The following teacher guidelines apply to visual art instruction.
Use visual images to illustrate concepts and develop students' understanding of visual art.
These images should include art works and reproductions of art works from the following sources:
To make the best use of these images, the teacher should:
Develop a visual art research library.
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 10, 20, 30 bibliography and decide which resources will meet their needs. Teachers should choose from the following categories: art history, artists, media studies, Indian and Métis content, kinds of art and other resources which relate to the module content.
Integrate with other subject areas whenever possible.
The teacher will see many opportunities to integrate visual art with other subject areas. In fulfilling the cultural/historical component of Arts Education, natural connections exist between visual art and subject areas such as native studies, economics, social studies and history. Industrial arts, information processing, law, mathematics and accounting can all be related to the creative/productive component, while the language arts are important to the critical/responsive component of Arts Education.
Use the resources of the community in planning visual art experiences.
Nothing can replace the experience of actually seeing art works firsthand. Students should have the opportunity to explore their community's resources as much as possible. Some resources that may be available in the community are art galleries, museums, science centres, cultural centres, heritage parks, artist in residence programs, individual artists, etc. Teachers should plan with these resources in mind and expose students to works which will be appropriate to their interests and to the objectives of the modules.
View Art Works.
Students in the Visual Art 10, 20, 30 program will continue to view and respond to art works using a process such as "Viewing Art Works" of this document. They should understand how and why visual art works are made through reading and analysis, and through writing art criticism. The whole class, groups or individual students may be provided with opportunities to select a particular area for indepth study. Some possibilities include:
Explore the elements of art and the principles of design within meaningful contexts.
Students have been learning about the elements of art and the principles of design in Arts Education. In the elementary years the elements of art were emphasized, while in the middle years the principles of design were emphasized. In the Visual Art 10, 20, 30 courses, the elements of art and the principles of design will permeate all of the foundational objectives and are best explored in a context of interest to the students. Students should learn to use the principles of design to explain the organization of the visual elements 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.
For convenience, a short review of the elements of art and the principles of design is included the Elements of Art section of this document.
Guide students in their creative problem solving.
The teacher should guide the students through their creative problem-solving and art-making processes. In many cases, this is simply a matter of asking the students thought-provoking questions and encouraging them to consider various solutions to problems encountered during visual art experiences. Teachers should encourage students to try new and imaginative solutions to the problems encountered.
It is important that students learn to take ownership of their art-making. To formulate ideas further, students should be encouraged to research their interests and develop their own style and approach. By doing so, students 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" further on in this section
Assess both process and product.
See the "Evaluation" section in this guide for more information.
Encourage students to explore and use a variety of materials and safety procedures.
The 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 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, wire, found materials, film, video, computers, cameras, etc. At all times, when students are working with materials, they should be aware of the potentially hazardous substances and follow health and safety procedures.
Encourage students to explore 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 a parking lot or as small as a thimble. Total environments can be constructed, small clay animals can be filmed to look like huge threatening monsters, and long thin drawings can circle the room. There are many possibilities; students and teachers should be encouraged to experiment with a variety of formats. Ideas can come from artists' works, research or brainstorming.
Encourage students to explore 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, computer animation, painting, additive and subtractive sculpture, etc. There are many books listed in the bibliography and available in school and community libraries which will aid the student and the teacher 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 a sequential order.
Explore a variety of visual art forms
Students may work toward achievement of the foundational objectives of the Visual Art 10, 20, 30 program through incorporating in each year of study at least three from the following areas:
|
|
The Arts Education 10, 20, 30 bibliography suggests resources that will support teachers' development of lessons in many of the forms of expression listed above.
Guide students in their research.
Through research, students will extend their knowledge of a variety of artistic traditions and developments, become familiar with the work of some outstanding individuals and groups, and explore the historical and cultural influences upon the art works studied. Such research will often arise out of the students' own work or art works they have viewed in class, books or art galleries. Through research experiences, students will acquire an understanding of how visual art has evolved and changed over the centuries and how artists have represented ideas, images, styles, etc. Students can build upon and adapt ideas from the past in their own expressions.
Students should be challenged to develop their research and critical thinking skills on an ongoing basis. When students are involved in research projects in visual art, as in any other subject area, teachers and students must establish the expectations and criteria that are important to the successful completion of the project. Students may demonstrate their understanding of the results of research through such means as individual or group reports or presentations, slides, slide/tapes, videos, visual images or displays, 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 materials they are using. They should be encouraged to present a balanced, imaginative and insightful presentation of their findings and conclusions. An adaptation of "Viewing Art Works" could be used as a guide for students to follow in preparing research related to the work or the life of a particular artist.
Examples of questions teachers may ask students to reflect on when doing research are as follows:
Encourage independent study.
On occasion, students will want to work independently to further the direction of their study through community involvement, researching a topic or issue, experimenting with techniques, work study, etc. The "Learning Contract" found on page 52 of this document could be used as a guide in determining outcomes and expectations. Students should formulate their action plans after reflecting on the experiences, knowledge and insights gained on a specific topic. Students and teachers should have a clear vision of the project's purpose and should compare the finished product with the initial plan. It should be made clear that the plan could change as the student progresses in the problem-solving process.
Provide time for individual reflection and group discussion about the students' art expressions and the processes they went through when creating them.
It is important to provide adequate time for individual reflection and group discussion about the students' works and the process of creating them. This reflection is essential for students to see the relevance of the arts activities and to develop a personal commitment to their arts explorations. It also gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in the arts to their works. The process described in "Discussing Student Work" of this document may help teachers in initiating this activity.
Reflection time can be used in a variety of ways:
Facilitate instruction and guide activities.
The teacher's role in a visual art class is that of facilitator and instructor. The teacher's task is to provide a variety of experiences in exploration, expression and reflection, and to structure and guide activities in the class. The teacher must be able to adapt experiences and structures to meet the needs of the students at any given time and be willing to turn over to the students more and more responsibility for their own learning.
The teacher is ultimately responsible for ensuring that meaningful learning takes place. Some of the ways teachers guide activities are by structuring units and lessons, suggesting, observing, questioning, challenging, participating, demonstrating, consulting, anticipating, sharing responsibility and evaluating. Student co-operation rather than competition should be stressed.
At this level, students should be demonstrating commitment to their own artistic growth. This would be evident in the self-motivation, self-discipline and self-confidence shown toward the tasks they undertake. Students should be taking more and more responsibility for their own growth and initiating activities which support their in-class work. This attitude should be prevalent during all activities, including the cultural/historical, creative/productive and the critical/responsive components of this curriculum.
| Student Visual Art Journals | Visual Art Works for the School | Transforming Ideas into Visual Form | Project Planning Sheet |
One of the best ways to encourage students to become actively involved in their visual art program is to have each student develop a visual art journal. Students can record observations about themselves, their environment, their art class, their problem solving and their research. The journal may also serve as a place for students to reflect on experiences and information. This journal should not be used simply as a diary; rather, it should be used as an idea bank. Its purpose should be to encourage students to express themselves, plan and work out ideas, and collect ideas and information of interest and relevance to them.
Teachers and students need to determine guidelines for the use of the journals in art class. Students may wish to draw in their journal or cut images from other sources and glue them into their journal in a meaningful way. They may wish to record insights about visual art or other information discussed during class time. They may write about their daily experiences and observations or record the ideas of other artists, poets and prose writers. The journal should serve as a reference or as a source of student ideas, observations, knowledge, imagination, insights, etc.
The following are some suggestions and guidelines teachers may wish to establish with students in the development of their journals.
The journals can be kept by students over several grades, and can serve as a reference for teachers wishing to observe student improvement from one grade to the next. Journals can also provide new teachers with insights into their students' previous interests, learning, activities and experiences, and will aid in the development of a more relevant program for their students.
It is often expected that part of the visual art teacher's role within the school is to decorate for upcoming events. It is important to remember that the Visual Art 10, 20, 30 curriculum has foundational objectives which should be taught within meaningful contexts. Seasonal art for school decorating may not relate to the objectives for a particular module of study.
However, teachers may still become involved in seasonal projects if they plan ahead and develop the projects based on the objectives within the modules. For example, a teacher could base a Remembrance Day study on the following foundational objective:
Analyze forms of art from a variety of cultures and societies, historical and contemporary; interpret meanings within appropriate contexts; and relate their understanding to their own expressions and life experiences.
Students in grade ten could study visual depictions of war in Module Two: International Visual Art, and the images and perceptions of heros and warriors in Module Four: Work, Class and Power. Students in grade eleven could study war as a source for inspiration in Module Eight: Ideas and Inspiration or in Module Fourteen: Differing Perspectives. Students in grade twelve could study war as a factor for change in Module Fifteen: Change or as a social issue in Module Eighteen: Social Issues and Visual Art.
Teachers should remember that the foundational objectives are the required content of this course. The activities in the guide are only suggested activities which the teacher may follow. Themes or topics of study can be developed by the teacher, according to students' needs and interests, the community and the resources available.
The focus in this curriculum is on the expression of ideas. Art, including the students' art work, has meaning beyond the final product. The process of creating is a means by which students learn. Art-making must be seen as a creative problem-solving process.
There may be times when a teacher wants the students to practise a skill or technique (drawing facial features realistically or making a relief print, etc.), but meaningful art projects are far more than opportunities to practise skills and techniques. Whenever students apply knowledge, use techniques, express ideas or solve design problems, they should engage in creative problem solving.
Encourage students to follow the steps below, keeping in mind that they do not exclude strategies such as brainstorming, research, journal writing, watching films, etc. at any point in the process.
The steps outlined below could be followed as a whole group, by small groups or by individual students. These steps describe only one way of developing an idea in visual art. Some students will approach a visual art project with a very specific idea in mind already, and could omit the brainstorming and webbing, for example. Other students may prefer to get their ideas as they work with the art materials themselves. These steps are simply one way to help students come up with some ideas, to find a focus and to develop or transform those ideas into their own unique visual expressions.
Following are some ways students might experiment with their ideas.
Through teacher and student interaction during the process, the student will learn that:
The teacher should:
For printing this form requires Acrobat Reader
Project Planning SheetFormat - What visual art form and media will you use to explore your ideas? Intent of the work - What are the ideas you wish to explore in the work? Research - Give examples of research or background information used as inspiration for the art work. Analysis - At several points during the development of your art work, consider how you might use the elements, principles and images to communicate meaning. Consider the following:
Reflection - Reflect upon how your art work developed or changed from your original idea or intention. |