American Identity Collage

Civics is the study of the privileges and obligations of citzens.  In an arts integration lesson the civics teacher collaborated with the arts integration specialist to offer a project that incorporated the recent lesson about rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.  The team developed a project in which the students would express how they identify as an American.  The art form selected was collage (technique of art creation used in the visual arts which is a result fom an assemblage of different shapes and materials, i.e. overlapping pieces of meterial such as photographs, paper, fabric) .

Objectives and Process

• Students discussed the  privileges and obligations of citizenship in America and were provided a prompt that asked "How they identify as an American citizen?" 

• Students were introduced to the Elements of Art and Principles of Design allowing them to learn the important components of a composition.  They were then introduced the art of collage and create a collage that reflects their American Identity. They must include some of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. 

• Students creatively expressed their personal understanding of what it is to be an American citizen through the medium of collage. 

Outcome: Students are exposed to the art form of collage as well as learn about the elements of art and principles of design. From their understanding of rights and responsibilities as a citizen of the US, students will use images, photographs, text, other 2-D materials to produce a personal expression of their identity as an American.