Materials

Handouts:

• Escher’s Relativity – print available here: http://www.mcescher.com/gallery/back-in-holland/relativity/

• 4-Step Activity Worksheet – either one per individual or one per group depending on version of lesson teacher chooses (see provided documents).  For high school, the individual version is recommended and assumed in the lesson plan below.  The group version can be useful to adapt for younger students (middle school) or as a time-saving device as it tends to shorten the lesson.  

• Quotes (3 choices) – while one copy per group is sufficient, it is better to have one per student so all can reference during discussion, increasing individual engagement.

Helpful:

• PowerPoint with writing and discussion prompts (or you can give instructions verbally)

• Timing device

• Box of pencils/pens if you are doing this lesson as the introduction to your class as students often show up without needed supplies on the first day

• Poster of Relativity hanging in classroom as year-long reminder to reinforce lesson.  Available from several online vendors, such as www.art.com.

Hook

Greet students at the door and hand them a print of Escher’s Relativity as they walk into the classroom.  Most instantly will be intrigued and start turning the picture around to look at all sides.

Lesson is intended to be an introduction to a debate or communications class (though can be adapted to other purposes), raising student anticipation for what they will learn in the course.  Assuming this is your first day, briefly introduce yourself and explain that you will not be reviewing rules and procedures yet.  That will happen either the second or third day of class.  Instead, today you want to get to know them as thinkers, writers, and speakers.

Side Note: It is still recommended to give the students a syllabus and any other information that they would need to take home to their parents (such as a debate team handbook).  You can assign reading this information as homework, and tell them to come to class with any questions on a designated day.  Or, better yet, set up some kind of contest, game, or quiz bowl over the syllabus/handbook at the end of the first week, giving students a chance to prepare.  But, the goal on this first day is to not get caught up in logistics and to start Escher immediately.  You are setting the tone for your class that each day is going to be enjoyable, thought-provoking, and challenging.

Lesson/Guided Practice

1. This lesson is designed to be a discovery learning process, so the teacher will not give much direct instruction until the end so as not to force his/her own interpretations of the art onto students.  However, abstract art can be intimidating to students who haven’t thought much about it before.  The provided PowerPoint (Escher Prompts for Display) is intended to guide students through lower level to higher level critical thinking tasks to scaffold increasingly deeper interaction with the picture as they derive their own meaning.  Distribute the provided Escher Worksheet-Individual Version.  (Instead of the worksheet, students could use their own paper following the provided PowerPoint, but experience with this assignment has shown that they take it more seriously if given a handout.)  Both the worksheet and PowerPoint divide the lesson into 4 steps.  Let the students know that you will collect this assignment for a grade, but more importantly, it is their first impression.  You will not be looking for “right” answers but depth of thought.  This is meant to be a creative exercise, and what you want to see is that they attempt to explain their ideas thoroughly when asked to do so.  (Discussion tips specific to Relativity are provided at the end of this lesson to assist the teacher.)

2. Display “Step One: Describe” on the PowerPoint to prompt the first individual writing task.  Tell the students that we will start with something simple.  To begin, all you want them to do is look carefully at the picture and make a list of everything they see.  Bullet points are fine.  So, if they see trees, then they write down: “trees.”  Set a timer for about 3 minutes and let the students write quietly.  You may want to give the students a minimum expectation, such as their list must contain 5 or more descriptions/items.  (You might notice on the worksheet that the instructions beyond this point simply say: “Step 2: Wait for Instructions to be Displayed.”  This is so that students who finish quickly with the describe portion don’t get ahead of the class and race through the activity to be “done” before others have just started thinking more deeply.)

3. Display “Step Two: Analyze” on the PowerPoint.  Now that they have looked closely at the details of the picture, you want them to interpret/evaluate it.  This also is an individual writing task.  Just as they might analyze a short story, poem, or novel in an English class in an attempt to find deeper meaning or understand the author’s purpose, they are to evaluate this art for a potential message.  What do they think the artist was trying to communicate through his picture?  Or, what meaning do they take away from the picture?  Emphasize again here that there is not a “right” interpretation.  What you want is an explanation of their ideas.  After they write a sentence, they should then explain why they think that idea is true or how the details of the picture inspired that idea.  You can set a timer for somewhere between 5-10 minutes.

4. When students are done writing, have them get into groups of 4-5 people.  Give them 5-10 minutes to share what they have written so far.  Explain that you will be circulating around the room and may join groups briefly during discussions.  This allows you the chance to help any groups that are struggling.

5. As the group discussions start to wrap up (or when your timer is done), hand each group the three quotes by Anais Nin, Marcel Proust, and Ludwig Wittgenstein (provided in attached documents).  Display “Step Three: Connect” on the PowerPoint.  Each group is to choose one quote.  Then, they are to first discuss what they think that quote means independent of the picture.  Next, they should discuss how that quote could connect to the picture.  This may or may not cause them to go in a different direction with their interpretation of the picture in terms of what they previously wrote.  That is fine.  Give them about 5 minutes, and the teacher should continue to circulate and pop in and out of groups.  If one group finishes too early while others are still engaged, you can instruct those quicker groups to discuss a second quote (and even the third quote if needed) to keep the class together and all on task.  (You might notice on the worksheet that the instructions beyond this point tell the students to call over the teacher for their next step.  This allows you the chance to encourage fast groups to discuss more quotes or go deeper, or you verbally can give the final instructions for completing the worksheet.  But, wait to display Step 4 until the majority of groups are done with their quotes.  If you display the last slide too early, all your other groups also are likely to stop talking about their quote and start answering the “final question” in Step 4 even if they were in the middle of a quality discussion.)

Independent Practice/Assessment

6. Display “Step Four: Predict,” which prompts the “final question.”  Tell the students that while they are new to debate or your communications class, and you haven’t told them anything yet about what to expect, you still want them to try to guess as to how this activity might relate to what they will learn this semester or year.  There is a reason we did this activity today even if they weren’t told the objective up front.  What do they think was the point of this lesson?  In public speaking, we learn that first impressions are highly important.  As the teacher, this is your first impression (for the class or the unit you are beginning).  Why do they think this is the first activity you asked them to complete?  Give groups about 5 minutes to discuss.

Closure

7. Have groups share out for a whole-class discussion with remaining class time.  If the class was highly engaged in their individual writing and group discussions, you might have spent the entire period on the above steps and can conduct the whole class discussion the next day, using it as a vehicle to introduce classroom policies.  You can start the whole-class discussion at any step on the worksheet depending on time available and what you want to emphasize.  Best to at least cover the quotes and final question connecting the picture to the class/unit.

8. Teacher can conclude by sharing your own vision for classroom culture as a final thought.  Example: Your room should be a safe space for students to express ideas, but they must remember that while they may feel like they are standing on the ground, others might sometimes see them as on the ceiling or upside down.  We don’t have to agree, but we should be willing to spin the picture around and at least consider another person’s staircase or perspective.  (Now, not only have the students been introduced to your classroom culture, but the Escher lesson also provides you an early assessment in getting to know your new students.  It produces a writing sample in the first week that gives insight into a student’s critical/creative thinking process while also requiring oral participation for gaging verbal confidence.)

Adaptations

• In addition to the individual version of the Escher worksheet, there is also a group version provided in the attached documents.  This version assumes the entire activity from Step 1 through Step 4 will be completed as a group discussion with no individual writing segments.  If using this version, keep your groups to 4 students each and assign each member one of the steps to record on the worksheet so that everybody participates in being the group’s “secretary” at some point.  That way, all have ownership in the process.  This version is good for middle school or if short on time as the lesson goes faster.

• Another time-saving device would be to reduce the quote choices from three to two so that there is less content to cover in the whole-class discussion.

• To adjust for content emphasis or difficulty, you can change the quotes.  Most students will choose the Anais Nin quote to discuss with Proust being the second most popular.  The Wittgenstein quote is advanced.  Some quote alternatives to those already provided in the attached documents.
  • “The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” – Robertson Davies (novelist)
  • “Perfect objectivity is an unrealistic goal; fairness, however, is not.” – Michael Pollan (journalist)

Discussion Tips

• If at some point in the individual writing or group discussion, a student seems to be ahead and thinks he/she has figured it all out – something like: “This is obvious.  You want us to realize that everybody sees things differently, and nobody is wrong.” – ask them if there is any direction in which they could turn the picture where nobody is right side up, where the picture doesn’t “work” from anybody’s perspective.  There are only three directions that “work” for Relativity (where somebody’s perspective is the “right” one).  There is one way to turn the picture where everybody appears wrong and no perspective is accurate.  (There will be a flower pot in the upper left-hand corner, and the year of the print – ‘53 – will be in the lower right-hand corner.)  Escher is clearly very talented.  He could have designed the picture differently.  Why make one direction not work?  You can affirm the precocious student for their intelligent thoughts so far, ask them to figure out how this fact about the picture fits with their interpretation, and put them in charge of bringing up this point when the whole-class discussion happens at the end of the lesson. 
  • If this idea never comes from the students, the teacher should raise these questions during the whole class discussion or as he/she pops around to groups (good way to keep a "finished" group going if others are still talking).  It is very easy to reduce this lesson down to an overly simplified platitude: everybody’s view is right and you can’t disagree with me because “that is my opinion, and I’m entitled to it.”  But, this lesson lends itself to a more complex understanding of what it means to be open and respectful.  People can be wrong.  I can think 2 + 2 = 5, but that doesn’t make it true.  Respect doesn’t mean we never challenge an idea and accept anything anybody says without question.  Respect instead guides how we approach challenging an idea.  Have we been willing to stand on another person’s staircase before being dismissive of their view?   If I think it is day, and somebody else thinks it is night: Why do they think it is night when it is clearly light outside?  Is there something I’m missing that I can be open to considering?  How do we speak our disagreement productively?  If they have a point, can we acknowledge it even if it shakes our world a bit?  If challenged, can I defend my view with reasoning and proof?  Is it possible to reconcile two competing ideas and allow them to coexist?  And, if it turns out that an idea is wrong (facts don’t support it), are we willing to change our minds?  Etc.  This is also a chance to discuss the difference between values and facts and how in public speaking/debate it is important to have facts to back up whatever larger vision you are trying to sell an audience.  While multiple perspectives might be valid, there also are wrong answers or answers that cannot be supported.  How are we going to sort through all of the variance?  As part of the final takeaway, teacher can tell students that he/she wants them to be safe in expressing their opinions in class, but they should also back up those opinions with their best logic and research.  And, sometimes, it is OK if they are confused or unsure (turned upside down for a bit) as they stay open to figuring it all out.

• Let it be OK if a student comes up with an interpretation you weren’t anticipating as long as they can support it with the picture.  There are students who have previously completed this lesson who have come up with fascinating interpretations but that didn’t seem to align with the instructional goal.  One student (let’s call him John) once said that he thought the picture was a commentary on the different economic classes based on some figures seeming to be at leisure and others at work.  The teacher can validate that this is a cool way of seeing the picture (even if not the direction the lesson was going) and show appreciation that details were provided in support.  The teacher should express excitement for John’s view and not correct him back to the view the lesson depends upon.  Simply ask him to support that idea with details (from the describe portion of the lesson).  The quotes naturally will direct the class back to the teacher’s goal.  Example on how to transition: “John had a fascinating take on the picture that he could support, and that I appreciate.  I’ve taught this lesson many times, and that is one of the most creative interpretations I’ve ever heard.  Great job thinking outside the box!  My take was a bit different, and that’s OK.  The quotes were inspired by my thoughts on the picture.  Let’s look at those quotes.  Which groups chose Anais Nin?  When we look at the picture in light of the Nin quote, what interpretation does that suggest?”  When the lesson is finished, and the teacher is giving final thoughts, he/she can come back to John’s divergent interpretation that might not have seemed relevant at first and tie it into the objective: Here is a kid who had a largely different perspective on what he was seeing.  But, he can explain it, and our willingness to consider his view makes the picture even richer for our appreciation – coming back to the goal of the lesson regarding the respect for diverse viewpoints.  The teacher should authentically model this goal as the lesson unfolds.

• What the students may not realize is that just like other teachers, you are covering an essential component of your classroom rules/expectations through this activity just like their other classes may be reviewing the first week of school.  You can point this out at the END of the lesson.  From this lesson, the class has derived expectations as to how they are to communicate with each other and what “respectful” means in your classroom.  If you have the Escher poster hanging in your classroom, point it out as a reminder of the “rules” just like other teachers display on their walls in a more literal fashion.

Follow-Up

• Teachers can reference Relativity throughout the semester or year as a behavioral management tool if they keep a poster of Escher’s art displayed in their classroom.   Example: John is mad at Sarah because he is against the death penalty, and she is justifying that all murderers should get the electric chair.  The teacher can point to the Escher poster and say: “So, John, to you right now Sarah seems to be on the ceiling?  And, Sarah, you think that John’s point of view is completely upside down?  Let’s see if we can figure out where each is coming from even though you are on different staircases.”  Or: “This is a pretty controversial issue.  Why are people standing on such different staircases on this topic?  How do we think such opposing views developed in our society?"  

• You can reference Relativity in different units where applicable to reinforce content.  You might engage students in a brainstorming session as to how a person’s staircase is constructed or what steps contributed to building their worldview.  In the attached documents, see the FollowUp Activity-My Values.  This can be a great activity to begin a Lincoln-Douglas debate unit or in teaching the concept of value propositions.  Where do our values and beliefs come from as individuals?  Family, friends, education, cultural and demographic characteristics (economic class, geographical location, religious affiliation, identity features such as race, gender, age, ability, etc.)?  Which of these do the students think have influenced them the most personally?  What values do we associate with the larger American society?  How were these derived?  Etc.