Intro to One Point Perspective and MC Escher's Artwork

This lesson is meant to act as an introduction to both one point perspective and to some of MC Escher's perspective influenced work. It is targeted to 8th grade but can be modified to challenge students all the way up to high school level depending on how detailed you would like for the finished projects to be. The high schooler's projects can turn out really neat and end up looking like architectural plans or blueprints for a city.

When I teach this lesson i like to show my students on a large scale how easy 1 point perspective can be by drawing my own upscaled cityscape on the whiteboard at the front of class and I add more and more details to it each day as the class progresses. This can be done by taping a string to the center of the board or by using a yard stick to make your lines and I have found that students love to see what I have added to it since the last time they were in my classroom.

Almost all of my lessons incorporate a Prezi Presentation in them somewhere and I have found that it is a much more interesting and effective way to present new information to students. Powerpoint slides get boring after seeing them being used in classrooms over and over again to present new lessons and you can just see students start to glaze over by the 3rd or 4th slide. If you don't use or haven't heard of prezi give it a quick google and you will find how it can make a more dynamic presentation.

8th grader's lesson:

~Include 5+ "shapes" or buildings

~Use values on the sides of the buildings (darker towards the bottom)

~Include other details like billboards, cars streets

~Maybe include color/windows if you have time or want to extend the lesson further

8th & Up:

~Include 8+ "shapes" or buildings

~Use values and cast shadows in your city and include a light ~source so they make sense

~include the basic details like roads, signs etc but take it a step further and really push your creativity. Maybe include planes, stadiums, rollercoasters, street lights etc.

~Include color

~Include windows (horizontal get closer as they get further away, vertical follow your 1 point rule)

Here is a break down of the resources that I have included in this lesson:

Lesson Plan- This has the lesson broken down into easy to understand steps and includes a list of materials needed and approximately how long the lesson should take to introduce.

Prezi Presentation- At the top of the lesson plan is a link to the prezi presentation that i created to accommodate this lesson, you will need an internet connection to present it or you can download it to be used offline (just ask and i can instruct you how to do this). The prezi introduces MC Escher and some of his perspective works as well as introducing 1 point perspective.

Rubric- I pass this rubric out at the beginning of each lesson so students understand what they will be graded on and what is expected of them. If you'd like to adapt the lesson to more advanced students have them include, values, shadows, 10+ buildings and other small details in their city. The rubric is front and back and only takes up half a sheet of paper, it also has a self reflective part at the end for students to fill out. Students should turn the rubric in with their finished project and I will put their final grade on it and return them both.

Handout- This handout is a quick easy to understand reference for student to use if they forget what step to take after they have started their project, it solves the issue of commonly asked questions at the beginning and by the second or third day most students have grasped the concept well enough and they will not need the handout anymore. on the back of the "Birds Eye View" handout there is a values worksheet that can be graded and used as a reassessment to better understand your student's grasp of values. Its important to remember that values are not the focus of this lesson so do not spend a lot of time on it unless you want the project to take more time or be used by more advanced students. If you plan on going this route have the students include a sun or "light source" so their values and shadows have a sense of direction. Additionally you can if you'd like for this lesson to extend further you can have students include color in their cities.

Student Examples- There is a folder with 15 or so student examples in it and they range from beginner to advanced. These are nice to show the students so they can see what is possible by looking at the more advanced ones and the beginner projects act as an example of commonly made mistakes and things to avoid.

* ALL documents except for the handout are in word doc. format so they can be tweaked and edited to your liking.

Cheers