Unit 2 — Producing/Presenting
Description
Students demonstrate understanding of how and why art is created. They analyze, interpret, and convey meaning through the creation of their art using various skills, media, and methods. Students understand that presenting and sharing objects, artifacts, and artworks influence and shape ideas, beliefs, and experiences. Students develop plans for displaying and conserving their work, learning about curation processes and the role of museums and galleries in preserving cultural artifacts.
Essential Questions
- How are complex media arts experiences constructed and presented?
- How do artists select and curate work for display and preservation?
- What criteria and methods are used to select work for presentation or preservation?
- How does presenting artwork in a public format help artists learn and grow?
Learning Objectives
- Select artwork for display and explain why some work, objects, and artifacts are valued over others.
- Categorize artwork based on themes or concepts for display purposes.
- Explain the purpose of a portfolio or collection.
- Ask and answer questions regarding preparation of artwork for presentation or preservation.
- Explain what an art museum is and identify roles and responsibilities of museum workers and visitors.
- Combine art forms and media content into media artworks such as illustrated stories or narrated animations.
- Practice combining varied academic, arts, and media content to form media artworks.
- Identify and demonstrate basic skills for planning and creating media artworks.
Supplemental Resources
- Folders or binders for collecting and organizing artwork samples
- Printed graphic organizers for planning display and curation decisions
- Chart paper for documenting thoughts about artwork selection criteria
- Pocket folders for storing portfolio pieces
Music - Performing
Media Arts - Presenting
Students engage in spatial reasoning and pattern recognition through art-making activities. Students compose and decompose shapes, organize and represent data through visual representations, and apply measurement and geometric thinking in creating and analyzing artworks.
Students develop understanding of community, culture, and history through visual arts. Students compare and contrast artworks from different cultures and time periods, analyze how art reflects societal values and beliefs, and investigate how communities change and are represented through artistic expression.
Students use language to describe, analyze, and discuss artworks. Students ask and answer questions about visual elements, provide written and oral responses to artistic work, and use vocabulary to explain preferences and interpretations of art.
Formative Assessments
- Projects involving selection and organization of student artwork for display
- Discussions about criteria for choosing pieces for a portfolio or collection
- Question and answer activities about curation and museum practices
- Observations during the creation and assembly of media artworks
Summative Assessment
Students develop plans for displaying and conserving their final artworks and consider specific criteria when selecting pieces for presentation, portfolio, or collection. Students understand that curation processes help preserve artifacts and artworks while cultivating appreciation and understanding of social and cultural experiences.
Benchmark Assessment
School-wide displays of student work and end-of-year art show
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through a teacher-led conversation about why they choose certain artworks, with visual supports such as picture cards or printed images to help organize and categorize work. Students may also arrange physical artworks on a display board with teacher guidance rather than creating a written explanation.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students may benefit from visual supports such as picture-based sorting cards or simple choice boards to help them select and categorize artwork for display without relying heavily on written or verbal explanation. Teachers can allow students to respond orally or through pointing and gesturing when explaining their curatorial choices, reducing the demand on written output. Breaking the curation and planning process into small, sequential steps with frequent check-ins will help students manage multi-part tasks like assembling a portfolio or preparing work for presentation.
Section 504
Students should be provided with preferential seating during discussions about museum roles, curation, and artwork selection to minimize distraction and support active participation. Extended time should be offered during planning and assembly tasks so students can thoughtfully organize and present their work without feeling rushed. Visual directions and step-by-step prompts posted nearby can support students in staying on track during independent portions of the unit.
ELL / MLL
Teachers should use visual cues, real-world images, and brief video examples of museums and galleries to build background knowledge and key vocabulary — such as 'display,' 'preserve,' 'curator,' and 'collection' — before asking students to use these concepts in discussion or artwork organization. Simplified, clear directions paired with physical demonstrations will help students understand curatorial tasks and media artwork creation. Where possible, connecting art forms or cultural artifacts to students' home cultures can make the concepts of preservation and display more personally meaningful.
At Risk (RTI)
Students benefit from beginning with familiar, concrete examples — such as organizing their own drawings by color, subject, or personal preference — before moving toward more abstract ideas like thematic grouping or preservation. Teachers can scaffold entry into portfolio discussions by offering sentence starters or visual choice prompts that help students articulate why certain pieces feel important to them. Providing structured, manageable versions of planning and display tasks allows students to experience success while building confidence in their ability to make and explain artistic decisions.
Gifted & Talented
Students can be encouraged to explore curatorial decision-making at a deeper level by considering how the same artwork might be displayed differently depending on the audience, setting, or cultural context. They may investigate how real museums make choices about what to preserve or feature, and apply those ideas to create a more fully developed plan for displaying a personal collection — including written or oral rationales that reflect higher-order thinking about artistic value and meaning. Combining multiple art forms or media into a cohesive narrative artwork, such as an illustrated story with an accompanying recorded narration, challenges students to synthesize content across disciplines and think critically about how presentation shapes the viewer's experience.