Unit 1 — Creating
Description
Students connect with multiple art movements, cultural art throughout history, and diverse artists, then are inspired by these works to create their own artwork. In media arts, students create visual representations that communicate, challenge, and express their own and others' ideas as both artist and audience. In visual arts, students demonstrate understanding of the elements and principles that govern the creation of works of visual art. The unit emphasizes creativity and innovative thinking as essential life skills, experimentation with forms and materials, and the development of excellence through practice and constructive critique.
Essential Questions
- What conditions, attitudes and behaviors support creativity and innovative thinking? What factors prevent or encourage people to take creative risks? How does collaboration expand the creative process?
- How do artists work? How do artists and designers determine whether a particular direction in their work is effective? How do artists and designers learn from trial and error?
- What role does persistence play in revising, refining and developing work? How do artists grow and become accomplished in art forms?
Learning Objectives
- Generate a variety of ideas, goals and solutions for media artworks using creative processes such as sketching, brainstorming, improvising, and prototyping
- Organize and design artistic ideas for media arts productions
- Critique plans, prototypes and production processes considering purposeful and expressive intent
- Experiment with and implement multiple approaches that integrate content and stylistic conventions
- Communicate an intentional purpose and meaning utilizing varying point of view and perspective
- Conceptualize early stages of the creative process, including applying methods to overcome creative blocks or take creative risks
- Demonstrate persistence and willingness to experiment and take risks during the artistic process
- Demonstrate an awareness of ethical responsibility as applied to artmaking including environmental implications and intellectual property ethics
Supplemental Resources
- Markers for exploring color and design elements
- Pencils and colored pencils for sketching and prototyping ideas
- Sticky notes for brainstorming and organizing ideas
- Chart paper for collaborative planning and design
- Sketchbooks or journals for documenting the creative process
Music - Creating
Media Arts - Creating
Students apply mathematical reasoning and measurement when creating visual representations, analyzing proportions in composition, and using geometric principles in design tasks.
Students investigate scientific concepts through artistic inquiry, explore the relationship between form and function in nature-based designs, and examine how scientific understanding informs creative processes.
Students develop written and oral communication skills through artistic critique, create narratives and descriptions in artist statements, engage in discussions about visual meaning and symbolism, and use academic vocabulary in visual analysis.
Formative Assessments
- Group work and collaborative brainstorming sessions
- Teacher observation of artistic processes and skill development
- Question and answer discussions about creative choices
- Skill testing on elements and principles of art
- Ongoing project work demonstrating exploration and investigation
Summative Assessment
Students apply learned skills, knowledge, and attitudes to demonstrate understanding of elements and principles of art through tasks assessed using rubrics. Media arts students collaborate to generate ideas for media artwork and are assessed using digital rubrics on a learning management system.
Benchmark Assessment
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Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate their ideas and creative process through oral descriptions, recorded video explanations, or one-on-one conferences with the teacher instead of written or visual documentation. Simplified brainstorming templates, idea banks, or visual reference sheets may be provided to support idea generation and organization of artistic concepts.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students with IEPs may benefit from having multi-step creative processes broken into smaller, clearly sequenced stages, with visual models of completed work displayed at each phase to support planning and execution. Teachers should offer flexible output options during critiques and discussions, such as pointing to visual examples, using sentence starters, or responding verbally rather than in writing. Scaffolded graphic organizers can support brainstorming and ideation activities, helping students organize artistic intent before beginning a piece. Extended time for project work and frequent check-ins during the artistic process will help students demonstrate persistence and refine their work toward mastery.
Section 504
Students with 504 plans should be provided extended time during skill-based tasks and project production phases, as well as access to a low-distraction workspace during sustained studio work. Directions for multi-step art processes should be available in both oral and printed formats, with key terms highlighted to support focus and task completion.
ELL / MLL
Multilingual learners benefit from visual vocabulary support that connects key art terms—such as elements and principles of design—to labeled images, examples of artwork, and realia used during instruction. Teachers should offer simplified, step-by-step directions for creative tasks and check for understanding by asking students to demonstrate or paraphrase what they plan to create rather than relying solely on written or verbal explanation. Allowing students to sketch or gesture their artistic ideas before articulating them verbally can lower the language barrier while still engaging them in the creative process.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support should be connected to the creative process through entry points that draw on personal experiences and cultural references, helping them find relevance and confidence in artmaking. Reducing the complexity of initial design tasks—such as beginning with a focused prompt or a limited set of materials—can make experimentation feel more accessible and less overwhelming. Frequent, low-stakes check-ins and positive feedback on process rather than only product will help build the persistence and risk-taking this unit emphasizes.
Gifted & Talented
Advanced learners should be encouraged to explore connections between art movements, historical contexts, and their own creative work at a deeper conceptual level, going beyond surface-level style imitation to analyze underlying intent and cultural significance. These students can be challenged to pursue more complex compositional or conceptual problems within their projects, such as deliberately integrating multiple stylistic conventions or exploring ethical questions around intellectual property and environmental impact in artmaking. Opportunities for self-directed inquiry, peer mentorship during critiques, or designing their own creative constraints can extend learning in meaningful, rigorous ways.