Metro Arts

Partnership and Standards - Aligned Lesson Plan Units

The Ayers Institute has partnered with the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission in an effort to highlight the various pieces of public art throughout the city of Nashville. The goal of this partnership is to create high-quality, interdisciplinary, standards-aligned lesson plan units (see below), and to provide professional development for area teachers to aid in the implementation of these units.

Witness Walls Edmondson Park Aileron Sculpture

Witness Walls

To commemorate Nashville's role in the historic Civil Rights Movement, the Metro Arts Commission approved the selection of artist Walter Hood to create new public art.  His design for Witness Walls utilizes iconic photos of the Civil Rights movement in Nashville to honor the events and the people who created the blueprint for nonviolent protest.  The installation will be located on the west side of the historic Metro Nashville Courthouse, steps away from the historic April 19, 1960 student-led protest.

Standards-aligned Lesson Plans

The Metro Arts Teacher Cadre worked together to create six standards-aligned lessons that focus on the Witness Walls artwork planned for installation in downtown Nashville in 2015. The lesson plans are shared to benefit Nashville-area teachers and others throughout Tennessee and the surrounding region.

These lesson plans can be found on the eduTOOLBOX® academic resource-sharing portal as the Interdisciplinary Unit Plan for Witness Walls which includes 6 component lessons created for middle- and high-school students.

Edmondson Park

The Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission engaged two internationally-known artists, Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley, to create site-specific public art works for the newly revitalized Edmondson Park (overseen by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency). This project honors William Edmondson, a native of Davidson County and a self-taught sculptor. Edmondson was the first African American artist to have a solo exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art (1937). Like Edmondson, Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley are self-taught artists.

Standards-aligned Lesson Plans

The Metro Arts Teacher Cadre worked together to create two (middle school and high school) standards-aligned, interdisciplinary curriculum units that focus on the new art installation in the revitalized Edmondson Park in Nashville. The lesson plans are shared to benefit Nashville-area teachers and others throughout the Tennessee and the surrounding region.

These lesson plans can be found on the eduTOOLBOX® academic resource-sharing portal as the Unit Plan for Edmondson Park which includes 5 component lessons created for middle-school students and 5 component lessons designed for high-school students.

Aileron Sculpture

In the spring of 2012, the Aileron sculpture was installed in McCabe Park. This is the former location of the McConnell airfield. The sculpture represents the biplane of the early 20th century. It was fabricated by artist Michael Dillon using traditional blacksmithing techniques and tools that were used in the manufacturing of railroad equipment—another historic reference to Sylvan Park.

Standards-aligned Lesson Plans

The Metro Arts Teacher Cadre worked together to create four standards-aligned lessons that focus on the Aileron Sculpture. The lesson plans are shared to benefit Nashville-area teachers and others throughout Tennessee and the surrounding region.

These lesson plans can be found on the eduTOOLBOX® academic resource-sharing portal as the Unit Plan for the Aileron Sculpture which includes 4 component lessons created for middle-school students.