​Pilar Pobil - Art, Culture & Identity  |  ARTrageous Online!

Overview
Spanish artist Pilar Pobil shares three modules for ARTrageous online about art, culture and identity.  Named one of Utah's Most Influential Artists by Utah's Art Magazine in 2019, shares how her unique works of art reflect her life journey.  ​At 94 years old, Pilar continues to create art, write, and encourage others to follow their passions in life.
Lesson Plan Includes
​Module 1:  The Spanish Civil War and Art Activism​
​Grades: 7-12  | Time: 1.5 Hours  
​Module 2:  Cultural Identity: Exploring Cultural Identity and Belonging Through Grave Goods and Art​
​Grades: 7-12  | Time: 2 Hours  ​
​Module 3:   Womancipation! Stories of Influential Women Leaders and Gender Equality​
​Grades: 7-12  | Time: 1.7 Hours  
View This Lesson Plan On Canvas >

Videos

Spanish Civil War
This video corresponds with Module 1
​Cultural Identity and Belonging
This video corresponds with Module 2
​Womancipation! On Gender Equality and Leadership
This video corresponds with Module 3

Module 1 - The Spanish Civil War and Art Activism

  • Introduction
  • Curriculum Map
  • Lesson Plan
  • Arts Integration Project
  • Dig Deeper
<
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Salt Lake artist Pilar Pobil takes students on a personal journey into the Spanish Civil War. Through her firsthand account, we learn how as a young girl, from a renowned Spanish aristocratic family, she had to flee her home island of Mallorca and her life is turned upside down when the Republic is attacked by political adversaries and her father is killed. The activities and supplemental materials further engage students in aspects of the Spanish Civil War with an emphasis on how art has played a significant role in bringing the world's attention to this war and why this was important.

"A work of art must make a man react... It must agitate him and shake him up." - Pablo Picasso
STANDARDS TARGETED THROUGHOUT CURRICULUM (PDF)
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
  1. ​What are effective ways to promote reform?
  2. How has art historically been used as activism and to what results?
  3. How do art and literary movements reflect reactions to global events and ideas?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
  1. ​Generate questions to learn more about the Spanish Civil War
  2. Discuss multidisciplinary topics from a variety of perspectives, introduced by self, peers, teacher, and thought leaders
  3. Make predictions and gather details based on a text
  4. Interact with digital storytelling as a learning tool
  5. Articulate the value of experiencing diverse art and culture
  6. Explain how art is an important mode for communicating our human experience
  7. Employ art as an aesthetic tool to communicate important historical and contemporary issues
  8. Incorporate multiple perspectives to provide meaningful feedback on peers' creative work

MATERIALS


Suggested Reading:
1. Spanish Civil War: Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Picasso's 'Guernica': 10 Facts You Didn't Know About the Famous Painting
3. Picasso, 'Guernica'
4. 'Guernica' as Art Activism

Suggested Video:
Spanish Civil War: The Telegraph

Supplies for Protest Panel:
1. Low Tech Activity: Canvas, paints, magazines, scissors, glue
2. High Tech Activity: Digital assets organized in folders
LEARNING OUTLINE
This module is on the Spanish Civil War video presentation. It can be used as a whole learning experience, or in chosen sections as time allows.
  • ​15 minutes:  Launch Activity - Pre-viewing - Asking Questions About the Spanish Civil War
  • 20 minutes:  While viewing - Learning About the Spanish Civil War Through Pilar's Firsthand Account
  • 10 minutes:  Post-viewing - Sharing and Comparing
  • 45 minutes:  Demonstration - Exploring the Spanish Civil War Through Art, Text and Video
  • 15+ minutes:  Making Connections - Making Protest Panels as Civic Action
  • 25 minutes:  Assessment - Art Exhibition, Interpretation, Feedback and Evaluation
LAUNCH ACTIVITY - PRE-VIEWING:  Asking Questions About the Spanish Civil War
[15 minutes]
[Learning Objective 1]
Procedures:
  1. Topic:  Introduction - Exploring the Spanish Civil War and how art can be used for social change. This module presents a local artist whose family lived through the Spanish Civil War
  2. Imagine you had the opportunity to interview her: What questions would you want to ask her? Separate students in groups to generate questions for Pilar Pobil. Guide them as needed to think about questions related to when the war happened, who was involved, the underlying causes, and Pilar's personal experiences.
  3. Group students in a breakout room, or assign them to unique Google Docs to brainstorm their questions collaboratively.
  4. Invite groups to share some of their questions prior to viewing the video.
WHILE VIEWING: Learning About the Spanish Civil War Through Pilar's Firsthand Account
[20 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 3, 4]
Procedures:
  1. Give each student a link to a graphic organizer or cluster map. In their cluster map, have them write "Pilar and Spanish Civil War" in a middle circle. Then label five surrounding circles with "when", "where", "why", "interesting detail", and "something I want to know more about".
  2. Play the video Pilar Pobil - Spanish Civil War (13:49 minutes), pausing as appropriate for students to fill in their graphic organizer. (It is the first video at the top of this page.)
POST-VIEWING: Sharing and Comparing
[10 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 3, 4, 8]
Procedures:
  • Invite students to share notes either in partners, in a group breakout room, posting notes to a discussion forum, or by sharing ideas verbally. Did they have any of the same "interesting details" or things they'd like to know more about? How can they find answers to those "burning questions"?
DEMONSTRATION:  Exploring the Spanish Civil War Through Art, Text and Video
​[45 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 3, 4, 6]
Procedures:
Video link:  Spanish Civil War: The Telegraph (2:12 minutes)
Text link:  Spanish Civil War: Encyclopedia Britannica
Art links:  Picasso's 'Guernica': 10 Facts You Didn't Know About the Famous Painting / Picasso, 'Guernica'

Reading / Pre-viewing
  1. Tell students we are going to explore the Spanish Civil War further through art, reading and watching a short video. Introduce the war with this synopsis: "The Spanish Civil War was a military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. The military coup failed to win complete control of the country resulting in a bloody civil war."
  2. Provide students with this list of questions (Appendix A). Have students read through questions and make predictions about questions 3, 6, 9, and 11. Share predictions and justify their thinking. What information or perspectives inform their predictions?
Reading / While Viewing
  1. Pass students the links to the article and short video and tell students to answer as many questions as they can from the article. Then have them watch the video, and tell them to be prepared to share their responses.
Reading / Post-viewing
  1. Discuss the questions and answers (in small groups, self-assess with a given answer sheet, or discuss as a class).
  2. Did anyone have an accurate prediction for questions 3, 6, 9, or 11?

Exploring the Spanish Civil War Through Picasso's Guernica
  1. Show Picasso's painting Guernica to students (place link in your class chat or discussion forum; share your screen, etc.).
  2. Share the following introduction verbally:  In 1937, Picasso was living in Paris when the Spanish Republican government approached him with a commission to produce a mural that would expose the atrocities of General Francisco Franco and his allies, for their pavilion in that year's World's Fair. The Republicans saw the event as an opportunity to condemn the actions of Franco's Nationalist army. Several months later, on April 26, the city of Guernica was bombed by German aircraft, and the coverage of the widespread devastation drove Picasso to being working on the commission.
  3. Invite students individually, in pairs, or small groups, to interpret Picasso's Guernica. What elements or images do you see? What do you think each represents? What do you think this panel depicts? (There are no wrong answers)
  4. Facilitate a discussion making connections between existing analyses of the piece and the perspectives of the students. Highlight the function of the work as protest art.
    1. What does Picasso's Guernica teach you about the war?
    2. Do you think this was an effective way of communicating a social injustice?
    3. If you were at the World's Fair in Paris in 1937 and saw this, how do you think you would react?
  5. Tell students that no one really knows what influenced the choice of elements in this piece because Picasso never talked about what his art meant. Post or read this excerpt to them:  The strong symbolism in Guernica - like that of the bull and the horse - has been a topic of much debate and discussion, with scholars and art experts coming up with varied interpretations. Picasso, who was naturally approached for an explanation, simply said, "This bull is a bull and this horse is a horse. If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got, I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are."
  6. Discussion:
    1. What do you think about what Picasso said?
    2. What questions would you ask Picasso about this painting if you had the opportunity?
    3. What would you add to this masterpiece?
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Making Protest Panels as Civic Action
[15 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 5, 6, 7, 8]
Procedures:
  1. Invite students to think about the role of art in expressing our experiences.
    1. How did Pilar's art express her experiences and emotions?
    2. How can art serve to convey passions and principles and protest injustices?
    3. How can art be a form of civic engagement?
  2. Have students deep dive into a current issue that is important to them. Give them time to generate ideas (e.g., climate change, Black Lives Matter movement, indigenous peoples' rights, animal rights, etc.)
  3. Show them (share your screen or link) Pilar's protest painting on air quality. Under the Great Seal of the State of Utah
  4. Provide guidelines for students to create their own protest panels. Consider high, low, and no-tech options. They might create a digital collage or digital painting or a more traditional paper and glue collage with images from magazines.
    1. Individually or in pairs
    2. Medium - paint, photography, text, collage, or other
    3. Size
    4. Effective messaging
    5. Explanatory concept paragraph
  5. Determine how they will share their work and give and receive peer feedback. Options listed below under Assessment Strategies #2.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES: Art Exhibition, Interpretation, Feedback and Evaluation
  1. Have students share their protest panels with each other. Discuss and interpret what each other's panels represent.
  2. Showcase student work. Options include:
    1. Zoom (breakout rooms)
    2. Canvas (discussion forums)
    3. Flipgrid (create and share student videos)
    4. Padlet (create a board where students can pin their work and leave comments for peers)
    5. Digital Video (create and share videos using digital storytelling software, e.g.; Adobe Spark)
    6. Google Drive (use Google slides or a Google folder)
Invite students to "dig deeper" on these topics by providing additional options for research and reflection about the Spanish Civil War.

WEBSITE
LITERATURE
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - Tells the story of an American fighting for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War
  • Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell - Tells a personal account of his experiences and observations fighting for the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War
  • All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - Vividly depicts the trauma of trench warfare during World War I through the eyes of a German soldier
  • Lost Illusion from The New Yorker - Article on American soldiers who fought in the Spanish Civil War

Module 2 - Cultural Identity: Exploring Cultural Identity and Belonging Through Grave Goods and Art

  • Introduction
  • Curriculum Map
  • Lesson Plan
  • Arts Integration Projects
  • Dig Deeper
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Salt Lake artist Pilar Pobil discusses what cultural influences shaped her as a young girl in Spain, how she transitioned to life in the United States, and why she now has a burial chamber in her home. This unit explores cultural identity, how art can help us reflect on ourselves, share our story with others, and why this is important.

"The beauty of the world lives in the diversity of its people." - Unknown
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
  1. How does an individual's identity reflect culture?
  2. How is your own cultural history woven into the history of America?
  3. How does one's cultural identity diffuse and change over a lifetime?
  4. How does communicating with people from other cultures improve our world?
  5. How does your cultural identity reflect your surroundings?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
  1. Write about multifaceted identity
  2. Discuss multidisciplinary topics from a variety of perspectives, introduced by self, peers, teacher, and thought leaders
  3. Make predictions and gather details based on a text
  4. Interact with digital storytelling as a learning tool
  5. Reflect on the underlying values of others and oneself
  6. Map identity based on an awareness of the self as a cultural being
  7. Articulate an appreciation of the multicultural world
  8. Initiate and engage in positive intercultural dialogue
  9. Explain how art is an important mode for communicating our human experience
  10. Employ art as an aesthetic tool to communicate important issues
  11. Incorporate multiple perspectives to provide meaningful feedback on peers' creative work

MATERIALS


Graphic Organizers:
Your choice of graphic organizers for the "Pre-viewing" and "Demonstration" sections

Suggested Reading:
1. What are Grave Goods?
2. Weekly View Pop Icon's Grave Goods

Suggested Video:
Emperor Qin's Tomb
(Article with video)
LEARNING OUTLINE
This module is on Pilar's cultural Identity and Belonging video presentation. It can be taught as one 3-hour and 15 minute learning experience, or in sections as time allows.
  • 30 minutes:  Launch Activity - Pre-viewing - Exploring Who We Are and Where We Belong
  • 15 minutes:  While Viewing - Pilar's Intersecting Identity and Belonging Story
  • 35 minutes:  Post-viewing - Reading, Writing and Synthesizing
  • 35 minutes:  Demonstration - Cultural Artifacts and Burial Chambers
  • 35 minutes:  Making Connections - Arts Integration Project 1 - Designing Your Burial Chamber
  • 20+ minutes:  Making Connections - Arts Integration Project 2 - Probing Intersectional Identities Through Full-Self Portraits
  • 25 minutes:  Assessment - Art Exhibition, Interpretation, Feedback and Evaluation
LAUNCH ACTIVITY - PRE-VIEWING:  Exploring Who We Are and Where We Belong
[30 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 11]
Procedures:
  1. Topic:  Exploring cultural identity to better understand ourselves, each other, and appreciate this multicultural world.
  2. In this module we present a local artist in her 90s who identifies as both Spanish and American. She was raised in Spain from 1929 - 1956, and has spent the last 60+ years in Utah. Her identity blends her experiences in both places.
  3. Discussion:
    1. What places have been part of your life so far?
    2. What groups do you belong to?
    3. Can you think of any experiences that have made you who you are?
    4. What do you value?
      (Note to educators: Discussing where one is from can be sensitive. Before this lesson, yo might view this TED Talk by Taiye Selasi: Don't Ask Me Where I'm From, Ask Me Where I'm Local. Can you think of a way to frame the conversation around "where students are local"?)
  4. Share definitions of "culture" and "cultural identity" - Vocabulary
  5. To break down cultural identity further, share something about you - for example: "Part of my cultural identity is that I am a female African-Canadian, raised Catholic in a large, blended family. I have lived in the U.S. for the past 20 years. I am a writer who helps foster dogs as a member of a Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I believe in education for all."
  6. Invite students to reflect on their own cultural identity to strengthen their sense of self. Give students a link to a cluster map. In their cluster map, have them write "Who I Am" in the middle and then fill in the surrounding circles. Some ideas: "nationality", "ethnicity", "religion", "social class", "educational background", "family", "other groups I belong to", and "things and experiences I value."
  7. Have students write a short bio based on what they wrote in their cluster maps.
  8. Invite students to share some of their bios, or post in a discussion forum. Have classmates comment on at least one interesting thing they learn from a peer's bio.
WHILE VIEWING:  Pilar's Intersecting Identity and Belonging Story
[15 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 1, 3, 4, 5]
Procedures:
  1. Give each student a link to the Pilar's Cultural Identity graphic organizer.
  2. Play the video Pilar Pobil - Cultural Identity and Belonging (8:40 minutes). Have students take notes in the graphic organizer as they watch. 
  3. Pause as appropriate for students to take notes.
POST-VIEWING:  Reading, Writing and Synthesizing
[35 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 1, 2, 5, 8, 11]
Procedures:
  1. Have students merge both columns on their graphic organizer by writing a short paragraph at the bottom of the page that describes Pilar's cultural identity.
  2. Invite students to share and compare their paragraphs with a partner (in a breakout room, or by posting a picture of their notes to a discussion forum) and discuss the following:
    1. What does Pilar value?
    2. Did they learn anything new about Spanish and/or American (Utah) culture?
    3. Do they have any of the same "interesting details" or things they'd like to know more about?
  3. As a class, read this interesting detail about Pilar from her book, My Kitchen Table:  "I love people and have many friends but inside I have the feeling I am not entirely like them. And now, when I return to Spain, the same feelings come when I am with my friends there. Because of my life here, I am not like them either. I guess this is how life takes over and shapes you in different ways, according to your surroundings and your experiences. The feeling of separation is not as strong now as it was when I first came to America. At that time, the distance was  was enormous. The world I knew was gone and I had to face a new one, and I did. Even ordinary things were different:  I confused cabbage with iceberg lettuce, I had never eaten corn on the cob or avocados, I had never seen television. I had to learn new ways of expression, not just with language but with perceptions. My husband sometimes teased me and said I had the soul of a Mallorcan peasant because I still do things my own way, sometimes rejecting the  tools the modern world provides. I use modern things when they serve my purpose, but many times doing things the old way serves to preserve my hidden identity, a certain self-expression."
    Give students a moment to reflect, then ask:
    1. Have you ever felt like you were between two cultures?
    2. Have you ever known anyone who was navigating two cultures and not feeling like they fit well in either one?
    3. As a local member of a particular culture, how might you get to know someone who was experiencing your culture for the first time?
DEMONSTRATION:  Cultural Artifacts and Burial Chambers
[35 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9]
Procedures:
Reading
  1. Introduce the topic of grave goods and being buried with things you value by sharing the article What are Grave Goods?
  2. In breakout room pairs, have students respond to the following questions:
    1. Provide three reasons people might be buried with objects.
    2. What were some of the things the Vikings were buried with?
    3. Why do you think they were buried with so much?
Watching
  1. Give students the link to the article Emperor Qin's Tomb. Scroll down to watch the video, China's Terracotta Warriors (2:45 minutes)
  2. In breakout room pairs, have students respond to the following questions:
    1. How was this burial site discovered?
    2. Qin took the throne at 13 years old and soon after ordered laborers to start construction. What did you learn was in this burial site (or mausoleum) and what purpose did it serve?
    3. Emperor Qin's tomb sits still sealed in this excavated burial complex. What do archaeologists think is inside the tomb? Why don't they open it?
    4. What did you learn about this burial site that most amazed you?
  3. As a class, have a few students share how they answered the last question on the Emperor Qin's Tomb section, "What did you learn about this burial site that most amazed you?"
  4. Share the Weekly View Pop Icon's Grave Goods Article about contemporary celebrities and what objects they were buried with. As a class discuss:  What do ancient and modern burials have in common?
MAKING CONNECTIONS - PROJECT 1:  Designing Your Burial Chamber
[35 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Procedures:
  1. Have students choose an item that tells something about their background (e.g., watch, glasses, purse, phone, scarf, etc.) and jot down notes about what this item says about them and their culture.
  2. Have students rewatch Pilar Pobil - Cultural Identity and Belonging video and take notes on what is in Pilar's burial chamber. Encourage them to comment on what is interesting, or what they can relate to.
  3. Discuss how the burial chamber expresses Pilar's cultural identity. Discuss how things we keep are symbolic of what we value. Have a few students share their valued item and how it is "symbolic" of what they value, and who they are.
  4. Now invite students to imagine their own burial chamber. What would they put in their chamber and why? If the burial chamber is too morbid they could imagine what they would put in a time capsule. Ask students, "What would you put in a burial chamber or time capsule that would tell people about who you are?"
    They can work individually (jotting down ideas) or discussing in pairs or in small groups.
  5. Discuss connections between their burial chamber objects / artifacts and the culture(s) they associate with.
    1. How do their burial chamber objects reflect their values?
    2. What value is there in sharing these personal objects?
    3. How does it feel to share this with others?
  6. Have students create their own burial chamber / time capsule by taking photos of their artifacts and creating a tour video posted on YouTube (high tech) to creating a Google slideshow, or putting the photos into a shared folder on Google Docs (medium to low tech), or simply collecting their objects in a box of dedicated area of their home and recording it with photos or describing it with words.
  7. Discussion:
    1. What di the students learn about themselves and others?
    2. How does art help convey cultural identity?
    3. What are the benefits of sharing what we value with others?
    4. In what ways could they encourage family members or others in their community to share in order to better understand and appreciate our multicultural world?
MAKING CONNECTIONS - PROJECT 2:  Probing Intersectional Identities Through Full-Self Portraits
[15+ minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Procedures:
  1. Share this quote from Pilar with students:  "When you leave your native land for good, your life is cut in two." Then show students Pilar's painting called "Two Worlds." Remind them that they saw this in the video, where Pilar explained that this is her self portrait:  she sits in the middle foreground and behind her are two windows. On the left is her grandmother's house on the island of Mallorca, Spain; and on the right is her garden in Utah - where she is now - with its snowy pines.
  2. Invite students to think about the role of art in expressing who you are. How is this an effective way for Pilar to share who she is and how she feels?
  3. Invite students to deeply reflect on their own cultural identity by creating their own self portrait. Their portrait can be realistic, symbolic, or abstract and can represent the past, present or future.
    ​Provide clear guidelines for their work:
    • Size:  8.5 x 11 minimum
    • Content:  1 or more images, presented, overlaid, manipulated or enhanced.
    • Medium:  physical or digital; freehand, photographic, or collage.
    • Have students write a few lines of explanation to accompany their portrait.
  4. Invite low-key or peer grading / feedback systems. Options listed below under Assessment Strategies #2.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES:  Art Exhibition, Interpretation, Feedback and Evaluation
  1. Have students share their burial chambers or time capsules and/or self-portraits with each other and discuss, interpret, and facilitate peer feedback.
  2. Showcase student work. Options include:
    1. Zoom (breakout rooms)
    2. Canvas (discussion forums)
    3. Flipgrid (create and share student videos)
    4. Padlet (create a board where students can pin their work and leave comments for peers.)
    5. Digital Video (create and share videos using digital storytelling software, e.g. Adobe Spark)
    6. Google Drive (use Google slides or a Google folder)
Invite students to "dig deeper" on these topics by providing additional options for research and reflection about cultural identity.

VIDEOS:
PHOTOGRAPH SLIDESHOW:
WEBSITES:
LITERATURE:

Module 3 - Womancipation! Stories of Influential Women Leaders and Gender Equality

  • Introduction
  • Curriculum Map
  • Lesson Plan
  • Arts Integration Project
  • Dig Deeper
<
>
Salt Lake artist Pilar Pobil is a strong advocate for women's rights and her art reflects her views that women are strong and capable. Through a firsthand account, we learn how Pilar was influenced as a young girl by many strong women, whose influence expanded Pilar's young mind on what was possible, allowing her to become the woman she is:  informed with what is going on in the world, and an advocate for more women in politics, business and more. She features women in her sculptures and paintings, and her art plays a significant role in her activism for gender equality.

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." - Harriet Tubman
STANDARDS TARGETED THROUGHOUT CURRICULUM (PDF)
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
  1. ​What strategies can we use to achieve gender equality?
  2. What are the most effective ways to promote reform?
  3. How can art motivate and sustain activism that seeks positive social change?
  4. How has art given a voice to the voiceless?
  5. Why is activism essential for a participatory democracy?
  6. How can students use art to both bear witness and seek change?
  7. How do people determine their affiliations with political parties, special interest groups, or other causes or movements?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
In this module, students will:
  1. ​Generate questions to learn more about gender inequality
  2. Discuss multidisciplinary topics from a variety of perspectives, introduced by self, peers, teacher and though leaders
  3. Make predictions and gather details based on a text
  4. Interact with digital storytelling as a learning tool
  5. Explain how women globally have led positive change
  6. Articulate the value of civic engagement - staying informed and politically active
  7. Explain how art is an important mode for communicating our human experience
  8. Employ art as an aesthetic tool to communicate important historical and contemporary issues
  9. Incorporate multiple perspectives to provide meaningful feedback on peers' creative work

MATERIALS


Graphic Organizer:
Traditional Gender Roles in Spain: 1930-40s

Suggested Research Websites:
1. Madeline Swegle
2. Faye Shulman
3. Malala Yousafzai
4. Khalida Brohi
5. Muslim Girls Making Change
6. Bana Alabed

Youth-Produced Music Video:
Proud to Be a Woman
with Answer Key
LEARNING OUTLINE:​
This module is organized around Pilar's Womancipation! On Gender Equality and Leadership video presentation. It can be taught as one 2-hour and 20 minute learning experience, or in sections that combine as few or many of the activities as time allows. It is designed to be taught in the order below:
  • 15 minutes:  Launch Activity - Pre-viewing - Brainstorming Women's Traditional Roles
  • 20 minutes:  While Viewing / Listening - Pilar's Story About Growing Up Female in Spain
  • 10 minutes:  Post-viewing - Synthesizing-Chatstorm of Influential Women
  • 50+ minutes:  Demonstration - Researching Women Game Changers
  • 20+ minutes:  Making Connections - Identifying Women Leaders and Teaching Others About Them Through Art
  • 25 minutes:  Assessment - Art Exhibition, Interpretation, Feedback and Evaluation
LAUNCH ACTIVITY - PRE-VIEWING:  Brainstorming Women's Traditional Roles
[20 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 1, 2, 3]
Procedures:
  1. Topic:  Exploring women leaders and their civil rights work, focusing on the creative strategies women have used to be effective, be heard, and make positive change.
  2. In this module we present a local artist who grew up in Spain in the 1930s and 40s. In her culture, women were expected to stay home and follow traditional roles. She was influenced at a young age by strong independent women outside her family to question these traditional roles. She managed to become an artist and is now an advocate for women's rights.
    1. What traditional roles do you imagine she was told to follow?
    2. What things do you think she was not supposed to do?
  3. Put students into groups and have them list their ideas of women's traditional roles and generate a few questions for Pilar Pobil. Guide them as needed:
    1. What was it like to grow up as a girl in Spain in that era?
    2. How did she follow her passions and dreams?
    3. What does she advocate for women today?
  4. Invite groups to share some of their questions prior to viewing the video and listening to a passage from PIlar's book.
WHILE VIEWING/LISTENING:  Pilar's Story About Growing Up Female in Spain
[20 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 3, 4]
Procedures:
  1. Give students a link to the Traditional Gender Roles in Spain: 1930-40s graphic organizer.
  2. Read "Dark Stories" passage from Pilar's book, My Kitchen Table, aloud to the class. Discuss what they find surprising. (Appendix A)
  3. Play the video Womancipation! (5:08 minutes) where Pilar talks about growing up as a girl in Spain. Note what she says about her mother's restrictions and others who influenced her. (The video is the third video at the top of this page.)
  4. Pause as appropriate so students can fill in their graphic organizer.
POST-VIEWING:  Synthesizing-Chatstorm of Influential Women
[10 minutes]
[Learning Objectives 2, 5]
Procedures:
  1. Conduct a quick "chatstorm" - Invite students to think for one minute. Ask:  Are there any women in your lives who have had a big impact on how you live and interact with the world around you?
    Tell them when you say "go" they will type names into the chat box. If you don't have a chat option, they can share orally in pairs or 'round robin' with the whole class.
  2. Discuss as a class how Pilar's art reflects her experiences and tells others about important women in her life.
DEMONSTRATION:  Researching Women Game Changers
[50 minutes (time to begin research and presentation; some work will happen outside of class or in another session)]
[Learning Objectives 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9]
Procedures:
Research
  1. Tell students they are going to do a research project on female game changers - teens and women who have made a significant impact and realize positive change in the world by using the arts and public media to share their message.
  2. Assign students to small groups and ask them to research and prepare a class presentation on a female "game changer." For the presentation consider no-to-low tech options like a piece of writing or PowerPoint to high-tech such as creating a profile website in Google sites, or a short video presentation in Adobe Spark Video. Have students include what these women sacrificed for their cause; the tools they used for change, and how; and are they effective, or not. 
    Research options (or select your own):
    1. Madeline Swegle:  first black female fighter pilot who inspired Captain Marvel
    2. Faye Shulman:  young Jewish woman whose family was killed by the Nazis and who used photography to stay alive
    3. Malala Yousafzai:  teen Pakistani activist who was shot by the Taliban and turned this tragic incident into a campaign to educate all girls
    4. Khalida Brohi:  teen Pakistani girl who challenged a tradition of 'honor' killings when her 16-year-old friend was killed
    5. Muslim Girls Making Change (MGMC):  youth slam poetry group for change
    6. Bana Alabed:  8-year-old Syrian girl who tweeted photos and messages from Aleppo and fought back through social media
  3. Decide how you want students to present their project. Have the audience write down questions as they watch the presentations. What would they ask the woman they are learning about? After the presentation, role play. Assign the presenters the role of the woman they have researched and presented. They can take turns responding to their peers' questions creatively, imagining what she might say.
  4. Discuss:
    1. What informed the perspective that led their responses in the voice of these women?
    2. How might they have responded as themselves to similar questions?
    3. Were there any tools or strategies these women employed that stood out to you?
    4. How did art play a role in making an impact?
MAKING CONNECTIONS:  Identifying Women Leaders and Promoting Their Contribution Through Art
[20+ minutes (Time to lay out the project; work will happen outside of class or in another session)]
[Learning Objectives 2, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Procedures:
  1. Show students the Proud to Be a Woman (3:45 minutes) music video. Have them write the names of as many women influencers presented in the video as they can identify. (There are a total of 41 women represented in the video.) Using the Answer Key, have students count how many they identified correctly and put that number in the chat room to see who did the best.
  2. Invite students to think about the role of art as a communication tool.
    1. What do the teens communicate through this video?
    2. What does Pilar communicate through her art?
  3. Have students deep dive into learning more about one of the women featured in this video and teach others about her by creating a mixed media piece.
  4. Provide them with guidelines to their creative project.
    ​Consider:
    1. Independent or group work
    2. Message / content - what they learned, found moving, interesting, and exceptional about this woman, and why people should care.
    3. Media - consider high, low, and no-tech options for the mixed media piece. They might create a traditional paper and glue collage with images from magazines along with text, a digital collage or single digital photo with text, their own music video, a mini documentary using Adobe Spark Video, or a podcast voiced into their phones.
  5. Determine how they will share their work, and give and receive peer feedback. Options listed below under Assessment Strategies #2.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES:  Art Exhibition, Interpretation, Feedback and Evaluation
  1. Have students share their "Proud to Be a Woman" mixed media piece with each other and for each woman featured, have students record the woman's name and one take away.
  2. Showcase student work. Options include:
    1. Zoom (breakout room)
    2. Canvas (discussion forums)
    3. Flipgrid (create and share student videos)
    4. Padlet (create a board where students can pin their work and leave comments for peers)
    5. Digital Video (create and share videos using digital storytelling software, e.g. Adobe Spark)
    6. Google Drive (use Google slides or a Google folder)
Invite students to "dig deeper" on these topics by providing additional options for research and reflection about women's rights and achieving gender equality.

VIDEOS:
  • RGB - documentary on Ruth Bader Ginsburg
  • He Named Me Malala - Full-length documentary - "It is better to live like a lion for one day than like a slave for 100 years." - Malala Yousafzai
  • March March by The Chicks (formerly known as The Dixie Chicks) - Use your VOICE. Use your VOTE. "If your voice held no power, they wouldn't try to silence you." - unknown
  • We Should be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - TED Talk based on her book
  • Lilly Ledbetter - Paycheck Fairness Act - ACLU

PODCASTS:
WEBSITES:
LITERATURE:

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