As a visual arts teacher there are a number of ways in which I can influence the reading-writing program at Sam Rotolo Middle School. By increasing reading and writing in all content areas, students are able to understand the importance it has on all aspects of life. The middle school years are a time students often fall behind in their literacy skills and as educators it is our responsibility to give them the tools to maintain them.
The image on the left is by an 8th grade student. A mixed media project based on reflection asks students to write a memory or a reflection on an aspect of self that others may not know about them. From that written piece students work through the creative process of word webbing, thumbnail sketches and idea development to create a work of art using one or more mediums. The piece visually represents the story written by the artist. The piece on the left is based on personal connection with the student's heritage. Students utilize their creative and reflective writing skills through the preliminary process of this project, supporting literacy in the art room. Currently, our curriculum supports the program, and examples are given below. |
Scholastic Arts MagazineThe Scholastic Arts magazines supply meaningful informational text with higher order questioning within it's content. Each issue is supplied with a set of questions as well as additional activities, videos and literature to be used through the website. The use of these magazines in our middle school curriculum give students exposure to new artists, art movements and history. The relevant articles allow for extensive discussions, meet the National Art Standards and assignments are adaptable to ELA common core anchor standards.
Click LEARN MORE to be linked to Scholastic Art's website. |
Artist StatementsAll students in the middle school art curriculum learn how to write a quality artist statement. Students understand the importance of an artist supplying an artist statement with their artwork. Each product that is produced within the art room is supplemented with a student written artist statement. Students are given an overview of expectations of the artist statement and how to properly approach it. Teachers make ELA connections with alignment of the common core anchor standards of writing. Students must include an introduction, body and conclusion. Below is a basic outline:
-Introduction -Explanation of the process of artistic creation (use art vocabulary) -Strengths (what went well) -Improvements (what could be changed) -Conclusion Click on LEARN MORE for a link used as a helpful tool when talking about writing artist statements with students. It is a great flow chart by The Art of Education (2016). |
CritiqueStudents experience critique starting in the 6th grade. Students are given an overview of the purposes of critiquing artwork. We discuss the importance of talking, writing and debating a work of art and understanding the point of view of the artist him/herself. Students begin learning about critique by observing famous works of art and the work through a worksheet. The worksheet asks questions in which they are to develop their answers and explore the meaning behind the work of art through well written paragraph responses. They are asked to:
-Describe what they see -Interpret what they see -Analyze what they see -Judge what they see This exercise is practiced twice throughout the trimester and by the end of the trimester students are then critiquing their own work and peer works of art. This meets the ELA common core anchor standard of speaking and listening and writing. Download the documents I use for the critique process below.
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