Darcy NickelDever School

5th Grade Writing

Teaching Expository Essay Writing through

The Rock by Peter Blume

Peter Blume (1906 - 1992)The Rock, 1944 - 48Oil on Canvas; 57 5/8 x 74 3/8 in.The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956.338

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 man’s 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.

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. 

What I Wanted Students to Learn:

.....how to analyze an artist’s 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.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Close Read of The Rock:

•Making Observations

•Expanding & Elaborating Sentences

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Close Read of The Rock: Defining Themes

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Creating a Thesis Statement

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Prewriting th

e Expository Essay

LEARNING ACTIVITIESMoving through the Writing Process to Create a Published Expository Essay

LEARNING ACTIVITIESMoving through the Writing Process to Create a Published Expository Essay

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.

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.