TEACHING VISUAL ARTS ON SECONDARY / MYP : GRADE 7.

As teacher it's important to me the way that activities are introduced in the class. The project must be fun for kids and also must cover all our expectations asteachers. What to teach, how to teach...what kids like  and which resources must be used should be planned down carefully. Students must be challenged every moment along the class and also motivation should be permanent. That will ensure success for the activity overall when not al our students have the necessary skills and knowledge. Art in many schools is seen as the tiem where students have "relax". That's not true for me. Art must be the most challenging and risking subject in the school, where pupils will be able to learn about materials, techniques and Art history. The Art class is teh space where pupils will be Creative.

All the pictures on this blog are from works and projects develop by my pupils from G7.

Grade 7.
Introduction to sculpture: Horses and Dragons.
One of my favorites activities is to introduce my students in sculpture. As teachers we must keep on mind that the first step should be to understand what means to create an sculpture and that it doesn't mean to carve a large piece of wood or to manage a huge stone block as Michael Angello did hundreds years ago...no. That is not a good introduction. Go to the basic, firts learn about the main concepts in sculpture: space , shape and balance. I call this activity "The Rider". Kids love to draw imaginary characters riding horses or dragons...that's it.
Below I show a draft planner for this activity.

Stage 1: Integrate significant concept, area of interaction and unit question

Area of interaction focus Which area of interaction will be our focus? Why have we chosen this?		Significant concept(s) What are the big ideas? What do we want our students to retain for years into the future?
Human Ingenuity		A firm structure provides a solid base for the modelling.

MYP unit question

Why a sculpture should go up and not stay down?

Assessment What task(s) will allow students the opportunity to respond to the unit question? What will constitute acceptable evidence of understanding? How will students show what they have understood?

-  Search about modern and contemporary sculpture in Art - Search about sculptural project around the city. - Appreciation of modern sculpture as generator resource of ideas and proposals - Knowledge and Understanding: developing of searches about Henry Moore large scale sculptures, Archipenko and Picasso. Identifying the influence of these artists in the Art project. - Knowledge and Understanding: developing of searches about Jacques Lipchitz  transparent sculptures,  Salvador Dali Surrealist sculptures and Raymond Duchamp-Villon. Identifying the influence of these artists in the Art project. - Application: Developing and building a sculpture using wire, wood and modelling paste. Introduction to the construction of the sculpture taking on count its basic concepts: shape, space and balance. - Personal engagement; shows commitment before, during and at the end of the creative process.

Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?

-     Knowledge and Understanding -       Application -       Personal engagement

Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?

-     Knowledge and Understanding -       Application -       Personal engagement

Stage 2: Backward planning: from the assessment to the learning activities through inquiry

Content What knowledge and/or skills (from the course overview) are going to be used to enable the student to respond to the unit question? What (if any) state, provincial, district, or local standards/skills are to be addressed? How can they be unpacked to develop the significant concept(s) for stage 1?
What are the differences among classical sculpture and modern? What is shape? How can we define modelling a volume? How can we analyze a sculpture? What are the main characteristics in a sculpture? How can we call something “sculpture”? What are the main differences among Henry Moore, Archipenko and Picasso creative process? How can we define structure? - Observation of the sculpture basic concepts within a sculpture: shape, balance and space. - Developing of a three dimension sketch as reference in order to build a sculpture project. - Search about horses, taking on count animal’s anatomy, movement, etc. - Application of the resources taken from the research about Art History. - Application of modelling paste r on the sculpture, adding colour, textures and identifying the way it affects the project.		Standard and Benchmark. CREATING ART: Use the creative processes and the language of art to communicate through a variety of media and techniques. HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT: Understand how art has shaped and preserved history and culture PERCEPTION AND EVALUATION: Using the language of art, students critically analyze, derive meaning from, and evaluate artwork. CONNECTIONS: Use arts to make connections
Approaches to learning How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?
Identifying two basic concepts within contemporary sculpture: shape and balance. Identify how artists have used the modelling when developing an Art work. Identifying the range and way of used for the 2 basic concepts when developing a sculptural project. - Organization: What aspects of my organization do I need to develop? How best can I organize myself? Self – management- planning final sculpture, organizing techniques, process, resources and materials. Time management-monitoring progress and making decision according to progress. - Communication: What communication tools do I use? How can I better communicate my understanding? Informing others-selecting ways to use resources- through sketches. - Information literacy: How do I know if the information is reliable? Self awareness- considering techniques, process and materials according to limitations (space, time, age, etc) for personal improvement. Referencing: Use of citations, use of the Library resources and serious web sites from museums and education institutions. Information provided for teacher. - Reflection:  How my reflections helped me learn and how have my designs developed? Self evaluation-Teacher evaluation and comments. These information and process are recorded in the Research book. - Thinking; what tools can help me think in different ways? Inquiring/questioning and challenging information and arguments, developing questions- reflecting about teacher comments and approach. - Transfer: What are the big ideas of Building spaces? Do these ideas overlap? Inquiring in different contexts; modelling as sculptural resource, how has been used in different cultures.		Vocabulary. Sculpture Integration Shape Balance Modelling Wire Structure Texture Anatomy
Learning experiences How will students know what is expected of them? Will they see examples, rubrics, templates? How will students acquire the knowledge and practise the skills required? How will they practise applying these? Do the students have enough prior knowledge? How will we know?	Teaching strategies How will we use formative assessment to give students feedback during the unit? What different teaching methodologies will we employ? How are we differentiating teaching and learning for all? How have we made provision for those learning in a language other than their mother tongue? How have we considered those with special educational needs?
-       Comparing a sculpture made of metal with a sculpture made through modelling. -       Appreciation of a piece of Art (sculpture). -       Experience building a structure. -       Developing sketch drawing. -       Developing the two dimensions to three.	-       Demonstrations in class of the use of materials and resources -       Demonstration of the structure construction. -       Presenting images of artists’ Art pieces. Using multimedia resources. -       Reflection in class about the artists’ contributions. -       Discussion on class about artists’ contribution.