A Journey Starts with A Big Idea—

Humans And Nature

And a Topic: Gardens

Mindy Conley

Goodlettsville Elementary

2003-2004 School Year

NIVAE

(Nashville Institute for Visual Arts Education)

Rationale

The topic of gardens presents an engaging and age appropriate bridge into the big idea of “Humans and Nature”. Generally, the students at Goodlettsville Elementary come from rural and suburban settings. Their experiences with nature and gardens are possibly limited. A student’s concept of art, gardens, and the creative process can be broadened by learning about artists who “sculpt” the garden space and by considering their own design for a sight specific garden at school. As an educator, I feel it is very important to give students experiences that help them realize they have options for improving their lives and circumstances.

Note: This unit is being implemented with 3rd Grade.We have students living in single family homes, apartments, mobile home parks, and hotels. This year our school qualified for Title I status by meeting the percentage of students utilizing free/reduced lunch. Culturally, our population includes African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Eastern Indian, and Asian. Our schedule includes one hour of art a week for each student. We have approximately 380 students.

Essential Questions:

How do people interact with nature through gardens?

What do gardens reveal about the interactions of people with nature?

What are people’s attitudes toward gardens?

Key Concepts:

Man can interact with nature through gardens.

Through the creation of gardens, humans can impact their surroundings.

There are many kinds of gardens with different purposes.

There are many things that can go into a garden.

A garden can offer many things to humans.

Art Questions:

How is creating a garden like creating a work of art?

What must an artist/gardener consider when creating a garden?

Who decides what is or is not a garden?

What elements and principals of art are used in the design of a garden?

Activity 1: Group Brainstorming

What do we know about gardens?

What do art and gardens have in common?

Activity 2: Word Game Working in teams, students matched descriptive words to images of different kinds of gardens. They had to narrow it to two words per image and then recorded these. Each team shared with the whole group.

Matching

Cooperation-Personal Aesthetic

Language-Vocabulary

Recording

Activity: Garden Criterion

This is an activity I did not do this time, but in the future will do prior to viewing the PowerPoint presentation on gardens. I can envision it being done as either a group activity or an assigned journal reflection.

What makes a garden a garden? Should there be parameters? When/where does a garden end and nature, in general, begin?

List your criterion/guidelines for a garden.

What can be included in a garden?

What can’t be included in a garden?

A Page from Robert Irwin’s Sketchbook

Activity 3: Garden Journals

“For one thing, he [Irwin] didn’t know the first thing about plants. Early on, he bought about a thousand dollars’ worth of horticultural books and began cutting them up, to generate collages of the kinds of plants he was hoping to be able to interweave.”

Lawrence Weschler

Activity 4: Question of Assessment

Students were given a pre-assessment worksheet, which will also be used as a post-assessment. They were asked to reflect upon and respond to three questions in writing:

What is a garden?

What can be in a garden?

Why do we create gardens?

Activity 5: PowerPoint Presentation of Gardens

Elements: water, rocks, plants

What make a garden?

Who decides?

Design

Pattern

Scale/Size

Seasonal Gardens

Gardens as Inspiration

Gardens in Nashville

Activity 6: Japanese Gardens and

"I had a revelation in 1933 of the earth outdoors as a new way of conceiving sculpture."   Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi PowerPoint

Activity 7: Japanese Dry Garden

Worksheet for Planning

Teams Working on Gardens

Student Created Japanese Inspired Dry Gardens

Matting Digital Photo of Their Individual Garden

Activity 8: Getty Garden by Robert Irwin

•Book: Going to the Getty

•PowerPoint Presentation

•Part of Video: Concert of Wills

•Book: Robert Irwin-Getty Garden

“Ever present, never twice the same. Ever changing, never less than whole.”

Robert Irwin

“I mean, it is very nice to have done something that is clear enough and strong enough that it’s going to be able to make its way in the world. That’s the really critical issue. Because the world doesn’t stand still.”

Robert Irwin

Activity 9: Venn Diagram of Irwin and Noguchi

Next time I will alter when I do this and have students fill it out as we watch the presentations about each artist/gardener.

Activity 10: GES Garden Commission March 23, 2004

From: Goodlettsville Elementary Garden Design Committee

To: All Interested Artists/Gardeners

Subject: Garden Design Commission

 

Dear Artist/Gardener:

 

The Garden Design Committee invites you to submit a garden design proposal. We understand that you have studied the work of Isamu Noguchi and the Getty Garden by Robert Irwin. We would like for you to consider these artists when designing your garden for Goodlettsville Elementary. You can incorporate design elements from one or both of these artists. Please include a written explanation of which artists have influenced your design and why.

 Attached you will find images of the space for which you are designing.

 

 Thank you for your time and we look forward to seeing your proposal.

 

GES Garden Design Committee-2004

     

Goodlettsville Elementary Garden Commission Conley-2004

A student brainstorms ideas in his journal for his own garden design.

Garden Design: Aerial ViewClass outside doing a large sketch of the space and existing objects in the space

Afterwards, students recorded their aerial views on graph paper by drawing and cutting/gluing elements

Garden Design: Rendered Drawing/Collage

(In Progress)

(In Progress-As They Finish Designs)

Rationale for Garden Design/Influences

Teacher Assessment/Reflection•Adjust when I do pre-assessment

•Continue research on artists, acquire additional information and related teaching tools

•Relate more to students about the artists’ process, history

•Fine-tune all activities, further develop presentations

•Continue to develop depth of understanding and personal connection of

students to content and process

•Bring in a landscape architect/designer to present about process/materials

•Continue to pursue development of garden area at school, look for grant money

•Fill out Venn diagram as they watch the presentations about the artists

•Identify national, and eventually local, standards that align with unit

•Discuss with classroom teachers curricular connections, good time of year to teach

Post-Assessment of Student Learning

(In Progress-Will do at the completion of their garden designs and reflections about garden choices and influences.)

My Reflections on Overall Process

•Lesson Study Revisited/ Action Research in Progress

•Professional Development the Way It Should Be--Ongoing & Relevant

•Questions--Convergent VS Divergent Thinking

•Comfort Level: Teach to an Open-end, Product Driven-Concrete End

•Meaningful-Personal

•Never Underestimate Students

•Time-Money

Thank You For Your Support and The Opportunity