Art Education The Challenges of Curriculum Transition

NAEA Presentation

March 4, 2017

New York CityChristine Miller@tagartteacherchristine.miller@pisd.edu

Laura Grundler@GrundlerArtlaura.grundler@pisd.edu

The Back Story • 2014 New Curriculum Coordinator

• 2015 New TEKs go into use

• District Curriculum expectations

• Sculpture I no longer open to first year High School Art Students

• What are our district goals as a vertical high school art team?

• Christine was completing Masters Degree TWU

Important Links:Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter117/index.html

Plano ISD Expectations for Secondary Art Teachershttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1xFe1Tgy4ZnxuOWkOTsRHJbU4tmEPWFkLiq0-9iJh4iw/edit?usp=sharing

Please TweetPlease Tweet during the presentation and we’ll do our best to respond to questions and then create a Storify Transcript of the presentation.

#pisdcreatesart @tagartteacher@GrundlerArt

Where to start…...………

……..important ?s• Which level of its art education curriculum should it start

with?

• How would the backward design concept be most effective in the reorganization of its K-12 program?

Important Considerations• Vertical alignment up and down program• Unique Plano ISD alignment (not a traditional four year

high school program)

Retooling Plano ISD Art I foundation curriculum

• Understanding by Design

• Shift away from DBAE

• Rethinking Courses

Art I & Sculpture I

Art I 2D & Art I: 3D

We truly understand when we can:• Explain• Interpret• Apply• Have

Perspective• Empathize• Have self-

knowledge

To continue the story: We need have true understanding

Facets of Understanding

How Facets of Understanding helped Transition

• Provided a framework in order to craft the curriculum

• Utilize the framework our students would use for their learning

• Gave us valuable guideposts in our exploration of UbD

Facet of UnderstandingPerspective

2 Creative Teams 2D Team-Team Lead: Christine Miller; MAWilliams High School, Art Team LeaderArt I: 3D, Art II: 3D PreAP;Art II: 2D PreAP12 Years Teaching

Melissa Pierce; BFAShepton High School, Art Team Leader & Art I: 2D PreAP , Art II PreAP;10 Years Teaching

Allison Garrison, MAT;Plano Senior High School,Art Team Leader &AP Drawing & AP 2D Design Teacher 22 Years Teaching

3D Team-Team Lead: Colin McGrane; BFAPlano East Senior High School, Art Team Leader & Art I: 3D & AP 3D Design17 Years TeachingDavid Bearden; BFA & MAClark High School, Art I: 2D, Art I: 3D, Art I: 2D Pre AP , & Art II 2D; 17 Years Teaching Kim Paser Shepton High School, Art Media Communications, Art I: 3D, Art II: 3D PreAP ;5 Years Teaching

Perspectives to consider:• Priorities and

personal interests of teachers and students

• Changing obligations of local, state and national standards

• Influences and developments of technology

Essential Questions• What was UbD?

• What were the principles behind UbD?

• How did the curriculum framework operate as an organizing template?

Overcoming Obstacles • Lack of formal district

training

• Texts used The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units 1st Edition

by Grant Wiggins (Author), Jay McTighe (Author)

Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding F First Edition Edition

by Jay McTighe (Author), Grant Wiggins (Author)

• Utilize Graduate work Christine’s- Summation of Wiggins & McTighe’s text

Facet of UnderstandingExplanation of UbD

http://jaymctighe.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/UbD-in-a-Nutshell.pdf

Author:Jay McTighe

Key components of understanding UbD for the Team

• Backward Design• Big Ideas• Essential Questions• Assessment• Learning activities

Explanation of Backward Design

● Identify desired results

● Determine acceptable evidence

● Plan learning experiences and instruction

Explanation of Big Ideas● Big Ideas are the

concepts or principles central to the lesson and common to the human experience

● Big ideas relate to all of the smaller ideas in a lesson.

● Big Ideas allow the student to acquire a broad range of knowledge

Explanation of Essential Questions● An Essential Question is a

question that is core to a subject or a curriculum.

● Essential Questions foster student inquiry and take the student deeper into the exploration of a subject.

● Essential Questions are the drivers of teaching and learning - they help students engage with their learning to develop creative solutions to problems.

Explanation of Assessment

● Assessment is a performance task that demonstrates students’ understanding

● It should be based on the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, starting at the application level.

● Students should be involved in assessing their own learning through a variety of assessment instruments

● Assessments can be formal or informal; individual or group; formative or summative;

Explanation of Learning ActivitiesThe teaching and learning activities should be closely aligned to the objectives the students should meet, the essential questions they need to answer, and completed assessments to demonstrate their learning.

Lesson plans can have many forms, but will include the following components:● Materials and resources● Timeline for project● Introductory activities● Developmental activities● Closing activities

Facet of UnderstandingInterpretation

Essential Questions for the Team• How could we

reimagine our curriculum using UbD?

• What Big Ideas should we use?

• How can me make it easier for the teachers AND more meaningful for the students?

Further Essential Questions for the Team• How can we ground

the curriculum to include the TEKS standards?

• How can we center the curriculum on Big Ideas AND preserve skill building?

Facet of UnderstandingApplication

Essential Questions for the Team• How could we preserve

the Big Idea units that assist students in creating deeper meaning in their art?

• How could we ensure the courses would have core learning objectives for materials, processes, and techniques but still be true to the UbD principles?

• We reached a point that required compromise in our collaboration.

Big Ideas inLearning Objectives

• One example from 3D curriculum: Unit of Instruction titled “Armature” with a relevant Big Idea of “inner Strength” linked to it.

• Essential Questions for the Unit:

• Where do you find strength?

• How does form evolve from structure?

• What factors influence chosen materials as structural components?

Big Ideas inLearning Activities• More personal

meaning to the students

• Connections to the real world

• Relevance to their lives

• Expand thinking beyond the classroom

• Opportunities for advocacy on social issues

Facet of UnderstandingEmpathy

Essential Questions for the Team

• How could we create a new curriculum that also had elements of what our district art teachers were already teaching?

• Don’t all teachers want their students to have more meaning and relevance in making art?

• Can we bring all of these goals together and be successful?

We wanted both teachers and students to be engaged!

Rolling out to our colleagues

• Feb. presentation

• Google space for contributions and collaborations

• Department meetings

• Still on going

• Follow before 17-18 School year

Facet of UnderstandingSelf-Knowledge

Metacognition – Thinking about your thinking

• How can teachers facilitate practicing the use of metacognition in our students?

• How can we support them in finding out more about themselves?

Student InputGetting student feedback from final exams:• We are building more questioning

in art class, both giving you questions to answer and having you generate your own questions. Do you think questioning helps you learn better?

Student Response:• “Yes, because it leads me to asking

questions I wasn’t aware I had. It makes me see more and think more about what it is I’m doing and why.”

• “Questions help me learn better. It opens my mind and they help me inside and outside of school. The questions make me feel like I’m opening a new path to my world.”

Student InputGetting student feedback from final exams:

• Do Big Ideas help you create a work that is more meaningful to you? Can you explain how it makes a difference in your artwork?

“Big Ideas did help me because I was able to make something about me that was in my life. It made me feel the way that real artists feel about their pieces.”

“Big Ideas made a difference because I put my heart into it instead of my brain. When you use your heart, you are fully 110% focused on making it the best you can.”

Summary & Conclusion

Take aways• Importance of leading and

the importance of compromise

• UbD delivers all that it promises to be capable of.

• The framework has the flexibility to adapt to special needs or ideas about curriculum.

• The new Art I curriculum feels true to our district’s goals, beliefs, and objectives.

• We used the framework in a creative way that fit the needs of the PISD art education program.