Last updated: December 16, 2021
Lesson Plan
George Washington Carver - The Artist: To Be of the Greatest Good
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- State Standards:
- Missouri Learning Standards Visual Arts:
3.VA.1.A,B; 3.VA.2.A,B
4.VA.1.A,B; 4.VA.2.A,B; 4.VA.11.A
Missouri Learning Standards Social Studies:
3.H.3.B.b; 3.H.3.C.a; 3.EG.5.D; 3.RI.6/E
4.EG.5.D; 4.EG.5.F - Additional Standards:
- National Visual Arts Standards – Media Arts:
Cr1.1.3; Cr2.1.3;CR3.1.3
Cr1.1.4; Cr2.1.4; CR3.1.4 - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations.
Essential Question
How did George Washington Carver's career choice help other people?
Why did he work to find usefulness in discarded items?
Objective
This is one lesson from the unit plan, George Washington Carver - The Artist. Students will learn about Carver’s hobby of finding new uses for trash and other discarded items. Students will use positive and negative space while planning an aesthetically pleasing design on cardboard.
Background
By 1891 Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts had become a leading center of agricultural education and research. The faculty in 1891 included men of widely recognized ability who later left for distinguished careers with the federal government. George Washington Carver received superior training in agriculture that later provided beneficial to his career.
During his time at Ames, Iowa he paid his way through college by doing menial jobs on campus and in town. Carver also played the guitar and gave lessons to a classmate. He gratefully accepted others’ discards, and one student recalled that Carver “would cut up and save used wrapping paper and his classmates would turn over their stub pencils to him for the purpose of his note taking.” He recycled old burlap and string bags into functional and attractive needlework. Bark fibers were woven into mats. Reusing discarded materials was a hobby that Carver practiced throughout his life.
He did not neglect his art either. He sometimes went on sketching trips and presented several faculty members and students with his paintings. Because of his wide-ranging abilities and warm personality, George Washington Carver was popular with other students. He was assigned research responsibilities and taught freshmen biology courses during his post-graduate studies. His ability to inspire and instruct extended beyond the students under his immediate charge.
Nearing the completion of work for his Master of Agriculture degree in 1896, Carver discovered that he had several options for his future. He lamented that he had given up his cherished work as an artist because “it would not do to his people as much good as a thorough knowledge of the sciences of agriculture, which he might impart to them.” He was speaking about African American, southern farmers.
On April 12, 1896, George Washington Carver enthusiastically declared that “it has always been the one ideal of my life to be the greatest good to the greatest number of ‘my people’ possible and to this end I have been preparing myself for these many years; feeling as I do that this line of education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom to our people.” Carver accepted Booker T. Washington’s job offer for a position at Tuskegee Institute to uplift African Americans in southern Alabama, who certainly needed help to rid themselves of the legacies of slavery: poverty, poor education, inefficiency, and economic dependence.
Upon arrival at Tuskegee, Carver expressed that he did not expect to teach many years. His hope was to “. . . engage in my brush work, which will be of great honor to our people showing to what we may attain, along science, history, literature, and art.” However, George Washington Carver’s work at Tuskegee lasted for the remainder of his life. Rising at four o’clock each morning, he often worked late in his laboratory, yet managed to turn out more than forty paintings, consisting of oil, charcoal, watercolor, natural dyes, and pen-and-ink sketches during his years at Tuskegee.
Preparation
Assemble the following supplies:
cardboard from shipping boxes
cut cardboard with utility knife into nice sized squares or triangles
precision cutting knives or utility knives
tempera or acrylic paints
brushes
Materials
Download George Washington Carver - The Artist Curriculum
Lesson Hook/Preview
Have you ever pulled something out of the trash pile to use again? Maybe you cut up cardboard boxes for baseball bases. Look around the room or school and find something that could have been thrown in the trash but is now being reused for a different purpose.
Procedure
- Conduct a short lesson using the background information.
- Have students sketch a simple organic design onto the cardboard, i.e., flower, word or words using bubble letters.
- Emphasize positive and negative space.
- Have students trace pencil lines with the utility knives, pushing hard enough to cut through the top layer of cardboard, but not all the way through the other side.
- Students will peel the top layer away where desired. Make sure students leave an area uncut for each area extracted.
- The corrugation creates a recess and texture.
- Have students paint the corrugated areas first using lighter colors.
- Paint the background with darker colors or opposites.
Vocabulary
positive space - the element in art where the subject is positioned; the main focus
negative space - the area surrounding the the subject; the background
corrugation - material that is shaped into parallel ridges or grooves
texture - the way things feel or look as though they might feel if they were touched
focal point - the center of interest of an artwork; the part you look at first
recess - areas which are hard to see because light does not reach them or they are hidden
recycle - reuse of or finding new uses for discarded items
Assessment Materials
Constructed Response or Essay Question:Why do you think George Washington Carver made the decision to go to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to become the Director of Agriculture?
Supports for Struggling Learners
Some students will need help with using the cutting tool and peeling the top layer of cardboard.
Enrichment Activities
Instead of the corrugated cardboard project, you could have students bring old bottles, cans, boxes, fabrics, paper towel or toilet paper tubes, any throw away items that can be used in creating a sculpture. (You will need to use hot glue to secure these items together into a sculpture). You could even have it as a homework assignment or for extra credit if they bring it to school.
Additional Resources
Watch the film George Washington Carver - A Man of Character: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=6FA1262D-CD71-4C9D-A77C-D477D96D7727
Distance learning is available. Request a virtual visit with the park rangers at George Washington Carver National Monument: 417-325-4151
Related Lessons or Education Materials
For more art lessons based on George Washington Carver’s life, download the unit, George Washington Carver – The Artist from this lesson plan.