Standards

Comprehend

Prepared Graduate
Competencies
Analyze, interpret, and
make meaning of art
and design critically
using oral and written
discourse

Reflect

Explain, demonstrate
and interpret a range of
purposes of art and
design, recognizing
that the making and
study of art and design
can be approached
from a variety of
viewpoints,
intelligences, and
perspectives

Identify, compare and

interpret works of art
derived from historical
and cultural setting,
time periods, and
cultural contexts
Identify, compare and
justify that the visual
arts are a way to
acknowledge, exhibit
and learn about the
diversity of peoples,
cultures and ideas

Grade Level Expectations

1. Visual arts connect
multiple
characteristics of
art. Artists and
viewers determine
artistic intent by
comparing and
contrasting
the
characteristics and
expressive features
of art and design
2. Visual arts
communicate the
human experience.
Works of art
articulate and
express different
points of view

1. Specific methods of

planning support
the development of
intended meaning.
The processes and
philosophies of art
and design inform
interpretations in
works of art

Relevance to the Topic

At the start of most classes we
began introducing a variety of
historical and contemporary
artists along with works that are
very artistic but seen for a
different purpose such as
botanical garden illustrations
and illustrations of zoo planning
with different mediums. The
students gain and understanding
of different ways to plan for an
art piece through research in the
library, sketching end idea of
end product in three different
perspectives and listing key
features they want to include to
support their concepts. We
compared similarities in
creatures and environments.
These two students both drew
unicorns, how are they
different? How are they
similar? Throughout class
students were continually
describing their decision
making and intentions for those
decisions during the process.
We introduced this unit as a
humane zoo rather than just a
building a zoo because we
wanted the students to critically
think about problems zoos run
into like animal escapes and to
small enclosures. We viewed
and read about a couple of
really bazar and insane stories
about problems happening in
the zoo and brainstormed ways
those scenarios could be
prevented while coming up with
other problematic scenarios of
our own. Before creating their
enclosures and creates the
students spent time not only

Create

Recognize, interpret,
and validate that the
creative process builds
on the development of
ideas through a process
of inquiry, discovery,
and research

Create works of art that

articulate more
sophisticated ideas,
feelings, emotions, and
points of view about
art and design through
an expanded use of
media and technologies

planning how it was going to

look but also planned a whole
character for their creature and
how it interacts in their
enclosure. Does it like to fly? It
needs a lot of space up high to
fly around. Is its natural instinct
to hunt? What is its prey and
how does it capture it? Is it an
active creature? How will you
keep it entertained? Each
creature has its own story and
personality that is reflected in
how it was created.
1. Use media to
Although a lot of time was
express and
spent planning, the big ah-ha
communicate ideas moments of understanding
about an issue of
really happened when the
personal interest.
students were in the process of
Use artistic media
creating. The planning lead to
and expression to
the structure of what they
communicate
wanted to create but it was the
personal and
process of creating when they
objective points of
understood the big ideas. Some
view
of the things the students
mentioned was I know how I
2. Materials and
will start to create my creature
processes can be
because I have a sketch of it
used in traditional,
right here with everything I
unique, and
want to have on it and wow!
inventive ways.
Look at this mark a made using
Create art using
my shoe to stamp the clay! I
technological media didnt even know that was
there! After experimenting and
3. Apply an
creating with mixed-media
understanding of art students were surprised and
processes and
excited about the transformation
creative thinking to of materials into their art. They
plan and create art
were more focused on using
odd materials and manipulating
them to get them to work in
their project than trying to form
realistic looking features. Many
students creatures had a mood
they wanted their enclosure to
capture using specific design

Transfer

Recognize, compare,
and affirm that the
making and study of
art and design can be
approached from a
variety of viewpoints,
intelligences, and
perspectives

Recognize, interpret
and validate that the
creative process builds
on the development of
ideas through the
process of inquiry,
discovery, and research

Explain, compare and

justify that the visual
arts are connected to
other disciplines, the
other art forms, social
activities, mass media,
and careers in art and
non-art related arenas

Transfer the value of

visual arts to lifelong
learning and the human
experience

elements such as color, texture,

etc.
1. Critical thinking Our unit is centered around the
in the arts
idea of responding to
transfers to
environmental issues such as an
multiple
inhumane zoo. The students are
lifelong
continually practicing critical
endeavors.
thinking skills about planning
Artists, viewers, and constructing from a plan
and patrons
that will be useful in their
assign intended lifelong endeavors. Learning
meaning to
how to plan and draw in
works of art
different perspectives and
allows students to critically
2. Eco-art is a
think about an object from
contemporary
multiple viewpoints, how its
response to
viewed? What it impacts? and
environmental
how the object relates to its
issues.
surroundings. We discussed in
class about how scientist and
architects use art as an
advantage to document findings
and to plan for a bigger
structure. The students
experimented with using
materials in a new inventive
way that is transferable in how
they now see everyday
materials and objects. For
example one student used tape
not as an attachment method in
his project but as a surface
texture by crumpling it up and
stamping it into the clay. We
also discussed about how to
present work to help support
ideas such as creating a
brochure and constructing a
layout that supports the concept
of a zoo like environment.