Syllabus

My Syllabus

Units of instruction for every class, and instructional timeline.  At the bottom of each unit description there will a tentative date/month this unit will take place.  

 The purpose of  this part of the syllabus is to report on how I will incorporate South Carolina State Standards, and Greenville County Atlas Rubicon design (COMMON CORE)  in my art curriculum.  There are six different elements of art to incorporate into an art school curriculum, these are: line, shape, form, texture, color, value, and space.  Also there are seven principles of design to incorporate as well, these are: balance, pattern, unity, contrast, emphasis, proportion and rhythm.  Infusing these ideas into the framework set before me will be yearlong goal.

The first step in planning my syllabus for my art program is how I was are going to break up my units of instruction (however some art teachers that I have spoken to don’t have units of instruction per se).  There are art teachers that I know that break up the year into eras on the timeline, styles of art, art tools (such as painting units, and drawing units) , subject matter, seasons, and still others that have units based on artists.  All of these seem perfectly fine if the art educator can incorporate all the principles of design, and elements of art.

In creating my syllabus, I sought to break up my year into sequential disciplines.  In the past Greenville county's Atlas Rubicon sort of does this.  Now art teachers have a "landing page" that suggests units of instruction.  

Map Overview - Kindergarten Visual Art 

Unit 1

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students will look at and use some of the elements of art to create artwork. This unit should focus on line, shape, and color. Students should be exposed to a variety of techniques such as painting, collage, sculpture and drawing. Artists such as Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Matisse are great examples to use for this area of study. 

Unit 2 

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students will explore the use of texture and space in their artwork. Students should continue to build upon their knowledge of lines, shapes, and color.  Lessons should emphasize Standards 3 and 5 helping students grow in their ability to  improve and evaluate their work.

Unit 3

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 3, students will learn to present and share their artwork. Students should present and reflect on these works and their use of the materials. Students will continue to use elements from previous units and add the use of form. 

Unit 4

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 4, students should experience how the arts are connected to other areas. Students should learn about careers in art such as architect, graphic designer, or fashion designer. Students will continue to explore a variety of mediums and elements of art. 

Map Overview - 1st Grade Visual Art

Unit 1

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students will look at and use some of the elements of art to create artwork. This unit should build on what students began to learn in Kindergarten, with more exploration of  line, shape, and color. Students will use a variety of techniques such as painting, collage, sculpture and drawing. Artists such as Kandinsky, Cezanne, and Matisse are great examples to use for this area of study.

Unit 2 

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students will explore the use of texture, space, and pattern in their artwork. Students should be introduced to using symmetry. Students should continue to build upon their knowledge of lines, shapes, and color.  Lessons should emphasize Standards 3 and 5 helping students grow in their ability to  improve and evaluate their work. Students should begin to be able to talk about their own work and the work of others. 

Unit 3

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students should learn to talk about and share their work with others. Students will continue to work with the elements of art and a variety of materials. This unit should continue to build on what students know about forms. 

Unit 4

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 4, students should experience how the arts are connected to other areas. Students should learn about careers in art such as architect, graphic designer, or fashion designer. Students will continue to explore a variety of mediums and elements of art. 

Map Overview - 2nd Grade Visual Art

Unit 1

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students will look at and use some of the elements of art to create artwork. This unit should build on what students began to learn in First grade, with more exploration of  line, shape, and color. Students will be reintroduced to using symmetry in their art. Students will use a variety of techniques such as painting, collage, sculpture and drawing. Artists such as Mondrian, Pollack, and Heather Galler are great examples to use for this area of study.

Unit 2 

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 2, Students will share and talk about their artwork and the artwork of others. Students should be able to describe elements and subject matter in their own work. In this unit, students should increase their knowledge of space by using horizon lines and backgrounds in landscapes. Center of interests should be discussed. 

Unit 3

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students should learn to talk about and share their work with others. Students will continue to work with the elements of art and a variety of materials and begin combining media. This unit should continue to build on what students know about forms. 

Unit 4

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 4, students should experience how the arts are connected to other areas. Students should learn about careers in art in our community. Students will continue to explore a variety of mediums and elements of art. This unit would be a great place to bring in design thinking standards and media arts standards.

Map Overview - 3rd Grade Visual Art

Unit 1

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In this unit, students will review the basic elements of art of line, shape, color, value, and space. Students will use these elements to begin creating principles of art such as pattern and balance. Lessons should build on what students have already learned in previous grades. Artists such as Heather Galler and Raewyn Harris  are great for this unit. 

Unit 2 

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In unit 2, students are building on their knowledge of the elements and principles of art with an emphasis on talking about their art and the art of others. In this unit, students should also develop skills for creating depth in landscapes and use asymmetry in their work. This is also a great unit to discuss and create portraits that tell stories. Suggested artists include Grant Wood and Romero Britto. 

Unit 3

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 3, there should be a focus on creating artist statements and places to present artwork. Students should continue to develop their skills using the elements and principles as well as using a variety of materials. In unit 3, students should explore sculptural materials like clay or a variety used for assemblage. Weaving and mosaics will also build foundational skills for students. 

Unit 4

Suggested Pacing: 45 days

Unit 4 focuses on relating art to other content areas as well as art careers in the community. In third grade, there should also be a focus on developing printmaking skills. Students should also explore areas such as graphic design, stop motion animation, or other technology careers. 

Map Overview - 4th Grade Visual Art 

Unit 1

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 1, students should explore and review the elements of art and use a variety of materials and techniques. Students should begin using their previous knowledge of the elements to further their use of principles of art in their work. Students should be exposed to contour line drawing, complementary colors, creating intermediate colors, creating patterns and movement, emphasis, and portraiture. Students should work in 2D and 3D. 

Unit 2 

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

Unit 2 focuses on improving and evaluating their artwork. Students should be able to talk about and describe their work using art vocabulary.  They should also be able to discuss elements of art, mood, and themes in others works of art. Students should be working with 2D and 3D materials to explore landscapes, positive and negative space, and radial balance. Drawing and printmaking are suggested techniques for this unit. 

Unit 3

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In unit 3, students focus on writing artist statements and where artwork is presented such as galleries and museums as well as informal settings such as banks or other community spaces. Students should continue to create art in 2D and 3D with an emphasis on 3D projects such as clay and weaving and creating the illusion of 3D on 2D. This is a great unit to integrate social studies topics such as Native Americans and South Carolina between 1730-1880. 

Unit 4

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

Unit 4 focuses on the connection between the arts and other subjects. It should also give students knowledge about arts careers and arts businesses in our community. This unit should build on all knowledge of the elements of art and focus on exploring new techniques and materials. This unit would be a great place to integrate design and media arts standards. 

Map Overview - 5th Grade Visual Art 

Unit 1

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In Unit 1, students should explore and review the elements of art and combine a variety of materials and techniques. Students should use their previous knowledge of the elements to further their use of principles of art in their work. Students should be exposed to actual and implied line drawing, monochromatic and  analogous colors, creating a 5 grid value scale, and creating patterns and movement. Students should work in 2D and 3D. 

Unit 2 

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

In unit 2, students’ main focus should be on improving their artwork and evaluating the meaning of art. In 5th grade, the students should be using art vocabulary frequently in speaking about art. Students will continue to explore a variety of materials and techniques and build on what they have learned in previous years and units. This unit should emphasize form, space, proportion, and perspective. One point perspective and portraiture are great for this unit.

Unit 3

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

Unit 3 focuses on organizing work based on a common theme or technique. Students should be able to create work that is 2D and 3D in a variety of forms that express a common theme. Writing Artist statements is one way to express their ideas about their art. Students should also be able to demonstrate various techniques with a media. This might include several watercolor or acrylic painting techniques combined into one work of art or a variety of clay techniques combined into one project. Students should also be able to create the illusion of form using color value. 

Unit 4

Suggested Pacing:  45 days

Unit 4 focuses on the connection between the arts and other subjects. This unit should build on all knowledge of the elements of art and focus on exploring new techniques and materials. This unit would be a great place to integrate design and media arts standards. This unit would also be great for graphic design and printmaking such as screen printing. 

Each unit focuses on one element while incorporating a few major critical components such as: the state curriculum for art education, the principles of design, art history, and crossover content with other subject areas in that grade levels curriculum.  This breaking off the year into elements seemed natural, as the elements of art flow into each other nicely and creates a nice stream from one course of thought to another.

I start of the year with the element of art called line.  This is natural because even the GC Curriculum Landing Page starts the year off with drawing.  I’ve read that that artists view line as the “nervous center of art creation.”  I forget who said that, but it has stuck with me.  Each grade level has different tasks surrounding this element, and different artist to study.  In any grade we start the year with our first project being a line study.  This line study lesson involves most of the principles of design, but most notably pattern (many lines on a page), then patterns of lines making rhythms, and the arrangement of the lines creates unity and contrast.

My favorite line lesson plan is called, “The Picasso Light.”  Students draw lines in space and the camera records these lines via open shutter.  The effect is like lasers.  The students roar and go giddy when they see themselves with lasers around their head.  It’s and amazing lesson plan.

I enjoy the flow in the Elements of Art.  I start the year in line, then to shape, color, value, form, texture and space.  This seems to have a natural flow to it, and the scaffolds you put into place make the next element easier until you reach space.  Space is the most difficult concept to grasp in my opinion for the elementary art student, so I put the lesson last. For example, how many times have you seen a learner put a band of blue sky at the top of the paper, and then put a band of green grass at the bottom?  This indicates the learner is not thinking in terms of space, but more in terms of elements that must be included on the page that appear in a straight line and don’t harmonize.  This also has to do with a Principle of Design called Unity, which is also a very difficult concept for the Elementary art learner.

In conclusion, I prefer to break my units into the elements of art, and incorporate multiple Principles of Design repeatedly in each lesson.  The repetition and reminder of key art concepts brings the learner into a familiarity with the content.  One must also keep in mind that the art educator may only see their students once a week, so reinforcing ideas is critical for them before they can begin to synthesize any of this new information into something all their own.

Unit 1 

Drawing –Creating 

Each grade will study the use of the element of art called line.  This is a GCC directive to pepper every lesson plan with these elements. This includes line types, contour/gesture, and line quality. Some artists use line and line alone in their work, and focus on it entirely.  For Kindergarten this is especially important because they are just getting to  used to hand and eye coordination.  Even in the higher grades it is important to start the year off with the basics to get them back into the swing of things

Each lesson has the core essential question, “How do I use line in my art.”  Each EQ is different but has this at the core.

For example the fifth graders start out the year drawing still life using a different line that the object has (instead of a curved ball, a jagged ball). 

The next assignment is gesture line.  but gesture line is looser, so I  put this second as skills is more important to focus on in the beginning of the year to get them in the habit of drawing what they see.

The next assignment builds on this.  This is much like the education theorist Bruner.  A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current and past knowledge. The learner chooses and permutes the knowledge, constructs hypotheses, makes decisions, and while performing these he relies on his cognitive structuring. His cognitive structure caters for grasping the meaning and organization of the experiences, and enables him to “go beyond the given information”

When the instruction is considered, the instructor should try and encourage the student to discover the principles themselves. This should be achieved through engagement of learners and teacher in an active conversation. Teachers should be able to transform the materials to be learned in such a way that it suits the learners’ cognitive level. The way of presenting the materials should be spiral not linear so that it allows both learners to contemplate and construct gradually upon what they have learned.

Therefore, the next lesson builds on the previous lesson.  This year I had continued on the past weeks learning and started the learners on contour line.  Contour line is difficult for  a lot of artists.  But the previous lesson  concentrated on unexpected line.  This sets a scaffold for this assignment.

The next assignment is based on cross contour lines.  This project  explores the previous lesson which uses only outlines, and then builds on it to explore in inside of an object.  This hints and lessons and units that are further down the road.

However Kindergarten may make simple “line letter animals” that focus on basic skills.  First grade may make line scratch art of their favorite lines.  Second grade makes a 3D line sculpture with strips of their favorite line glued down.  Third grade make the Picasso Light lines, that used time lapse photography,

This takes place in September and early October.  Fourth grade does a lot of similar work to fifth grade, as I am getting them ready for them to master skills they will need in middle school.

Unit 2

Oct-Dec

Painting Creating

Each grade will study the use of Paint. This is next logical step as painting is just drawing, except you are using paint.  This includes, abstraction, rectilinear /curvilinear, positive and negative engagement of paint.  This includes a heavy emphasis on the math concept of geometry.  All lessons point to making complex shapes and using them as tools form art making.  Many artists use shapes solely in their art making. 

Lesson all have the  core essential questions, “How can painting be used in the creation of art..”  Each Learning Objective is different but has this at the core.

This is the next logical step in the evolution of my yearly overarching essential question.

 For example  third grade starts out the shape unit with “Animal Mondrian's.”  These are simple animal shapes that they get from magazines.  This directly builds from the line unit because all shapes are made from lines.  The next project is, “Egypt faces.”  This is more complex, and uses many shapes they have used and some other shapes that they might not have.  These are called, “free form” shapes.

Unit 3

January-Feb (Mid) 

GCC Sculpture 

Each grade will study the use sculpture in a new and vibrant way as introduced by Rubicon.  The Goal as outlined by Rubicon will be to get the learner to understand that a variety of art materials can be used for self-expression. This concept of 3D the learners hear all the time and do not exactly know what it is.  They know it is something that you may touch or looks like you could touch (Computer 3D animation). 

Feb (Mid)-June

GCC Other Media

Each grade will study the use of new and unusual methods of creating art.  The learner will understand that many artist do not focus on mealy drawing and painting, but mix many materials together in new and interesting ways.

All Units:

Art History

Every lesson of instruction this year will have elements of art history peppered throughout the lesson.  This is not only my personal philosophy, but key on Common Core, and GCC.

My favorite lesson plan in art history is the reflective reading.  A student takes the TEXT of a picture, in this case a woman in the dust bowl, and reflects on the art presented to them.  Not only does this fit into my standards, but in the standards of our 5th grade social studies.  Often the fifth grade teacher will take the lesson, and then expound on it in their classrooms.

 Grading

Each project will have a 80/20 split in grading.  This split will have 80% of the grade be participation, and

From the district:

Beginning in the fall of 2020 elementary related arts teachers will begin using standards based grading for all students. 

Teachers will use checklists, observations and rubrics to determine if the student has MET the standards taught during the 9 weeks or if the student is still PROGRESSING towards meeting the standards.   

Numeric grades will no longer be given for assignments or reported on the report card.   The teacher will enter M (MET) or P (PROGRESSING) for the student at the end of each 9 weeks.  The teacher will be expected to keep anecdotal evidence to support the assessment of M or P. 

My Rubrics for this year: