Year 9 Visual Arts Unit Plan

The purpose of the Year 9 Visual Arts Unit Plan is to provide students with a coherent and educational curation of learning that involves the making of and responding to artworks. The unit plan is carried out over 12 weeks and involves 3 areas of focus. These are Scribble drawing, Human Face Drawing and Mandala’s. This gives students a broad range of art practices and theories and sufficient time to learn the content of each focus area.

The unit plan teachers for diversity and uses general capabilities such as Intercultural understanding, Critical and creative thinking and cross curriculum priorities such as Literacy and Numeracy from the Australian Curriculum. Students will be given the opportunity to explore and express ideas by researching

These strategies and pedagogies respond to the Year Level, The Australian and Victorian Curriculum and challenges that these focus areas may cause. The unit plan is inclusive of both teacher and student-centred learning. It is important to include both across the unit plan to give students choice and encourage critical thinking as well as setting expectations and directing their learning and explicitly teaching the content of the focus areas. In lesson 1, Visual Literacy is utilised (Bamford, A 2003, p.1). Students use critical and creative thinking skills to interpret to Perceval and Picasso’s. It is important to use Visual Literacy. Some students struggle with literacy, however learn well visually. By using visual literacy as a teaching strategy, they can engage in literacy successfully in the context of art. Visual literacy also assists students who are successful in literacy, however struggle with art. Visual literacy, along with classroom discussions foster General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking (ACARA 2018). Direct instruction and live demonstrations have been included across this lesson plan. Year 9 students are still at an early age in their development and therefore need direct instruction and live demonstrations to explicitly assist them with their learning (Stanley 2008, p.29). It is important that teachers ask open ended questions to encourage students to think for themselves and become active and informed citizens (Australian Education Ministers 2008, p. 8). Therefore, across the unit plan you will find the use of asking students open ended questions as a teaching strategy to foster active and informed citizens (WADET 2004, p.5). It is important to foster motivation by linking to the student’s funds of knowledge (WADET 2004, p.5.). For example, the Mandala task has been included in the unit plan to link to student’s cultural