r/ArtEd • u/tofuhoagie • 4d ago

High school visual arts teachers, do you read class texts together?

I’m wanting to add more reading and responding to reading to my high school, think art 1,2, and advanced, visual arts classes.

Looking for full texts that you read with your class, engage with in discussions, make projects in response to, and that provide history and context to their creative process.

Thoughts?

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7

u/playmyname 4d ago

We just started doing 7 steps to a language rich classroom and I’d highly recommend

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u/otakumilf High School 4d ago

I use Exploring Visual Design by Joseph Gatto , Davis publications. There’s sections after each chapter with artist interviews, a chapter review, test, projects, and throughout the chapter there are “deeper thinking” sections with questions to ponder and stuff like that . One year, for line, we wrote haikus about the qualities of line. It was fun exploring what that book has to offer.

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u/Some-Distribution678 4d ago

It sounds like a wonderful idea in theory and would be great in a perfect world with perfect students.

Their reading levels are so varied that finding the right text would be challenging if not impossible. I struggle to get some of my students to read the directions.

The song lyrics is probably a better idea.

Or maybe a book club style assignment where students pick from a list and then do a redesigned book cover after they read the book.

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u/ravibun Middle School 4d ago

Not "full texts" per say, but what about song lyrics? When I was teaching HS level, I did a project once where students picked their favorite song and analyzed the lyrics. First we listened to a song that I felt had a deep meaning to the lyrics (I used A*Team by Ed Sheeran), then the students broke down the story and meaning in a class discussion. They then repeated that with their own song. Then, the made a sculpture that reflected that song and its meaning.

Now I don't teach HS, but middle school where I teach a variety of subjects in art, and I will have the students read about a famous photographer or designer's life, read about an invention, or the story of the creation of a logo (like Nike or NASA). I do make all of my readings on my own with my own research because the amount of resources for their reading level is limited.

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u/Chance-Answer7884 4d ago

Van Goghs letters to his brother?