Anyone who has visited my classroom has seen that I often use art to establish academic rigor with students. One idea that a teacher may use is to "jigsaw" (literally) the art, giving only a piece of the complete work to a group of students for analysis. When I saw this piece at the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown, Virginia, the complete painting shown below, I remembered using is in recent years to being a particular lesson. Then I started taking the painting apart in my mind. I wondered if the entire painting would be better utilized by taking it apart, for real, in a classroom setting. I took a series of photos of this painting, each centered on a different section of the action depicted, imagining providing each group a different piece of that action. |
"What does it all mean?" I might ask. In fact, I may not introduce that main part, posted above, at the top of these thoughts. Students may not see anything of the toppling statue of King George III until after a discussion of the other parts. Only after that final piece is mulled over will I reveal the entire piece intact. It is an intriguing piece at that, leading us to even more contemporary events of other statues being destroyed by mobs. |