{"id":5920,"date":"2022-01-10T00:12:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T08:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philosophyforchildren.org\/?post_type=lessonplans&#038;p=5920"},"modified":"2025-03-20T15:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T22:04:04","slug":"afternoon-of-a-faun","status":"publish","type":"teachertoolkit","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/afternoon-of-a-faun\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAfternoon of a Faun\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>Whole Sequence Breakdown:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Welcome and warm-up (c. 5-10 minutes)<\/p>\n<p>Brief introduction to the \u201cscene\u201d of \u201cAfternoon of a Faun\u201d (5 minutes)<\/p>\n<p>Exploring Various Media (20 minutes)<\/p>\n<p>Whole-group share and discussion (20 minutes)<\/p>\n<p>Possible extensions (for extra time, or additional lessons)<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Welcome and Warm-up<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Welcome students and share any updates, or follow-up on points from the last session.<\/li>\n<li>Warm-up question: \u201cWhat is one of your favorite works of art, and why?\u201d\n<ol>\n<li>My example: \u201cStay On It\u201d by Julius Eastman; I like this piece because it somehow manages to be really catchy, really creative and artistic, and really open to interpretation and other art forms all at the same time.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Encourage students to give some more information about some of their choices, especially overlaps and differences between media that may come up.\n<ol>\n<li>It is likely that students may groupthink default to one genre, likely visual \u201cart,\u201d so feel free to highlight different answers that acknowledge different artistic media as a way of hinting at the main themes for the day.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u><strong>Brief Introduction to \u201cAfternoon of a Faun\u201d<\/strong> <\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check prior knowledge: \u201cCan anyone tell me what faun is?\u201d \u201cHas anyone heard of \u2018Afternoon of a Faun\u2019?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Fill in gaps as necessary with the following information:\n<ol>\n<li>A faun is a mythical creature: half human, half goat.<\/li>\n<li>Dating back to Greek and Roman mythology, Fauns are said to play the <u>pan<\/u> pipes, and to be somewhat naughty or ornery.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re known in part for their love of pleasure: relaxing, enjoying food and drink, playing, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Introduce song: \u201cWe\u2019re going to listen to a piece called, \u2018Pr\u00e9lude \u00e0 l\u2019Apr\u00e8s-midi d\u2019un Faune\u2019 or \u2018Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun\u2019 by Claude Debussy. It\u2019s been called a symphonic poem. I want you to think about what it makes you think about, how it makes you feel ,and what scene you might imagine while we listen. Afterwards, we\u2019ll look at some other art forms exploring the same topic.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Explore Various Media<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Play <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/bYyK922PsUw\">a recording of Debussy\u2019s \u201cPrelude to the Afternoon of a Faun\u201d <\/a>\n<ol>\n<li>Note: This piece is long. You could choose an excerpt with younger students, or try letting them lay around the room on the floor, staring at the ceiling as if playing \u201cthe cloud game\u201d to encourage introspection during the longer piece.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Also have prepared 1-2 visual art pieces exploring the same topic, preferably from similar artistic movements\/time periods.\n<ol>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5922\" src=\"https:\/\/www.philosophyforchildren.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Picture1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"281\" height=\"187\" \/><\/li>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5923\" src=\"https:\/\/www.philosophyforchildren.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/faun-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/LvMxtKb8IwU\">Jerome Robbins\u2019 choreography based on Najinsky.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Ideally, if in person, this could be set up gallery exhibition style with different \u201cstations.\u201d Students would be allowed 20 minutes to explore the various media before coming back together to discuss. In lieu of this, you can do a curated digital exhibition moving through the pieces all together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>\u00a0Whole-Group Share and Discussion<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask students to share their impressions of the different media. What stood questions arose or stood out?\u00a0 The teacher should supplement these as needed depending on the anticipated depth of discussion arising from the suggested questions and points (I.e., if it seems that the questions \/points will be rather quickly discussed, the teacher should supplement with <u>one or two<\/u> questions or points with more opportunities for longer philosophical discussion.) For examples, see the Discussion Questions tab of the lesson plan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u><strong>Possible Extensions\u00a0<\/strong> <\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Explore artistic creation after conversation-based philosophical exploration.\n<ol>\n<li>Could we make our own art to encapsulate an \u201cAfternoon of a Faun\u201d? What would you want it to look\/sound\/feel like?<\/li>\n<li>Could we extend this to smell or taste? If so, how? What would we call those art forms?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Explore impressionism more fully. What does it mean as a philosophy and school of art? Is all art impressionism to some extent?<\/li>\n<li>Do a similar lesson with a different topical theme and see if that changes students perspectives.<\/li>\n<li>Explore whether or not there\u2019s a difference between recorded\/reproduced art (as all of this is), and live art.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whole Sequence Breakdown: Welcome and warm-up (c. 5-10 minutes) Brief introduction to the \u201cscene\u201d of \u201cAfternoon of a Faun\u201d (5 minutes) Exploring Various Media (20 minutes) Whole-group share and discussion (20 minutes) Possible extensions (for extra time, or additional lessons) Welcome and Warm-up Welcome students and share any updates, or follow-up on points from the <a href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/afternoon-of-a-faun\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  \u201cAfternoon of a Faun\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13131,"template":"","toolkitcategory":[755,26,229],"gradelevel":[48,47],"topics":[302,787,790,788],"class_list":["post-5920","teachertoolkit","type-teachertoolkit","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","toolkitcategory-aesthetics","toolkitcategory-art","toolkitcategory-music","gradelevel-high-school-and-beyond","gradelevel-middle-school","topics-beauty","topics-feelings","topics-impressionism","topics-myth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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