STATEMENT OF INTENTION
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” ― Pablo Picasso, painter
The Victorian Certificate of Education Year 12 Studio Art Study Design aims to empower students to communicate creatively, discover their own studio process and hone artistic skills. Learners analyse the practice of established artists, enrich their knowledge of historic and cultural creative people and their art practices and apply or adapt new skills. Student evolve into self-aware art practitioners that can speak their truth and inform their audience, (VCAA, Studio Arts Study Design, 2016, pg. 5).
The pedagogies applied to teaching Studio Arts to this year level vary because the individual student, as much as the work they are undertaking, is unique. Funds of Knowledge (Moll et al 1992) equip me to discern student’s histories, passions and causes they are invested in. This informs me of their values and personal experiences which enables me to direct them to applicable resources. The Visual Arts Studio space becomes a Zone of Proximal Development (Churchill et al, 2011, pg. 77) as students influence and inspire each other as they work. Learning increases and is achieved visually, cognitively, kinaesthetically and by audio processing.in the studio. Students working with similar art forms can be grouped together to support each other by sharing knowledge. Because of the individual nature of the work being produced by individual students, dialogic pedagogies and the High Impact Teaching Strategies of Questioning (HITS, 2017, pg. 22) and Feedback (HITS, 2017, pg. 24) are practiced through conversations and inquiries made between student and teacher, and responses given to written and practical work produced.
Year 12 Studio Arts is an intense growth opportunity for students. The content and learning covered in the approximately 30 weeks is rich and complex. Predictably, the demands of this potent subject can easily and quickly become overwhelming. For this reason, the Unit 3 and 4 Planner for Studio Arts learning has been developed. The Planner aims to address all mandated content and prepare students for confident participation in the final examination.
Regarding my individual teaching practice, Churchill et al assert, ‘even when things are going well, they warrant close scrutiny and reflection upon how to improve them’ (2011, pg. 436). The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) directs us, at standard 6.1, to ‘engage in professional learning: Identify and plan professional learning needs’ (www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards). With this in mind, I undertook a ‘Current Skills Audit’ to determine priority areas for improvement. These are, learning the basics of soldering for application in sculpture, increasing my knowledge of art industry contexts which is a mandated VCE Studio Arts learning area found in Unit 4, area of study 3, (VCE Studio Arts Study Design, 2017-2021, pg. 26), and increasing my proficiency with assessment processes.
The Unit 3 and 4 planner is intended in its design to reduce VCE Studio Arts students’ stress level, and give them confident control over their ability to achieve tasks required by the Study Design to successfully pass this subject. Careful consideration has been given to the order of tasks with the intention that as students completed a learning hurdle, the knowledge gained would inform the next task, smoothing their experience of learning.
Ideally, the Year 12 students would have taken part in grounding introductory workshops designed to whet their artistic appetite for their proposed artwork production in Year 12. These workshops would be scheduled for the last two weeks of the prior school year. At these lessons, students would begin to consider what subject they want to interrogate, what art form, mediums and techniques they would investigate and who their artists of inspiration might be.
Early in week 1 of term 1, students would receive exploration proposal and work plan writing instruction and examples to enable them to produce their own informed, and organised proposal and work plan. The creative work done over the following months with be directed by these documents. Students will also be guided to select appropriate artists of inspiration to support their creative endeavours. Learners will receive direction of how to set up their Visual Diaries so that important information and reference material is always easy to access. In following weeks, students will visit a range of galleries and acquire relevant information required by the Study Design, as well as receiving instruction on correct annotation methods, and how to correctly reference artworks. Through regular, short activities, students will become fluent in their understanding of art elements and art principles, aesthetic qualities and art language and definitions which are needed throughout the creative and theoretical learning of VCE Studio Arts.
Gallery visits inform School Assessed Coursework, which informs study of artistic processes of artists of inspiration, which inform media trials, which inform development of potential directions. Another gallery visit in term 3 to the local cultural centre and exhibition space, educates the students about art industry contexts and the intricacies of exhibiting as required by the study guide.
Regular recording of visual diary and artwork production will be photographically recorded by me and stored digitally as a safe guard against valuable progress evidence being misplaced, lost, stolen or damaged, to protect students from their end of year result being compromised.
Brief quizzes and questionnaires inform me of the areas the students require extra teaching on specific subjects that may well be in the exam. Exam preparation is addressed in the last week of term three and in the first 7 weeks of term four leading up to the exam. Preparation begins with reading last year’s exam and exemplary answers so students are fore warned which equate to them being fore armed. Discussion about timing and tackling questions is addressed in week 1 of the final term, and across following weeks student’s work through questions with time limits applied, as well as some educational games to make information reinforcement enjoyable.
The completion of the school year would be celebrated with an exhibition showcasing the year 12 student’s artworks.
Throughout the planner, reference is made to Resources to support the student learning. These can be found listed below the planner. A key to the colour coding and abbreviations is also provided.
By referring to this planner throughout the year, students and teachers can proceed comfortably, making the process of learning less stressful and more enjoyable.
PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT PLAN
Soldering
Soldering is a skill that can be used to assemble found object sculptures, wunderkammer cabinets, sculptural dolls and steampunk inspired art. This skill can be particularly useful to engage students that like to work with more robust materials and art forms. Having enough skills to safely direct students to use a soldering iron and flux to join metal components effectively opens up scope to interesting and previously unavailable trajectories not to mention the wow factor aspect of producing this form of art.
I have sourced a soldering workshop that I can participate in toward the end of October that I will attend.
Art Industry Contexts
The skills audit revealed my limited knowledge of Art Industry Contexts. During the production of the Planner and subsequent reading of the related VCAA documents, it became apparent just how important it is to have knowledge about this topic. I recently took part in an excursion as an assistant to the teacher of Year 12 students visiting Tarra Warra art gallery. It was fortuitous that I learnt about Art industry Contexts there from the onsite Education Officer.
Chapter 14 of Art-isan by Bowden et al, (2016), addresses the Art Industry Context learning required by Year 12 students in detail. I will also read this to become better informed. Studio Knack (2017) also details Art Industry Contexts (in chapter 15, pg. 284).
Assessment
Assessment is a formal aspect of the work of a teacher. It is a task that needs to be accurate and just. VCCA provides teachers of Year 12 Studio Arts students with a comprehensive document called the ‘VCE Studio Arts: Administrative Information for School Based Assessment’ (VCAA, 2019). This document details the process of school based assessment, and provides assessment sheets to facilitate the assessment process of Unit 3 outcomes 1 and 2, and Unit 4, outcomes 1 and 2. The ‘VCE Studio Arts Advice for Teachers’ (2016) document provides descriptions of one of a choice of School Assessed Coursework (SAC) assessment tasks, as well as performance descriptors work sheets, to facilitate grading accurately and fairly. I will familiarise myself with these documents and the assessment process they outline to be informed of what is required to accurately assess students practical and creative work.
© Copyright Ingrid Schmidt