Doodle 4 Google Lesson Plan 2

The South Africa of My Dreams: Create

In this second part of the doodle creation process, learners will work towards creating a Google Doodle which expresses their vision for the future South Africa and reflects on 20 years of freedom in South Africa. The activities are aimed at inspiring them to express their creativity through various art forms.

SA curriculum compliance

Grade 7

● Life Orientation ○ Constitutional rights and responsibilities ○ Health, social and environmental responsibility

● Creative Arts ○ Visual Arts

Grade 8

● Life Orientation ○ Constitutional rights and responsibilities ○ Health, social and environmental responsibility

● Creative Arts ○ Visual Arts

Grade 9

● Life Orientation ○ Constitutional rights and responsibilities ○ Health, social and environmental responsibility

● Social Sciences: History ○ Turning points in South African history since 1948

● Creative Arts ○ Visual Arts

Activity: Let’s create our dreams

This year’s Doodle 4 Google competition theme is: “The South Africa of my Dreams”. As we celebrate 20 Years of Democracy, Google is inviting learners to express their creativity by sharing their vision for the future.

In the previous lesson plan, learners brainstormed about the South Africa of their dreams, and came up with ideas for doodles. Now, they will express their idea using various art forms.

                                                                

Creation can take many forms, including a drawing or painting, a photo, a video, a sculpture, or a piece of writing. But sometimes, it is difficult to express an idea in any form. In this activity, learners will use their ideas and explore different ways to create them. For inspiration, you can show them examples of artworks and beautiful places around the world.

By the end of this activity, they will have a design for the Doodle 4 Google competition. Learners can use any combination of materials and techniques.

Go through the competition rules and prizes with your learners. Remind them that they can draw inspiration from anywhere, but entries should be entirely their own work.

Shades of Greatness

In this activity, learners will explore how other people have turned their ideas into artworks. They will then design a Google doodle using a medium (or media of their choice). They will create their doodle on a Doodle4Google entry form. During this activity they will create a line drawing and will work with the art elements of shape, form, colour and the design principles of unity, balance, variety, and contrast.

You Will Need:

● Access to the Internet. Although you can use this lesson plan with traditional offline tools, we encourage schools with Internet access to experiment with digital tools. Some of the tools we will use include:

o Google Art Project and Street Art on Google Cultural Institute. o Photo spheres and Street View on Google Maps. o Google Image Search, which learners (in groups, or as a class with teacher

guidance) can use to search for images. To make sure that learners do not come across any inappropriate images, turn on SafeSearch: go to Search Settings. Select the tick box to filter explicit results. (Learn more about making the web safe for children at www.google.co.za/safetycenter).

o YouTube for inspiring videos, as well as to teach learners how to make their own videos.

o Google Photos is an computer application that allows you to organise, edit and share your photos.

● A laptop/PC and projector. A laptop/PC per group of learners is also a great way of bringing this lesson plan to life, as is an Interactive Whiteboard.

● Drawing materials, including printed entry forms and various art media such as pencils, watercolours and ink.

Teaching Guidelines

Note: this lesson plan can be divided into two lessons of 40 minutes

1. Show learners the various ways that artists use art to express themselves and their ideas. The idea is to stimulate their creativity and spark their imaginations so that learners see that art can take various forms and is not limited to drawing and painting. There are great resources on the Internet that can help you explore art

                                                                

through the ages:

○ The Google Art Project. Walk through museums and exhibitions around the world, and see artworks from famous artists, up close and in high resolution.

○ Street Art on Google Cultural Institute. Discover online collections and exhibitions about the history, locations and artists of street art.

○ Artsy. Use this online platform to discover and learn about art.

The Google Art Project let’s you explore works of art from galleries across the world.

2. Artists often draw inspiration from their surroundings. Use the following tools to show learners some of South Africa’s beautiful natural wonders:

○ Photo Spheres on Google Maps. People upload 360o photos of their favourite places in South Africa.

○ Street View on Google Maps. Visit sites such as Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Table Mountain. To explore an area in Street View mode, simply drag the little yellow man in the bottom right corner and drop him on the spot on the map you wish to visit.

                                                                

Photo Spheres on Google Maps lets you explore images that other people have uploaded - or add your own image of your favourite spot.

3. Ask your learners to create a series of photographs or a video to express the idea they developed in the first lesson plan. This not only teaches children how creating can extend beyond paper and ink, but also teaches them basic digital, photography and/or filmmaking skills.

4. Learners should find a person in their community (a parent, sibling, friend, school prefect, teacher, leader) who represents their idea of a better South Africa. They can use a camera or cell phone camera.

5. Learners can visit the 21 Icons website for inspiration.

6. Encourage learners to be creative when they plan their photo series or video. Think about background and lighting, colours, props to symbolise some value or idea, and clothing that their subject wears. If they choose to do a video, they can do an interview.

7. Learners can use photo or video editing tools to enhance their work, at home or in class. Here are some suggested tools:

○ Make edits to photographs using Google Photos.

○ Upload a video and edit it with YouTube’s video editor. (Learners have to be 13 or older to open an account on YouTube.) Here’s a short video that shows you how to upload a video to YouTube.

8. If there is time in class, give learners the opportunity to share their creations with the rest of the class. They can also share their creations with Google Africa on Google+. Ask them to include the hashtag #everydayicons.

9. In the next part of the lesson, learners will create a doodle based on the idea they developed in the first lesson plan. They will use a medium of their choice to create

                                                                

their design.

10. Download and print out entry forms for the Doodle4Google competition. The entry form gives an outline of Google’s logo and gives learners a good place to start with their creation.

11. Hand out the entry forms and pencils.

12. Using a pencil, learners create images and pictures into and around the letters. The letters can just be decorated or the letter could become an image. For example, the letter “O” could become a beautifully decorated sun. Learners should try to work as neatly as possible. You can see examples of Google Doodles at www.google.com/doodles.

13. At this stage it might be useful to show them some examples of past Doodle 4 Google entries. A good way to do this is to do an image search on Google - type “Doodle 4 Google winners” into the Search box and click on Images.

You can use Google Image Search to quickly show learners a range of past Doodle 4 Google entries.

14. Ask learners to complete their doodles at home using a medium of their choice. Some learners may want to create a doodle using software such as Photoshop or Illustrator. This is acceptable, and digitally created doodles may also be entered into the competition.

                                                                

Take It Digital! More information about the apps in this lesson plan

● Google for Education is a collection of Google tools and products that make learning fun, productive and collaborative.

● Google Drive - this is like Word or Powerpoint but hosted on the Web. Creating a Google Doc or Slide allows you to easily collaborate and re-share. If you’re using Google Apps for Education, you may already be familiar with this tool. But you can also use it by logging into your Gmail account and clicking on Drive.

● Google Street View on Google Maps lets you explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders and step inside locations such as museums, arenas, restaurants and small businesses with 360-degree images.

● The Google Cultural Institute lets you explore world wonders, art and history. Some of the historical collections relating to South Africa include the Nelson Mandela Digital Archive, and documentation of key events such as the first democratic elections.

● Also part of the Google Cultural Institute, the Google Art Project is a a virtual museum that brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, together with the stories that bring them to life.

● YouTube is the biggest video sharing website in the world. It is easy to upload your own videos, and using the YouTube Video Editor, learners can combine multiple videos, add music from YouTube’s library and use special tools and effects to enhave their videos.

                                                                

The Nelson Mandela Digital Archives on Google Cultural Institute is one of many exhibits that explores world history in an interactive and visual way.