Art 1 / Beginning Art: Unit 3: Visual Literacy & Art Critique

When students walk into my Beginning Art class on the first day of school, I know I’m meeting them at very different starting points.

Some have been drawing for years. Some are naturally creative but haven’t had much structure. And others? They’ll tell me - sometimes proudly - that they "can’t even draw a stick figure." Not every student comes in by choice—some were placed in the class to complete their schedule, and aren’t sure what to expect.

That range is exactly what makes teaching this course so interesting, challenging and exciting.

Beginning Art isn’t about natural-born talent. It’s about helping every student, regardless of their background, see that art is a skill they can learn, just like math or science. Yes, it’s expressive and creative. But it’s also full of vocabulary, process, and skill-building. And when students begin to understand how art works, the fear starts to fade and the confidence begins to grow.

To illustrate this to students, I show them how much growth some of my students have achieved. For example, the images below were created by the same student - one during her 9th grade year, and one during her 12th grade year.

Start With the Truth: Art Is Learnable

One of the most powerful ways I start the semester is by introducing students to Lowenfeld’s Stages of Artistic Development. It’s a lightbulb moment for so many of them.

Instead of thinking, “I’m just not artistic,” they begin to realize, “Oh, this is a skill I can develop.”

We look at examples, identify what stage they might be in, and talk about how practice, feedback, and learning vocabulary can help them grow. For students who feel like they’re "behind," it’s validating. For those who’ve always drawn intuitively, it gives language to what they already do, and a path forward to keep improving.

Unit 1: Laying the Foundation with Permission to Play

The first unit in my Art 1 curriculum is all about building that foundation. We go over:

• The Stages of Artistic Development

• Basic vocabulary: portrait vs. still life, landscape, media, and more

• How to navigate critique in a supportive, productive way

At the same time, we begin a low-pressure art activity inspired by expressive portraiture - playful, layered, and totally unique. This piece becomes a creative thread that runs through the first few weeks, giving students space to explore while they build their visual vocabulary.

Art 1 expressive portrait by Serena T.

Unit 2: Elements & Principles - The Visual Grammar of Art

In Unit 2, we shift into the visual grammar of art: the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. These form the foundation of every art decision they’ll make moving forward.

Students:

• Define each element and principle in their sketchbook

• View real artwork examples and sketch visual interpretations

• Learn to use formal vocabulary in writing and discussion

• Analyze artwork using short, scaffolded writing activities

• Track their understanding through a pre/post assessment and mastery checklist

Even though there’s no major final project in this unit, students are learning to see like artists, and that matters just as much as learning to create like one.

Of course, the ongoing expressive portrait assignment continues during any downtime. It’s a constant reminder that art doesn’t have to be polished to be powerful.

Art 1 Expressive Portrait by Daphne Q.

Unit 3: Classifying and Critiquing Art

By Unit 3, students have a strong vocabulary and a growing sense of confidence. Now it’s time to teach them how to think more deeply and write about what they see.The differences between representational, abstract, and non-objective art

• Understanding the differences between representational, abstract, and non-objective art

• Breaking down the four steps of critique: Describe, Analyze, Interpret, Evaluate

• Practicing critique collaboratively before writing one independently

• Using a scaffolded format to write a complete, formal critique of an artwork

It’s a big step, but students are ready. Because we’ve taken the time to lay the groundwork, they’re no longer intimidated by “art speak.” They know what to look for. They have the words. And they’re ready to use them. 

Building a Strong Foundation, One Layer at a Time

The first few weeks of art class aren’t about flashy projects or gallery-ready pieces. They’re about building confidence, vocabulary, and a sense of identity as an artist.

Each unit in my Beginning Art curriculum is designed to build on the last - helping students move from uncertainty to self-assurance, from “I can’t draw” to “I see what I did well, and what I can improve.”

If you’re looking for structured, student-friendly resources to support your own Beginning Art students, I’ve built these materials with flexibility, standards alignment, and classroom-tested experience in mind:

• Welcome to Beginning Art Starter Module
• Unit 1: Foundations + Expressive Portrait Activity
• Unit 2: Elements & Principles of Design Vocabulary + Analysis
• Unit 3: Visual Literacy, Art Types, and Critique Writing

Want to take the guesswork out of planning? The full Canvas-ready module is available for those who prefer plug-and-play instruction for Unit 2 AND Unit 3!

Finished (For Now): My AP® Art Curriculum

 If you've ever built an entire course from scratch - not just the lessons, but the pacing, the projects, the rubrics, the daily agendas, the revisions, the critiques, and all the little moving parts that hold it together - you know what a labor of love (and late nights) it can be.

After years of classroom testing, reflecting, and refining, I’ve finally bundled my complete 18-week curriculum for teaching AP® Drawing and 2-D Design. It’s the structure I rely on in my own classroom - one that helps students stay focused on growth, risk-taking, and building a portfolio that feels personal and evolving. 

It’s also a structure that has led to real success for my students. This past year, every student in my AP® Art class earned a passing score, with a group average well above state and global means:

This version is designed for a single-semester course, but it’s just the beginning. My plan is to continue building on this foundation, expanding it into a full-year curriculum in the future.

Inside, you’ll find:

• My week-by-week pacing guide
• Linked daily slides with assignments and materials
• Project prompts, sketchbook tasks, rubrics, and critique tools
• And something I’m especially excited to share: my fully built Canvas course, ready to import and make your own

If this sounds like something that would support your teaching, you can find it here (without Canvas) and here (with Canvas).

And if you’re still in the process of shaping your own course, I hope this helps you get there just a little faster.

AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product.

AP® Art Peer Scoring: Fresh Eyes and Final Revisions

In the last couple of weeks of your AP® Art Course, your students have probably written and rewritten their Sustained Investigation statements more times than they can count. They’ve cropped, rearranged, and reconsidered their images a dozen different ways — and they’re so close to the work that sometimes they can’t see what’s obvious to everyone else.

That’s where a well-structured round of peer feedback can make all the difference.

A good peer review isn’t just about catching mistakes — it’s about celebrating each other’s growth, noticing what’s working, and pointing out small changes that can make a big impact before that final upload. For so many students, this is the moment when they feel truly proud to share their investigation with someone else, often for the first time as a near-final body of work. 

I like to remind students that we can sometimes be a little blind to our own work, especially after working with the same images and writing for weeks or even months. Having someone else look at it with fresh eyes — someone who knows the rubric but also cares enough to read thoughtfully — can be the push they need to revise those last sticky spots in their written evidence or swap out that one image that doesn’t quite connect.

Make peer feedback meaningful.

I like to keep the feedback process intentional and structured. Each student completes a scoring sheet for their peer, so they’re not just giving vague praise or generic suggestions. They’re looking specifically at how the images connect to the inquiry, whether the writing clearly explains practice and revision, and how well the materials and ideas feel synthesized. It uses the same language as the AP® rubrics so students continue to internalize them. 

Here’s some sample feedback for an inquiry that explores how water can represent different emotions:

“Your writing mentions your question about how water can represent emotions, and I see some pieces that show crashing waves and calm ripples. But a few images don’t clearly connect back to your question in your writing. Try to explain how each piece shows an emotion — for example, how a stormy sea shows anger or how still water shows peace.”

You can feel how thoughtful and supportive that is — it’s not just “Good job!” or “Add more detail,” it’s a real suggestion that helps the artist see their own work through someone else’s eyes.

Turn feedback into action.

But the real magic happens the next day. After peer scoring, we spend another class session reviewing all the feedback — both from peers and from me. Each student uses a simple Revision Planning Form to list out their biggest strengths and the specific changes they want to make to their portfolio.

This step is non-negotiable: it helps students move from “Okay, I got feedback” to “Here’s exactly what I’m going to fix — and why.” It also gives me a chance to check in, answer questions, and make sure they’re not spinning their wheels making changes that don’t help their main idea. 

Here’s another example from a student who reviewed a peer’s Sustained Investigation about how visual symbology has changed over hundreds of years:

“Your portfolio shows how you explored ancient symbols and modern reinterpretations, but your writing doesn’t always explain how each piece connects to the bigger idea. Try adding a few sentences that describe how the materials you used (like stone texture or digital overlays) help show how symbols evolve but keep some original meaning. You're synthesizing materials, processes and ideas - Make it easy for reviewers to see that connection! Be clear, direct, and confident in your writing; it helps your ideas come through clearly in both your art and evidence.

When students translate this kind of note into an actionable to-do — like rewriting a paragraph or adding a quick side-by-side process image — their portfolios improve overnight. 

One last push before the finish line.

By this point, most students feel exhausted but excited — they know they’re almost there. The peer review process is one last chance to tighten up weak spots, strengthen connections, and celebrate the hard work they’ve done. I love seeing how proud they are to share their portfolios with each other, and how invested they are in helping their classmates succeed too.

A good scoring guide, clear rubrics, and real examples of constructive feedback make this process less intimidating and a lot more rewarding — for students and teachers alike. 

If you’re looking for an easy way to structure your own peer review and revision days, I put together the same lesson plans, scoring sheets, and revision forms I use in my classroom. They keep the feedback process clear and the revision process focused — and they’re available here.

AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this post or product.

Why Tracking Evidence Makes AP® Portfolios Stronger

One of the biggest challenges for AP® Art students — whether they’re working on 2D Design, Drawing, or 3D — is staying focused on the big picture of their Sustained Investigation throughout the year. It’s so easy for them to get lost in the making: the endless experiments, process photos, and half-finished pieces. But when it comes time to submit their portfolio, students need to show clear, connected evidence of how they’re exploring, developing, and refining an idea over time.

                                          

I’ve taught AP® Drawing and 2D Design for over ten years, and since the portfolio process shifted from Concentration and Breadth to Sustained Investigation, it’s taken me awhile to get comfortable with the best ways to help students understand how to include all the requirements throughout their process — and document it in a way that’s meaningful.

One simple strategy I’ve found helpful is to build in time for students to pause and reflect on what they do have — and what they still need. I ask:

• How is your Inquiry changing or growing?

• Which images really demonstrate your synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas?

• Where are you showing experimentation, practice, and revision — and where could you push that further?

When students revisit these questions throughout the semester, they start to see gaps before it’s too late. They’re better prepared to make intentional work that truly fits the requirements.

A checklist that requires them to revisit the rubrics — and reflect on how they’re meeting them — has been invaluable. This year, I created a simple progress checklist that does exactly that. It gives students an easy way to check off not just what they’ve submitted, but how each piece supports their Inquiry and the types of evidence emphasized in the AP® scoring criteria. My students keep this as a living document they update every time they submit something new.

If you’re looking for a tool to help your own students track their evidence and stay focused on what really matters, you can find my AP® Art Progress Checklist here. It’s a small thing that makes a big difference in helping students work with purpose — and ultimately feel more confident about their final portfolio.

AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this post or product.

Strengthen AP® Art Portfolios with Progress Checks

One thing I see every year with my AP® Art & Design students is that they’re great at making a beautiful final piece… but not always great at showing how they got there.

And that process — the evidence of practice, experimentation, and revision — is what can make or break a portfolio score.

Why Process Evidence Matters

In AP® Art, it’s not enough to just turn in a finished work. The portfolio needs to prove that students are thinking, testing, pushing ideas, and making intentional decisions. This is what the College Board means by “synthesis” — how your materials, processes, and ideas connect and evolve.

I’ve found that my students do best when they have a clear structure for showing that work-in-progress. That’s why I created an AP® Art Progress Check resource — and it’s made such a difference in how my students document and understand their own process.

What the Progress Check Looks Like

        

Each Progress Check guides students to:

• Include 1–3 clear photos of practice, experimentation, or revision
• Write a short reflection explaining what they tried, why they made certain choices, and how their materials, processes, and ideas connect to their inquiry
• Keep this evidence organized in their sketchbook, a slide, or a digital folder

How I Use Progress Checks in Class

I use Progress Checks throughout the semester, usually at key points when students are about halfway through a project. It’s a quick “portfolio checkpoint” that:

• Helps them slow down and reflect on what’s working and what needs to change
• Gives me a chance to give focused feedback on their process, not just the final piece
• Builds habits that pay off big when they write their final commentary for the College Board

Here are a few photos of my students’ process work and finished pieces. Notice how they use sketches, thumbnails, material tests, and written notes to explain their choices — this is exactly what AP® scorers love to see.

 

If you’d like to try this with your own AP® students, my AP® Art Progress Check resource is ready to plug in — and includes:

• Editable student directions with clear submission requirements
• A simple, rubric-aligned template for images and written explanation
• Linked student example to show what a strong Progress Check looks like
• Printable or digital format — perfect for sketchbooks, slides, or online portfolios

When students can confidently show how they practice, experiment, and revise, their portfolios become so much stronger — and they’re more prepared to talk about their work, too.

I hope this helps you support your artists in making their process visible, meaningful, and portfolio-ready!

AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this post or product.

AP® Art Week 1: Set Students Up for Portfolio Success

If you teach AP® Art & Design (2-D or Drawing), you know that first week can feel overwhelming — for you and your students! There’s the Course & Exam Description (CED), all those unfamiliar rubrics, new expectations for process work, evidence, and revision — and students who are talented but not always confident in how to tie it all together.

After years of tweaking, I finally have a Week 1 structure that helps students get clear on what the portfolio actually is, what AP® readers look for, and how to start building a Sustained Investigation that’s more than just a theme.

Day 1: Syllabus & CED Quiz

We start with the basics — my students get binders with the syllabus and the full CED. We walk through the portfolio requirements together, then take a short quiz (open-note) to clear up common myths.

Is there a sit-down exam? Nope! What’s the difference between Selected Works and Sustained Investigation? Why do we care about written evidence?

Day 2: Understanding the AP® Rubrics

This is where the magic happens.We look at sample portfolios modeled on AP® scoring expectations and practice applying the rubric.

Students guess first, then compare their scores to the actual ones and read the College Board rationales. It’s eye-opening! They see how visual and written evidence work together — and why a beautiful piece with no clear inquiry might not score as well as they’d expect.

This year, I completely revamped my Cracking the AP® Rubrics activity — it now has a clear Teacher Guide, student scoring sheets, and re-formatted slides so students don’t accidentally see the final scores before they think for themselves. This activity leads to real, productive conversations about what the AP® rubric values.

Days 3–5: Inquiry Brainstorming & First Project Planning

Once they understand the rubric, students start developing their Sustained Investigation inquiry. They brainstorm topics, share ideas with peers for feedback, and sketch out compositional possibilities for their first work.

I want them to see that their inquiry can evolve — and that their process matters just as much as the final piece. They finish Week 1 with a development plan for their first artwork, plus a research, practice, and revision strategy that sets them up for meaningful portfolio evidence.

If you want your first week to run smoothly without hours of planning, I’ve bundled all these pieces for you in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store - linked here:

• Full Week 1 Lesson Plans — daily objectives and agendas you can adapt to your block or period schedule
• CED Quiz + Answer Key — clears up those confusing basics
• Applying the AP® Rubrics Activity — revamped Teacher Guide, scoring sheets, rationales, and samples that hide final scores upfront
• Sketchbook Inquiry Assignment — flexible brainstorming & feedback structure, plus an easy rubric
• Project 1 Development Plan — clear steps for thumbnails, research, experimentation, and revision, with optional Google Slides & Canva templates for documenting process work

Here’s to a Strong Start!

Week 1 really does set the tone for your students’ whole portfolio year. The more they understand the why behind the rubrics and how to document their process, the stronger their final submission will be.

AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this post or product.

AP® Art: Grow Your Sustained Investigation with Sketchbook Prompts That Work

In strong AP® portfolios, students show practice, experimentation, and revision throughout their process. Sketchbook prompts make that process visible — and manageable — for your students.

Below is work from one of my recent AP® students. These pages show how sketchbook practice, experimentation, and revision actually look when students are encouraged to push their ideas, test materials, and make connections.

Early planning pages — notes and sketches to explore an inquiry question.

A sketch becomes more than a sketch — every test, note, and idea is connected to the big idea.

Strong portfolios show the full path from idea → sketch → experiment → final work.

If you're interested, I have my ready-to-use Sketchbook Prompts you can incorporate into any AP® Drawing or 2-D classroom available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. These prompts encourage students to:

• Try new materials and surfaces

• Practice risk-taking and revision

• Make visible connections between materials, processes, and ideas

• Build strong written evidence for their portfolio

You can use these prompts as weekly warm-ups, mini check-ins, or independent sketchbook tasks — all while giving students clear structure that still feels open-ended and personal.

AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this post or product.

Showcasing Student work with a Weekly Newsletter

Last year, I made a new commitment to create a weekly newsletter for each of my art courses to celebrate student work and to share exactly what goes on in an art classroom. These newsletters were distributed to parents and students via email and also shared on our class Facebook page. While it was a significant commitment and required a substantial amount of effort, the positive feedback from parents was truly rewarding. The regular communication not only fostered appreciation for the effort put into the newsletters but also facilitated smoother interactions when addressing more serious issues.

Within the newsletters, I provided a summary of the students' ongoing projects while advocating for the importance of visual arts education in public schools. Parents gained insight into the content of the courses and developed a better understanding of the artistic process. Additionally, I included essential upcoming dates, contact information, and visually engaging images to enhance the content.

Sizing and resizing the images to look nice in the newsletter was a huge time suck. After investing many hours in developing a template with various image sizes and formats for easy editing, I am pleased with the design and functionality. I created multiple versions of the template in different colors to cater to the preferences of educators, and I'm excited to announce that this resource is now available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Reviewing the basics with YouTube Tutorials

As the last moments of summer vacation tick away, I've been devoting more of my head space to redesigning my Intermediate and Advanced Art classes. The structure of my Beginning Art class is a strong foundation that I will continue to tweak and build on. If you use Canvas as your LMS, you can find that course in Canvas Commons. For more information, I wrote about it in this blog post.

Last year, I tried giving my upper level art students more autonomy while directing them individually and in small groups throughout their Sustained Investigation. A colleague suggested that I read "The Open Art Room" because it sounded like I was moving in that direction. After reading the book, I have LOTS of ideas! 

I plan to organize the semester into 4 main projects. Each project will use the format outlined in the book: Inspiration, Design/Development, Creation and Reflection. For their first project, Intermediate art students will use black and white media, and I've spent the last couple of days making tutorial videos for them. 

This first video (basics of graphite) will be a quick review of graphite; hopefully, they remember most of this from beginning art.

In this 2nd video, they'll review blind-contour and contour drawing. I'll have them create several drawings of cans, leaves and other materials.

Next, they'll make some observational sketches. Before they begin, I'll use this video to help explain what I'm thinking about when I draw, and how I make decisions.

Free Beginning Art Course in Canvas Commons!

I just uploaded my Beginning Art (Art 1) course for Visual Arts to Canvas Commons! If you use Canvas as your LMS, this should be easy for you to download and import into your own course. 

Here is the link if you're interested: Beginning Art

About the course

Unit 1: Elements of Art / Principles of Design

This is an overview of the elements and principles. There are google slides that prompt students to take notes and create some basic examples in their sketchbooks. They analyze how the elements / principles are used in an artwork and there's a quiz at the end of the unit.

Unit 2: Classifying and Critiquing Art

This unit covers the classification of representational, abstract and non-objective artwork. Students also learn about different genres: still life, landscape, history paintings, portraits, etc. The four steps of critiquing an artwork (describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate) are deconstructed, and students have a chance to practice using them. 

Unit 3: Element of Art: Space Practice

Students will learn about how artists use space in their work. Overlapping, aerial perspective, linear perspective, high/low placement, and size are all techniques that artists use to create the illusion of space. Students will learn to recognize these and exemplify them. There are tutorials in creating drawings of interior and exterior spaces using one and two point perspective and a tutorial on applying aerial perspective when using graphite and watercolor. At the end of the unit, students critique an artwork that uses many of the techniques they learned about. 

Unit 3: Element of Art: Space Project

Students have the choice between two projects. Both projects require students to use the techniques they've been practicing to create an artwork that gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional space on a 2-dimensional surface.

Unit 4: Drawing Exercises

I used to teach this unit before the space unit, but many students find it easier to be successful in the space unit so I teach that one first to build their confidence. In this drawing exercises unit, students will learn a variety of exercises that artists use to strengthen their drawing skills: blind-contour drawing, contour drawing, and drawing upside down. They will learn how to draw ellipses and how to create thumbnail sketches. They'll put all of this together by drawing a still life that prompts them to arrange their own items, create thumbnail sketches and "block in" their still life during the beginning stages. 

Unit 5: Value and Shading

Students practice shading with graphite by creating several value scales using blending, hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling. Then, they practice shading a variety of geometrical forms.

Unit 6: Portraiture and Grid Drawing

This unit breaks down how to draw each of the features of the face using correct proportions. After drawing a self-portrait from a mirror, students learn how to draw using a grid and a 2:1 ratio. The final project in this unit is a portrait applying their previously learned drawing and shading techniques. 

Unit 7: Color, Texture and Final Exam

This unit is packed! Students learn about color theory and texture through several exercises. Then, they begin working on their final exam project that requires them to apply a lot of what they have learned throughout the semester.

Each project, and most assignments, have detailed rubrics and tutorial videos so that students can complete assignments at home if they have to be absent for any length of time. A virtual teacher could choose to use this entire course while another teacher may only choose to use portions. Hopefully it's helpful to most middle / high school art educators.

One more thing - At the beginning of the course are 4 modules that are not part of the units. The first module contains the syllabus and a few activities that I use at the beginning of the year when schedules are still being changed. The 2nd module houses my classroom clean-up schedule. Students sign up to clean different things in the art room throughout the semester, and this gives them ownership and responsibility over the materials. The 3rd and 4th modules are my "bell-ringers." When students first come in the classroom, they choose one of the drawings on their table to draw from. Each week, there are about 5-10 drawings on each table. They submit a photograph of their drawings at the end of the week. 

I hope someone out there found this helpful! When I started teaching, I was so overwhelmed. I had 5 different course preps and there was NO written curriculum for my county - JUST the standards. I wish I had something like this put in place that I could tweak to make my own. If you have any questions about any of the material, feel free to email me! 

Mid Term Art Critique during Remote Learning

We are halfway through this semester of remote learning, and I wanted my students to have a chance to share the art they've been making with each other. I also wanted to host an engaging, thought-provoking critique for students to receive meaningful feedback, but every time I tried to envision doing that on Zoom, all I could picture was awkward silence and black rectangles with their names staring back at me. 

So, I created a virtual gallery in Google Slides and gave students editing rights so they could display one piece that they created during the first nine weeks. I also gave them some questions to answer: the first section of questions related to the entire exhibit, the second directed them to give feedback to three of their peers (these were assigned) and the third set of questions prompted them to reflect on their own work for the quarter.

The "Mid-Term Gallery Review" was due today and most students have completed it by this point. So far, I am very pleased with the results. The virtually gallery looks great and I have been able to collect a lot of feedback for each student. 

Everything that I used for this assignment is included below: the gallery template, the written instructions that students received and the questions they answered on a Google Doc. 

To create the virtual gallery, I borrowed this template from Adam Cross and adapted it to create this: 

(To borrow this, click here to make your own copy)

Here are the directions that I gave students: 

I.CR.1 / P.CR.1 / A.CR.1: Use critical analysis to generate responses to a variety of prompts.

Objectives for this assignment:

1. You will enjoy the work of your peers by perusing a virtual gallery :)
2. You will analyze different aspects of the works by completing a gallery review.
3. You will offer valuable feedback to three of your peers (anonymously)
4. You will reflect on the work you have completed this quarter and devise a strategy for next quarter.

Instructions

1. Open this google slide. (Don't forget to give them editing rights)

2. You will be assigned a number in class. That number is located in the google slide twice: once on a gallery wall with two other artworks and once on its own slide where you will add a title, your name, the media you used and a brief description of the work. If you miss the class, or if you forget your number, please email me; I will email you back to give you your assigned number.

3. Delete your number from the two places that it appears on the Google Slide and insert a high quality photograph of the best artwork that you've created this quarter.

4. Give everyone a little time to insert their images before you complete the attached Google Doc. You may want to complete the Self-Reflection first while you are waiting for everyone to add their artwork.

5. I will assign 3 people to each of you. You will complete a peer review (in the Google document) for each of those 3 people. I will share the feedback you wrote for them, but they will not know who wrote it. I will give you the names of your 3 people in class. If you miss it, or forget who they are, please email me and I will reply with those names. 

Remote Learning: Art Class

I am currently in my ninth week of remote learning, and I have never worked so hard in my life! I also decided to complete all four components of National Board Certification this year... so that definitely factors into the workload. 

I am ALL about sharing content to help other teachers out during this time. It occurred to me that I haven't posted on my blog in a long time, and this is the perfect place to share some of the things I've been doing. 

First, let me give you some background information. My high school is fully remote right now and will be until at least January. I'm on a block schedule with four class periods- three classes and one planning period. When we are in person, those classes are 90 minutes, but the synchronous Zoom meetings are cut down to 60 minutes. We take attendance, and 70% - 80% of my students are attending, which is fairly comparable to when we are at school in person. 

I've gotten into a groove with how I run my Zoom meetings, and I would LOVE to hear your own success stories in the comments- I'm always willing to shake things up a bit and try new things. Basically, here are a few "procedures" that have been working for me. I grade student work throughout the day and try to make sure that everything has been graded before my first class meets each day. While I'm grading, any time I have specific feedback that needs to be shared with a student, I make a note in my notebook. Sometimes, I include the feedback in Speedgrader (in Canvas), but if it's something that I want to have a conversation with a student about, I make a note. 

At the beginning of each Zoom meeting, I deliver direct instruction and outline what the students will be doing for independent practice. This part of the Zoom meeting is recorded for students to view later if they missed something or were absent. 

Then, I put all of the students in individual break-out rooms. To do this, I click on break-out rooms, assign automatically, and I make more rooms than there are students... just in case some students join late. First, I visit each of the students that I made a note to give feedback to. We go over the feedback and I move on to the next student. Every time I speak to a student individually, I record their current grade on a printed spreadsheet so I can see how it goes up or down over time, and I can see how often I meet with them. After I meet with students that need individual feedback, I meet with students that I haven't met with in a day or two. Generally, I'm able to meet with each student individually every 1-3 class periods. Here's a sample of what my spreadsheet looks like. 

If I have a row with several empty spaces, that is usually due to absences, and I know to contact home or to let our admin / guidance counselors know. 

In our district, all of our middle and high school teachers are using Canvas as our learning management system. As I go along, I am sharing my modules into Canvas Commons so that other art teachers can use them. Here's an example of one of my modules and how to find it:

If you aren't using Canvas, but you are looking for tutorial videos, check out my YouTube Channel. I currently have demos on shading, linear perspective and a few other things. My tutorial on drawing boxes in one-point perspective is shown below.

If there's anything else I can share, send me an email and I'll do what I can! I would also love to hear about any tricks or tips you have about teaching remotely during this pandemic!

Off To a Good Start

This 2019-2020 school year is my 11th year here at Graham High School, and "change" seems to be this year's theme. Three out of four of our administration team are new to Graham, and we've switched from semester block scheduling to A/B schedule. I finally feel like I'm starting to settle in to these new changes and I'm ready to post some student work.

In Intermediate, Proficient and Advanced art, I break the big chunks of our class time up by alternating a media project with 2 days of art history. We have mini assignments (sketch prompts, photography assignments, "my choice," etc) sprinkled in between, but I really like how I've finally settled into a routine with project/art history/project/art history.

After their charcoal project, Intermediate art used their first art history day to research the Renaissance movement and they wrote a critique of a work from the Renaissance on their second day. Their second project was "pen and ink," and they just finished their Baroque period research and critique.

Charcoal works by Intermediate students:

Pen and Ink Projects by Intermediate students:

Proficient Art students began with a drawing on toned paper followed by Impressionism research/critique, a colored pencil project and Post-Impressionism research/critique. 

Toned Paper Drawings by Proficient art students:

Colored Pencil projects by Proficient art students:

Advanced art students have studied Dadaism and Surrealism, and they've created a watercolor painting and a mixed media collage. Here are samples of their work:

And last, but not least, my fabulous Beginning students. In these first 23 days, they've learned about the elements of art and principles of design, how to critique an artwork by describing, analyzing, interpreting and evaluating, and they've been doing a LOT of drawing. They've practiced blind-contour drawing, contour drawing, representing ellipses from different points of view, using thumbnail sketches to plan/design their composition and they've completed a variety of shading exercises. On the second day of class, they drew a self-portrait from a mirror. We spent about 6 classes working on the proportions of the face and how to draw facial features. After that, they completed another self-portrait from a mirror, and we were able to view the "before and after" drawings side by side. Here are examples of those: