Lesson Plans and Pre-visit Guides

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• Haremhab—General and Scribe (Lesson Plan)

  Capture students' imaginations in the Egyptian galleries with viewing questions about a sculpture portrait and an observation activity about analyzing portraits, relationships between art and cultural values, and the ways different communities communicate through images and text.

• Islam and Religious Art (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify important figures and events in early Islamic history; recognize ways works of art reflect and support religious beliefs and practices; and use visual evidence to support inferences.

• Manet—Critics and Champions (Lesson Plan)

  Exercise students' sensory and descriptive powers in the Museum or the classroom with an imaginative activity and viewing questions focused on a painting by Édouard Manet. Examine the ways artists are inspired by the past and help students understand the context of Manet's career.

• Medieval Beasts and Bestiaries (Lesson Plan)

  Explore the use of animals as symbols in medieval art with viewing questions and a group drawing activity at The Cloisters or in the classroom.

• Modern and Contemporary Art (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the effects that industrialization, mechanization, and massive population shifts to cities had on art, as well as the rise of abstraction, formalism, and art that employs new media and technologies. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• Science and the Art of the Islamic World (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify similarities and differences between scientific tools used now and long ago; and use research findings to support observations and interpretations.

   

• Shiva—Creator, Protector, and Destroyer (Lesson Plan)

  Inspire students to interpret, communicate through, and personally connect with art through an in-classroom examination of a powerful sculpture in the Museum's Indian art collection and a self-portrait activity.

• Take It to the Afterlife (Lesson Plan)

  Delve into daily life and the afterlife in ancient Egypt, as well as strategies for visual analysis and interpretation of art, through viewing questions and a sketching activity in the Museum's Egyptian galleries.

• The Art of Africa (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the heritage of cultures south of the Sahara through works of art imbued with social, religious, and political significance. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of Ancient Greece and Rome (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to Greek and Roman art from the Neolithic period to the time of Constantine the Great, representing virtually every medium in which ancient artists and craftsman worked. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information and themes, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of China (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the primary ideas, values, and traditions of one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, as reflected in one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of its art in the West. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information and themes, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of Industry (Lesson Plan)

  Use viewing questions and a debate activity to investigate the relationship between art and community values, techniques artists use to convey ideas, and strategies for interpreting an American painting in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries.

• The Art of Medieval Europe (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the art of the Middle Ages, notable for its expressions of beauty, complexity and importance of meaning, and establishment of new standards for technical achievement. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Arts of Japan (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the range of styles, formats, and subjects that have characterized Japanese art over the centuries. Use this guide's collection and gallery overviews, tour-planning tips, recommendations for engaging students, suggested themes and works of art, and list of resources to make the most of your visit to the Museum.

• The Battle of David and Goliath (Lesson Plan)

  Illuminate strategies for conveying stories through images in the classroom with viewing questions about a large silver plate in the Museum's Medieval collection and an illustrating activity.

• The Burghers of Calais (Lesson Plan)

  Convey the interpretive significance of pose and expression in the visual arts—in the Museum or the classroom—with viewing questions and a story-writing activity inspired by a nineteenth-century French sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

• The Chinese Garden Court (Lesson Plan)

  Explore the Museum's Chinese garden court and enhance students' understanding of how traditional Chinese gardens reflect the concept of yin and yang and how material selection and design can convey ideas about the human and natural worlds. Use viewing questions and a storytelling or drawing activity in the Museum's Chinese galleries.

• The Making of a Persian Royal Manuscript (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify some of the key events and figures presented in the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings); make connections between the text and the illustrated pages of the manuscript produced for Shah Tahmasp; and create a historical record of their community.

• The Mughal Court and the Art of Observation (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to recognize ways works of art reflect an intense interest in observation of the human and natural world among Mughal leaders; and understand ways works of art from the past and present communicate ideas about the natural world.

• The Nomads of Central Asia—Turkmen Traditions (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify ways art of the Turkmen people of Central Asia reflects nomadic life and understand the functional and symbolic role objects play in their lives.