II. Lesson Plan and Activities
The Rainforest ArtLink Interactive VideoConference (IVC)
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings
What is culture? Art is a universal language that can convey cultural
norms and values.
What are values and how do they help define one’s
culture? Expanding one’s awareness of other cultures
enhances appreciation of the lives of peers living in
another country.
How does the environment affect my partner’s daily
life? How does it affect my own? One’s natural environment affects one’s culture.
What is the connection between my partner’s
environment and my own? Elements of the environment are interconnected and
depend on each other for survival.
Activity
1. IVC
overview
Description and Important Points
Materials
To prepare your class, share an overview of what the IVC includes:
• Welcome: Greeting in both one’s own and the partners’ native
languages, sharing the current time, weather conditions and what one
sees outside of the classroom window.
• Display of Partner Art: Students hold up all the pieces of art so each
partner student can see his/her piece.
• Back-and-Forth Dialogue: Questions and replies between the students
and the artists of the five pieces selected by each partner class. More
general (open) questions are explored.
• Cultural Presentation: Each class presents a two minute song or dance
from their culture.
• Wrap-up and Farewell
2. Preparing
for the
IVC
a. Ask for class volunteers to share the information in the opening
‘Welcome’ session (local time, current weather, view outside
classroom window).
b. With class, review partner’s art pieces and select 5-10 they would
like to examine more closely – ones of particular interest or which
are the richest in cultural detail. Try to ensure that at least one
piece illustrates the importance of their environment.
c. Once selected, brainstorm a list of the questions for each piece to
ask the actual artist and/or the whole class. Students refer back to
the Partner Art Analysis forms they completed when first examining
their partner’s pieces. Ask “what,” “how,” “why,” “who” or “where”
questions, rather than ones that only require a “yes” or “no” answer.
Questions and observations can come from the art, the artist
descriptions or both. Include a question touching on the
importance of the environment in specific about the rainforest.
d. Assign one or two students to display each of the 5-10 selected
pieces and to ask the questions. Remind your students that once a
question has been answered, anyone may ask follow-up questions
or offer observations.
Back to Table of Contents
2019 Rainforest ArtLink Program “Heritage”
The full set
of your
partner’s art
pieces with
the Artist
Description
Sheets
The
completed
set of
Partner Art
Analysis
forms
Page 51