ART · Week 2 · LAUNCH · Identity in Art · Arts Award Silver · Unit 1 Part A

Symbolism & the Self-Portrait

If I were an object… an animal… weather…

🔣🪞🌩️🎨📓

Today is a hands-on lesson — we learn by doing.

ARRIVAL TASK · do now, no help needed

Object, animal or weather? Sort the symbols

Tap a card, then tap where it belongs. Have a go — wrong answers are welcome here.

While you wait: answer silently in your head: if you were weather today, what weather?

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

LO: To develop an identity self-portrait in my chosen media and reflect on my choices.

✓ I can choose symbols through the object/animal/weather game.

✓ I can develop my surreal self-portrait in my chosen media.

✓ I can reflect on WHY I made each choice, in my journal.

Success criteria: By the end you will have played the symbolism game, developed your surreal identity self-portrait in the media your Week 1 hands chose, photographed each stage, and written the Silver reflection: not just what you did — WHY. A Black History Month artist study anchors the influence wall (Unit 1 Part A).

GCSE Stretch: refine with media experiments and annotation — three quick tests of one effect, annotated, sketchbook-style.

STARTER · talk task

The game with no wrong answers

If you were an OBJECT, what object? An ANIMAL? A WEATHER? With your partner, answer at least one — and then the real question: what does your answer KNOW about you that a mirror doesn’t?

Sentence stems:
“I’d be a ___ because…”
“A mirror shows my face; my answer shows my…”
“The weather one is hardest because…”

I DO · teacher explains

Symbols do the talking; media set the voice

🔣 The game is a tool

Object/animal/weather answers ARE symbols — Kahlo’s hummingbirds and thorns are the same move, painted. Your answers seed today’s portrait.

🎨 Media chosen on purpose

Collage fragments? Ink that bleeds? Digital layers that ghost? At Silver you choose media FOR a reason — and the reason goes in the journal.

📷 Develop in stages

Stage photos as you build: each one a decision made visible. Development, not perfection, is what Part A assesses.

📓 Reflect = why

“I used torn edges” is a diary. “I used torn edges because nothing about that year felt clean-cut” is a REFLECTION. Silver pays for the because.

Misconception: ~~“Reflection just means describing what you did.”~~ Description is the diary; reflection adds the WHY — the choice, the alternative you rejected, the effect you wanted. One because per stage turns a diary into a Silver journal.

WE DO · together on the board

What could each symbol stand for? Sort them

HANDS-ON · the main event

Develop the portrait 🪞

Ground rule (60 seconds): symbols are personal property — nobody decodes anyone’s work uninvited, and “I’d rather not say” ends any question, no follow-up.

Station 1 · THE GAME

Object, animal, weather — choose your three (or one, done deeply). One line each on why, verbal or written. These seed the portrait.

Station 2 · DEVELOP

Build the surreal self-portrait in your chosen media — your symbols working, your face optional. Stage photos at every real decision.

Station 3 · REFLECT

Journal: each stage photo gets its because — “I chose ___ because ___”. Oral rehearsal first is a route; the BHM artist-influence line joins here.

GCSE Stretch: media experiments: the same effect tried three ways, annotated — which won, and why. That page IS GCSE development.

EVIDENCE · Arts Award Silver portfolio · Unit 1 Part A (development + reflection)

Capture your evidence

Stage photos + reflections are the evidence. Journal lines (oral rehearsal first counts):

My name:

My strongest symbol and its because (share what you choose):

One media choice I made on purpose, and why:

Skills I used today (tick with your TA): Creativity · Analysis · Independence

Feedback loop: your teacher will deep-mark one part of this in dark green and draw a Yellow Box. Next lesson you respond inside it in a coloured pen of your choice.

EXIT TICKET

Show what you know

1. A reflection differs from a diary because it…

2. At Silver, media are chosen…

3. Part A assesses your…