Mini Lesson 2- Abbey

Title of Lesson: Gender plays a role in everyday objects
Big Idea: Ideologies/Visual Culture
Essential Questions:

• What do you think of when we say boy? And girl?
• What things are stereotypical boy things and girl things?
• Who decided this categorization of these things?
• What role does the media have in pushing these ideas?
• How does these stereotypes affect our identities?

Objective: The student will explore the big idea of gender ideologies by exploring their visual culture. From birth we are exposed to these societal norms of gender--in the hospital we are put in a blue or pink blanket depending on our gender. This is only expanded upon immensely in our everyday experiences with society and culture through ads, toys, clothes, movies, etc. The student will also explore how this defines who we are as individuals. The student will understand found object sculptures and artists who work in that media, as well as artists working with visual culture and gender.
Lesson Vignette:

• Anticipatory set:
• Start with a slide show of of everyday objects and have the class say whether the object is for a girl or boy.
• Then discuss what cues directed their answers. Does it have to do with color? Shape? Function? etc.
• Look at artists such as JeongMee Yoon and Robert Bradford
• Of Yoon: How does he use gender stereotypes in his work? What objects does he use to exemplify his message? How does using children and toys send a different message than if he used adults?
• Of Bradford: How is Bradford using found objects in an interesting way? What statement is he making with the final form of the sculpture? What does the juxtaposition of the objects and the final form say?
• Body of lesson:
• Students in groups would brainstorm objects that could be used to symbolize male and female. Then they will be asked to choose one item from the list that they feel best represents the gender. And then as a group they would gather objects that fit the stereotype of each gender. As the teacher, I would probably provide more objects as not all students may have access to enough things to bring in.
• Within their groups they would compile their objects and use them to build  a sculpture of their chosen stereotypical object. These sculptures should be larger in size. In the end the groups will end up with two sculptures: one male and one female.
• Once the sculptures are complete, we will photograph the pieces and then paint them. The male sculptures will be pink and the female will be blue.

• Closure:
• A great summary would be a gallery walk of the shadows created and asking the students to create stories of each in their journal. This will give them an opportunity to decode the visual cues and explore the story-telling aspect of the lesson further by creating their own.