LESSONPLAN

YOUR STUDENTS WILL BE AMAZED AT WHAT THEY ARE ABLE TO ACHIEVE BY THE END OF THIS INSPIRING AND

FAST-PACED LESSON FROM CAROLINE SAUNDERS...

ART | KS 3/4

WHY TEACHTHIS?

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ABSTRACT VALUES

The stumbling block formany otherwise talentedand creative young peoplecan often be their lack ofconfidence when steppingout of the safe boundaries ofrealistic depiction, into therelatively uncharted watersof abstraction andconceptual ideas. They oftenresemble novice skatershanging on to the side of therink – but helping them letgo and dare to glide canresult in some of the mostpowerful moments youexperience as a teacher.

Creating sketchbooks to record students’ observations is listed on

the new Art and Design National Curriculum. Students will use these

sketchbooks to review and revisit their ideas, improving their

mastery of Art and Design techniques. The beautiful collection of

high quality sketchbooks from Pisces Art will inspire any artist. With

collections made in the UK – some by hand – the expansive range from Pisces is designed

to encourage experimentation and creativity. A personalised gold blocking service is also

available on many sketchbooks, allowing your school the opportunity to raise its profile

whilst giving that perfect finishing touch.

For more information visit www.piscesart.co.uk or call 08442 570 390.

+KEY RESOURCE

For all but the most confident

young artists, taking those first

steps into abstraction can be a

challenging and sometime

uncomfortable experience. Young

people can be conservative and

resistant to change. Their

relatively limited life experiences

have not yet taught them the

benefits of risk taking in the hope

of finding new knowledge.

Proficient students relish the

opportunity to engage in a piece

of art that reflects the realism of

the subject. Start to mention

abstraction and they will often

become fearful and concerned

about how to approach it. This

lesson is an endeavour to help

students embrace more

sophisticated artistic concepts

more easily and in such a way

that they understand that they

can regularly use this as a

problem solving tool to further

their own development.

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LESSONPLAN ART | KS 3/4

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Now that the students arewarmed up they will be growingin confidence to tackle the moreadvanced and demanding tasksgiven to them.

Start gently! From any visualstarting point students shouldhave five minutes to produce apencil or graphite representationof the whole object or a selectedsection from a group of objects.

So far so good, but thestudents are not, as yet, movingaway from their comfort zones.

Next, the students are given apiece of modelling wire and afurther five minutes to translatetheir drawing into a 3D wiremodel. Internet timers andexaggerated countdowns help toincrease the sense of anticipationand excitement, not to mentionthe increasing pace of theircreative flow.

The lesson rapidly progresseswith students tackling ever morechallenging tasks. They converttheir model into a newspaper andcharcoal collage, then into alarger scale black and whitepainting using anything except abrush, using a viewfinder toselect a visually interesting areato expand even more,introducing colour and moremedia… the list goes on.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

At Hazelwick we encourage all ofour students to be creative in allaspects of their learning and theobjective of this lesson is how totransform any given subjecteasily and effectively into a pieceof highly individual, meaningfuland imaginative art.

Students should start thesession by grading themselvesfrom 1 to 10 on their confidence inbeing able to produce asuccessful piece of abstract workin a single lesson. This could beusing a mini whiteboard or sheetof card with a confidence line onit, where they mark their ownname. For groups who are veryused to sharing this self-reflectionthey could form a continuum lineacross the classroom or post theirname on a sticky note on ashared class confidence line.

Responding tosensory stimulusUsing a range of musical andvisual stimuli students are askedto respond using marks in avariety of media. This mighttypically start with nothing morethan a few pastel lines scribbledout in response to some gentlepiano music or words of poetry.

The idea is to quickly, butsmoothly, build up the students’repertoire of creative responses,at the same time rapidlyincreasing their confidence withthe concept.

As marks become bigger,braver and brighter, tools shouldbe swapped – even resorting topainting with hands – and ofcourse the intensity of thestimulus used should be crankedup, moving from Bach to DeepPurple to the Ride of Valkyries, for example.

At the same time the restrictionof time helps to keep up the paceof the lesson, increases thesense of urgency and focus andeliminates indecision. We madefull use of devices, such as iPadcameras, whiteboards andvisualisers, to share examplesand demonstrate techniqueswithout interrupting individualcreative focus. Studentsresponded exceptionally well tothe array of different tools andtechniques in the lesson –engagement and challenge werehigh throughout.

The personal progress scalewas frequently referred to –students were regularly asked tore-assess their confidence andability on the scale of 1-10 andthere was clear evidence ofprogress across the work of allthose involved.

Caroline Saunders initially

worked as a professional

textile designer. Now, as

leader for art at Hazelwick

School in Crawley, she

thrives on the challenge of

enabling students to

succeed in her chosen field.

ABOUT OUR EXPERT

INFORMATIONCORNER

The group came together at the

end of the lesson to discuss their

experiences and outcomes.

They were all surprised at the

level at which they had achieved

a task they initially thought was

beyond them.

In addition, Apps such as

Screen Chomp allow for

extensive and valuable feedback

opportunities, recording the

work being discussed as a

group and comments written

alongside that could be referred

back to at any time by the

student concerned. Students

refer retrospectively to this

particular lesson as having been

pivotal in the development of

both their practical skills and

confidence to experiment with

the unknown.

FEEDBACK ANDDEVELOPMENT

STARTER ACTIVITY

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