Self-Created Unit Plans with Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials
IPTS (2013) Standard 2 – Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge: The competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content area knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of disciplines, and content area literacy. The teacher creates meaningful learning experiences for each student based upon interactions among content area and pedagogical knowledge, and evidence-based practice.
IPTS (2013) Standard 5 – Instructional Delivery: The competent teacher differentiates instruction by using a variety of strategies that support critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, and continuous growth and learning. The teacher understands that the classroom is a dynamic environment requiring ongoing modification of instruction to enhance learning for each student.
St. Charles North High School Unit Plan: Personal Logo Design Project (Digital Art 2)
Description: In this unit, students learned about personal logos, the elements of personal logos, and the characteristics of strong personal logos. Students developed and created a logo design for themselves using Adobe Illustrator. Students then used their personal logo designs to create two different business cards for themselves.
Personal Logo Design Project Unit Plan
Personal Logos Presentation
Rationale: I created this unit for my high school Digital Art 2 class. This class is the second class in my high school’s digital art program and its primary focus is on having students become proficient in Adobe Illustrator. When designing this unit, I focused on creating a project that explored Adobe Illustrator basics, but that was also relevant to students. Many of the students I had in this class were upperclassmen thinking about what to do after high school. I decided on a personal logo project due to the fact that my students would need to start building themselves professionally and would need a branding element for themselves such as a personal logo. After learning the ins-and-outs of logos and personal logos, I had students go through multiple steps to create a personal logo for themselves. Students began with a planning activity, then sketched, created, applied their personal logo to a professional product (business cards), and reflected on their designs.
Personal Logo Design Example
Personal Logo Design
Project Steps
Personal Logo Design Assessment
Personal Logo Design Jamboard Example
Business Cards Example
Personal Logo Design Project Student Examples
Eastview Middle School Unit Plan: Masterpiece Collage Project (Art 1)
Description: In this unit, students learned about Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism in order to select an artwork to be the basis for their projects. Students then learned about collage, background, middleground, and foreground in order to create a collage of the artwork they selected.
Masterpiece Collage Project Unit Plan
Masterpiece Research Worksheet
Masterpiece Collage Project
Masterpiece Collage - Critic's Review Worksheet
Masterpiece Collage Rubric
Rationale: I created this unit for my middle school Art 1 class. Art 1 is the first art class middle schoolers take and focuses on introductory art practices. Many of my students have seen famous artworks but were not familiar with their associated art movements. Some of my students had made collages before but did not know the background to foreground order of creation in artmaking. Teaching about art movements and depth in art in connection to students’ prior knowledge interested them in the project and strengthened their artistic skills. Learning the basics of art history and how to build an artwork from the bottom up is important for younger students because it prepares them for more advanced content in future art classes. To create their masterpiece collages, I had students research artwork, build their collages from background to foreground, critique others’ collages, and reflect on their own masterpiece collages.
Masterpiece Collage Example
Masterpiece Collage Project Student Examples
Assessment Methods Portfolio
IPTS (2013) Standard 7 – Assessment: The competent teacher understands and uses appropriate formative and summative assessments for determining student needs, monitoring student progress, measuring student growth, and evaluating student outcomes. The teacher makes decisions driven by data about curricular and instructional effectiveness and adjusts practices to meet the needs of each student.
St. Charles North High School Assessments: 80 Color Painting Project (2D Media 1)
Description: As part of the 2D Media 1 curriculum for my high schoolers, I taught students about color theory and painting through formative and summative assessments my CT designed. The formative assessments were in the form of sketchbook practices where students practiced mixing colors, created a color wheel, created multiple value scales (tint, shade, tone, and color change), and experimented with different brushstroke techniques (blending, dry brush, and wash). The summative assessment was an 80 color painting project in which students created a painting of their own design using at least 80 colors that they mixed themselves. The only paint colors students were given were red, yellow, blue, black, and white.
Formative Assessment: Color Theory Sketchbook
Rationale: The formative assessments used were beneficial to students as many of them had not taken an art class since elementary school. Re-learning color theory and painting basics was needed for introductory art students that wanted to continue into higher level art classes. Using the formative content my CT had already developed enabled me to focus on my delivery. I demonstrated to students each part of their formative color theory sketchbook over a three-day period so students could watch and learn how to appropriately mix colors and paint. I also came up with a twist to the color wheel portion of the formative assessment. Instead of having students make a generic shaped color wheel diagram, I had students pick a shape to use as each color of the color wheel. This allowed students some artistic freedom in a structured practice as well as made their color wheels works of art. The summative assessment supported and applied the formative assessments in how it required students to use what they learned from them to create a work of art.
Summative Assessment: 80 Color Painting
Eastview Middle School Assessments: Architectural Relief Print Project (Art 3)
Description: I incorporated multiple printmaking formative assessments into an architectural relief print project I designed for my middle school Art 3 students. One formative assessment I created for this unit was a pre- and post-test about printmaking vocabulary terms. To ensure growth after the pre-test, I gave students a printmaking vocabulary terms worksheet. Another formative assessment I created for this unit was a printmaking practice activity where students made a mini stamp using their initials. As the summative assessment for my architectural relief print project, students created a linoleum print of a piece of architecture of their choosing.
Rationale: My formative assessments for my architectural relief print project focused heavily on printmaking vocabulary terms and tool usage because linoleum printmaking was new to my Art 3 students. Most of my Art 3 students were familiar with some printmaking concepts because of previous experiences in Art 1 and 2, but this project was their first exposure to linoleum printmaking. Learning definitions and being able to apply the terms hands-on to a practice enabled students to get comfortable with this new art medium before creating their summative works of art. The summative assessment for my architectural relief print project was small in size and had set limits so students would be able to make successful projects. The linoleum blocks students worked with were only 4”x 6” and they only made 2-color prints. Keeping this summative assessment small in size and reduced in color helped students not get overwhelmed with the complex art form of linoleum printmaking.
Formative Assessments
Printmaking Vocabulary Terms Pre-Test
Printmaking Vocabulary Terms Worksheet
Printmaking Vocabulary Terms Post-Test
Printmaking Practice Activity
Summative Assessment: Architectural Relief Print
Professionalism, Advocacy, and Leadership: PAL 1
IPTS (2013) Standard 9 – Professionalism, Leadership, and Advocacy: The competent teacher is an ethical and reflective practitioner who exhibits professionalism, provides leadership in the learning community; and advocates for students, parents or guardians, and the profession.
Description: For a PAL 1, I attended Bridget Riley’s exhibition, Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio, at the Art Institute in Chicago as well as participated in a Saturday Studio workshop about Bridget Riley’s art.
Rationale: Visiting and experiencing Bridget Riley’s art was such a fun and productive experience. As an art educator, it is very important to see and interact with art outside of the classroom. During this experience, I not only got to look at the artworks by Bridget Riley but participated in a workshop where I got to create my own Op Art piece inspired by Bridget Riley’s work. This was a fun experience for myself as an artist, but it also gave me an Op Art lesson plan idea to teach my future students. The Op Art piece I created during this workshop could easily be expanded into a whole unit about Bridget Riley and Op Art.
Professionalism, Advocacy, and Leadership: PAL 2
IPTS (2013) Standard 9 – Professionalism, Leadership, and Advocacy: The competent teacher is an ethical and reflective practitioner who exhibits professionalism, provides leadership in the learning community; and advocates for students, parents or guardians, and the profession.
Description: For a PAL 2, I volunteered to help paint holiday signs for a local art studio, the Petite Palette. The three signs I made using wood, wood stain, chalk paint, stencils, and glitter will all be sold at the studio and profits will go to continuing private art education opportunities in the small town of Sandwich, Illinois.
Rationale: Assisting small business in the pursuit of art education is something I am very passionate about as an artist and art educator. I grew up taking private art lessons and worked at private art studios during my high school and early college years. I believe the work they do is amazing because they provide outside of school instruction for students passionate about art. Private art studios are an additional resource for districts and schools that have a limited art budget. Assisting private art studios when and where I can is important to me because of the impact they have had on me and the impact I know they can have on other aspiring art students.
