Between 2005 and 2013, the Terra Teacher Lab served Chicago Public Schools teachers through an annual year-long professional development program focused on the history of American Art. A variety of tools and resources were developed for and through the Teacher Lab. These include tools for lesson development and assessment, graphic organizers for student use, and guides for working with American art in classroom and museum settings.
Lesson Development Tools
- Lesson Plan Template
- Identifying Key Information about Works of American Art
- Class Content Plan for School Year
- Infer from Images
Lesson Plans
In developing these lesson plans, Terra Teacher Lab participants thought about what subjects they teach and where American art could most effectively fit into their curriculum. Feedback from faculty and fellow participants and classroom testing helped hone these plans into the final products shown below:
- “Art and Propaganda” by Craig Segal
- “Mood and Emotion in Painting and Poetry” by Jana Kopczick
- “Painting as Narrative and a Complement to Literature” by Sandra Shimon
- “Portraits as Records of Individuals, Times, and Places” by David McKoski
- “Migration, Relocation, and Segregation” by Cheryl Lynch
