Upper Level Art Classes Framework for Inquiry:
Student-centered learning continuum that invites learning by individual discovery and inquiry.
Art Classes will be organized and contain individualized programming, multi-age grouping, cooperative learning, creative problem-solving, critical thinking, emphasis on imagination and the arts, parent involvement, a sharing, nurturing environment, and a supportive community.
In Art we recognize that everyone learns differently, at different rates, and has different interests.
“curriculum is an ongoing engagement with the problem of determining what knowledge and experiences are most worthwhile for each young artist. With each person and each situation, that problem takes on unique shadings and different meanings.” The Teacher will guide each child along his own critically determined path, with flexibility, but critical in the sense that the learning programs initiated and developed will best meet the needs of each student at the time best suited to his/her development.
A good curriculum must meet the needs and expressed desires of pupils. It creates in the school a pleasant and friendly environment in which young adults know that they are appreciated and accepted; in which maturing young people will find that they and their ideas are respected; and in which all pupils find interest and satisfaction in learning. It encourages pupils to ask questions, to contribute further information, and to express their opinions freely, and it encourages teachers to answer pupils’ questions truthfully as often and as fully as possible. At the same time, such a curriculum provides for studies related to institutions of higher or further education or which are needed to obtain specific qualifications.
Decisions concerning student’s art progression are made at the monthly student/parent/teacher/community expert meeting.
We will utilize a portfolio as evidence of learning, and also as a guide to further learning. The evidence contained will be practice sketches, technique explorations, Subject research, and goals and aspirations as determined by the student and their committee.
#1 Portfolio Creation, Evaluation/ Instruction, this will be a collection of ALL their work but it will also serve to guide decisions for each future project, building on what they already know and taking it up a notch each time.Upper level classes will utilize a course of inquiry that the student will develop with the teacher/ parent/ and expert, based on their interests and the parameters of the course. This is different than many other schools portfolios in that instead of just collecting “artifacts” as a record of learning, we are using it as a place to keep ALL of a student’s work as a tool for instruction, and guidance in future explorations. It will be a place where the work goes into but also a place that art grows out of.
#2 Parental involvement, Student, Parent, Teacher, and an Expert in the field will meet 3-4 times per trimester to review what the student has done and discuss where to go next. Research and Reflection will be a big part of this and will be something that students will need to prepare for these meetings.
#3 Exhibition of the products in a public space, i.e., George Daily, the art center, the mall, WPU, other spaces as available.PechaKucha presentations of process and product at least twice per trimester. These will in part be organized by students in order to gain experience as a “real” artist.
Assessment:
The evaluation of pupils’ progress will be a continuous part of the learning process, not a separate periodic exercise. It should be a co-operative endeavor of teacher and pupil. These evaluations will take place in a variety of ways meant to give immediate and applicable guidance for further development. These assessments are a core part of the instruction/ learning/ creating model and often will occur through informal verbal feedback and instruction.
Monthly Meeting Worksheet:Name______
Present:
Student:
Teacher:Date:______
Parent:
Expert:
What techniques, mediums, subjects do I want to explore, why?:
1)
2)
3)
How do I develop proficiency in this technique or medium, what specifically will I do, when will I complete it?
1)
Date:
2)
Date:
3)
Date:
Who are some artists who utilize this technique, name three?:
1)
2)
3)
How do they use this technique?:
What makes it unique, and relevant?:
What is the context that this work should be understood?
Cultural, social, political, psychological, aesthetic, mood, back-story, or other?
Project Planning Worksheet pg. #1 Name______
What Am I planning to create?:
What are the steps to completion, when will I accomplish them by, what do I need, skills, materials, source images, sketches, etc…?
1)
Due by______Completed___
2)
Due by______Completed___
3)
Due by______Completed___
4)
Due by______Completed___
5)
Due by______Completed___
6)
Due by______Completed___
more:
Project Planning Worksheet pg. #2 Name______
How do I make my art unique?
What do I want the viewer to get from viewing it?
What do I hope to accomplish?
What elements and principles of design will be central in this work?
What is the context that this work should be understood?
Cultural, social, political, psychological, aesthetic, mood, back-story, or other?
How will I know when I am successful?
Where does this lead, what comes next?
How do I apply this new understanding?
Supporting Material:
Hall-Dennis report (commissioned by Ontario Minister of Education Bill Davis in 1965, delivered to him in 1968)
Developing a Sense of Responsibility
Teachers can take definite steps to develop a sense of responsibility in children, and the Committee offers the following by way of example:
•Have pupils plan and manage their own routines of study.
•Encourage pupils to suggest ventures in learning which they would like to undertake.
•Encourage joint or group undertakings.
•Provide for pupil management of certain school affairs
•Reduce assigned homework in favor of pupil-planned study or practice.
•Provide adequate guidance programs to enable pupils to set more remote vocational goals
•and to plan their own educational progress.
•Apply only those rules that are necessary for the maintenance of a healthy, invigorating and pleasant learning atmosphere.
•Give pupils practice in making decisions of a personal and social nature.
Page 136—The Teacher
The modern professional teacher is a person who guides the learning process. He places the pupil in the center of the learning activity and encourages and assists him in learning how to inquire, organize, and discuss, and to discover answers to problems of interest to him. The emphasis is on the process of inquiry as well as on the concepts discovered.
Page 139-140—Learning Environments
In the future a school will contain various kinds and sizes of learning areas, including classrooms, small study centers, and large open areas. In a well-organized schoolroom efficient, flexible use is made of available resources, and routines proceed with a minimum of confusion and interference. In many classrooms, rows of fixed desks and the single bookshelf have been replaced by movable furniture and shelves, magazine racks, tables and cupboards, designed for displaying and storing books and other aids to learning. In a well-organized teaching area, the furniture is arranged or grouped as the needs demand, for art activities, interest areas, discussion groups, individual study, and other purposes.
As stated earlier, the spotlight in the school is shifting from methods of teaching to experiences for learning, and the truly professional teacher now employs in each situation the methods that will enhance the quality of the learning experience of the pupils in his care. He creates the situation that most effectively involves the pupils. He recognizes the need to capture or arouse interest, to provide opportunities for inquiry, discussion, discovery, organization, review, and evaluation, to ask a searching question or make a useful suggestion at the right time, and to guide pupils in the selection and use of a variety of resources. The forming and understanding of ideas and the development of skills and attitudes find their place within many learning experiences, and are not treated separately in formal or ‘type’ lessons.
In establishing the atmosphere for learning the professional teacher remains sensitive to the interests and problems of pupils, and allows the direction or pace of the lesson to change as the situation demands. He realizes that for an individual child the sequence of steps in the lesson may be less important than a word of praise or kindness, or a sign of recognition or reassurance; indeed, such actions are themselves part of teaching ‘method.’
A teacher may actually be teaching very well when he is apparently doing little more than observing pupils at work; he does not believe that effective teaching demands constant activity on his part.
Page 142—Evaluation
Traditionally, evaluation of pupils’ progress has been carried out by the use of periodic formal tests, chiefly in order to establish the level of achievement for parents and school authorities. With the introduction of a child-centered program, evaluation is changing in both function and form: its function is to determine the effectiveness of the program in the pupil’s development; it takes the form of day-by-day observations of the pupil’s interests and activities, difficulties and achievements. Evaluation is part of the learning program, is often planned jointly by the pupils and the teacher, and provides for self-evaluation as well as for diagnosis. The process may involve a discussion of the effectiveness of a learning situation, of the degree of participation of the pupils, and of suggestions for improvement of study habits, research and discussion procedures, and use of reference materials.
Page 157—The Structure of the System
The structure of the system and of the school itself should be a democratic one-one where the teacher has freedom, not one that is so rigidly bound by rules and regulations that he feels his freedom is being questioned. The teacher’s loyalty to the system will be conditional upon the degree to which the system and the individual school serve to make it possible for him to do his best work. The system that meets the professional needs of its teachers will usually have the highest teacher morale.