Art 807

Teaching Strategies
Sara Hyatt

Below is a study of instructional strategies I implement in my visual arts classroom.

1. Concept Sorting Categories
a. This year I really wanted to take the actions necessary to move away from my
dependence on direct instruction when introducing students to new material and
terminology. I was introduced to concept sorting in a professional development
session at STEM Prep Academy as a way to get students to interact physically
with new works and categories. The teacher provides students with individual
words to be placed into different categories based on the meaning of each word.
The categories are revealed to the students by the students as they work to sort out
the words into groups. This is a great way to see what words students already
know about a specific unit of study. This strategy works best when the
vocabulary being introduced is specialized which works well in the visual arts
classroom when studying specific elements of art, principles of design, art
movements and techniques. The technique is also beneficial for ELL students,
which STEM Prep has a high volume of. The key to using this strategy is for the
teacher to act as a monitor watching the groups of students sorting process and
allow their process to guide the instruction to follow the activity.
b. Strategy Directions:
i. Introduce the literature or topic to be studied
ii. Choose relevant, important vocabulary terms
iii. Write or print out the terms on cards (one term per card), making as many
sets as there are groups (I did this with learning about different types of
shapes –organic, geometric, implied and objects that are not shapes)
iv. Create and label the categories OR assist students with creating their own
categories as they sort the cards.
v. Have the students sort the cards and then explain why they grouped the
terms as they did.

All About Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved April 05, 2018, from
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/21829/

2. Art Critique
a. For years I was afraid of fully embracing the critique process in my classroom. I
viewed it as uninteresting because of my experiences with it, and time-consuming
taking away precious art-making work time. Over time I have started to
incorporate small aspects of an art critique in class discussion and written artist
reflections completed by the students. This year I fully incorporated a four-part
art critique into my curriculum and into every unit of study. At the end of each
unit, one day is designated for critiquing and reflecting on the students’ art-
 making process. This change has been beneficial to my students’ understanding
and learning as well as my skills as a critique facilitator and teacher. I had
realized that by avoiding the critiquing process I was actually limiting my
students understanding to primary focus on technique and whatever content I
delivered to them. When letting a class critique a work there are going to be more
points of view than my induvial observations leading to more opportunities for
varied discussions and understandings. Critiques push students to go deeper into
their own understanding about their process and the process of artists as a whole.
They use their eyes and mind to search works for meaning and artistic technique.
Since implementing critiquing in the classroom I have begun to hear a regular use
of art based terminology such as the elements of art and the principles of design.
Students genuinely value their peer's views and opinions and will even put more
weight on what their peers say in regards to their art-making process more than
the instructor. This collaboration helps to create a sense of community and trust
in the art room and also makes the art room a safe place for students to
confidently share their observations and points of views about others artwork.
We get to know each other as people and understand each other’s process as
artists.
b. Strategy Directions -There are many ways to conduct a critique in the visual arts
classroom. I have chosen a similar technique for all my middle school grade
levels which helps to keep the expectations for the process consistent and will
help in the following years for smooth classroom critiques because students’ will
already be familiar with the steps. Here are a few suggestions for classroom
critiques.
i. Four-part critique - This can be done orally as a group or written
individually. I broke each step down individually and build on each step
at the end of the first four units this year. My students can now complete
all four steps independently.
1. Describe – using your eyes describe what you see, how the
elements of art are used and any information you can gather about
the artwork.
2. Analyze – How did the artist compose the work or use the
principles of design. Students need a working knowledge of the
elements and principles, which is how we started the school year
off. It has paid off tremendously.
3. Interpret (my favorite part) – What is the meaning of the artwork
or what is the artist trying to communicate.
4. Evaluate- Judgement. What makes this work successful or what is
hindering the work.
ii. Artist Reflection – I use these in conjunction with the critique process. I
ask students to reflect on their work, both in writing and orally, in regards
to what was successful about their work, what they learned, what they
struggled with and what they can improve upon. These reflections help
 me a great deal to assess student learning and understanding and they help
students to set goals for the following unit based on their growth.
iii. Group Discussion – Once students have internalized the steps of a critique
and group discussion runs quite smoothly. The teacher’s role in these
discussions is as a facilitator making sure the environment remains safe
and that the discussion stays productive. These discussions are a great
way for students to hear opposing views backed up with evidence from the
work and to be allowed to have their interpretation and observations be
heard and supported by their peers.

4 Reasons Critiques Need to Be Part of Your Curriculum. (2018, January 03). Retrieved April
05, 2018, from https://www.theartofed.com/2018/01/08/creative-class-critiques/

3. Engineering Design Process – Moving my focus from an overemphasis on art production

to an equal focus on the artistic process I have begun to utilize the Engineering Design
Process, also known as the STEM Design Thinking Process. Using the process to have
student plan, create and improve their work by has been a game changer for the structure
of my day to day classroom life. It has also been a very natural way to bring other
disciplines into the art classroom. The engineering design process is closely related to
the scientific method and its use in the art classroom fosters the creation of art based
ideas and solutions, experimentation and improvement to art and design ideas. Using
these steps for art creating guides students through thinking, planning and the art-making
process from beginning to end. The use of this process has had the greatest impact on
students completed work because they are forced to look for areas that require
improvements before considering it complete.
a. Here are the Engineering Design Process steps I use in my classroom:
i. Ask: This is an art based problem posed to the student, generally created
by me that students will solve through their creative process.
ii. Imagine: Students will first begin with writing down ideas for their
solution to the art based problem, making a list of possible solutions.
iii. Plan: Students will begin sketching out their ideas for the solution,
keeping in mind what materials and techniques they might want to use.
iv. Create: Students will execute their plan through their art-making process.
v. Improve: This step has become crucial to my student's artwork outcome.
Every student spends time looking at their work or the work of their peers
to decide what can be done to improve the work and make it complete.
After the improve step students are given time to implement the
suggestions make for improvement.

Turn STEM to STEAM with the Design Thinking Process. (2016, February 29). Retrieved April
05, 2018, from https://www.theartofed.com/2016/01/18/turn-stem-to-steam-with-the-
design-thinking-process
 4. Peer Feedback – Using peer feedback has been a game changer in my classroom. I had
been struggling with how to effectively provide my students with timely feedback, which
is a challenge for any art teacher due to the volume of students they teach. The use of
peer feedback piggybacks off of an effective critique structure to ensure students are
providing each other with meaningful feedback that is an adequate analysis of each
other’s work and conducted in a respectful manner. A method that administrators at
STEM Prep use for teacher-to-teacher feedback are called “Glow and Grow”. Several
teachers use it in their classroom to give immediate and effective peer-to-peer feedback.
a. Strategy Directions
i. Set up artwork or have students display their work around the art room.
ii. Pass out sticky notes for written feedback, at least three for each student.
iii. Observe the artwork. This is a silent and independent process that should
take about five minutes. Consider it a gallery walk in a museum (great
opportunity to sneak in a museum etiquette mini-lesson). Students should
not be writing at this time, just observing the work.
iv. Students should choose three pieces of artwork to then give written
feedback to.
v. Two “Glows” – students are to write down two things that are really
working well in the artwork on the sticky note
vi. One “Grow” – students are to write down one suggestion about what could
be improved and why it is in need of improving or how to improve it.
vii. The sticky notes are then left with pieces displayed about the room and
each student moves on to the next piece they have to choose to give
feedback to.
viii. Students are then instructed to go to their work and read and reflect on
their feedback. It is important that they are provided time to make any
improvements they find useful after this process.
ix. After the exercise, the teacher should facilitate a group discussion for
students to openly share their experience and what works in the room are
successful and why.

A Simple Tool for Peer Feedback in the Art Room. (2017, April 13). Retrieved April 05, 2018,
from https://www.theartofed.com/2016/04/18/peer-feedback-helping-students-glow-
grow/

5. Do Now –It is a requirement for all STEM Prep Academy teachers to use a Do Now at
the beginning of each class period. In the past I have done something similar with
student sketchbook prompts at the beginning of class but it was unguided and felt forced
by me. Now that I have a better understanding of the function of a Do Now, or Bell
Ringer, their use is much more beneficial to my students as a speedy review of learned
content or a preview of the day’s lesson. It is important to remember that the Do Now
should be a short activity written on the board at the beginning of class for students to
begin as they enter. This activity should not turn into a lesson and should be an
independent practice for the students. I use a timer to keep the activity around 3 to 5
minutes long followed by a quick review of the Do Now and/or a share out of student
responses. I have found that a successful use of the Do Now has led to an almost
 seamless beginning of class every class period of every day. Students always know what
they should be done upon entering the class, there is never a question of it. As I said, it
took a good understanding of the function of the Do Now in order for it to work in the
classroom.
a. Strategy Directions:
i. Write or project the Do Now on the board so that students begin working
as soon as they enter the classroom. This should be done in the same
place every day. You can also make it available as a handout if you
prefer.
ii. Students should be able to complete the Do Now without any direction
from the teacher, without any discussion with their classmates and in most
cases without any other materials save what you provide. If you have to
give directions, it’s not independent enough.
iii. The activity should take three to five minutes to complete and should
require the students’ writing, or in the case of the art classroom, drawing.
This makes the activity an engaging check for understanding and also
holds students accountable since the teacher can clearly check for
participation.

The Do Now: A Primer. (2016, January 27). Retrieved April 05, 2018, from
http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/now-primer/