Lesson Goal: Students will use visual imagery and a story to describe a chair that is perfect for them using evidence from the story and visual imagery to support their choice of a particular chair. This lesson can take place at the chair wall in the Design Gallery (K116) of the Milwaukee Art Museum. Or, it can be done in the classroom using the Collection website to share a wide variety of chairs to choose from. Images can be printed or you can create a slide with a variety of chairs you choose.
Look: Look at the collection of chairs. What details do you notice? Do you see any chairs that you like? Why do you like them? Which one would you like to sit in? Which one does not look comfy to sit in? If you could pick one chair, which would you choose?
Read: Read one of the following stories as a whole group. Have the students discuss what was the perfect seat/chair for the main character? What were some ways the characters describe different chairs in the story? Have students think about what qualities the perfect chair for them should have.
Story Suggestions:
The Perfect Seat by Minh Lê & Gus Gordon
The Perfect Chair by Nandini Naya
My Grandpa’s Chair by Jiyeon Pak
Share: Divide students into small groups. Have each student take a turn to share which chair from the collection they chose, why they chose this chair out of all the others and why it would be the perfect chair for them.
Arts Integration Addition: Ask students to sketch their chair in the middle of a piece of paper. Then they can draw the perfect place or space around it. On the back, students can describe the qualities that make this chair the perfect chair for them.
Standard: SL.1.5 Create an original or utilize existing visual displays to support descriptions to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Evaluation Criteria:
Proficient: Student provides reasoning behind why they choose this specific piece of art. They make relevance to themselves on why it is the best to them.
Approaching Expectations: Student explains which chair is their favorite but makes little to no connection to why it is the best. They are able to describe what their chair looks like.