Darcy Nickel

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Teaching Expository Essay Writing through The
Rock by Peter Blume
Darcy Nickel Dever School 5th Grade Writing
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Peter Blume (1906 - 1992) The Rock, 1944 -
48 Oil on Canvas 57 5/8 x 74 3/8 in. The Art
Institute of Chicago, 1956.338
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• Important Information about The Rock
• The Rock was commissioned in 1939 by Edgar
  Kaufmann and his wife, and was intended for
  their Frank Lloyd Wright designed home,
  Fallingwater, in Bear Run, PA.
• Pervading themes in the artwork include the
  discontinuity caused by destruction, distance,
  time and chance, and mans attempt to rebuild
  from the fragments that remain.
• The imagery in The Rock alludes
• to decay and rebirth.
• The rock is a key compositional
• element in the painting.

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• Key Ideas that Informed the Lesson
• Artists, like writers, communicate ideas.
• Artists use symbols to communicate.
• You can communicate in writing or visually about
  the same theme.
•  

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What I Wanted Students to Learn .....how to
analyze an artists use of techniques in a work
of American Art. that everything in a painting
means something. how to make inferences about
symbols and other elements in a work of art. how
to identify themes in the piece of art. how to
create an expository essay based on a theme from
a work of American Art.
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES

• Close Read of The Rock
• Making Observations
• Expanding Elaborating Sentences

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LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Close Read of The Rock Defining Themes
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Creating a Thesis Statement
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Prewriting the Expository Essay
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Moving through the Writing Process to Create a
Published Expository Essay
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LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Moving through the Writing Process to Create a
Published Expository Essay
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• What My Students Learned
• An appreciation for American Art
• Each time you look at a painting you can
  discover something new.
• Themes for writing are everywhere.
• You can write about found themes in terms of
  your own experience.
• Writers and artists make specific choices to
  communicate BIG IDEAS.

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• What I Learned
• My students can teach me something about art.
• American Art can be incorporated easily into
  writing and reading.
• Analyzing an artwork and analyzing a text are
  similar processes.
• There are many connections between how artists
  create a painting and how writers create a piece
  of writing.
• ? Art should be a part of the classroom on a
  regular basis because it helps students see
  things in different ways.