What's in a Face?
Strategies
Before Reading-
PreP (prereading plans) allow teachers to diagnose students’ prior knowledge and construct background knowledge that will help them comprehend informational books and content-area textbooks. Teachers present a key concept or phase and then allow students to brainstorm different words or ideas in relation to that main concept. For this lesson, I would use Chapter Seven: The Head in Basic Figure Drawing Techniques edited by Greg Albert to activate students’ prior knowledge to allow comprehension about the formation of the human head. It would be important to allow students to brainstorm ideas about the human head and what information they may already know about visually rendering the human head. This way students will break the concept of rendering the human head down and it won’t seem like such a daunting task. Using a standard chalkboard/whiteboard for jotting ideas, the key concept given by the teacher would be “What is the Human Head” and then students would list words/phrases that would connect to the main concept. The second part of this strategy would continue in the vocabulary strategy.
Vocabulary-
Brainstorming allows students to activate their prior knowledge of a particular subject. There are two brainstorming steps: (1) A certain concept that connects to the main topic is pinpointed by the teacher, and (2) through group discussion students produce a list of words that are relatable to the concept. Within this lesson, students will be brainstorming a list of words that connect to the main concept of the human head. If students needed further guidance, subcategories would be suggested by the teacher. Examples for the subcategories may be, "Facial Features", "Five Senses", "Emotions", etc. Some examples of what may be said are, “hair”, “eyes”, “nose”, “ears”, “mouth”, “taste”, "smell", “brain storehouse”, “happy”, "sadness", "anger", “symmetrical”, “top of the body”, and etc. After group discussion, students will read the assigned chapter to further comprehend the division of the human head.
Comprehension-
A guided reading procedure (GRP) allows students to gather and organize information about a main concept as they read silently to themselves. Students should be able to read the book with 90-94% accuracy, and be able to understand it so they can rebuild the message of the author. As students read Basic Figure Drawing Techniques, they will need to focus on how the material for rendering the human head is written, and then how to reiterate that information visually. By allowing students to read and verbalize drawing procedures, a thorough understanding of dividing the human head should be achievable. After preparing and assigning the reading material, the students would direct the teacher in a reverse demonstration. The students will use the material they have read to assist the teacher in drawing the human head through a guided demonstration. The teacher will become the student by following the steps the classroom says, but can redirect students to find answers if there is trouble remembering the material.
Writing-
Quickdraws allow students to respond to literature by drawing their ideas, reflection, and connections instead of writing them. A mixture of writing and drawing further students' comprehension. Through quickdraws student can draw what they understand and label, as well as, pose questions and concerns. After reading Figure Drawing Techniques, students will quickdraw their understanding of how the human head is proportionally drawn. They can label their head with measurements and notes to identify placement of faciel features. They should practice drawing multiple heads using the techniques given from the text. This can be done through memory or looking back to the material for assisitance. Click for Quickdraw Template.
After Reading-
Selective Reading Guides allow students to think about what they are about to read. A written prompt of questions is created which includes signals for important information. This allows students to interact thoughtfully with the text, and to engage actively with the material as they read. Selective reading guides allow students to comprehend main points and the organizational structure of the material being read. A prompt would be created that students would fill out after they read the assigned material. The questions would be relatively straightforward, but would allow students to understand the process of rendering the human head. Click for Selective Reading Guide Handout.