Background
I teach in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public school system, which is the nineteenth largest district in the nation with a population of almost 130,000 students. I teach studio art and art history in a school located in the Northeast learning community, with a population of roughly 2100 students, grade 9-12. My students come from fairly diverse backgrounds with approximately 55% receiving free or reduced lunch.
I teach a variety of courses within the visual arts department (as well as various levels within the studio art classes which include drawing/sculpture/2-D design). Most consistently I teach upper level honors students as well as Advanced Placement students. This unit is designed to be taught with my Art III Honors and Advanced Placement (or Art IV) drawing class. The prerequisite for either of these classes is Art I and II, and as additional design, sculpture, or photography class would be recommended. This is because those courses have laid the foundation for the more concept-based approach taught in the advanced classes.
Building basic art skills in levels I and II allows students to be exposed to a variety of materials and techniques in a more general and experimental way. The content standard for both these courses describes how the use of a variety of materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses. For the proficient and advanced standard (to whom this unit is directed), students are expected to conceive and create works of visual art that demonstrate an understanding of how they are best able to communicate their ideas in relation to the media, techniques, and processes they choose. The products created as a result of this unit of study will make use of a variety of materials (i.e. Dry media such as charcoal, chalks, and pastels; and later in the unit students will have the choice of acrylic paint and mixed media). Students' ability to articulate and defend their choice of media and its application will be part of the assessment process / critique.
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