About This Lesson
John Steuart Curry’s Tragic Prelude offers mentor art for teaching students character development.
Mentor texts have long been used to model writing techniques. Mentor art can likewise be used to inspire, teach, and refine student writing. Mentor art has the added benefit of addressing diverse learning styles and providing visual support to language learners. Consider introducing your students to character development with John Steuart Curry’s Tragic Prelude. In this lesson students will compare two different depictions of John Brown—paintings by Thomas Hovenden and John Steuart Curry. Then they will consider how these depictions apply popular strategies for developing three-dimensional characters.
