The teacher uses her content and pedagogical knowledge to engage students in a variety of ways. A teacher that understands this standard will teach her students in a way that promotes valuable 21st century skills, such as critical thought, collaboration, creativity, and real-world problem solving.
This standard is critical because students need to know that what they’re learning does not occur in the vacuum of a classroom. Without working together to apply the content to the outside world, students are less likely to become the empowered learners we want them to be.
“Critiquing the Greats” Activity
Due to their position as the last step of the creative process, the significance of exhibition and evaluation is often overlooked. In this activity, students collaborate in small groups to critique and analyze revered works of art. Because the selected artworks are generally well-known and favored by critics, students must think critically about what makes the pieces so successful. In their teams, students must go through the four steps of critiquing: description, analysis, interpretation, and judgement. Additionally, they have to answer an open-ended question about the selected work, such as “Who is the artist’s intended audience?” and “Do you believe this work was received well? Why or why not?”. Throughout the year, students will get the opportunity to critique a number of different works by a diverse selection of well-known artists. Exercises like this activity helps students think critically about objectivity versus subjectivity in art, and gives students the tools to actively critique their own works.
Art to Rescue the River Community Involvement
I researched opportunities for artists in the Roanoke area and came across a collaboration between the Clean Valley Council and Mill Mountain Zoo. The program is called Art to Rescue the River, and the organizations are looking for artists to submit conceptual sketches of large-scale sculptures made out of trash to highlight the problem of plastic pollution in our waterways. Students could work individually or in teams to design a found-object sculpture of an animal indigenous to Virginia. All sketches were shown and described by their teams, and then groups got started creating their sculptures on a small scale. Students brought in found plastic objects that could be used for the piece, and spent a small portion of class time assembling their creations. Groups had to come together and problem solve as they designed and re-designed their found-object creature. Because the selected artists for the commission will receive a stipend, groups had to work out between themselves whether or not they wanted to submit their concepts, and how to attribute credit appropriately. This collaborative effort shows students a number of things, from how artists can make money to how art is used in the community for a purpose.
“Is AI Art Ethical?” Activity
This small group research assignment is based on the larger question: is art generated using artificial intelligence real art? Students are not expected to have much (if any) experience with prompt-based AI art generators. They will work in teams to experiment with the free prompt-based AI art generator DALL-E and research the science and ethics behind the use of artificial intelligence in art. This activity gives students the opportunity to address and analyze a growing concern in the art world, as well as a chance to reflect on ethical practices in digital spaces. AI art is also something new to me, so together, students and I can learn more about the technology, the questions that surround it, and the ethics behind it. This also aligns with ISTE standard 2.4b for educators, which involves collaboration between the teacher and students to discover new digital resources and troubleshoot together.