Teacher Resources

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The Smart teams up with K–12 teachers from all disciplines as well as students in University of Chicago's Urban Teacher Education Program to create lesson plans and thematic tours based off of our collection and exhibitions.

Lesson plans

The Making of a Superhero
Students will utilize the information they have learned about Greek and Roman gods and man-made heroes in order to view the artwork at the Smart Museum with a better appreciate of its origin and meaning. In the art component, students will utilize the information they have learned in order to create their very own superhero. Designed for grades 6–8.

Developed by Valerie Hardy, Social Science, and Jennifer Hall, Art, of the Jane A. Neil Elementary School, Chicago, for the Smart Museum of Art.

Lesson Plan: The Making of a Superhero (PDF)

Smart Curators
Students will be able to: use arts vocabulary to describe and analyze a work of art; compare and contrast works of art using the framework provided; and then select a group of artworks that share similar characteristics to “curate” a mini exhibition. Designed for fifth grade.

Developed by Susan A. Friel, Dewey Academy of Fine Arts, Chicago, for the Smart Museum of Art.

Lesson Plan: Smart Curators (PDF)

Cubist Characters
Students will create a cardboard sculpture inherently Cubist in nature due to the use of cardboard fragments such as triangles, parallelograms, rectangles, squares and all of the accompanying angles. An added requirement is to include a musical instrument in the spirit of Pierrot with Clarinet by Jacques Lipchitz.

Developed by Mary Faith Drazer, Hebron Elementary School, Hebron, IN, for the Smart Museum of Art.

Lesson Plan: Cubist Characters (PDF)

Other teacher-submitted lesson plans

Thematic tours

Health and Hospitality
Themes of health and hospitality have been explored by artists in various ways throughout history, from traditional still-life representations to contemporary artists considering the meal itself as an artistic medium. For instance, the exhibition Feast addresses the art of the experience of the shared meal. During this tour students investigate still-life works to objects across cultures that represent healthy food habits, the act of serving, and the ritual and ceremony of eating together.

Modern Art
What is art? This philosophical question will challenge students to consider the place and importance of abstract art within the walls of the museum. Students will explore ideas of experimentation and the process of creation in the Smart’s Modern collection to determine their own answer to this question of aesthetics.

Book a Modern Art tour

Legend, Mysticism, and Creation
Passing down legends, telling stories, and explaining the mysteries of the world is an activity common to every culture. Typically, we think of this transmission of knowledge and folklore as occurring through the processes of speaking and listening. However, there are other media in which this activity can occur, art being an incredibly important one. During this tour, students will look at depictions of the act of story telling, or at works created to tell a story, across cultures and time periods.

Exhibition guides

Produced in conjunction with most major exhibitions at the Smart, these teacher guides include readings, questions for discussion, project ideas, bibliographies, and reproductions of artworks for classroom use.

Vision and Communism
September 29, 2011 – January 22, 2012
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Slides (PDF)

The Tragic Muse: Art and Emotion, 1700–1900
February 10 –June 5, 2011
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan
September 30, 2010 – January 16, 2011
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850–1900
February 11 – June 13, 2010
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

Heartland
October 1, 2009 – January 17, 2010
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

Your Pal, Cliff: Selections from the H. C. Westermann Study Collection
April 2 – September 6, 2009
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art
October 2, 2008 – January 25, 2009
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

Seeing the City: Sloan's New York
May 22 – September 14, 2008
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF)

Adaptation: Video Installations By Ben-Ner, Herrera, Sullivan, and Sussman & The Rufus Corporation
January 31 – May 4, 2008
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF) | Transparencies (PDF)

Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery
October 4, 2007 – January 6, 2008
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF)

Living Modern: German and Austrian Art and Design, 1890–1933
June 7 – September 16, 2007
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF)

Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen
February 1 – May 20, 2007
Exhibition teacher guide (PDF)