visual culture art education lesson plans

Lesson Plans

These lesson plans help you integrate learning about works of art in your classroom. Select an option below to browse lesson plans by grade, or continue scrolling to see all lesson plans.

Lesson plans for elementary school students

Lesson plans for middle school students

Lesson plans for high school students

Elementary School

Ancient Animals at Work

Identify ways animals (past and present) enhance daily life through a close look at an ancient figurine and art making.

Animal-Inspired Masks and Masquerades

Help students understand the connections between art and the environment of Guinea, animal anatomy, and the cultural context of the Banda mask with the help of viewing questions and a dance activity in the Museum's African Art galleries.

Armor—Function and Design

Identify moveable and static features of armor as well as functional and symbolic surface details and examine similarities and differences between human and animal "armor" through classroom viewing questions. Enhance the lesson with a sketching activity based on an English suit of armor in The Met collection.

The Astor Chinese Garden Court

Explore the Museum's Astor Chinese Garden Court and enhance students' understanding of how traditional Chinese gardens reflect the concept of yin and yang and how material selection and design can convey ideas about the human and natural worlds. Use viewing questions and a storytelling or drawing activity in the Museum's Chinese galleries.

The Burghers of Calais

Convey the interpretive significance of pose and expression in the visual arts—in the Museum or the classroom—with viewing questions and a story-writing activity inspired by a nineteenth-century French sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

Medieval Beasts and Bestiaries

Explore the use of animals as symbols in medieval art with viewing questions and a group drawing activity at The Met Cloisters or in the classroom.

Power in Ancient Mesopotamia

Examine how a great ancient Mesopotamian king conveyed power and leadership in a monumental wall relief in the Museum's Ancient Near Eastern art collection and consider how leaders today express the same attributes through viewing questions and an activity.

The Nomads of Central Asia—Turkmen Traditions

Students will be able to identify ways art of the Turkmen people of Central Asia reflects nomadic life and understand the functional and symbolic role objects play in their lives.

Voices of the Past

Focus on a slit gong in the Museum's Oceanic collection to illustrate the impact of scale in works of art, and consider objects' functions in their original contexts and ways different communities engage with their elders and ancestors. Classroom viewing questions and an oral history activity enhance the lesson.

Middle School

Aeneas, Art, and Storytelling

Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid , has inspired generations of artists and writers. Create your own artwork inspired by the text and consider how artists draw upon and reinterpret stories from the past.

Architecture and the Natural World

How can buildings reflect the relationship between people and the environment? Explore possibilities in this lesson plan featuring an ancient Egyptian temple.

Art and Empire—The Ottoman Court

Students will be able to recognize ways a tughra functioned as a symbol of power and authority within a culturally diverse and geographically expansive empire.

The Battle of David and Goliath

Illuminate strategies for conveying stories through images in the classroom with viewing questions about a large silver plate in the Museum's Medieval collection and an illustrating activity.

Beyond the Figure

Consider how artists convey personality in nonfigural portraits and the relationship between visual and verbal expression by looking at a painting by Charles Demuth in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries and through a portrait-making activity in the classroom.

Bravery Stands Tall

Examine a major turning point in the American Revolution through a close look at this depiction of General Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware River.

Composing a Landscape

Study the relationship between the human and natural worlds in art, as well as the techniques artists use to convey ideas, by exploring a painting by Frederic Edwin Church in the Museum's American Wing. Extend the lesson through a writing and drawing activity in the classroom, or a sketching activity outdoors.

The Making of a Persian Royal Manuscript

Students will be able to identify some of the key events and figures presented in the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings); make connections between the text and the illustrated pages of the manuscript produced for Shah Tahmasp; and create a historical record of their community.

The Mughal Court and the Art of Observation

Students will be able to recognize ways works of art reflect an intense interest in observation of the human and natural world among Mughal leaders; and understand ways works of art from the past and present communicate ideas about the natural world.

Muses vs. Sirens

Through movement and storytelling, uncover the layers of meaning embedded in a Roman sarcophagus.

Point of View in Print and Paint

Explore ways that viewpoint shapes the way we picture the past in this lesson plan featuring a depiction of the abolitionist John Brown.

The Power behind the Throne

Bring the Museum's African collection into the classroom with viewing questions and an art-making activity that cultivate visual analysis and an understanding of how surface detail and composition can express themes of power and leadership.

A Rite of Passage

Explore the ways rituals, ceremonies, and rites of passage play an important role in communities around the world through an investigation of related objects.

Science and the Art of the Islamic World

Students will be able to identify similarities and differences between scientific tools used now and long ago; and use research findings to support observations and interpretations.

Shiva—Creator, Protector, and Destroyer

Inspire students to interpret, communicate through, and personally connect with art through an in-classroom examination of a powerful sculpture in the Museum's Indian art collection and a self-portrait activity.

High School

Ancient Mesopotamia—Literacy, Now and Then

From cuneiform inscriptions to digital tablets, this lesson highlights changes and continuity in written communications across the ages.

Arabic Script and the Art of Calligraphy

Students will be able to identify visual qualities of several calligraphic scripts; recognize ways artists from the Islamic world engage various scripts to enhance works of art supporting a range of functions; and assess the merits of several computer-generated fonts in supporting specific uses.

The Art of Industry

Use viewing questions and a debate activity to investigate the relationship between art and community values, techniques artists use to convey ideas, and strategies for interpreting an American painting in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries.

Above: Writing board (detail), ca. 1981–1802 B.C. Middle Kingdom. Dynasty 12. From Egypt; Said to be from Upper Egypt, Thebes or Northern Upper Egypt, Akhmim (Khemmis, Panopolis). Wood, gesso, paint, 16 15/16 x 7 1/2 in. (43 x 19 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1928 (28.9.4)

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Art Lesson Plans Home

The art lessons section has experienced a massive overhaul. Lessons are now categorized for easier retrieval. If you would like to submit a lesson for inclusion here so that others may benefit, either click on the " Submit a Lesson " link on the side menu of this page or if that doesn't work, contact me . Don't forget to submit images with your lesson. The images should be large so people can see them easily. If your images are too large to submit, contact me .

In this section are hundreds of free art lessons from preschool through the college level. The vast majority of lessons include images and examples. There are some lessons from the early days of IAD that do not include images because they were submitted in the days when teachers did not have access to digital cameras or scanners. If you see a lesson plan without an image and you have done this lesson with your class, please submit the images to me so I can include them.

Because the lesson plans here are free to visitors, no financial incentive for submissions can be obtained. Ads are used to finance the hosting and work on the upkeep of the website.

For those of you who live outside the United States, here is a handy reference for grade levels and their corresponding ages. Grade levels are different around the world but ages are universal, so follow this reference to match the lessons submitted from the USA to the ages you teach:

Elementary school

Pre-school: Ages 3-5 Kindergarten: Ages 5-6 First grade: Ages 6-7 Second grade: Ages 7-8 Third grade: Ages 8-9 Fourth grade: Ages 9-10 Fifth grade: ages 10-11 Middle school (Junior High includes grades 7-8 or 9) Sixth grade: ages 11-12 Seventh grade: ages 12-13 Eighth grade: ages 13-14 High School 9th grade: ages 14-15 (Freshman) 10th grade: ages 15-16 (Sophomore) 11th grade: ages 16-17 (Junior) 12th grade: ages 17-18 (Senior)

In case you missed it, the menu for all our lessons is on the side column. You can find lessons according to your grade level as well as cartoon and drama/art lessons.

Building an Art Lesson Plan

Step 1: Create Learning Objectives / Goals

Think about the final objective for your lesson. What do you want your students to accomplish? These objectives should be measurable and relate to any state or country standards you may have. In the U.S.A., the federal standards are found on the Getty website . You should have around three objectives for each lesson. If you have too many, the lesson becomes too complicated and is more difficult to assess.

Step 2: Write Activities That Support Your Objectives / Goals

Create at least one activity that will address your objectives and standards. IAD includes hundreds of lessons that offer a variety of styles. If you find one you like, you can use it as a template for your own lessons. It is important that your activity is age appropriate. Sometimes determining this requires some experience.

Because anyone can submit a lesson on IAD, some may not have the quality of others. However, valuable information can still be gleaned from them and perhaps they will jog your memory enough to create better lessons of your own.

Step 3: Create a Rubric and/or Assessment

There are many rubrics on IAD. Many are universal in nature and you can use them for your own lessons. Your rubrics should describe well what a finished product should look like at several levels. The skills or objectives should be on the far left column and across the top should be the levels of quality for each grade. Of course your assessments should include any local or national standards.

Strategies and Philosophies

There are various philosophies and strategies for creating art lessons that truly motivate students. Some of these strategies are found in our Teacher Toolkit section for newer art teachers. A good lesson addresses the learning styles of all students, not just a visually-oriented art student. The lesson will include activities that use the following intelligences: Kinesthetic, visual, auditory, linguistic, logical, intra-personal, and others as listed by Howard Gardner and others.

A good lesson will have an introduction that really grabs the attention of students. Some call this the "anticipatory set" from Madeline Hunter's research (Additional information can be found in the Teacher Toolkit section). Without a good introduction, the rest of the lesson could fail because students aren't interested in putting their personal best in the assignment. The introduction should illustrate to the student how the lesson will relate to them personally.

Finally, your art lesson should address your state or provincial standards. Good art teachers know how to integrate the arts into the other subject matter. Geometry can be integrated through architecture of the Renaissance. History can be integrated through famous art that illustrates important events in history. Geography can be integrated through creating visual maps in cartography. Science can be integrated through subjects in nature. Not all states have visual arts standards so if your state doesn't have them, have them match up with the national standards found on the Kennedy Center website.

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• create art and reflect upon what they have made.
• create narratives about artworks.
• understand the historical and cultural contexts of works of art.
• discover the significance and value of art in their lives.

The Grade-by-Grade Guide also provides suggestions for students at different skill levels based on child development theory. On those pages you'll find ideas for art production, incorporating language arts into lessons, and assessment.

Step 1: Generate Learning Objectives First generate the learning objectives, or goals, for your lesson. The more specific each objective is, the better. Each objective should describe a specific skill, map to a specific activity in the lesson, be measurable, and support one or more state or national standards. Set only two or three objectives for each lesson to keep students focused and reinforce skills.

Step 2: Identify Activities to Support Your Goals Identify an activity or two that will teach the skills and concepts required to meet your objectives. Use the Grade-by-Grade Guide to find ideas and activities for your students' grade level.

Examples: 1) Learning Objective: Students identify the elements of art in a painting. Activity: Students work in pairs to chart different types of lines (thin, thick, smooth, broken, etc.), colors (warm, cool, primary, secondary, bright, subdued, etc.), and other elements of art they see in a specific work of art. You can teach this in the same way you might teach the parts of speech, for example by having students chart nouns or adjectives in a sentence.

2) Learning Objective: Students research the life and work of an artist and speculate about his or her artistic intention in a given work.

Activity: Students read information about the artist's history and look at other works of art by the same artist. They use the information they learn from this research to speculate about why the artist used certain elements and imagery. For example, student research about Monet's painting Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning will reveal that the work is part of a series depicting the same subject at different times of year and day. This information helps students speculate about the artist's choice of color and line and use of light in this painting.

Step 3: Determine Assessment Criteria Develop criteria that will help you know whether your students have achieved the learning objectives. Each assessment criterion should describe the results you expect from a student who has achieved the objective. The assessment criteria should be easily measurable.

Examples: 1) Learning Objective: Students identify the elements of art in a particular painting. Assessment: Students can verbally point out and name one example of each of the elements of art in a single work of art. A rubric will help you to measure student success. For example: Students who can name one example of all elements of art have excellent understanding. Students who can find examples of 3–4 of the elements have sufficient understanding. Students who can only find 1 or 2 examples need more practice! 2) Learning Objective: Students research the life and work of an artist and speculate about his or her artistic intention in a given work. Assessment: Students can formulate a theory about why a single element or image is included in a work of art and support their theory either with information from the artist's biography, or information found in other works of art by the same artist.

Step 4: Write Lesson Steps Fill in the details of the lesson steps that will teach the skills. You now know exactly what your goals (learning objectives) are for the lesson and what kind of outcome you'll be expecting from your students' work (assessment criteria).

The following resources were consulted for the creation of this guide.

Grinder, Alison L. and E. Sue McCoy. The Good Guide: A Sourcebook for Interpreters, Docents, and Tour Guides . Tucson, AZ: Ironwood Press, 1985.

Henry, Carole, ed. Middle School Art: Issues of Curriculum and Instruction . Reston, VA: National Art Education Association, 1996.

Herberholz, Barbara and Lee C. Hanson. Early Childhood Art . 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 1995.

University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Art & Design: Art Education

• Art Education Professional Resources
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• Creating A Lesson Plan
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Organizations/Museums Guides to Creating Lesson Plans

• The Art of Education Lesson plans for all mediums, levels, and movements.
• Lesson Plans from NEA Browse lesson plans by subject or grade level.
• Lesson Plans from the Kennedy Center Lessons plans for different art subjects and grade levels.
• Met Museum Lesson Plans Inspired by the Met's collection, lesson plans are available from elementary through high school students.
• National Gallery of Art Lesson Plans Lesson plans sorted by grade level.
• MoMA Coursera Find courses and topics to explore directly from MoMA.

Online Resources for Creating Lesson Plans

• The Arty Teacher Option for subscription to access all lesson plans. Check out the free sources or gain inspiration.
• Blick Sort ideas by grade level or discipline.
• Crayola Lesson Plans Find lesson plans by grade or categories of art.
• Incredible Art Recommendations for building a lesson plan as well as lesson plans by grade.
• KinderArt Browse their lesson library by medium or technique.
• Teach Art at Home Find lesson plans by medium.
• The Virtual Instructor Sort by medium or difficulty level.

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• Last Updated: Nov 9, 2023 10:50 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.illinois.edu/art-education

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The CMA has a new ticketing system!

Spoiler alert: it’s much easier to use. You'll be able to buy event tickets and renew your membership just like always, and now you'll also be able to reserve general admission tickets in advance if you'd like.

We hope you love this new system as much as we do. If you want a little help, reach out to us at 803-799-2810 or [email protected].

Lesson Plans and Resources

Teaching kits.

Our Teaching Kits reinforce the concepts and curriculum for integrated classroom learning. The kits are designed for K-12 teachers and students across the curriculum, with emphasis on social studies and visual arts.

Our Time, Our Place: Photographs of the Black South Included in the kit are images from and educational materials based on the exhibition Our Time, Our Place: Photographs of the Black South by Richard Samuel Roberts, which depicts the rise of African American middle class across the South during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Download Kit [PDF]

Lesson Plans and Image Sets

Elementary school.

Visual Storytelling (grades K-2) Art can tell a story, whether it’s about a person, a place, or an idea. These images have been specially selected for their narrative quality and provide the foundation for a lesson that asks students to keep the story going. Subject areas: ELA, Visual Art.

Download the kit

Communicating Culture (grades 3-5) Objects tell us a great deal about how ideas have traveled and transformed across time and space. This lesson examines works of art that give insight into their cultures through the use of natural resources and exchange of ideas, with particular emphasis on Christian and Buddhist imagery. Subject areas: Social Studies, Visual Art.

Westward Expansion (grades 3-5) Visual images, from advertisements to paintings, convey a world of information. Bring your students on a journey West as they critically examine visual information from the 1800s and create their own examples of material culture. Subject areas: Social Studies, Visual Art, ELA.

MiddleSchool

Illustrate Illuminate In this lesson your students will learn about illuminated manuscripts from around the world and what they reflect about the cultures that produced them before creating their own examples. Subject areas: Social Studies, Visual Art, ELA.

All around the State Travel across 300 years of history in this collection that provides insights into how South Carolina has transformed from the colonial period to the present day. A great way to review lessons learned about the state’s history by putting images into a historical context. Subject areas: Social Studies, Visual Art.

High School

True Colors This lesson highlights key examples from the CMA collection that demonstrate artists’ increasing interest in the physical and emotional properties of color. Combine images with online resources in this lesson that goes back to basics on the fundamentals of color theory. Subject area: Visual Art.

Images to Inspire Images can be worth 1000 words, but can we sum one up in just 100? This lesson tackles the task of synthesizing a work of art into a thoughtfully-crafted poem. These carefully selected images and activity well help students transform abstract ideas into concrete imagery. Subject areas: ELA, Visual Art.

Kēva Plank Program

The CMA is offering a Kēva Plank loan program to help educators incorporate STEAM into their classrooms. Kēva Planks allow children to discover the joy of creating their own structures — the flexibility of their constructions is limited only by their imaginations!

Borrow Kēva Planks

Photo Credit: Kēva Planks

Bring the joy of art and creativity to your classroom!

Our art lesson plans are designed for specialist art teachers and classroom teachers. Take the stress out of planning your art program with our detailed art lesson plans for teachers and full year curriculum designed specifically for teachers of Kinder or Foundation to year 6. The art lesson plans cover popular genres from famous artists to cultures, animals and nature, and include creating with a range of art materials such as drawing, painting, clay, printmaking and more. Access our full year, art curriculum to have your whole year of art lesson plans ready to teach.

Our membership program enables teachers of art to easily select art resources for their class. Sign up for the full year to choose 24 units straight away or choose two units of art lesson plans each month with aligned curriculum details and assessment rubrics (ACARA). Browse our comprehensive range of art lesson plans for teachers and enjoy the confidence of delivering exciting ideas and techniques to your class. We will help you bring out their inner artist in your students.

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K-2  Clare Youngs Apple 

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5-6  Draw a Peacock

Kinder – Grade 2 Art Lessons

Easy to teach art lessons for kindergarten, grades 1 & 2

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Inspire grade 3 and grade 4 kids with our art lesson plans

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Bring out the inner artist with grade 5 and 6 art lesson plans

Join our community of art teachers, classroom teachers and home schoolers and enjoy teaching art.

The experienced team of qualified artists and teachers at Creative Kids Art Lessons have created the perfect balance of amazing, inspired art lessons that are also easy to teach to children from kindergarten to grade 6. Lesson plans come in monthly thematic units and include at least four hours of art, for Kindergarten to year 2, years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6.

Sign up for the monthly membership and c hoose two themes, from our comprehensive art units, each month to create your own curriculum. You can sign up for a yearly membership and have access to 24 units straight away and use the free, ACE Curriculum to have your whole year in the art room planned and ready to go.

Become a member today and lighten your planning load. Integrate with other subjects and access ACARA details and assessment rubrics. Reference images are supplied, including artist information sheets.

Creative Kids Art Lessons are the go-to art resource for teachers and home schoolers looking to nurture the inner artist in every child. Take advantage of our sign-up offer of only AUD$25 per month. Enjoy creative, easy to teach art lessons for the whole year on our yearly membership of AUD$250 a saving of AUD$50.

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Shop Our Most Popular Art Lesson Plans for teachers

Purchase our most popular art lesson plans for teachers online today and enjoy watching your students develop confidence and creativity. Our lesson plans have detailed, step by step instructions and process images making them easy to teach. Kids can learn about Australian Indiginous artists, and explore food and art from a range of different cultures. Creative Kids Art Lessons provide high quality art lessons for Kindergarten to Grade 6 students.

More About Me

More About ME art lesson plans! In this unit many of the art lessons are based on self portraits and individualised projects where each student can focus on the self. Try colourful portrait projects inspired by Sandra Silberzweig and Romero Britto.

All about me

Art from Australia

Explore Art from Australia with a range of exciting lesson plans. Try out different art materials and techniques including painted paper collage inspired by Pete Cromer, drawing, mixed media and painting.

Have fun with clay! Create and make relief and 3D clay projects with a clay turtle, starry night mobile and sheep to create. Learn how to make an animal relief clay plaque and an enchanting bobble head dragon. To really refine those clay skills, there is also a layered terrarium to make with textured plant details to inspire your class.

Australian Aboriginal Art 2

Explore Australian Aboriginal Artists and their culture in this second unit of colourful art lesson plans.   We will use a range of materials and techniques including painted paper collage, drawing, clay and painting.

Women Artists

Explore Women Artists with these colourful art lesson plans. Your students can discover the art of Georgia O'Keeffe, Yayoi Kusama and Faith Ringgold in these lesson plans. Create artworks inspired by pop artist Corita Kent and contemporary artist Jane Donaldson. 

African Animals

Students will have fun creating a range of African animal artworks. We'll use stylised and realistic techniques to bring a variety of different African animals to life! In this unit, students will use collage, painting, ink drawing,  and printmaking, whilst having fun in the African savannah.  

Learn all about colour with monsters to create, sneakers to design and colour mixing artworks to create.  Learn about the art of abstract trailblazer Sonia Delauney and contemporary artist, Janet Skates whose works are both based on colour and contrast.

Artists and Culture Curriculum (ACE)

Make your year in the art room easier with a full year of ACE art curriculum lesson plans worked out for you and ready to use! Teachers, take your class on a round-the-world trip, looking at the artists and cultures of countries such as Japan, Australia, America, Mexico, Ecuador and Peru. 

Children love their pets and we have a whole unit that explores this special connection. Creatures of all shapes and sizes, cuddly, scaled and slimy delight children and also offer a special kind of companionship.

Explore UK artists with these colourful art lesson plans. Your students can discover the art of designers Orla Kiely and William Morris, create works inspired by Eric Carle,  David Hockney and Simon Wiltshire in this quintessentially UK art unit. We will use a range of materials and techniques including collage, printmaking, watercolour painting, drawing, mixed media and painting. 

Farm Animals

Students will have fun creating a range of farm animal artworks, some are inspired by artists Jean Dubuffet and Pablo Picasso. We'll use stylised and realistic techniques to bring a variety of different farm animals to life! In this unit, students will use collage, painting, drawing, clay and printmaking, whilst having all the fun at the farm.  

USA Artists

Explore US artists with these colourful art lessons. Your students can discover pop art, modernism, neo-expressionism, abstract and folk art all in this American dream of a unit. We will use a range of materials and techniques including collage, watercolour painting, mono-printing, mixed media and painting. 

We have art lesson plans from kindergarten to grade 6.

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How to Be a Culturally Responsive Art Teacher

Conversations of race and equity in education along with the achievement gap are a priority. Watch the news, observe any professional resource, or view a list of sessions at a conference, and you’re sure to find someone addressing these topics. A common idea stemming from these discussions is to have culturally responsive classrooms or curriculum. Administrators are naming this concept more and more, but few can actually articulate what it means and looks like in your art room. Thankfully, Zaretta Hammond’s book Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain can tell you all you need to know about culturally responsive teaching and how it can impact your classroom.

What is the purpose of the book?

Before the first chapter even begins, Hammond lays out what readers should (and should not) expect from the book. Being specific about her intentions lays the groundwork to make meaning from the content. She says, “This book isn’t a how-to guide on developing culturally responsive lesson plans in every subject area…I want you to think of culturally responsive teaching as a mindset, a way of thinking about, and organizing instruction to allow for great flexibility in teaching.” Continuing throughout the book, Hammond is clear and direct in her language and explanations.

Her voice in the book is accessible—it feels like she’s in the room talking to you. Each chapter also ends with a helpful summary of bullet points, questions for further reflection and thought, and additional resources to seek out if interested. Finally, a helpful text for educators. Hammond’s experience as a classroom teacher and with educators in professional development allows her to ask and answer the questions you have in your head, but might be socialized to not say out loud. She addresses topics of race, equity, and culture in a way that connects with common beliefs and understandings. So, if you’re serious about supporting all of your students, here is what her text can offer you:

Why is understanding the brain so important?

One of the best takeaways from the book is understanding how the human brain can impact a student’s ability to learn and create art in your room. This is information educators rarely consider in their classroom. As Hammond mentions, outside of a one-semester educational psychology course, brain research and development is largely missing from many teaching programs. Similarly, once teachers enter the field, professional development rarely covers brain science.

The book can help you understand how the brain is wired to:

• Connect with others in a community like your studio or classroom
• Detect threats of all kinds, including social and psychological, which can prevent a student from learning each day in your room
• Grow and expand based on the types of challenges and problems you present in your art projects

Having a better understanding of how your students’ brains are functioning can shape how you structure your classroom, lessons, and interactions with students.

What You Need to Know About Inclusive Education in the Art Room

How do you start on a journey to be a culturally responsive art teacher?

Hammond reminds readers throughout the book that being a culturally responsive teacher isn’t about a strategy or bag of tricks, but rather, a mindset. She says, “The first step for teachers is to understand how their own cultural values shape their expectations in the classroom.” Reflecting and analyzing your own culture can be very challenging because, to you, it’s normal. Culture is commonly thought to be things like the food you eat, what you celebrate, traditions, and where you’re from. Your cultural identity, however, is much deeper than those elements and more engrained into your daily life. Your culture has been shaped by your experiences and the people in your life from the first day you were born until now. One of the most meaningful experiences in reading the book is the opportunity to better understand your culture.

Hammond offers a number of questions for personal reflection, including:

• “What family stories are regularly told or referenced? What message do they communicate about core values?”
• “What earned you praise as a child?”
• “Were you allowed to question, or talk back to, adults? Was it okay to call adults by their first name?”
• “What’s your family/community’s relationship with time?”

How to Better Support Your Marginalized Students

As you start to understand your cultural reference points, Hammond guides you more specifically into your schooling experiences. You’ll have the opportunity to reflect on what it meant to “do school,” what success looked like and how it was achieved, and what messages you were given related to your own race and identity. As Hammond explains, the purpose of this whole process is to, “develop a great sense of your cultural self — what drives you, what shapes your worldview, and what influences your teaching.”

How does this connect to feedback in the art room?

Art teachers spend more of their time giving feedback to their students than anything else. Whether it’s through critique, answering questions, grading artwork, or all of the informal discussions you have with students as they’re working individually. Spending time learning about giving better feedback is always a wise investment as it is a critical component in the art room and “an essential element in the culturally responsive teacher’s arsenal.”

The book explores feedback through multiple lenses and provides you with concrete strategies. For example:

• Distinct characteristics of quality feedback
• The intersectionality of feedback and trust, motivation, and learning.
• Types of feedback like Instructive and Corrective, Advice not Actionable, Evaluative not Instructive

Most notably is the WISE feedback model that Hammond offers as an alternative to the common sandwich feedback model of starting with a positive, then a negative, and ending with a positive. Hammond’s model complemented with her Asset-Based Feedback Protocol emphasize how you can provide accurate and honest feedback to students while demonstrating your belief in the student.

Inclusivity for All Learners in the Art Room

It might be counter-intuitive to suggest that Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain is one of the best books for art teachers today because it’s not actually about art education. But, art is what you teach, and Hammond’s text explores how you can teach and be more responsive to all of your students. By reading this book, you’ll develop a better understanding of your own cultural identity and how it reveals itself in your teaching. You’ll also learn about how brain science, feedback, and a sense of community can all have a direct impact on student learning in the art room. Maximizing your potential as a teacher requires a commitment to all facets of education. Spend some time with Zaretta Hammond and her book to be a more culturally responsive teacher for the betterment of all students in your studio.

What other resources can support teachers in the areas of race and equity? 

What other models of feedback can be shared with art teachers? 

Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

Nick Gehl is a department chair of fine arts and a former AOEU Writer. He enjoys working with art teachers to improve the student experience in the studio and foster more leaders in the arts.

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Search over 100 arts-integrated, standards-based lesson plans using the filters below. Each lesson plan includes assessments, resources, related content, and information about the work of art.

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Dance in science, pop art in Spanish, or photography in math — there’s no end to the ways arts can be integrated into other curricula. Educators from Bates Middle School, in Annapolis, Maryland, share arts-integrated lessons and resources that you can use in your school.

Resources on This Page:

• Arts-Integrated Lesson Plans

Professional-Development Presentations

Arts-integration templates, additional documents from bates middle school, maryland department of education arts-integration glossary, useful websites on arts integration.

Click on any link below to view or download that file.

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Lesson Plans

Sample arts-integration presentations, lesson plans, quizzes, and other documents from various teachers and classes at Bates Middle School.

• 6th Grade Science: Rotation and Revolution
• Presentation   - lecture on rotation and revolution
• Lesson Plan   - lesson plan on solar system, sun, and galaxy
• Dance Assignment   - dance choreography that students need to incorporate into their project
• Task Cards   - elements of dance to be used to demonstrate rotation and revolution
• Exit Ticket   - student-reflection worksheet for rotation and revolution
• Quiz   - sample quiz given at the end of the lesson
• 6th Grade Science: Creative Comparison between Planets and Painting
• Presentation   - lecture on physical characteristics of planets integrated with color value concepts
• Presentation   - presentation on Ars Ad Astra Project and warm-up routine for observing and imagining
• Worksheet   - blank worksheet used for creative comparisons exercise
• 6th Grade Social Studies: Monochromatic Mapping
• Presentation   - lecture on monochromatic mapping
• 7th Grade Intro to Spanish: Pop Art and Spanish Vocabulary
• Overview   - students study the elements of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and create comic strip using basic Spanish vocabulary
• Presentation   - lecture on pop art
• Presentation   - presentation and warm-up routine with Lichtenstein's art and activity using Spanish dialogue
• Worksheet   - tree map on colors, shapes, and lines and how they contribute to the artwork
• Worksheet   - worksheet used to plan comic strip with Spanish dialogue and visual description for each panel
• Student Reflection   - self-reflection worksheet for students to review their comic strip
• 8th Grade Math: Photo Story
• Presentation   - lecture given on photographic composition for photo story project
• Lesson Plan   - goals for photo story and how students will use principles of design to represent linear relationships
• Rubric   - grading rubric for the photo story project
• Storyboard   - blank storyboards used for digital photo story projects
• 8th Grade Visual and Language Arts: Portraits
• Presentation   - presentation on characteristics of portraits from different art movements, including cubism, fauvism, impressionism, pop, and realism
• Lesson Plan   - outline of a project in which students will compose a personal narrative detailing a life event
• Activity   - matching cards game in which students match artwork to correct art movement
• Student Reflection   - self-reflection worksheet on characterization and portraiture
• Personal Analysis   - worksheet for student analysis of their self-portrait
• 8th Grade Science: Dance and Acceleration
• Presentation   - lecture on velocity and speed, dance, and movement
• Overview   - outline of a project in which students utilize the elements of dance to calculate and graph acceleration
• Worksheet   - worksheet for dance challenge in which students calculate and compare speed by measuring dance movements they choreograph

Professional-development presentations provided by Pat Klos, arts-integration specialist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Maryland

• Active Strategies
• Activity   - PD activity about different active strategies that integrate dance, song, and other mixed media with science, math, language arts, and social studies
• Art History
• Presentation   - lecture on 20th-century artists and art movements
• Writing and Visual Arts
• Presentation   - lecture identifying and demonstrating art-inspired writing strategies
• Presentation   - presentation and warm-up routine for writing and visual arts lesson
• Principles of Design
• Presentation   - lecture on principles of design, including balance, emphasis, unity, and proportion
• Presentation   - lecture on objective versus nonobjective art
• Foldable   - foldable with all the principles of design
• Worksheet   - worksheet for principles of design to use with selected artwork
• Artful Thinking
• Artful Thinking is an approach to teaching creative thinking developed by Harvard's Project Zero in collaboration with the Traverse City Area Public Schools in Michigan.
• Presentation   - lecture on implementing Artful Thinking routines that will help students
• Artful Thinking Routines   - various routines used for artful thinking, including, games, comprehension, and analysis

Blank templates for arts-integration documents used at Bates Middle School

• Curriculum Mapping   - used to document content standards, opportunities for arts integration, and assessment/reflection
• Content Standards   - used to document performance on content standards where arts integration was or was not incorporated into the lesson
• Content Log   - log for teachers to track arts-integrated lessons, what worked and why
• Graphic Organizers   - various graphic organizers that can be used for arts integration
• Lesson Seed   - starter document to define art and content standards for an arts-integrated lesson and connected objectives
• Teacher Reflection 1   - self-reflection document for teachers to evaluate lesson plans
• Teacher Reflection 2   - self-reflection document for teachers to evaluate what students learned and what worked in arts-integrated lesson
• Student Reflection 1   - self-reflection document for students on what they learned about both art and content standards
• Student Reflection 2   - another example of a self-reflection document for students
• Bates Bell Schedule   - daily bell schedule
• Bates School Improvement Plan 2008-2010   - school improvement plan from 2008, the year Bates began arts integration
• Bates School Improvement Plan Overview   - summary outline of school improvement plan objectives
• Fine Arts Standards   - connected objectives for visual arts, dance, drama, and music

Glossary of arts-integration terms provided by Maryland's Department of Education

• Visual Arts   - terminology used for visual arts
• Dance   - terminology used for dance
• Music   - terminology used for music
• Theater   - terminology used for theater

Bates Middle School - school's website

Arts Education in Maryland School Alliance - advocacy group for integrating the arts into content curriculum, professional development opportunities, resources for teachers, and funding opportunities

Artful Thinking (Project Zero) - program designed to be used by everyday teachers; focuses on experiencing and appreciating art rather than making art

Arts and Science Council - organization whose goal is to build appreciation, participation, and support for the arts, science, history, and heritage in Charlotte-Mecklenburg

The Kennedy Center ArtsEdge - the Kennedy Center's free digital resource for teaching through and about the arts

The Kennedy Center ArtsEdge Lessons Plans - lesson plans provided by ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center's free digital resource

Masterpiece to Mathematics: Using Art to Teach Fraction, Decimal, and Percent Equivalents - article from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics detailing how students created their own optical art and connected it to rational numbers through mathematical and visual representations of rational numbers

Arts Integration Solutions - nonprofit that looks to transform the education system by bringing arts integration to every child, in every classroom, helping them succeed in math, science, literacy, and life

More Edutopia Resources on Arts Integration:

• Edutopia's Arts-Integration Pinterest Board
• Edutopia's Why Arts Education Must Be Saved
• Article: The Arts Are Essential
• Article: Preserving Paintings Teaches Art, Chemistry, and More
• Article: Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best
• Video: Music and Dance Drive Academic Achievement
• Article: Tucson Schools Enhance Learning with the Arts
• Video: Art Works: Integrating Creativity in the Curriculum   
• Article: Cross-Training: Arts and Academics Are Inseparable

See more arts-integration resources and downloads.

Bates Middle School

Per pupil expenditures, free / reduced lunch, demographics:.

10% Special needs 7% English-language learners