Danielle Gwin

Lesson is based on the NYT article written September 2025. The journalist references a Harvard professor that has her students spend 3 hours with a chosen art piece. While that isn't ideal for a high school class, this lesson is a modified version that has students spend one hour of uninterrupted time with the Las Meninas art piece. You can introduce the piece with a ten minute video on Smarthistory.org or with your own information. The students then spend the first 30 minutes recording "stream

Students will choose an architectural work that they have studied in class (or research on their own) and use the visual and contextual information from the building to create a fictional ghost story. The visual and contextual wording on the worksheet aligns with the analysis necessary for AP Art History students, but this could be used in a non-AP art history class as well. This is a great activity for the fall/Halloween that allows students to be creative while showcasing their knowledge of sp