City of Phoenix Office of Arts & Culture
MAKING PLACES DESIGN CURRICULUM
Curriculum Designer: Sherry Kafka Wagner
PROJECT PLAN: After School Program for Grades 4 and 5
Paul Laurence Dunbar School
PROJECT NAME: MAKING PLACES
Purpose: This project is designed to teach thinking using the arts integrated
with academic knowledge. Students will explore their neighborhood to learn how
places are formed in our society. Working from students‟ experience with their
neighborhood, this course of study will acquaint them with concepts of public art,
urban design, planning and development, and architecture while employing math,
science, and language concepts and skills. Visual arts, music, dance, drama,
photography will also be integrated into the course of study. The focus of this
work will be to teach knowledge arts as defined by Harvard‟s Dr. David Perkins:
communicating strategically, insightfully, and effectively; thinking critically and
creatively; putting school knowledge to work in the „real world‟.
Intentions: The intentions which form the basis for this project are:
to provide an active learning experience that will accommodate multiple
learning styles
to lead young learners to an understanding of the built and natural
environment in which they live
to create awareness of the interactive patterns of place and human use
to develop understanding of the role that history, culture, art, and
economics play in forming and maintaining environmental functions
to introduce young learners to concepts of how their environment is
formed and the role of individuals in that process, including artists
to develop skills of observation, investigation, inquiry, analysis, individual
and group creativity
to provide a conceptual framework that will integrate academic content
areas and the arts in a seamless exploration
to strengthen individual and group expression and presentation of
concepts, ideas, and information
Methodology: This curriculum is based on the steps of the creative process:
investigation; selection of pertinent detail; forming a product. A key component
will be the practice of “visible thinking” which documents learner‟s unfolding ideas
as they think through issues, problems, or topics. “Visible thinking” supports the
development of thinking dispositions in several ways: It reveals thinking in
action, it demonstrates the value of intellectual collaboration, and it helps create
a shared culture of thinking that genuinely reflects the ideas of all. All activities
will integrate academic subjects with the tools and skills that the arts provide.
FOURTH GRADE CLASS PLANS: SEMESTER ONE
Week One: Where do I live?
Who Lives with me?
Who are my neighbors?
First, a display of different kinds of maps from different eras and for different
purposes are investigated to determine the purpose of a map and to see how
maps are designs and how they change. Students explore how maps reflect the
intentions and knowledge of the people who make them. Then each child is
given a map (showing district boundaries) and asked to locate their residence on
it. They then incorporate into their map the name of their family/co-residents and
locate and name their neighbors.
With the individual maps as the basis, the class works together on a large map
that is the Paul Laurence Dunbar Fourth Grade Class Map. Once finished, it can
be displayed. The students decide on the style, design, and colors of the group
map before starting to work.
Preparation: map display; map copies at two scales; materials for creating maps
(lots of different choices)
Week Two: Where do I go in the neighborhood?
Each Child takes his/her map and puts on it all the places he/she goes in the
neighborhood: school, church, store, playground, friend‟s house, etc.
The students form groups (Patrols) of four . Each group compiles their
information and works on a map to show their information. Then they discuss the
best way to either transfer this information to the existing map or design a new
group map to show all the information they have generated.
Preparations: Maps and materials for creating them
Week Three: Exploring the neighborhood: Look, Think, Wonder
The class prepares for a trip into the neighborhood (story of Matthew Henson as
basis for determining how an explorer works, what they do: role of planning,
supplies, clothing, time, etc.). Each Patrol prepares an Explorers Plan (where
they will go, what they will look for, the protocols - how they will present
themselves, etc. - what supplies - map, water, etc. - they will need and how they
will carry them). They will determine what questions they want to answer with
their explorations, what they will look for (opportunities for public art) and
document (the elements of form: light, colors, textures, rhythms, movements,
sounds, shapes, lines, spaces) and present their Patrol plan to the Class. The
class discusses and decides on a shared plan with assigned responsibilities for
each patrol.
Preparations: Materials and display of Matthew Henson‟s exploration
experiences; other notable explorers and explorations: large newsprint tablets to
make plans on and easel for presentation.
Week Four: Preparing for the Exploration
They work on a design for their T-shirts. Will they be different or alike?
The class becomes comfortable with cameras by taking pictures of each other for
their badges. They design and make their Patrol Badges and their t-shirts,
gather their supplies and complete Base Camp preparations for their Exploration.
Preparations: t-shirts and materials for designing them; badges, cameras,
printers for photos, water and any other supplies for next day
Week Five: Exploration
The Patrols go on their exploration trip, making notes, taking photos, performing
the tasks they have planned.
Preparation: maps, notepads, badges, t-shirts, any designated supplies, escorts,
etc.
Week Six: Putting It Together
The class examines their exploration journey to find out what they learned. They
review their photographs, notations, etc. Each patrol reports on their
responsibilities.
Together, the group composes The Story of Our Neighborhood Now.
Preparation: Ways to gather and keep documentation; group writing plan
Intersession (Week 7 & 8): Neighborhood Collage (NOTE: If there is no
intersession class this work takes place over the next weeks of the regular
session)
The class works together to design and create a large Neighborhood Collage.
They use the knowledge and materials they have developed (maps, photos,
words) determine not only what it will include from the create large Neighborhood
Collage which makes use of all the knowledge and materials (Photos, drawings,
words from story they have developed, elements of form from observations, etc.)
Preparation: Large format paper for the students to use in designing collage;
necessary art materials; materials developed in the earlier classes
Weeks 9, 10 & 11: How Our Neighborhood Grew
During these sessions the students will study the history of their neighborhood.
First, the students will conduct research (visit the city library local history
collection, Arizona history museum, and any City office that might have
materials). They will create timelines showing how the neighborhood grew and
changed over time; make maps showing the area at different periods; conduct
interviews, research and write biographic sketches of people who lived here.
They will collect copies of historical photographs, documents, as well as
information on art, architecture, furniture, clothing, transportation, music,
entertainment, etc. This material will be available as resource material for the
rest of the work. The students will use this material to develop a play based on
the history of the neighborhood.
Preparation: Field Trip planning and preparation; notebooks, preparation for
material collections and organization; source material available.
Week 12 and 13: Who Lived Here in the Past
The play will be performed with costumes and sets designed by the students..
Following the performance there will be a discussion about real people who lived
here in the past and imaginary characters they can invent who might have lived
here. Each student selects a person (real or imagined) about whom they will
develop a book
Preparation: Materials for costumes (can be paper costumes) and set; make-up.
Photos and historical source materials.
Week 14 & 15: Biography Books
Each student will develop, design, and create a “book” about either a real or
imagined person who did live or could have lived in the Neighborhood.
Week 16: Students Develop a City Hall Exhibit and Program
Students will develop an exhibit showing the maps, collage, T-shirts and badges,
videos/photos, books they have made as preparing a presentation of their play.
They will install the exhibit at City Hall and present their program for the City Hall
employees and for their parents.
Week 17: A Paul Laurence Dunbar Holiday
With Paul Laurence Dunbar‟s poetry as a stimulus, students create poems about
the holiday season. They design and make cards using their poems which they
display and which can be kept by the Principal for a display next holiday season.
FIFTH GRADE CLASS PLANS: Semester One
Week One: Mapping Phoenix
The students begin by each one drawing his/her own map of the city. These
maps are then compared to a number of contemporary map of the city. The
students analyze the maps to see how they were designed and for what purpose.
They decide what they think is important to be shown on a map of the city, then
they create their own large map of Phoenix Today.
Week Two: Becoming City Explorers
The students prepare for becoming City Explorers by considering the
explorations of three great explorers: Bartholomeu Diaz, Ferdinand Magellan,
and Matthew Henson. They will analyze to determine what makes good
explorations (such as planning, preparations, collecting information,
communicating findings, etc.) Based on what they discover, the students will
work on their City Explorations Plan. They will consider where they will go, what
they will need to take (cameras, water, maps, etc.). And they will design and
create Dunbar City Explorer shirts.
Week Three: The Story of Phoenix: How Phoenix Grew – and Why
The first City Exploration trip will be to the Historical Collection of the Public
Library and the History Museum. The students will have prepared their search
assignments in advance. They are looking for how and why Phoenix grew over
the years. They will find stories, photos, maps, pictures of public places and
public art, etc. These materials will be copied and/or photographed and the
students will organize them into their Resource Center. Students will also make
notes and write thoughts, impressions, discovery in their journals, just as the
Explorers did.
Week Four: The Story of Phoenix: How Phoenix Grew – and Why
Now the students begin work on their timeline of how the city grew. They
consider ways to design and present this material that will show not only HOW
the city great -- but WHY – and in what ways. One timeline will chart the
incorporation of art in the community from the beginning to the present day. They
will work on how to present this material on the computer as well as in a visual
format.
Week Five: People of the Past
The students prepare for learning about the historical residents of Phoenix by
deciding on a plan for investigation, beginning with people from Phoenix‟s
history. Presented with a wide array of resources, they will choose how they will
go to learn about people from the past. They will plan places to go for research
and ways to find out names, occupations, interests, life stories, how people lived,
dressed, what they did for fun, etc. Each student will select one person to learn
about. He/She will become the biographer of that person. They will find our the
facts, then they will be asked to imagine that person‟s life
Week Seven: People of the Past
The students prepare to present their people to the group. Each student writes a
story and designs a “book” that presents the story along with visual elements. In
addition, each student prepares a presentation about this person. This
presentation can be done in many ways: by acting as the person, by talking
about the person, by PowerPoint presentation about the person, writing and
performing a song or a dance about the person, etc. The students will determine
how they want to convey this person to an audience so that people really gain
an understanding of this historical character.
Week Eight and Nine: History Play
Students will write, design, costume, and perform a play with dance and music
about the people of the past. The work will start in groups, then the groups will
come together to combine their ideas and form the play. Once the play is
finished, the group will perform it for an audience.
Week Ten: Who Lives Here Now
The students now begin their search to find out who lives here now. They will
work in teams to conduct research. Then they will determine what they need to
find out about the citizens of Phoenix and how they can go about their
investigation. Then they will seek out the information they want and design ways
to share this information with others (using computers, charts, graphs, and
methods they might invent). The teams will combine their research to create a
presentation of People of Phoenix Now.
Week Eleven: Phoenix People: Up-Close and Personal
Working in teams of three, the students select some person in Phoenix that they
want to know more about. They will make plans to interview this person for an
oral history, photograph or video them, learn all they can about them and their
life: where they live, how they came to Phoenix, etc. Then each team prepares
a presentation about their person.
Week Twelve: Exploring Phoenix Today
The students again form Exploration Teams. Each team takes a section of the
city and works on developing information about the form of that section of the
city: location of streets, neighborhoods, shops, offices, businesses, schools,
people, etc. Using census data, information from City departments, maps, transit
information, etc., each team will develop a map and a profile of their section.
Week Thirteen: The Shape of the City
The students are ready to put their information together in a large map that they
will design and create, a map of Phoenix Today. They can also put their
information into other forms that they have determined that will work well to
convey what they have learned about their City.
Week Fourteen and Fifteen: Phoenix Today - Putting it All Together
Now the students bring all their work together and decide how they want to make
an exhibit and a presentation of what they know about Phoenix. They can use
the things they have made: maps, charts, graphs, books, PowerPoint
presentations, photos, videos, play, music, dances, etc. They can work on want
they want to present and how they will present it.
Week Sixteen: Understanding Phoenix: a presentation
This week is the week that the students present what they have learned to an
outside audience of City officials, parents, neighborhood people, the media, etc.
This presentation is the culmination of their first semester of studying Phoenix. It
will be followed by another presentation at the end of the second semester.
Week Seventeen: Happy Holidays, Phoenix
Using what the students know about the city, they create holiday greetings using
the city as a motif. They can make cards, posters, decorations, etc. These
products can be given to the Principal to keep for re-use during holidays to come.