Sistine Chapel - Gateway Program Style

In my humanities class we have been studying the Renaissance. Yesterday we spent the day looking at the artwork of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle artists: Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo. We spent a great deal of time looking at Michelangelo's work. I was very impressed with how well my kids could interpret and express their feelings regarding this great artist's work. Michelangelo's painting of just the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel took 4 years. It covers 5800 square feet and is 70 feet above ground. He did it all laying on his back or in contorted positions.

My students are very hands-on, and I had given them two days to think how they would express their relationship with their God, higher-power, inspirational leader, etc. in a painting. Once we looked at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, they realized what we would be doing.

Today, they painted their own Sistine Chapel. We used watercolors and the underside of their desks. We have block scheduling, so 85 minutes is a good timeframe for them to complete such an assignment. The students who had a concept of their God, spirituality, or relationship with someone who inspires them had a very easy time with this assignment, and the results were phenomenal! Each student explained his or her panel, and some even made me cry.

One girl painted her friend's inital with the sun shining down because her friend is struggling with cancer, another girl painted the hands of God reaching through the clouds to her as she prays...that's the one above...a boy painted his dad's semi-truck on the road with the boy waving. One girl painted her mother in a park with a rainbow, which they both love. Another boy painted the hand of God in white and the hand of sin in red both trying to grab the earth! A girl, whose mother is a drug addict and left her as a young child, painted herself with her father, who she says has been the only one ever there for her. I could keep going on and on about these.
Once they explained their painting, I hung them on the ceiling of my classroom - just like Michelangelo's masterpiece. Despite their tough exterior these kids are really in need of love and a way to express their feelings about people who've had a positive impact on their life. It's days like this make me realize how much I love my job!