Drawing/Intro Unit - Art 9

Overview :
This Unit serves as an introduction to art for students in grade 9 who may
or may not have had any prior art education. The focus will primarily be
on exploring mediums and exposure to basic techniques and skill
development. This unit specifically will be for drawing techniques, skills,
and mediums.
Rationale:
It is assumed that most students in this course may not have any art
education and therefore assignments and projects are less focussed on
the end results and more upon the effort and experimentation in the
processes tried. Students in this course vary significantly in their abilities,
with some students being more advanced and others with little to no
knowledge in art. As well, this course is designed for four separate grade
nine classes, each with their own needs and learning pace. Lessons then
are staggered due to scheduling throughout the week and classes will
move on to the following lessons at different times. Lessons will likely
also carry over more than one period for work time.
Key Understandings / Terms:

The elements of art - texture, value, shape, colour, form, line, space
The principles of design - proportion/scale, movement/rhythm, pattern,
balance, unity, emphasis
Students will be able to:

Identify the elements of art and the principles of design

Describe the elements and principles
Demonstrate the use or incorporation of the elements/principles into a
composition
Students will know:

Key terms
The elements and principles make up the basic foundational building
blocks in the creation of art

Evidence/Assessments/Evaluations:

Individual and whole class discussions

Sketchbook assignments/planning
Customized folder
Shoe drawings
Gradient drawing

Intended Unit Learner Expectations/ Outcomes:

DRAWINGS
GLO Record: Students will record objects alone and in compositions.
Concepts
(SLOs)
C. The illusion of depth is created partly by the kinds of lines and marks
used in creating an image.
GLO Investigate: Students will employ and arrange elements and
principles to make compositions.
Concepts A. A consideration of balance and contrast may be applied to
drawings that depict forms in nature.
B. Repetition of shape in nature can suggest patterns and motifs.
C. A changing point of view can allow a more thorough analysis of the
subject matter of drawing.
GLO Articulate and Evaluate: Students will use the techniques of art
criticism for analysis and comparison of art works.
Concepts A. Making comparisons about mood and feeling between
ones own works and works by other students is part of learning to talk
about art.
B. Knowing the terms of design, media and techniques used in ones own
drawings helps in description and analysis of ones own and others
works.

COMPOSITIONS
GLO Components 3: Students will investigate the effects of controlling
colour, space and form in response to selected visual problems.
Concepts A. Variation of form: natural objects exhibit wide variation of
form within a single type.
B. Control of colour and space: certain colours advance and recede,
according to the colours around them.
C. Control of space: a sense of distance or close proximity can be
conveyed through the amount of detail used in compositions (micro
macro images).
GLO Relationships 1: Students will experiment with the principles of
dominance, emphasis and concentration in the creation of compositions.
Concepts A. Cluster and concentration of design elements in
compositions tend to suggest compression and/or movement.
B. Differences in size or value of design elements in compositions suggest
dominance and emphasis of larger, stronger elements.
Lesson summaries:
Lesson 1 - Introduction to the teacher and the class, getting to know the
class, and class expectations
In this lesson, students will have to opportunity to see a bit about
myself as their new teacher, get to know each other, and let me get to
know their names.
Learner profiles will be filled out or sent home if not finished and brought
back to the next class. There will also be some drawing games (create a
monster) to get students to loosen up with their drawing and
communicate with one another. Students will also get to know the rules
and expectations I have as an instructor.
Lesson 2 - Course Outline, Class-building activities, the Marshmallow
Challenge
In this lesson, students will be given the course outline and we will
go over it as a class. Then, students will be put into teams to create
towers from tape, spaghetti, and marshmallows. This lesson helps to get

students working together as a team and collaborating with each other as

a class, as well as to help them create something together. There will
also be other timed art games for students on an individual level
(monster game again potentially). These games are also a good preassessment for me to see where students are at in terms of skills and it
helps me to know who can work well together.

Lesson 3 - Introduction to the elements of art

Students will learn the 7 elements of art (slideshow) and
understand their differences. They will then be given their first
assignment to start - customizing their folders. Students will have to
complete a minimum of 5 practice sketches before being able to move on
to their final folders. The remaining time in class will be given to work on
getting ideas for their sketches and beginning to draw them out.
This lesson will carry over into at least one more period for each
group of grade 9 students. Depending on the skills of each class and the
feedback provided by the students themselves, more or less time can be
allotted for rough draft sketches to be done.
Lesson 4 - Completion of folders, discussion, moving on to the Principles
of design
Students will discuss their finished folder project - would they do it
again, how would they improve, what was successful/unsuccessful.
Students will also be given a self-check rubric at this time to rate their
own performance on the assignment. Then, students will learn the
principles of design (powerpoint) to finish the lesson. Some fun gesture
drawing games will be done to work on some of the principles and to
experiment with charcoal as an alternate medium.
Lesson 5 - Review and intro to some drawing techniques, Shoes
In this lesson, students will review the elements and principles
learned so far. Then, they will receive a quick demo on blending,
hatching, cross hatching, and pointillism and will do exercises in their
sketchbooks for each.
Students will be required to do a shoe drawing in their sketchbooks using
one of the techniques learned (pointillism, hatching, cross hatching,
blending). The remainder of class will be work time for this sketchbook
assignment. Another period will also be work time, depending on each
classes pacing.

Lesson 6 - Discussions, onto final gradient drawings

Students will pair discuss their shoe drawings and provide feedback
to one another. For some classes this may simply be discussion in pairs,
for others it may be written feedback. Critique etiquette should be
modelled here for students so that respectful and helpful feedback is
given.
Students will then be given their final drawing project for the unit subject to be determined - and work periods for research, planning, and
completion.