Lesson:  Formal Analysis as a Foundational Skill in Art History

Activity: Collaborative Image Annotation (Link to slide deck shared with class)

Preparation: Practicing Formal Analysis (Link to pre-class assignment)

Goals:  Students will practice formal analysis in order to understand how it may be used to support interpretation of a work of art.  They should recognize how formal analysis is different from description of an object, and be able to distinguish the analysis of formal elements from a discussion of subject matter and/or iconography.

Note: This lesson is scaffolded within a series of assignments where students will learn how formal analysis is typically used in conjunction with other methods of research and critical analysis. 

Activity: Students work in small groups to annotate unknown images and then share their comments in class discussion.  While this activity can easily be done without technology (ie: printed images and post-it notes for comments)  I found sharing the slide deck with students to annotate in real time allowed me to observe group work, assisting when needed ,but without interfering too much in their process. It also made it very easy to engage the entire class in close looking and analysis of the comments attached to each image after the groups had completed their annotation.