Some samples of inquiry and arts ed lessons

Combining these two elements Outcome: CH3.2: Demonstrate an awareness of traditional and evolving arts expressions of Saskatchewan First Nations and Métis artists in own communities or regions. Planning Phase of Inquiry – explore ideas and questions and identify a topic area for their inquiry – develop a plan for their inquiry Lesson Idea: Show a number of art samples from Saskatchewan First Nations and Metis arts. Have a series of questions to ask the students about what they like, don’t like and how these artists represent their culture in the work. Have the students explore ideas for an inquiry project that relates to First Nations Art or and Artist or other art samples representing this culture (such as dream catchers). During this lesson you will walk the students through the process for coming up with an idea for a topic they will explore and how they will try and do this.

Combining these two elements Outcome: CR4.1: Analyze how dance, drama, music, and visual art works represent unique ideas and perspectives. Retrieving stage of Inquiry – understand how information is organized in libraries – create a working bibliography of appropriate print, non-print and electronic resources Lesson Idea: Prerequisite Learning: students have explored in the planning stage how the arts ed elements can show different perspectives and ideas on a variety of topics. They have chosen one element and a topic to explore such as : drama and showing prejudice, art and showing happiness, music and writing lyrics for Remembrance day, dance and aboriginal culture. My lesson: We will explore all the ways we can find information about these topics and then work together on how to write a bibliography. I may teach about the first or second piece of this lesson. For demonstration purposes, we may choose one of the examples above to do some direct teaching about this and then all students time to decide how they are going to explore their own topics.

Combining these two elements Outcome: CP5.8: Create art works using a variety of visual art concepts (e.g., positive space), forms (e.g., graphic design, photography), and media (e.g., mixed media, paint). Inquiry: Creating stage – complete a final creation that incorporates information and suggestions from others and highlights new understandings My Lesson: Prerequisite Learning: Students would have already done the following: In planning: consider the needs of the audience in terms of creating and sharing – the topic of the art work will be determined at this stage. They will choose a topic that has something to do with “bullying” or “Keeping the peace on our playground” In retrieving: evaluate search strategies and offer suggestions for improvement - the students will have researched information about their bullying topic or ideas for improving playground safety In Processing: focus the topic, incorporating new ideas and connections – I will have provided the students with additional information and food for thought about things they may not have considered. I will also provide some direct instruction on a variety of visual art concepts Now in CREATING – have the students work on creating a visual representation of their topic. During my lesson I could bring in a variety of ideas for students to experiment with before they decide. Ex: paint, magazines, a digital camera to take pictures, clay, tissue paper, etc. I would be leading the students through a series of mini workshops on these art stimuli so they can choose what would best suit their project idea.