🎨 Cold War Canvas Kickoff

Students rotate through a short gallery of Jackson Pollock works, 1950s Cold War headlines, and a tense radio sound clip, recording brief evidence notes in a notebook on gesture, scale, color, and emotional effect. They then create a one-minute abstract sketch with markers or paint sticks based on one selected source and add a draft inquiry question about how abstract choices communicate tension or freedom. A partner talk follows: students compare Pollock’s methods with their own sketch, give feedback to 2 peers, receive feedback, and revise their question or visual choices before a brief whole-class essential-question debrief.