1. How do we know what our students know about the topics we plan to address?
First, we need to be aware of current culture and what students are commonly informed on. We can think about what might be the topics spoken about in the home, or even news feeds. Second, understanding what is being taught in the other subjects students are learning about in classes that would be relevant to an enduring idea.
2. How would you go about teaching for “deep understanding”?
It's important to make connections between the process of creating art and its relationship to what students already know/are building knowledge upon. I really liked what Stewart and Walker had to say about discussion groups in chapter 5. I definitely see how students will take pride in sharing their knowledge and with experience - be able to express what knowledge they have gained.
3. How would you teach for student relevance?
Like the book says, we want students to learn how to learn. Through activities and experiencing art processes, students can begin to see how to relate artwork to themselves or view a relationship with art. While limitations should be geared towards an enduring idea, I also think the student needs enough room to consider how art making is relevant to them.
4. How might teaching for student relevance be a ridiculously bad thing?
Ridiculous seems like a very opinionated word, but "teaching for student relevance," might not be as successful as it can be imagined to be. Although I feel like this can be a strategy to help fuel students' interest in creating artwork, it also might distract from trying to understand art outside of the current class's artwork. Sometimes reading artwork is less about trying to see how it resonates with you and it's more about being aware of the culture it came from and the thoughts about the artist who created it.
5. For the unit you are envisioning, what will be your “entrance strategy”?
An enduring idea I'm interested in has to do with humanity - mainly on a culture aspect. To engage my classrooms, I want our discussions to begin with activities. Some of it might seem like a social experiment, but I want interaction in the classroom. The topics/questions I want to address in a given lesson plan will play more of an active role in the students mind before it is analyzed more on a cognitive scale through classroom discussion/instruction.
6. In an inquiry based, constructivist approach, a key question is “What does that mean?" What are some other ways that you can ask that question?
To get more specific, we need to know what the specific topic is. The questions should guide the classroom towards more definite answers, yet allow room for discussion and growth for understanding. For example, if one painting is making a reference to themes that appear in art history, both images can be shown and brief explanation given. The teacher can ask the classroom: How does the artist reference the other artwork? Why would this benefit them? What value do these ideas hold for viewers of each time period?
7. As art teachers, we often pose artistic problems for our students, defining the constraints that we hope will cultivate divergent, creative solutions. How do you plan to have students become researchers and pose their own creative problems?
I feel like there is a lot of value in taking a student relevance approach in order to build interest in how they engage art cognitively. I feel like maybe the curriculum could give room on personal exploration on inquiry based projects. Some assignments would allow students to have more freedom to determine how to use media to depict/approach their inquiry.
8. At this early stage in your unit, how do you envision the sequential organization of learning experiences or activities? Make a list of what you plan to do in sequence.
- Classroom Engagement Activity
- Discussion
- Introduction of art subject
- Important figures in both history and contemporary
- Connections to what students already know/want to learn
- Make Art
9. How will you determine if what you are doing is working? What counts as evidence of learning for you?
I feel like the execution of this learning plan will appear in the art students create. If the students can talk about their artwork, and if it can be read according to what knowledge they have acquired, then I think It's successful. If there's a lack of understanding in the topic, or it's not seeming to carry over very clearly, it will appear in the art itself and how confident the student may be.
10. What are the learning goals for your unit? What kinds of understandings are you reaching for in these goals?
I want the learning goals to include not only making art, being comfortable with it, and have an idea of how to approach it, but also how students connect with one another and the rest of society (again, humanity and culture.) Art can be used as a tool to allow students to think through inquiries as well as knowing how to research other artists students may be interested in.
