Open Art Room Units
The foundation of my curriculum is based on the students in the class. Students get to choose the materials they most are interested in learning about, what topics or areas they want to explore, and techniques or skills they are hoping to gain. Once I have gathered this information, I form my curriculum.
After lots of trial and error, I have developed a classroom that is a mixture of Teaching Artistic Behaviors (TAB), Modern Classroom, the Open Art Room, and Studio Habits of Mind. This allows me to create curriculum on a foundation of how artists think and work while offering student independence. In a unit, a student moves through the phases of the design process, learning behaviors that can be applied to current as well as future projects. The ideas of teaching elements and principles of art; media; or techniques and skills is not lost in this curriculum, but rather, they are built into the lesson themselves. This provides a richer, more autonomous student engagement as they develop and create art.
I am constantly adding, editing, and inventing new units based on student interest!
Here are some of my favorite units - click the links to be taken to that Unit Page!