Cowabunga! || Using TMNT to teach the Renaissance

We present to you our first full fledge lesson plan to use in your world history classrooms! This lesson plan addressed the importance of art during the Renaissance and how the artistic themes revealed the changing times of the Renaissance. The lesson plan addressed the key themes and key players in Renaissance art while bringing in some familiar faces of our beloved martial arts trained mutants.

To begin, this lesson plan was created for Indiana social studies classrooms and thus caters to Indiana Standards. Below are the standards, essential questions and enduring understandings that drive this lesson plan.

Indiana State Standards Addressed:

WH.4.10 Trace the origins and developments of the Northern Renaissance and the Italian Renaissance. Explain Renaissance diffusion throughout Western Europe and its impact on peoples and places associated with western civilization.

Essential Questions:

EQ #1: How were Renaissance artists and writers influenced by the “Classics”? Where is it evident in their work?

EQ #2: What does the content of Renaissance work say about the values of Europeans at the time?

Enduring Understandings: 

EU #1: The art of the renaissance, shaped public perception of the concept of the perfect society but also the idealized European

EU #2: Renaissance art was largely influenced by Ancient Roman and Greek art, both in style and content

The lesson plan is begins with an instructor led lecture that addresses the key themes that evolved during the Renaissance art movement. Also students will be introduced to four of the most famous Renaissance artists that later influenced the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After students have a foundation of understanding about the themes and artists of the Renaissance, they will participate in a historical immersion activity. Students will go back in time and paint the Sistine chapel in a similar way to the master himself. Using coloring book pages of sections of the Sistine Chapel, students will tape them to the bottom of their chairs and color upside down like Michelangelo. The lesson concludes with a class led dissection and analyzation of one of Michelangelo’s works, to demonstrate student understanding of art themes and context.

If you would like to try this lesson in your classroom we have provided below the detailed lesson plan, powerpoint, coloring page and exit slips for you to use. If you do decide to use this lesson in your classroom we would love to hear what you thought about it! Please email us any suggestions, comments or pictures of your students combining the historical and the modern with our TMNT lesson plan. Enjoy!

TMNT Lecture Powerpoint

TMNT Lesson Plan

TMNT Exit Slip

TMNT Sistine Chapel Coloring Page