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Designing Your Own Course


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So I found an Art textbook at the library sale. Since my oldest dd is interested in Studio Arts as a college major, I thought she should get a foundational course under her belt.

 

How does one go about designing a course based on this text?

 

I'm thinking I should outline each chapter so I get a feel of the content we will be covering.

 

What should I do next?

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Daughter is 15. She has only had hands-on Art instruction. No theory.

 

I started outlining the text but haven't gotten very far. The first chapter examines Winslow Homer's painting "The Gulf Stream." His techniques and how a painting tells a story.

 

The second chapter started introducing the Elements of Design - color, values, forms, shapes, space, lines, and textures.

 

That is as far as I've gotten.:lurk5:

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One thing I would suggest when designing a course is to see what others have done. I would use a search engine and search using terms such as the textbook title or likely course names.

 

You might also look to see what art courses are offered at local community colleges/colleges/universities. Perhaps you could stop by their art department and request syllabi for a few courses or perhaps such information might already be on their websites.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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If you dd is interested in pursuing art as a major, I would look at what requirements she might need, like creating a portfolio and start working on that.

 

When I'm designing a course (this is my first year with high school level work), I try to keep in mind what to cover, how I'm going to figure a grade, what skills I want them to learn, and what supplemental materials I might need.

 

With art, I'd want to have a good number of projects to show application of the art. I found some good forms on how to critique art in a book called Art Talk (I found my copy for less than 10.00 used) Your book may address that as well.

 

If she has a preferred medium, I would start there with the portfolio. If not you could start with her drawing a copy of whatever art she is studying.

 

I would try to add some field trips to museums. IOW, I would use the book you have as a starting point.

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I've designed several courses over the years, so here's how I would work with this book. I'd call the text the "spine" of the course.

 

1) Outlining - You picked a great place to start, but don't make your outline too detailed, it will bog you down. I'd call the text the "spine" of the course.

 

2) While outlining, keep a running list of art supplies you will need to have on hand for her to create the assignments in the book, adjusting quantities as you go along. For tenth grade, get the best supplies you can afford, making use of coupons whenever possible. If you live near a Jerry's Artorama, you'll be able to find what you need at great prices.

 

3) Look for books that compliment the topics covered in each chapter - the library is your friend.

 

4) Now it's time to move outside the spine of the book. As Laughing Lioness said, she needs to start developing her portfolio. The requirements for the AP Studio Art drawing course are well stated and for us are working as a starting point. They also have examples of student portfolios. There are two other studio art AP exams as well as an art history exam. You may be looking at developing multiple courses at this point. Don't be afraid to create your own AP course and submit it for auditing, many homeschoolers have been successful doing this.

 

4) Look at art schools and colleges of design and study their entrance requirements. Use these requirements to think through further studies that will help her toward her goal. Many design schools are highly competitive, so it's never too early to start.

 

We are on the same path in our house, I think. DS talks about working in design more than anything else at this point. I also have a public wish list on Amazon called "Art at Home" if you'd like to look at it for more ideas.

Edited by TechWife
clarity
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I looked multiple places but could not find any info, or even the table of contents on your text, so I can't help there as far as outlining or seeing what topics are covered.

 

 

However, adding on to TechWife's GREAT steps:

 

I find it helpful to look at the material and ask myself questions for planning:

 

For scheduling and counting hours towards a credit:

- How will I make "assignments"?

- How long is the text?

- How many chapters?

- How long will it take us to do each chapter?

- How much of a credit do we need/want this to be?

 

For scope and sequence of the course:

- What do we WANT to cover?

- What topics does the text cover?

- What topics are missing?

- How will I cover those missing topics?

- Does this course need a lab or hands-on portion?

- How will we accomplish that?

- Where other resource(s) will give us ideas for the hands-on?

 

Demonstrating learning:

- What will we use as portfolio/record-keeping for proof of completion?

- Will it all be based on oral discussion?

- Will I create a test/quiz for each chapter?

- Will I have the student write papers?

- Will I assign projects/hands-on?

- How will I grade this course?

 

 

Look at what topics are covered (or not covered) by your "spine" text. Run through the table of contents; there's your quick list of topics covered. Does it cover everything you want? If not, what other resources will you use? Flip through the chapters; how in-depth is the material on each topic. Compare with, say, a science textbook, just for example, just to get a VERY rough idea for depth and amount of time to cover each chapter. Be careful to not OVER schedule too much material -- if the time and amount of material covered is really piling up, then just stop, OR award more credit. But also don't under-estimate, and fly through the book in 12 hours and expect to be able to award 0.5 credit.

 

 

When we created our own Fine Arts: Video Production course, DS had already made a few short little movies, so I had a rough idea of how long it took to create a project. So I assigned 6 short films as projects, AND in each, he had to focus on a different aspect of the video process so he was learning and practicing across the board by the time he was finished. I also assigned two books, so he learned the editing software through one, and learned the filmmaking process through the other. And then I assigned 3 written papers: one on pre-production, one production, and one on post-production, in which he incorporated both factual information from the books, plus his own experiences from his projects.

 

 

Have fun with your own home-grown course! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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I found a goodie for you, sort of. Through searching google books, I found there is a teacher resource program and apparently some slides. Slides are usually used as part of art appreciation. You can easily substitute books. Check your library for "coffee table" art books. It also looks like the book you have is one in a series of books. I couldn't figure out how many are in the series, though.

 

Another thing you might find helpful is to do a google search for "syllabus high school art" and/or "curriculum high school art." I did this and several came up. Some are more detailed than others.

Edited by TechWife
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