Unit 2 — Producing/Presenting
Description
Students demonstrate an understanding of how and why art is created by analyzing, interpreting, and conveying meaning through their artworks. Students learn about the responsibilities of curators in preserving and presenting artifacts or artwork, prepare and present artwork safely and effectively, and discuss how exhibits and museums provide information and in-person experiences. Students understand that presenting and sharing of objects, artifacts, artworks, and media influence and shape ideas, beliefs, and experiences. Students develop skills in combining various academic arts and content into unified media artworks, examine how tools and design thinking techniques work in constructing artworks, and identify and compare various presentation forms.
Essential Questions
- How are complex media arts experiences constructed and at what point is a work considered complete?
- How do time, place, audience, and context affect presenting or performing choices?
- How are artworks cared for and by whom?
- What criteria, methods, and processes are used to select work for preservation or presentation?
Learning Objectives
- Define and analyze the responsibilities of a curator in preserving and presenting artifacts or artwork
- Prepare and present artwork safely and effectively
- Discuss how exhibits and museums provide information and in-person experiences about concepts and topics
- Practice combining various academic arts, media forms, and content into unified media artworks
- Demonstrate understanding of combining a variety of academic, arts, and content with emphasis on coordinating elements
- Create media artworks through integration of multiple contents and forms
- Develop and enact a variety of roles to practice foundational artistic, design, technical, and organizational skills
- Identify, explain, and compare various presentation forms for distributing media artwork
Supplemental Resources
- Virtual museum tour links and resources
- Printed images or photographs for curation examples
- Folders or binders for collecting and organizing artwork
- Chart paper for planning display and presentation layouts
- Index cards for organizing information about artworks
Music - Performing
Media Arts - Presenting
Students apply mathematical thinking and problem-solving strategies when creating artworks, measuring materials, analyzing proportions, and organizing visual elements using geometric principles and spatial reasoning.
Students engage in design thinking and engineering practices when creating artworks, investigating material properties, and solving visual problems through experimentation and iterative refinement.
Students examine how artworks reflect cultural traditions, historical contexts, and diverse perspectives from various communities and time periods, analyzing the role of art in society and its connections to human experience.
Formative Assessments
- Discussion and question-and-answer about presentation choices
- Peer feedback on artwork presentation and display
- Observation of students' understanding of curation processes
- Class discussion about museum and exhibit experiences
Summative Assessment
Students demonstrate understanding of combining a variety of academic, art, and content to create comprehensive media artwork. Media work is assessed using a digital rubric on a learning management system. Visual arts students develop a plan for displaying and conserving final artworks, considering specific criteria for presentation, portfolio, or collection.
Benchmark Assessment
A short task in which students identify and describe the responsibilities of a curator when displaying an artwork, then sketch or explain one way to safely present and preserve a piece of their own work. This assesses understanding of curatorial roles and presentation planning covered in the unit.
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of curator responsibilities and artwork presentation through an oral presentation with visual supports, such as labeled diagrams or photos of artworks, in place of a written analysis. A teacher-led conversation or small group discussion may replace independent peer feedback activities.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students benefit from visual and verbal supports when learning about curation and presentation concepts, such as simplified written instructions paired with visual models of how artwork is displayed or organized. For hands-on production tasks, breaking multi-step processes into clearly sequenced stages with checkpoints helps students manage the workflow of combining content and media forms. When demonstrating understanding of presentation choices, offering flexible output options — such as oral explanation, dictation, or a visual plan rather than solely written responses — allows students to show their thinking authentically. Teachers should provide structured planning templates to help students organize their ideas for displaying and conserving artwork.
Section 504
Students should be given extended time to complete production and planning tasks related to curating and presenting media artworks, particularly when working with multi-layered or integrated projects. Preferential seating during class discussions about museum experiences and presentation forms supports sustained attention and participation. Directions for preparing and displaying artwork should be provided in both written and spoken formats to reduce processing barriers.
ELL / MLL
Visual cues such as images of real museum exhibits, labeled examples of display formats, and illustrated vocabulary references help students access the language of curation and presentation in this unit. Key vocabulary — including terms related to preservation, exhibition, and media forms — should be introduced with visual support and, where possible, connected to students' home language or cultural experiences with art and public display. Simplified, step-by-step directions for production tasks allow students to focus on artistic decision-making rather than language decoding.
At Risk (RTI)
Connecting this unit's concepts to familiar, everyday experiences — such as how items are arranged or displayed in public spaces students have visited — helps build an accessible entry point into curation and presentation ideas. Offering a simplified planning framework for the media artwork project allows students to experience success with core expectations before adding complexity. Frequent, low-stakes check-ins during the production process provide encouragement and help students stay on track across the unit's ongoing pacing.
Gifted & Talented
Students are encouraged to investigate the curatorial process at a deeper level, exploring how thematic or conceptual choices shape an audience's interpretation of a collection or exhibit. When creating and presenting media artworks, students can be challenged to deliberately integrate multiple content areas or artistic disciplines in ways that communicate a sophisticated, unified message. Extending their planning for display and conservation, students might research professional standards or real-world curation practices and apply those principles critically to their own work.