TRB 6

The integrated curriculum unit plan I created on Minimalism, Inuksuit, Modules & Models, clearly demonstrates my broad knowledge base and understanding of the subjects areas I teach including: visual arts and digital media. The unit plan employs project-based learning, in order to connect cross curricular competencies in Art, Math and Language Arts, while incorporating Indigenous perspectives.

The unit begins with an introduction to Minimalism as an art movement. Students then explore the correlations between the utilization of modules—one of the key sculptural practices of influential Minimalist sculptors—and the building practices used by Inuit to create Inuksuit. After developing an understanding of the cultural significance and meaning behind these different building practices, students are ready to move on to design their own sculptures, informed by the Minimalists’ use of modules. 

This integration of specific background knowledge in order to give students context before they begin to create work that is informed by existing art movements and practices, demonstrates my broad knowledge base with respect to the history of art and art practices. Likewise, through incorporating education using authentic sources with respect to Indigenous building practices—which may appear on the surface to be similar to work made by Minimalist sculptors—I clearly demonstrate my commitment to teaching students that they have a responsibility as members of a global community, to become informed about the significance of cultural practices, before creating artwork inspired by, or referencing those practices. 

The design phase of the unit requires that the students develop a plan for a proposed sculpture of their own design, through constructing a three dimensional model, and creating technical scale drawings. This process takes a constructivist approach to education by allowing the student to be both a participant and creator of the learned experience. This approach to education is also connected to the Montessori principles that “students learn concepts from working with materials rather than by direct instruction”. (Heick,T.)

Conceptually, this project is rooted in the constructivist idea of building on students’ existing knowledge—of structures and building practices—through providing them with a personally meaningful activity—planning the construction of a sculpture of their own design, inspired by the minimalist practice of using modules. The concept of experiential learning is also key to the hands-on approach the project takes, as the student moves through the various steps in the project. (Melrose, S., Park,C., Perry,B.) For example, the unit first explores some of the ideas and construction methods of the minimalist sculptors in relation to Inuit building practices employed in the creation of Inuksuit, which some may feel superficially resemble minimalist sculptures. Then through engaging in critical thinking, students deepen their understanding and knowledge of both Minimalist ideas and Inuit cultural practices, as they analyze both the superficial similarities between the two, and broaden their understanding of the meaning and purpose of the Inuksuit structures from a Inuit perspective. 

Through this process, students may also come to a greater understanding of why it is important to explore the meaning behind cultural practices, such as making art or building significant structures. More importantly they learn how taking the initiative to develop a deeper understanding of various cultural practices, helps us avoid coming to the wrong conclusion about the meaning of symbols in other cultures by inappropriately applying our own cultural knowledge and understanding to them. 

Canadian culture is rich precisely because of the cultural diversity of its citizens. Which means that as educators, it is imperative that we provide students with an opportunity to develop their awareness of the value of deepening their knowledge about a certain subject, before drawing conclusions or making comparisons. Including this component as part of the unit plan demonstrates my commitment to teach the curriculum in a “Canadian, Aboriginal, and global context” as described in TRB standard 6. As an educator, I sincerely believe that developing a respectful open attitude towards others, is a core component of our values and beliefs as Canadians living in a democratic society. 

Likewise, supporting students’ awareness of how their learning is situated within a larger global context connects to the paradigm shift that is underway in terms of recognizing the value of Indigenous ways of knowing. In my opinion, this shift in thought requires that I make a concerted effort, especially as a Canadian educator, to find authentic voices and sources in order to educate students, with respect to Indigenous content. The video I chose to include in the unit plan is titled, “What is an Inuksuk”. In the video Peter Irniq, an Inuit cultural activist, explains the meaning of an Inuksuk. Locally and globally, the “Inuksuk” is possibly, both the most well known and least understood Inuit symbol and cultural practice. Therefore, his perspective was especially relevant to the content explored in the unit, because it allowed for the incorporation of Indigenous perspectives, through including the authentic voice of an Indigenous elder, speaking on the land while moving around the Inuksuit he is describing. His story represents an authentic voice in context.

The next step in the unit plan requires the student to conceptualize or imagine a sculpture that they might build. My experience as a visual artist, allowed me to design a project for students which proceeds logically from the initial creative idea, through the planning phase of model building to the final stage of creating scale plans for a proposed final sculpture. The project steps parallel the development of creative projects in the ‘real world’ and teaches students some of the basic techniques artists and builders use to realize creative projects. The intention is that the students start their process through emulating the approach Minimalist sculptors took to building through using manufactured building units like bricks—as modules—in their work. This is the reason students use plastic interlocking cubes to create a model of their proposed sculpture in this project.

Students begin by playing with and reorganizing the plastic cubes until they are happy with their sculptural structure or arrangement. This is similar to the two dimensional processes designers might use, such as sketching ideas out on paper. Having the students sketch their sculptural ideas in a three dimensional way, brings an element of play to the process, and may further engage the student through possible connections they might have to playing with interlocking blocks recreationally. In addition to potentially making the project more fun, students that recognize a personal connection to the process may also find the learning experience more memorable and meaningful. In addition, this creative thinking process also directly connects students with some of the ways professional designers and artists, work/play with ideas to come up with new concepts and approaches to solving problems with respect to building.

My broad knowledge of art and extensive understanding of the processes that go into making it, enabled me to design this integrated curriculum unit. As a practicing artist and a dedicated educator, I firmly believe that encouraging creative thinking is key to achieving our educational goals especially with respect to teaching our students skills that may help them in a future full of unknowns. Building the model also gives them something concrete to work from when they move on to the math concepts they will be utilizing in the rest of the project.

Finally, the Unit Plan teaches the student what technical drawings are and how to make simple technical drawings of their proposed sculpture using their model as a three dimensional reference. My experience working on art related building projects has taught me the value of using technical drawings as both a way to visualize the final product, and as a way to predict potential problems that may come up in the process of construction. Through drawing, the students gain ‘hands-on’ experience translating their idea from a three dimensional model into a two dimensional format. The same three dimensional model will be used again to help facilitate the application of mathematical concepts to the drawings in order to determine the surface area of the proposed sculpture. 

Using this step-by-step or scaffolded approach, helps students relate to the way people use technical drawings to take a building design idea from a plan to a reality. This potentially fosters a greater interest in many future areas of study for students from design, to engineering to architecture, to art. One of the ways students benefit from a cross curricular approach to learning is that they begin to see how knowledge and skills are used in combination, to create actual things in the ‘real world’. It is a great way to show students that the content they learn in school has a direct relationship with the world around them. Providing secondary students with this context helps to keep them engaged in the learning process. “Perhaps the single-best means of gaining confidence, Montessori said is through real, meaningful work...and real work gives adolescents a feeling of worth.” (Crain, W.)

In order to organize, collect and share the Integrated Curriculum Unit content and materials, I built a website using Google Sites. The website includes the following ICU resource materials: a detailed Integrated Curriculum Unit Plan, four assignments and their assessment rubrics, four sample lesson plans, both two dimensional and three dimensional assignment exemplars, a content rich slide presentation; as well as references and sources. The website, the curriculum documents and the support materials—other than the sourced external websites—were all created using programs available in the Google Classroom Suite. The reason for self imposing this parameter, was to both demonstrate and continue to improve my level of expertise, as well as to show the range of possibilities available to educators and students in School District 68, through the Google Classroom technology and programs. In my opinion, the Google suite is extensive, well integrated, intuitive and easy to use as an educator, in order to support curriculum in the classroom.

As a visual arts and digital media educator, I feel especially responsible to develop and implement digital technology in my classroom. I need to demonstrate my proficiency with these tools to my students in order to both maintain credibility in the field, and fully support student skills acquisition in the classroom. This extensive practical resource demonstrates my technical skills related to digital media and visual art, as well as providing examples of both my visual literacy and my written communication skills. My skills with respect to visual communication are especially valuable to me in terms of teaching and evaluating art. My ability to create interesting visual resources for my students allows me to demonstrate my awareness of the key curriculum components they are learning such as: creative processes, art history, elements of visual art and principles of design—to name a few. As an educator, I feel it is essential that I engage in a constant process of learning in order keep my skills current, so I can demonstrate the level of expertise required to support students’ learning in my specialty subject areas. I believe students respect and value educators that show competence alongside a commitment to learning new technologies and skills.

Works Cited

Crain, W. (2016). Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications (Sixth ed.). New York: Routledge.

Heick, T. (2019, 1 12). A Visual Summary: 32 Learning Theories Every Teacher Should Know. Retrieved 2 3, 2019, from Teach Thought We Grow Teachers: https://www.teachthought.com/learning/a-visual-summary-the-most-important-learning-theories/

Melrose, S. P. (n.d.). Chapter One-Theoretical Foundations of Teaching and Learning. (Powered by Pressbooks) Retrieved 2 3, 2019, from EPUB-FHD.ATHABASCAU.CA: http://epub-fhd.athabascau.ca/clinical-teaching/chapter/chapter-one-theoretical-foundations-of-teaching-and-learning/