have produced in reaction to one another throughout the course you will host an exhibition to reveal their collaboration to family and friends. This can be done all in one day or over the course of many days, online or in-person at your discretion.
Day 10: You will reflect on the 'Elephant & Blind Man' fable, close the course and have students fill out their survey.
Feel free to modify the curriculum in any way you wish. You might, for example, wish to split each "day" into two or more classes. You might choose to cover only the first five artistic mediums instead of completing all eight. You might decide to have students do the assignments as homework. You might cut exercises. You might interject your own lessons in-between days.
Your Roll:
As a group leader or teacher, you will present the course material via the online meeting room of your choice and share your screen to show videos in the curriculum. You will collect and redistribute students' art and keep track of who gets whose art using the student organizer sheet attached below.
It's not a tough job (luckily for you) but you will need a few things.
- A group of students: This can be a class, a church group, an art collective, a bunch of pals or an orientation group. For the purpose of simplicity, we will refer to you from here on out as "the teacher" and the group you assemble as "the students."
- An 'Elephant': You will determine the person, place or thing you want your group to use as a prompt for this course. Think of this as the starting word in a game of 'Telephone.' You will designate each student a prompt: a word, quote or idea that represents the 'Elephant.' Each prompt will start a unique chain reaction. Choose an 'Elephant' you find inspiring and want to understand in a deeper more meaningful way. We've suggested some ideas below.*. Please feel free to refer back to the 'Choosing your Elephant' section of the teacher training course for more information HERE.
- An Email & Computer: which you'll use to organize students' assignments and receive and distribute students' artwork.
- A schedule: You will set your own pace (ex. 2 lessons a week for 10 weeks) and send a calendar to your students to follow.
- A student organizer: You will print out a student organizer (below) to keep track of who is interpreting whose art from class to class.
- An exhibition plan: Decide how you want to execute a final presentation. The next section focuses on different ways you might consider this. Please refer back to the exhibition section of the teacher training for more information HERE.
- An online meeting space: We use Zoom but you can use any meeting space that will allow you to share your screen. You will log into the Consenses At Home curriculum and share your screen with students to present the videos and lead them through exercises.
Students Will:
- Complete assignments on your schedule.
- Communicate & Collaborate with you and the rest of the Consenses student body using the physical or online meeting room of your choice.
- Upload art assignments directly to you. We recommend having them use email or a google drive.
- Need Materials: Paper, pencils, a device/smartphone to take pictures with & record audio & video. They will also need an e-mail address and a good internet connection.
- Be evaluated not on the quality of their work but on their effort, participation in conversations, and willingness to see from their peer's perspectives and take risks
You should review and prepare for each class by watching the daily videos yourself, reading through all the assignments in each class, and assessing both how you'd like to present the material and how you wish to pace each assignment with the time you have allotted.
If you have questions about anything us don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].
Choose an 'Elephant'
Consenses can be used to shed light on a myriad of subjects. You can think of your 'Elephant' as the starting word in a game of ‘Telephone.
'Elephant' ideas
Chose an 'Elephant' that you find inspiring and want to understand in a deeper more meaningful way. Your students will be passing the essence of the 'Elephant' you choose from one member of your group to another. In the end, each of their art will shed a new and different light on it.
To come up with a good 'Elephant' for your course you might ask yourself:
- What inspiring person, place or thing do I want to understand through my pupils' eyes?
- What would be helpful for my students to understand through each other's perspectives?
- What do I want to teach, that asking students to create art in reaction to, will help them invest in my teaching more and understand it in unique & alternative ways?
- What issue is my community having that I’d like to shed new light on, open up dialogue about or draw attention to?
Prompt ideas:
Once you've picked an 'Elephant,' ask yourself if you want to give each student one prompt or multiple prompts that represent different aspects of the 'Elephant. '
For Example, if your 'Elephant' is fame, you could give all your students the word "fame" as a prompt to start their chains or you could give each student the name of a different famous person. Prompts don't have to come in the form of words either you might choose to start each chain with the following:
- A photo/series of photos
- A person/series of people
- A place/series of places
- A thing/series of things
- A quote/A series of quotes
Staying Organized
Suggestions:
- Watch the video below.
- Pre-fill out the "Student Organizer" with all your student's names before you start the course.
- Create files on your computer or in a google drive to collect student's work and from which you can share their work with them at the end of the course.
- Keep very good track of whose work you're sending to whom each lesson (on your "Student Organizer"). I know I already said this but it bears saying twice.
*STUDENT ORGANIZERS INSTRUCTIONS
- Fill out your Student Organizer: Please designate one prompt to each chain column (ex. Chain #1 Love, Chain #2 Fear; and so on). Each chain will follow a linear vertical trajectory. Each student will interpret the work of the student in the box immediately above them in your student organizer). Please select as many prompts as you have students/members of your group. (See the video below.)
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