Instructional Guidelines for Teaching Visual Art in the Middle Years

The following teacher guidelines apply to visual art instruction throughout the year.

Use visual images throughout the year to illustrate concepts and develop students' understanding of the visual environment.

These images should include art works or reproductions of art works from the following sources:

• Saskatchewan and Canadian artists, so students understand that the arts are part of their own time and place
• the community, including signs, billboards, architecture, designed objects, environmental design, interior design, clothing design, store design, etc.
• various cultures and eras
• Indian, Métis and Inuit artists, contemporary and traditional
• the mass media, including advertisements, videos, films, book illustrations, etc.

• Develop a visual art file of art works or images that will be of interest to the students and contains a variety of themes, functions, formats, etc. Visual art reproductions can be found on postcards, art calendars and posters, or in gallery catalogues, visual art print sets, books and magazines.

• Continue to collect slides of Saskatchewan, Canadian and international works of art. Student work could also be included.

• Introduce and study a variety of art forms and styles, past and present.

• Use a process such as "Viewing Art Works" to guide the students' experiences with art works and images.

Much information about contemporary art and art in the community can be collected from art galleries, magazines and the local media. Students and teachers should collect catalogues, essays, newspaper clippings, books, etc. that discuss artists, various aspects of art and art-making, and other issues related to the visual arts.

When choosing resources teachers should read the annotated comments in the Arts Education: A Bibliography for Grades 6 to 8 and decide which resources will meet their needs. Teachers should choose from the following categories:

• Art History -- Reference books from the school or community library, or books like The Annotated Mona Lisa which middle years students can easily understand.

• Artists -- Many books on artists are listed in the bibliography. Other resources are available through the newspapers, art gallery catalogues, calendars, etc.

• Media Studies -- Resources which introduce students to media studies and aid in the development of a critical awareness of its influence upon their lives.

• Indian and Métis Content -- Information that introduces students to the art and culture of Aboriginal peoples, such as The Indian Way: Learning to Communicate with Mother Earth or The Sacred Tree.

• Kinds of Art -- References which introduce students to various art forms such as architecture, film and video, cartooning, photography, fashion, sculpture, weaving, etc.

• Art Images -- Kits which introduce students to a wide variety of art works from Saskatchewan, Canada and elsewhere can be an asset to the visual art program. Teachers should be encouraged to gather a wide variety of images from their community and beyond if funds are not available for the purchase of materials.

• Stories, Poems and Other Resources -- Whenever possible relate other areas of study to the visual art unit through the unit theme.

The exact materials used will depend upon what is available in the school and community. It is important that teachers provide a wide range of experiences with a variety of media and media combinations. Students should be encouraged to discover new or alternate methods of working. As creating is a decision-making process, it is important that students are able to make decisions about which materials and methods will best solve the particular problem they have set for themselves. The media used should include two- and three-dimensional materials, such as paints, ink, pencils, clay, plaster, paper, wire, found materials, film, video, computers, cameras, etc. At all times, when students are working with materials, they should be aware of potentially hazardous substances and follow health and safety procedures.

Introduce students to an expanded range of possibilities for art-making.

Students should have the opportunity to work on a variety of surfaces and materials in different sizes and shapes. Students could work on an image or object that is the size of the parking lot or as small as a thimble. Total environments can be constructed, small clay animals can be filmed so they look like huge threatening monsters, and long thin drawings can circle a room. There are many possibilities, and teachers should be encouraged to experiment with many different formats. Ideas can come from artists' works, research or brainstorming sessions.

Introduce students to a variety of procedures and techniques.

In their image-making, students should be introduced to a variety of processes, such as print-making, paper-making, slab construction, painting, additive and subtractive sculpture, etc. There are many books listed in the bibliography and available in school and community libraries which will aid teachers and students in working through particular procedures and techniques. Students as well as teachers should be encouraged to research new methods of art-making. Learning procedures and techniques, however, should not be the focus of the activities in the curriculum. Teachers should always teach procedures and techniques within meaningful contexts that follow in a sequential order.

Explore the elements of art and principles of design within meaningful contexts.

The elements and principles are best explored in a context of interest to the students, rather than in isolation. Students should be encouraged to learn about the elements and principles as they encounter them in their visual art experiences. What the students discover about the elements and principles should be reinforced and applied throughout the year.

Establish practices in the classroom to encourage ongoing image- making.

Perhaps one of the best ways of doing this is to encourage students to keep a visual art journal. Students can draw in it or cut images from other sources and glue them in their journal in a meaningful way. They might want to collect information discussed in the class and insert it into the journal. They can write about their daily experiences and observations or record other poets' and story writers' ideas. The idea is to encourage students to express themselves and collect ideas and information that are of interest to them. (More information about student art journals)

By the time students are in the middle years, many will want to draw realistically. Encourage students to use observation rather than memory if they want to draw realistically. Students often try to draw realistically from memory, and then become frustrated with the results. Point out to them that artists who draw very realistically use models, photographs, real objects, etc. They often do "studies" to learn to draw something they will need in an art work. Encourage students to do the same. If, for example, a student is trying to draw a horse, encourage the student to study pictures of horses and do "studies" of the head, the legs, etc.

Guide students in their art-making.

The process of creating is often misunderstood. Teachers are afraid to guide the students too much in the fear that they may stifle creativity. However, the creative process is really a problem-solving process, and the teacher should guide students through their creative problem-solving. In many cases, this is simply a matter of asking the individual student thought-provoking questions and encouraging him or her to consider various solutions to problems encountered during visual art experiences. Teachers should encourage students to try new and untried solutions to the problems encountered.

It is important that students begin to take ownership of their art- making. To further formulate ideas, students should be encouraged to research their interests and develop their own style and approach. By doing so, students will take responsibility for their own learning, independent of the teacher.

This curriculum provides a model for guiding students through creative problem-solving. More information is provided in the section "Transforming Ideas Into Visual Form".

Guide students in their research.

Students should be challenged to develop their research and critical thinking skills on an ongoing basis. When involving students in research projects in visual art, as in any other subject area, teachers must establish along with students the expectations and criteria which are important for the successful completion of the project. Students may demonstrate their understanding of the results of their research through such means as individual or group reports or presentations, slides, slide/tape, video, visual images or displays, verbal presentations, other arts expressions, essays or expressive writing.

When researching, students should maintain an awareness of potential bias or manipulation of the facts in the research material they are using. They should be encouraged to present a balanced, imaginative and insightful presentation of their findings and conclusions.

Examples of questions teachers may ask students to reflect on are as follows:

• Have you used research material which presents various points- of-view?
• Have you determined whether the research material you are using reflects any type of bias such as gender, racial, etc.? Have you presented a balanced and unbiased perspective yourself?
• Have you found an interesting or imaginative way to present and demonstrate what you have discovered through your research?
• Are your observations presented clearly and concisely?
• Are your observations organized so they can be easily followed or interpreted?
• Have you included enough detail for the reader, listener or viewer to understand what you are intending to communicate?
• Does your work reflect the intention of the research project?
• Did you make appropriate inferences, analyses and interpretations based on your research?

Reflection is essential in order for students to see the relevance of arts activities and develop a personal commitment to their arts explorations. Reflection time can be used in a variety of ways:

• self-evaluation
• one-to-one discussion with a student
• journal writing
• small group discussion
• large group discussion.

Artistic products or presentations should not be evaluated in isolation, but must always be evaluated in conjunction with the students' creative problem-solving process, their intentions, their previous work that year and the Arts Education objectives.

When evaluating, teachers should remember that the understanding the student has gained and the creative processes the student used to discover and learn are as important as the finished product. It is very important for both teacher and students to note that, while students must be encouraged to take pride in their artistic products, challenging oneself personally and exploring new ideas and ways of working are essential factors in artistic development. This way of working presents a risk to the students in that the final product or presentation may not turn out as well as it might have if they had "played it safe" and worked in a more repetitive or familiar way. A student who has taken risks, attempted to solve new problems and grown in his or her development should receive a positive assessment in these areas regardless of the success of the finished product.