Arts-Based Lesson Plans

Artful Nametags

Instructions

1. Have students create a pleasing design using the materials available for collage.
2. Let them know that they must include their first name large enough for others to read it.
3. You may want to select a theme for guidance, such as include things you like, tell us something about you. . .
4. Have students put on their nametags and share them with the class.

Ideas from Teachers for Practical Use in the Classroom

Preschool

Being able to visually identify and orally spell their first names are skills the children work on repeatedly throughout the year.  Nametags label their carpet squares, cubbies, coat hooks, and helping hands board.  I would like to see the children create their own nametags.  Each child would choose different shape/color/pattern pre-cut from paper to glue onto construction paper.  I would then write their names on the tags and laminate them.  The children would share the nametags orally before displaying them.  The children would practice a number of important skills when competing this assignment.  They would have to listen, follow directions, use fine motor skills when manipulating and gluing the paper, verbalize color recognition when identifying the colors of paper used on their nametags, and verbalize shape recognition when describing the shapes used.

Elementary

I like the idea of creating a nametag the first day of school for a number of reasons.  First, students get to use their supplies for the first time.  Second, it really breaks the ice and students begin talking with one another while they create.  This activity should be used as an early assessment tool.  How do you hold scissors, can you follow directions, what can the teacher learn from each students based on the types of materials they use in their creation?  Then, I would like them to use their nametag to help introduce themselves to their new classmates.  Again, it is important as a teacher to listen to what the students have to say.  Getting to know your students is an important part of early assessment. (Idaho Standards, Humanities 870.01b - examine visual arts as a form of communication; 870.02b - discuss the importance of visual art in one's own life - discuss how symbols create meaning in art; 870.03b - discuss characteristics of one's own work and the work of others, compare one's own response to a work of art to another student's response, show how expression in art causes different responses from viewers; 872.01b - name and use different art materials, develop and use an art vocabulary; 872.02b - show response for personal work and works of others, create a work of art using personal experience and skills, experiment with different materials, techniques, and processes in visual arts; 904.01b - discuss how people's experiences can influence the development of specific art works)

I believe nametags are a good exercise for the first few days of class.  Students would be given a lesson on the elements of collage, show samples and examples of artists who incorporated collage in their artwork.  Students would then be asked to make a collage nametag that described the type of person he/she is, his/her hobbies, likes/dislikes, etc.  (Plenty of appropriate magazines should be made available, as well as decorative papers, markers, etc.)  Once the nametags were complete, the students would be given a roster with all students' names on it and they must go around the room and look at the nametags and try to connect with something on each other's nametags.  Because they have to speak with each students, they will stop and introduce themselves.  "Hello, my name is. . ."  The other person responds, "It is nice to meet you, my name is -- - and they have three minutes to find out something to make a connection through their collage.  (A timer will designate the start and stop of each three-minute session.)  They will jot down the connection by the name of the person on their roster.  This allows each student to make a positive connection to every other student in the room.  As an option to create les chaos in the classroom, as students moved around the room meeting other students, a "speed dating" type set-up could be arranged for this after-collage exercise.  Four or five students would be set up in a row while other students passed in from of them (again with the time on) to connect with some aspect of the others' name collages.

High School

I teach an average of 125 students a day, and learning names that first couple of days is vital.  Having the students create nametags allows this process to happen at a faster pace, while also enabling me to discover more about my students than just their names.  The nametags express a bit about each student's personality.