Lesson Report:
Title
Building Character and Reading Images: Kipling’s “If—� and Bruegel’s “Hunters in the Snow�
Synopsis: The class paired a close reading of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If—� with a scaffolded visual analysis of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting “Hunters in the Snow.� Students practiced evidence-based interpretation through a sequence of short writes (virtues in “If—�; first impressions; narrative construction from visual details; grouping/connecting figures in the painting) and then discussed themes such as work vs. play, scarcity, resilience, and how composition and detail cue meaning.
Attendance
– Absent students mentioned: 0
Topics Covered (chronological and detailed)
1) Opening and housekeeping
– Late start noted; “private free-writeâ€� normally used to open class was skipped.
– Logistics: Poem link shared via class group chats/Google Spaces; screen share used; later a Google Drive folder link shared (some initial access/sharing hiccups resolved by re-posting link).
2) Popcorn reading: Rudyard Kipling’s “If—�
– Setup: Instructor modeled by reading the first two lines; students continued in a popcorn format.
– Objective: Fluency and shared exposure to the poem’s voice and structure before writing.
– Note: The author’s name and some lines were misread by the transcription; instructor’s intent was clear: the class read “If—â€� by Rudyard Kipling.
3) Quick-write 1 (Kipling): Virtues for a better future
– Prompt (captured and posted to chat): “Describe one virtue or characteristic that Kipling believes is necessary for a person to build a better future. Do you agree with Kipling? Why?â€�
– Process: 5 minutes of individual writing; students to write in notebooks/Notes app and upload images or docs to the session’s Google Drive folder.
– Objective: Identify and justify a central virtue in “If—â€� (e.g., self-trust, patience, integrity, resilience, humility toward triumph/disaster) with brief argumentation.
– Submission: Upload to Drive; teacher re-shared Drive link; reminded students to place work in the correct folder.
4) Visual analysis warm-up (unnamed image at first): First impressions list
– Resource: High-resolution image shared on screen and via Google Spaces; students encouraged to open locally to zoom and scroll.
– Instructions: Do a non-judgmental “look and listâ€�—colors, details, objects, actions, and first feelings (no structured paragraph required).
– Objective: Train initial observation without premature interpretation; separate noticing from judging.
– Access support: For students on phones, alternative workflow suggested (Notes app + screenshot upload).
5) Visual analysis prompt 2: What story is being told?
– Instructions: Move from observations to inference. Write what story you think the painting tells and list specific visual details that support your claim.
– Objective: Practice claim-evidence reasoning from visual source material; connect details (figures, posture, environment) to thematic inferences (e.g., hardship, community, play, work).
6) Visual analysis prompt 3: Groups, actions, and connections
– Instructions: Identify distinct groups in the painting by their actions (e.g., hunters with dogs, women tending fire, skaters on the frozen pond, shepherds/livestock), then explain how these groups’ actions relate to one another within a single social/seasonal scene.
– Objective: Synthesize parts into a whole; read compositionally; consider how one activity conditions or contrasts with another (e.g., labor under scarcity vs. communal leisure).
– Submission: Students asked to upload the full page(s) of writing for prompts 2 and 3 to Drive once finished.
7) Reveal and context: Bruegel’s “Hunters in the Snow�
– Instructor identified the painting as Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel (16th century).
– Framing: Encouraged attention to how historical paintings encode daily life and seasonality; composition communicates narrative and theme.
8) Whole-class discussion: Interpretations and evidence
– Participation themes:
– Work vs. play/resilience in winter: Multiple students (e.g., Razia, Sara, Umrah/Sitara) read the right side’s skaters and social groups as joy/communal warmth contrasted with the left’s labor (hunters, women at the fire).
– Scarcity/famine cues (Nargis, instructor’s close looking): Bare trees and grasses; underfed animals; hunters possibly returning with little.
– Misread-as-war hypotheses (Iftikhar, Umani, Yelda): Some initially saw soldiers/war; class examined why (weapons-like hunting gear, somber tones, carrion birds in sky) and corrected by close detail reading (dogs, game, daily village activities).
– Class/role contrast (Mariam): Suggested a social-class reading—left side’s working/hunting vs. right side’s leisure; instructor highlighted composition’s clear split and invited further evidence-based claims.
– “Theyâ€� problem (Abdul-Bayes vs. others): One student emphasized prosperity indicators (well-built architecture, active leisure), prompting instructor to press on who “theyâ€� refers to across groups—are all villagers equally resourced or affected?
– Instructor modeling of close looking:
– Zoomed left panel to note: hunters appear tired; hunting dogs look thin; only one rabbit visible as the day’s catch.
– Implications: Even with skilled labor, returns are modest—suggesting seasonal scarcity; yet the village still sustains communal play.
– Composition cue: Strong left/right thematic split—labor/survival tasks vs. leisure/communal activity—inviting connection rather than isolation of scenes.
9) Transition to break
– Time noted (local Kabul time); class to return at 18:15 for Session 2.
Actionable Items
Immediate (before next class)
– Collect and review uploads:
– Verify receipt of three writing pieces per student: (1) Kipling virtue quick-write; (2) first-impressions list; (3) story + group-connections write-ups for the painting.
– Follow up with any student who had upload/access issues (especially mobile users who were asked to submit screenshots).
– Prep discussion continuation:
– Plan targeted questions to push “connections among groupsâ€� (e.g., How might hunters’ scarcity shape village leisure? Who benefits from communal spaces in winter? What roles do gender/age appear to play?).
– Prepare side-by-side crops of left vs. right panels to support comparative analysis.
– Correct and clarify:
– Ensure author credit as Rudyard Kipling; consider distributing a clean copy of “If—â€� to avoid transcription-induced line errors.
Short-term (next 1–2 sessions)
– Reintroduce the “text renderingâ€� activity that was skipped:
– Option A: Apply to “If—â€� to deepen engagement with key lines (e.g., “Triumph and Disaster,â€� “unforgiving minuteâ€�).
– Option B: Adapt text rendering to visual “linesâ€� (captioning key zones of the painting with selected words/phrases) to bridge poetry and visual literacy.
– Feedback plan:
– Provide brief, criteria-based feedback on the three short writes (claim clarity, specificity of evidence, connection-making across groups).
– Highlight exemplars that successfully tie observation to interpretation without overreaching.
Longer-term
– Skill consolidation:
– Build an assignment that pairs a literary text with an image again, asking students to construct a unified argument about “building a better futureâ€� through virtue (poem) and communal practice under constraint (painting).
– Materials/tech:
– Pre-share stable links (poem PDF; high-res image) in a pinned Google Spaces post before class to reduce time lost to link issues.
– Keep a backup plan if class starts late (e.g., optional micro free-write in the chat or a 2-minute “notice three thingsâ€� prompt to transition quickly).
Homework Instructions:
NO HOMEWORK
All tasks were in-class activities with immediate submission instructions (e.g., “take five minutes for this introductory writing activity,� “When you are done, please upload this whole page of writing to our drive, and we’ll be using that for our next activity�), and no after-class assignment or due date was mentioned.