Teachers

Engaging the unique characteristics of each individual and giving them the support to be the best they can be is at the heart of my teaching practice. Through sheer invention and passion my students really bring my schemes of work to life. I am very happy to share with you my projects, my ideas on planning and of course the wonderful work of my students.

As a curriculum leader the planning of exciting schemes of learning that reward creativity, breed confidence and embed independent working practices is essential. This planning should always be sustainable, include opportunities for self directed learning and be shared to enable the collective input of ideas to take place. I consider it crucial that all projects are:

1.Sustainable.

A scheme of learning should be quick to write, easy to change or adapt and be illustrated. I use an app called Inkflow which allows me to drop a new project into my chosen format with real ease. Being able to regularly update my projects stops themes becoming dated.

2.Self-directing.

In each scheme of learning, progressively from year 7 through to year 13, students should be provided with opportunities to direct their own learning. Self-directing activities give the teacher more time to observe student progress and make personalised interventions.

3.Shared.

Copies of all Schemes of learning should be shared. They can be shared with parents via the school website, paper copies can be given to teaching assistants in advance of the project and students should receive their own copy to guide their own learning. Sharing gives others an improved chance of providing the right support.

Take a look at some of my projects in more detail:

Year 7

Using a camera to take photos of insects students develop the ability to record and the context of the project is set. Students are then asked to study the work of 2 illustrators who are famous for their artwork depicting insects and the main body of the project begins. Ideas are explored through the use of collage, collagraph and dip pen drawing. The project is resolved…

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Year 8

Students will start this project with an investigation into the generation of characters from animal or inanimate object. Copying the work of influential artists students will learn opposing styles, techniques and materials. Students will then create their own family of characters before completing their own personal ‘pop up’ final response. This is the project outline…

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Year 9

To set the context of this project students investigate the history of painting on walls by researching cave painting. They practice the styles of contemporary mural artists before experimenting with their own ideas for a possible mural. To resolve this project students are asked to create a composition for a mural and present it in…

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Year 10

Students begin by making their own study of 3 styles of Graphics set around 3 themes of Urban, Water and Snow/Ice. They then select their favourite themes and develop their own ideas whilst experimenting with materials and techniques. A final response takes the form of a skateboard, snowboard or surfboard. This is the project outline…

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Year 11

Students begin by making their own study of 3 approaches to the study of Landscape. They then select their favourite style and generate further personal responses whilst using their own photographs. A personal creation of a particular place paying homage to the style or tradition of their chosen artist is reflected in their personal response.…

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Sixth Form

Students at this stage have learnt the techniques to construct their own personalised project. They begin by bringing together their own collection of images into the format they are familiar with from lower school. A context is developed and the assessment objectives are addressed through conversations with their teacher. An individual and personalised student programme…

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Holistic

Working with other subject areas is an effective way to deepen learning and provide enrichment opportunities for your students. Here is an example of a year 8 History scheme of learning that seeks to build on knowledge and understanding of life in the trenches during World War 1.

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Differentiation

Your art classroom is likely to be one of the most inclusive areas of school. Barriers that may impede learning in other disciplines such as low levels of literacy and numeracy may prove less problematic. The real challenge lies in the art teachers ability to get to know their students when class sizes are often…

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Assessment

As we move away from National Curriculum Levels we look for other ways to support our students understanding of the assessment process. Here I have created an assessment grid which although is still a working document shall help us support our students and parents understand our principles of assessment. This is an example of my…

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