Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What we've been doing:  This week we studied Renaissance artists.  It started back in December when I bought a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask from La Sirena.  I love using costumes and props, but it has been difficult to do that here in the DR.  The boys love TMNTs, so I figured I could use the mask for something.

I threw out the question on Twitter, asking for help.  I wondered if anyone had any ideas for how to incorporate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into teaching middle schoolers.  One lady suggested I use it for teaching the Renaissance artists.  What a brilliant idea, I thought.

MONDAY: Michelangelo

This was my favorite day.  I put the mask right next to the white board.  I asked the boys what they thought we would start learning about.

We started off by taking some notes about the life of Michelangelo.  We watched a video of the Sistine Chapel that walked through the intricate details of the panels on the ceiling.  Michelangelo also wrote a poem about what it was like to paint the ceiling.  This website has the lyrics and audio of a gentleman reading the poem.  Then I told them we would also be painting like he did today.

I had taped paper under their desks/tables during lunch.  We used story dice for inspiration of what to paint.  They laid on the floor and painted there masterpieces.  Here were the results.

Andrew made a star.  Joseph made a black helmet.  Isaac made a bloody ax, and a sunset.  Next time I might have them paint something more Renaissance-y.  But it was still SUCH a fun day.

TUESDAY: Leonardo

We began the day by reading a mini article about the life of Leonardo and about the Mona Lisa.  Then, I showed them 20 different parodies of Mona Lisa.  In one example she was a balloon animal, in one example she had short hair, in one example she had duck lips and an iPhone, in one example she was a Lego creature... The boys loved looking at the different samples.
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Then I told them they were going to update the Mona Lisa.  Here were there final products.

WEDNESDAY: Donatello

Donatello was a sculptor.  After learning briefly about his life, the boys sculpted using aluminum foil.  Here were the creations they made.

Isaac made a duck/dragon with poop.  Joseph made a knight/soldier on a horse.  Andrew made a creature with a cigar.  I made a ballerina (thank you Joanna for adding the skirt to her!).  

THURSDAY: Raphael

Today we looked at the life of Raphael.  I am learning so much along with the boys.  Raphael mysteriously died on his 37th birthday.  At 11-years-old he was running his father's workshop after his dad died.  We looked at the pictures he painted in the Vatican, as well as some of his architecture and portraits.

I found this awesome website with lots of lesson ideas for the Renaissance time period.  I used this lesson plan and adapted it to fit Raphael.  I had the boys write two mini-essays.  One from the point of view of the artist (Raphael) and one from the point of view of the subject.  I gave them three different portraits to choose from.  They were really creative.  If we had more time I would have had them type them and put them on their blogs.  I might have them do that next week, actually.

The boys really wanted to do self-portraits like Raphael, which next time I probably would spend an extra day or two to complete.  I will fit those in a different unit somehow, because they were very excited to paint themselves.

Another change I would have made was to start the week by looking at the clip from the TMNT movie where April talks about the names of the turtles.  This would be a neat intro and connect to the lives of my students.