Art 482 Early Field

Experience
by Corissa Leeds
I observed R.M. teaching general art and
advanced art at Nobel Charter Middle
School in Northridge, CA.
These art classes contained 7th and 8th
graders with a wide variety of students from
different backgrounds and socioeconomic
statuses.
name plates
At the beginning of the semester, students
created nameplates to represent themselves.

This project is to give students a sense of

ownership over the classroom, as these
nameplates are left up for the entirety of the
semester.

Additionally, nameplates are a wonderful way to

pre-assess students’ skills.
 General art’s semester begins
with the elements of art,
including negative space, line, and
color.
Other notes for Lessons are based around these
elements.
Nobel M.S. Students can personalize their
projects by adding aspects of
themselves, such as their cultures
or preferred styles.
session 1 – general art
fall / halloween bingo cards
• Students were given step-by-step instructions on folding a
paper into 16 equal parts

• An extensive list of different words relating to fall and

Halloween were provided via PowerPoint. Students were to
choose 16 of these words and draw each one on their bingo
card.

• Students were allowed to use the internet as inspiration but

could not copy the images directly.

• Colored pencils, markers, and graphite pencils were provided.

session 1 – advanced art
Students were in the process of finishing up
two different assignments.

• Ants’ perspective assignment

• Students were to draw everyday objects from
an ant’s perspective
• The purpose of this assignment was to teach
composition and negative space
still life set ups
• Still life drawings
• Some students chose to do a still life assignment,
where they drew from a still life that R.M. had
glued together to keep it intact.
session 2 – general art
color wheel assignment
Students are given a color wheel, the
three primary colors in tempera paint,
and a blank color wheel. They are to
replicate the color wheel by mixing the
primary colors.

Students are taught the difference

between primary, secondary, and tertiary
colors. They are also taught how to mix a
neutral color with complementary colors.

Students cleaned up their own palettes

and brushes in the sink after finishing.
session 2 – advanced art
group scratch boards
• Students were randomly assigned to groups where they had to work
collaboratively to produce a central theme and composition for a group
scratch board.
• Students had to brainstorm ideas by first doing individual sketches.
• They would then produce a final design contour drawing that will be
transferred onto the scratch board.
 DISCIPLINARY ACTION

R.M. had to pull a student aside about his lack of

participation in this group activity. The student was
hiding his work from others, and R.M. let him
know that participation was part of his grade. The
student, unfortunately, did not begin to participate
after this talk.
session 3 – general art
final paint project
o Students had finished color wheels, value scales,
and intensity scales.

o They were then assigned a final project involving

either a cool or a warm color scheme that shows
both value and intensity changes. The design could
be a scene, or just design work.

o Students had to create at least two preliminary

sketches.
session 4 – general
art
Students were supposed to be finished with their
concept sketches, but there were a few who had
not. They were encouraged to come in during
lunch or take their sketches home to finish.
Some students had just begun painting their final
project.
This student was very quick and had finished her
piece already. Most students at this point were
either still working on their preliminary sketches,
or had just started painting.
This student was given a color theory review
crossword puzzle to work on in her free time.
 session 3 & 4 – advanced art

Some students had finished their 3x3 scratch boards (shown above) and had begun working on their group scratchboards.
Others had not started on their practice boards and were taught to do so.
I observed J.P. teaching AP art and painting
at ARTes Magnet in San Fernando, CA.
These art classes contained high school
students with a wide variety of different
backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses.
session 1 – AP art

Students had just finished a project

where they made a virtual drawing
of themselves in order to create a
class shirt.
 session 1 – AP art
Students were able to choose between two different big ideas: identity or memory.
Based on which big idea they chose, they were assigned different projects.

Identity Project Memory Project

- “The first time I knew I was ___ was when ___” - memoryproject.org
as a visual journal prompt
- Students were given photos of impoverished
- Students were then to create a work based on Nigerian children and were to create a portrait
their identity. of them in a medium of their choosing.
- Could be a tattoo, series of photos, a drawing, etc.
- Could involve family history, personal or invisible
identity, gender identity, cultural identity, etc.
identity
project
Students were shown various videos of artists
who expressed their identity through different
mediums, including Doreen Garner, Zanele
Muholi, and Carrie Mae Weems, for
inspiration

Top Left: Doreen Garner; Top Right: Zanele Muholi; Bottom: Carrie Mae Weems
identity project, cont.
• Students were to answer the following questions before planning and
sketching their ideas:
- Who are you, and who are you not?
- How do you define yourself by how you see yourself or revealing who
you really are?
- List 3 possible locations or ideas that fit into this identity or idea of self.
memory project
session 1 - painting
diptych study in gouache
• Nature as the “big idea”.

• Central questions:
• What is the magic and beauty of nature?
• How does color impact your story?

• Students were to use their knowledge of

composition and color schemes to paint a
diptych of the same drawing but with
different color schemes.

• Students were to plan with numerous

sketches, and then use tracing paper to
transfer their final design onto canvas paper.

Image reference:
https://www.skillshare.com/en/projects/Watercolour-
Gouache-in-Nature/432593
session 2 – earthquake drill
The first part of my day was spent
outside for the Great California
Shakeout. This took up about an
hour of class time that would have
been spent in AP art.
session 2 - painting
introduction to personal mantra assignment
• This was also a short class session due to the earthquake drill.
• Students were to brainstorm at least 5 personal mantras, and then
narrow them down to one.
• Students were given the websites canva and quoootes.com in order to
create reference images and were shown brief demos on how to use
them.
• The students would then paint their personal mantra directly from the
image they had created digitally.
online videos
video 1 – J.Z.’s EDTPA OBJECTIVES:

students learn how think

critically about a piece of
CA VISUAL ART STANDARD: artwork; students are
acc.va:re8: introduced to artists for
identify types of contextual inspiration for their project
information useful in the
STRATEGIES:
process of constructing
interpretations of an artwork
see, think, wonder;
or collection of works.
asking open ended questions;

FOSTERING STUDENT OTHER THOUGHTS:

integration of history lessons
CHOICE:
I love the amount of positive
students choose an artist they reinforcement J.Z. used when
are inspired by and create a her students answered
sculpture based on their style questions
 video 2 - exploring 19th century art
(uncut)
STRATEGIES
o What do these 3 paintings
have in common? = critical
thinking
o Integration of art history
lesson

CA VISUAL ARTS STANDARD: 6.VA:Re8:

Interpret art by distinguishing between relevant and
irrelevant contextual information and analyzing subject
matter, characteristics of form and structure, and use of
media to identify ideas and mood conveyed.
 OBJECTIVES
video 2 - exploring o Introduction to elements of
19th century art:
19th century art
• Color, off-centered
(uncut) – continued composition, and everyday
objects / people

LACK OF STUDENT CHOICE

Students were provided with objects they must
draw, the colors they must use, and the
composition they must abide by.
A teacher could make this lesson more student
centered by allowing the students to draw an
object of their choosing, possibly even of one
that is personally relevant.

OTHER THOUGHTS
I did love how engaging the teacher was, and
how many questions he asked the students.
However, I would allow for more freedom in
this activity.
video 3 - see-wonder-think: interpreting ancient art

The objective of this lesson was to students analyze & interpret art
through see, wonder, think exercise. This is a wonderful way to engage
students in critical thinking.

CA Visual Art Standard: 6.VA:Re8:

Interpret art by distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant contextual
information and analyzing subject matter, characteristics of form and
structure, and use of media to identify ideas and mood conveyed.

Additional Subjects: Art history & Greek mythology

Setup: Tables of 5-6; partners for sharing exercises.

Other Thoughts: This is a lesson I would like to incorporate into my own

teaching, perhaps with different artwork. I think learning how to analyze
artwork is a very valuable lesson for students to learn early on.
thank you
Corissa Leeds