<p>In this collection, students will analyze the importance of representation, reflect on the role of discrimination in the mid-20th century and reflect on the role of protest in American citizenship. </p> <p>This lesson plan was written by NPG Teen Programs Specialist, Sahtiya H. Hammell.</p>

<p>In this lesson, students will analyze the power of perspective, reflect on "drawn journalism" as portraits, and engage in meaning making around objects in their lives using portraits by artist Wendy McNaughton.<br></p> <p>This lesson plan was written by NPG Teen Programs Specialist, Sahtiya H. Hammell.</p>

<p>What is our relationship to the rest of the natural world, and what are our responsibilities toward it? How do scientific, political, social, economic, aesthetic, and moral considerations factor into our decisions? In this collection learn about key people—scientists, politicians, activists, writers, and artists—whose work has influenced attitudes toward the environment in the United States.</p> <p>This collection includes portraits from <a href="https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/forces-nature-voices-shaped-environmentalism-0"></a><em><a href="https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/forces-nature-voices-shaped-environmentalism-0">Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism</a></em> on view at the National Portrait Gallery October 20, 2023 - September 2, 2024.</p>

<p>Follow the clues to uncover the mysteries of the Lansdowne portrait at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Each correct answer will help you learn something about George Washington and the portrait!</p> <p>#NPGteach</p>

<p>This Learning Lab Collection complements the National Portrait Gallery's DCPS third grade student program series, Dynamic Figures: Then and Now <br></p> <p></p> <p>The Dynamic Figures: Then and Now series utilizes portraiture to create cross curricular connections.  During the academic year, DCPS third grade classes will have the opportunity to experience the National Portrait Gallery for three unique visits during the fall, winter, and spring.  Whether a third grade class attends one, two or all three sessions, students will be  exposed to the power of portraiture at varying degrees.  This program aligns directly with learning goals for the third grade.  Through interactive discussions as well as sketching, writing, and kinetic activities, students will read, solve problems, compare and contrast portraits across the collection.  Students will learn how to “read” a portrait and recognize the value of portraiture in an array of settings and circumstances. </p> <p></p> <p>After completing this lesson, students will be better able to:</p> <ul><li>Identify important Americans and analyze their contributions to U.S. History</li><li>Identify key components of a portrait and discuss what we can learn about the sitter through these components</li></ul> <p></p> <p>#NPGteach</p> <ul></ul>

<p>In this lesson, students will analyze portraits included on American money, explore American symbolism and learn more about the time in which the currency was created.  Students will also have the opportunity to listen to the perspectives of art historians and former Treasurers, and explore the applications portrait in American money past, present, and future.</p> <p>This lesson plan was written by NPG Teacher Advisory Board Member Tom Bober who works as the District Library Coordinator + Library Media Specialist at the School District of Clayton in Clayton, Missouri.<br></p> <p></p>

<p>Explore portraits from "Kinship" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in this Learning Lab collection.</p> <p>"Kinship" features the work of eight contemporary artists who illuminate the complexities of our closest interpersonal relationships through portraiture. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ruth Leonela Buentello, Jess T. Dugan, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jessica Todd Harper, Thomas Holton, Sedrick Huckaby, and Anna Tsouhlarakis poignantly visualize the nuances of this theme within and outside of family units. Through painting, photography, sculpture, and performance, the artists reveal how kinship, by its very nature, embraces contradictions. They also highlight the crucial role that storytelling and memories have in connecting different generations, encompassing both the living and the dead.</p> <p>When we started working on this project in 2018, there was no way we could have predicted that its core concepts were about to be tested on a global scale. The separation and overwhelming loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the renewed calls for social and environmental justice, and recent armed conflicts have deepened the resonance of the exhibition’s themes. Vulnerability, intimacy, privacy, community, familiarity, and recognition have all been questioned and realigned, underscoring how portraiture provides a shared space for empathy and understanding.</p> <p>Kinship <em>is the latest in the museum’s </em>Portraiture Now<em> series, which was established in 2006 to highlight contemporary artists whose work focuses on portraiture or figurative art.</em></p> <p><em>...<br></em></p> <p><em>Parentescos presenta a ocho artistas contemporáneos que abordan a través del retrato las complejidades de nuestras relaciones interpersonales más estrechas. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ruth Leonela Buentello, Jess T. Dugan, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jessica Todd Harper, Thomas Holton, Sedrick Huckaby y Anna Tsouhlarakis visualizan con emotividad los matices de este tema dentro y fuera de las unidades familiares. En pintura, fotografía, escultura o performance, los artistas revelan que el sentido de parentesco —sea por afecto, afinidad o sangre— acoge contradicciones por su propia naturaleza. Asimismo destacan el rol crucial de los relatos y recuerdos en cuanto conectan a las generaciones, a los vivos y los muertos.<br><br>Al iniciar este proyecto en 2018, no anticipamos que sus conceptos medulares pronto serían puestos a prueba a escala global. La separación y la abrumadora pérdida causadas por la pandemia de COVID-19, el renovado reclamo de justicia social y ambiental y los recientes conflictos armados han exaltado la resonancia de los temas de esta exposición. Las nociones de vulnerabilidad, intimidad, privacidad, comunidad, familiaridad y reconocimiento han sido todas cuestionadas y reajustadas, poniendo de relieve el retrato como espacio compartido de empatía y comprensión.<br></em></p> <p><em><br></em></p>

<p>In this lesson, students will explore editorial cartoons as portraits and how the satirical art of cartoonists is reflective of their perspectives and time in American history. By comparing two National Portrait Gallery collection portraits, (<a href="https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.72.2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Richard Nixon</em></a> by Norman Rockwell, <a href="https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.78.TC178?destination=edan-search/default_search%3Fedan_local%3D1%26edan_q%3Dwatergate%252Bbreaks%252Bwide%252Bopen" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Watergate Breaks Wide Open</em></a> by Jack Davis) students will discover similarities and differences in how political figures are portrayed. Students will also have the opportunity to listen to the perspectives of art historians and contemporary editorial cartoonists and explore the applications of satirical art past and present. </p> <p>This lesson plan was written by NPG Teacher Advisory Board Member Christoper Evans ALM, M.ED, who works as a Social Studies Teacher at Basha High School in Chandler, AZ.<br></p> <p></p>

<p>This collection<em> </em>features portraits of <em>The Atlantic'</em>s celebrated authors. Each portrait is accompanied with perspectives by contemporary <em>Atlantic </em>writers who reflect on the lives and legacies of earlier ones. </p> <hr> <p><em>It was the spring of 1857. America was divided, and war would soon come. In Boston, some of the country's most esteemed writers gathered to launch a magazine, one that would argue against slavery and for the union. They had much in common: a profound hatred of human bondage; an equally profound love for America’s deepest values; and patrician, tripartite names (James Russell Lowell, Ralph Waldo Emerson). It was men only that day, though the founders had as an ally the most important writer in America, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who endorsed their aims but stayed away because alcohol was being served.</em></p> <p>The Atlantic,<em> a founding statement declared, would be "fearless and outspoken" and "of no party or clique," and would cover politics, literature, science, and the arts. Its special focus on abolition widened to include racial justice and civil rights on a broad front—the themes of this exhibition. Sometimes with prescience, sometimes with false steps, the editors and contributors sought to advance an ever-evolving concept they called “the American idea.”</em></p> <p>The Atlantic<em> today has a global readership and the range of contributors is wide. Its commitment to the idea that America is forever capable of becoming a more perfect union remains undiminished.</em></p> <p><em>Here, contemporary </em>Atlantic<em> writers reflect on earlier ones.</em></p> <p>-Jeffery Goldberg</p> <p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jeffrey-goldberg/">Jeffrey Goldberg </a>is the editor in chief of <em>The Atlantic</em> and a recipient of the National Magazine Award for Reporting. </p> <hr> <p>#NPGteach</p> <p><br></p>

<p>A portrait is a type of artwork created by artists that illustrate the likeness or image of a person or persons. They can lend insights into history and biography. Portraits can also prompt writing in the classroom, inspire students to create self-portraits, and even offer fruitful ties to multiple disciplines, such as science and mathematics.</p> <p>In this Learning Lab Collection, educators will learn how to teach students to spot visual clues in portraits and respond to them. In order for students to do so, they need a set of tools to guide them. In this section, educators will find the following tools:<br></p> <ul><li><em>Defining Portraiture</em> provides educators with a basic lexicon on portraiture.</li></ul> <ul><li><em>Elements of Portrayal</em> are a series of visual clues that can help students observe and analyze portraiture. Moreover, these different elements relay not only the story of a portrait’s sitter but also the historical and social context in which the portrait was created.</li></ul> <ul><li><em>Teaching Strategies</em> are a series of protocols that educators can use alongside portraits to bolster learners’ engagement and study. Some of these will be used in some of the lessons throughout the Out of Many curriculum guide.</li></ul> <ul><li><em>Introducing Portraiture to Students</em> describes an activity that educators can use to begin working with portraits. Students may also fill out the <em>Reading Portraiture</em> graphic organizer as they investigate each portrait.</li></ul> <p>Reading Portraiture 101 is associated with the Out of Many Curriculum Guide Series, of which <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/pPEjlxzvSDYKI29e">Expanding Roles of Women</a> is the first.</p> <p>#NPGteach</p>

<p>How can portraiture reveal what it means to be an American in a global context? Inspired by Educating for Democracy's <a href="https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org/the-roadmap/7themes/#people-in-the-world">"A People in the World" theme</a>, this collection gathers resources and pedagogical approaches to support the 2022 <em>Smithsonian Summer Sessions</em> workshop, “Exploring “A People in the World” Through Contemporary Portraiture,” by introducing techniques to engage students in civic engagement.</p> <p>Workshop facilitated by National Portrait Gallery Educators Irina Rubenstein and Briana Zavadil White.</p> <p><strong>Learning Objectives</strong></p> <p>Students will:<br></p> <ul><li>Engage in observation and analysis of portraiture (visual literacy; critical thinking)​</li><li>Explore different experiences and perspectives in order to examine what it means to be "a people in the world."​</li><li>Utilize portraiture to connect to the bigger picture and educate for global competence.</li></ul> <ul></ul> <p>#SummerSessions #NPGteach</p>

<p>What makes a successful poster? How can posters be used as a call to action? Inspired by Educating for Democracy's <a href="https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org/the-roadmap/5designchallenges/#motivatingagency-sustainingtherepublic1608806809328">Design Challenge: Motivating Agency/Sustaining the Republic</a>,  this collection gathers resources and pedagogical approaches to support the 2022 <em>Smithsonian Summer Sessions</em> workshop, “Motivating Agency with Posters,” exploring techniques to invite close looking, brainstorming, and poster making.</p> <p>Workshop facilitated by Kirsten McNally (Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum) and Briana Zavadil White (National Portrait Gallery).</p> <p><strong>Learning Objectives</strong></p> <p>Students will:</p> <ul><li>Learn how to read a poster</li><li>Understand what makes a successful poster</li><li>Explore how posters are used as a call to action</li><li>Create posters that motivate agency</li></ul> <ul></ul> <p>#SummerSessions #NPGteach</p>