Time: One 45-minute class period

Level: Middle school

Learning Connections: Language Arts, Visual Arts

Objectives
Students will:

• consider the question, "How do I want people to see me?" as they examine the self-portrait of Judith Leyster
• identify clues to an artist’s intentions in making a self-portrait
• do a pre-writing activity to identify descriptive words applicable to this self-portrait
• use their imaginations to further characterize the subject under study
• develop and refine characterization of a subject through poetry writing

Lesson Implementation

1. Have students look at Leyster's Self-Portrait.
2. Use the classroom discussion points below to engage students with the self-portrait.
3. Remind students to read the biography of Judith Leyster as they complete the student activity: I Am Judith Leyster.
4. Introduce the "I Am" poem. Tell students they will be imagining themselves as Leyster, taking her point of view. Review the class discussion about the self-portrait and ask students what new information they gathered by reading her bio online. Then ask them to imagine themselves as Leyster, sitting at the easel in the painting, as they complete the "I Am" poem frame.
5. Have students print out their poems and post them for each other to read, or share them aloud in class.

Assessment

• Evaluate students' responses in class discussion based on the evidence they point to in the painting.
• Evaluate the "I Am" poems on the basis of students' use of descriptive language and imaginative self-projection into Leyster's world.

Background Information

Read a brief biography of Leyster.

Discussion Points

Do this class "warm-up" discussion before students begin the Student Activity and write the "I Am" poem. Students may want to jot down notes during the discussion to help them with their poems. In responding to these questions, remind students to refer to specific details in the painting to support their answers.

1. What can you tell me about this person?
2. How old is she?
3. What does she do?
4. When did she live?
5. Is she happy? Healthy? How can you tell?
6. Is she educated? Did she know how to read? To write? (This is still in research. Although it's not possible to tell from the painting, these questions can be answered after doing the student activity. She seems to have been "educated" in painting but not in academics. Point out to students that, unlike in the other student activities, there are no letters by Leyster. Can we conclude that she probably didn't read or write?)
7. Was it unusual for a woman to earn a living as a painter at that time? What does this tell you about Judith Leyster?