Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

-Robert Frost

*Lesson by Joan Sterling, Feb. 2009 ed. of artsandactivities

Chagall's Valentine

For Valentine's Day, I like to challenge my older classes by introducing them to Marc Chagall.  In the past, when I was working with middle school students taking art as an elective, this led to soft, lovely, thoughtful pastel paintings that were clearly influenced by the themes and images used in Chagall's work.

My current middle school classes are not electives, but instead are classes every student is required to take.  This makes things more challenging (ever dealt with a seventh grader who has no interest in what you're teaching?), but also leads to the occasional moment of brilliance.

The first week, I introduced the students to Marc Chagall by giving them a quick rundown of his biography.  Classes usually get invested once World War II occurs.  I stopped to wait until one sixth grade class quieted down, right at the point where Chagall almost gets stuck in France as the Nazis are invading.  One kid blurted out to his classmates, "Shut up - it's getting interesting!"  Also, I'm pretty sure 90% of the students will have forgotten Chagall's name in the two weeks that have passed, but I'm pretty sure the same 90% will remember his wife's name was Bella.  Thanks, Twilight.

Next, we looked at Chagall's painting 'I and the Village' together.  (And here, may I say - the Smartboard is such an asset for art classes.)  Finally, I had them break up into groups.  Each group was given an image by Chagall.  They were to list figures, objects, the setting, and colors used.  Afterwards, each group presented their findings to the class.  I hadn't done any in-depth art history or analysis with these six classes before, and I was pretty pleased with most of them, both in terms of behavior and critical thinking.

Now that we had identified some themes in his work - from his childhood in a Russian village, to living in Paris as an adult, to couples getting married or in love, to the elements of fantasy included by blending these themes into a single picture -  the assignment was to create one's own image inspired by Chagall. 

As always, I see lots of marauding sheep, lots of green people, lots of human-faced cats, giant chickens, and Eiffel Towers.  We're still working on our pictures, but I wanted to share one in particular, which perhaps doesn't quite follow the assignment, but made me smile anyway...

Happy Valentine's.