Standard One focuses on the inclusion of 21st century interdisciplinary themes and technology that take students’ learning beyond basic skills. Lessons should clearly meet West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives and provide learning experiences that allow students opportunity for critical thinking and problem solving. Teachers must act as facilitators of learning and lead students in understanding complex relationships within the content and understanding relevant connections to their own lives.
Content Area Standards
WV- West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives (2012)
Subject: Visual Art
Grade or Course: Seventh Grade
Standard: VA.S.7.1 Media, Technique and Processes Students will:
Objective: VA.O.7.1.2 experiment and refine use of selected media, techniques, technologies, and processes in the communication of a personal
experience or an idea.
Standard: VA.S.7.2 Elements of Art and Principles of Design Students will:
Objective: VA.O.7.2.2 create a drawing using line as the expressive element.
Objective: VA.O.7.2.7 create an artwork using actual or simulated texture.
Objective: VA.O.7.2.10 create artwork using linear perspective.
Objective: VA.O.7.2.15 use the elements of art and principles of design to effectively communicate ideas.
Standard: VA.S.7.5 Reflection and Analysis Students will:
Objective: VA.O.7.5.1 justify reasons for creating works of art and cite examples, e.g., aesthetic, tradition, preservation, and self-expression.
Learning Objectives
· Increased student awareness of the art that surrounds them in every-day culture
· Understand different functions and uses of art
· Apply elements and principles of design in cartoon drawing
· Perceive connections between world and the content
· Build skills in using Microsoft Paint
· Design cartoon characters that effectively communicate personality
Activities Description
In the lesson “Advertising Cartoon Characters”, (Artifact 2)Students were introduced to the lesson by finding images of advertisement cartoon characters with mismatched product names on their desks. I asked them to get up and collaborate with their classmates to match all of the characters with the correct product names. The purpose of this introduction was to build the students' interest and to help them see connections between things in their daily lives (such as commercials) and art ( character design) and to make the content authentic for them. Once the characters are matched, I began a discussion, first asking students to name other characters they could think of and then asking the students why they were so familiar with these characters and what they represent to encourage them to engage in critical thinking about how art is used in the economy. I discussed how companies hire graphic artists to create cartoon characters that will capture customer attention and help them to remember their products. this lead in to a discussion of the careers of graphic artists and cartoon designers to make further connections with life and career skills for WV objectiveVA.O.7.5.1 .
To create a meaningful learning environment in which learning is intentional and students can identify goals and monitor their own progress, I introduced students to the assignment by explaining it through a teacher example, and by giving each student a copy of the rubric that was used to assess them, discussing it, and giving them a chance to ask questions. With the teacher example and cartoon printouts, I pointed out elements and principles of design present in them. I pointed out use of color, line, texture, and perspective, which the students had studied recently. I also pointed out how each character has a unique personality that seeks to communicate to the viewer a positive emotion to associate with the product. I reminded them that these principles are included in the rubric for the characters they would create, meeting WV StandardVA.S.7.1 "Media, Technique and Processes".
Although the lesson went well, next time I would try to use more sophisticated forms of technology that would allow the students more freedom for creativity and personal choice, making the lesson more learner-centered. If I had more time and resources, I would take the project further by developing the context of the lesson. Instead of just designing characters and saving them on Microsoft paint, students would create their own commercials with the characters using stop-action technology in Photoshop. This activity would include more active and authentic learning. A larger project like designing a animated commercial could also be used to facilitate a collaborative group project.
I would also use technology more efficiently. For example, instead of using printed character images and names for the introduction activity, I could have designed a similar matching game that all the students could access on the internet. That would have made the activity more engaging and authentic because it would give them further opportunity to work with technology; a dominate part of their culture as much as the cartoon ads. As Paul Gee writes in his book In Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling:
“All children, privileged or not, can readily learn specialist varieties of language and their concomitant ways of thinking as part and parcel of their “popular culture.”( Gee, pg3)
Also, it would have been ideal for me to show a demonstration of creating a character in the program the students would use so students could see how to use different tools and where they were. I was unable to do this because of lack of resources and instead had to try to do that from a finished, printed example. In this situation, it wasn't a problem because almost all of the students were familiar with Paint, but if I used a more complicated program in the future, the students would need to have an extensive introduction and time spent building experience with the program before completing the project. Also, I think I would have used video clips of commercials along with a more innovative graphics program, if it had been possible. This would have supported authentic learning more strongly because students could see the cartoon characters in their true contexts.
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