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|  | We asked some AP Studio Art Readers for a single piece of advice that they would offer other teachers. Here's what they came up with:
Assignments
To avoid students saying, "I don't know what to do," regularly give the students basic specific assignments, both for breadth and their concentration, which allow for students' creativity but give them a place to start. For example, after my students determine their concentration, I give them their first concentration assignment: a piece of artwork in a monochromatic color scheme using Prismacolor pencils. I give students one week for outside-of-class assignments. (It doesn't seem to matter how long I give students outside of class, the vast majority don't work on the assignment until right before it is due, so I don't give long deadline periods.)
Establishing completion deadlines throughout the year is essential to keep students on task, so that they can finish the required artwork necessary for a complete portfolio. For every day that we work on an assignment in the Breadth section in class, I give the students a day outside of class to complete the assignment, counting weekends. I expect work to be turned in on the day that the assignment is due. Late work receives a grade of "0" even if a student is absent on the day the work is due (in which case, a parent or friend must bring the work in before the end of the class period for the student to receive a class assignment grade). Note that this type of completion expectation must be clearly established at the beginning of the year. I use an expectation contract that is signed by both the student and their parents at the beginning of the year.
Tim Hunt
Plano Senior High School, Texas
Some Productive Ideas
We traditionally offer a two-credit, two-year, and two-period AP Studio Art curriculum. The following list details some of the productive ideas we utilize to teach students in this program:
First-year AP Studio Art students undergo a comprehensive introduction to all media areas in our department: drawing, painting, metals, clay, computer design, and black & white photography. Students then have a first-hand experience in all media, and can begin to make informed decisions as to the media they prefer to make art with for their portfolio.
All students are given "mini-portfolio" handouts consisting of two photocopied pages that are glued into an oak-tag folder. The first page has 16 thumbnail spaces where students can sketch and title their completed "Breadth" pieces. The second page has 16 thumbnail spaces where students can sketch and title their "Concentration" pieces. As the year goes by, students and faculty can visually "see" how many pieces have been completed, and how many more the student must generate to satisfy the AP Studio Art portfolio requirements.
It is beneficial to shoot double slides of particularly successful student works, in either the Breadth or Concentration areas. This way, the student has documented slides that they will send to ETS, and the Art Department has a permanent record of exemplary student artworks to show to incoming classes each year. By far, having well-documented visual examples of student art seems to be the most productive channel on fostering new art students' personal creativity and artistic growth.
We show our own faculty art to students on a regular basis, as our work tends to be good examples of "Concentrations." We also like to demonstrate our successful techniques to students in the studio, in a kind of master/apprentice workshop atmosphere. Students then are more apt to ask quality questions about media, thinking, and expression. Invited guest artists also demonstrate their techniques, and engage in dialogue with students about style, content, form, etc; we videotape these demonstrations for future reference with students.
Gerald M. Cloud and Brenda L. Cloud
J. P. McCaskey High School, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Late Assignments
In addition to a semester schedule of weekly drawing assignments designed to cover skills and concepts, late assignments are NOT accepted. No way, no how. Students are given a score for both complete and incomplete work handed in. Then, students may complete or re-work a piece, and resubmit assignments for a better score. This way, students have thought about and have at least attempted each assignment. I have a score in my record book, I don't hear excuses, and I don't have to nag students for their missing assignments. The responsibility is theirs. This simple, clear policy results in less hassle for everyone.
Barb Quade-Harick
Como Park Senior High School, St. Paul, Minnesota
One-Shot Activities
As an AP Studio Art teacher for the past 12 years, one of my most daunting tasks is to get the students to be spontaneous and at the same time produce more work. To tackle this problem, I've devised a series of activities that I call "One-Shot."
Students begin and complete a work of art within a class period. The work can be a drawing, a design, a 3-D piece, etc. Students are responsible for providing subject matter (bringing in objects to draw, or working from a previous sketch or idea that they have been developing, etc.) and materials can vary. For example, one week a student might do a pencil rendering of a few objects; the next week the same student might do a pastel sketch of another person. If the student is working on a 3-D portfolio, the activity might be a found objects sculpture. Design students can produce non-objective linear works such as those done by Pollock or Kandinsky.
I schedule this activity either weekly or twice a month. Students must tell me what they plan to do during that period a day or two in advance. The final work for each session can be graded and critiqued.
Dr. Andy Zaller
Booker T. Washington High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Summer Preparation
I've found the best portfolio-filler/anxiety-reducer is to strongly encourage those students who are planning to submit an AP portfolio to enroll in one of the many summer programs offered by institutions like Skidmore or the Rhode Island School of Design. I myself teach in the RISD program, which is an excellent six-week intensive introduction to what art school will be like. But the greatest benefit of the program for my own students has been the leg-up they get on their AP portfolio. Many of these programs offer scholarship help for students who qualify.
Winslow Myers
Bancroft School, Worcester, Massachusetts
Teaching and Scheduling Strategies
It is our department policy that each student in the visual arts will research and present on an artist during the course of their study. The AP Studio Art course is no exception. Every week the students do a two- or three-page worksheet covering an artist that we read about in the periodical Scholastic Art. This provides a good basis to work from during the year. In addition, the students will have the background of art history from any preliminary art classes they have previously taken.
During the preliminary study for a concentration, each student must select two artists distinct from the other in terms of different periods, cultures, techniques, or approaches to their art. I often suggest choosing one artist whose work the student "loves," and one whose work the student "hates." Each member of the class must do a three-page paper on each artist and an art piece as a final project. This art often looks like one artist's signature piece translated into the other artist's language, which may be style, color usage, painterly technique, or media. For example, this spring one student duplicated a work by Lucien Freud in the technique of Chuck Close.
To help students understand the concept of concentration, I try to pull together slides and other resources of retrospective works of known artists. The process of investigation, growth, and discovery is made clear by looking at a body of work over an extended period. When looking at the art of Jasper Johns over 40 years, the students see the imagery derived from flags, numbers, and letters, and the textures found in flagstones resurfacing over time. The idea of creating a unified body of work doesn't seem so threatening after this experience. An idea as simple as the American flag can lead to a wide variety of visual solutions. A three-dimensional example can be found in the work of Constantin Brancusi. Brancusi continually worked on the fine balance between representation and abstracted form.
Block Scheduling
Our school will be going to a 3 x 5 system of block scheduling (three trimesters of five courses). I will offer AP Studio Art for full credit during the first and third trimesters, and students will be required to take a studio offering during the second trimester to complete their concentration. Students will work together toward completion of Section III (Breadth) in the beginning trimester, and then each will select an appropriate studio course to complete Section II (Concentration) during the second trimester. We will finish up Section I (Quality) when we reconvene as a class during the third trimester.
Students who have selected the 3-D portfolio would work on their concentrations during the second trimester, so enrolling in advanced sculpture or advanced ceramics would be a natural choice for the second trimester. A student who has chosen the 2-D Design portfolio could select advanced photography or commercial design as the studio course for the second trimester. If a Drawing portfolio is the choice, then an advanced drawing, painting, or printmaking course could be logical.
During the third trimester, portfolio building will be completed, along with finalizing the required paper that accompanies the concentration. A brief version of this paper will be submitted as written commentary to the College Board.
Joann Winkler
Clinton High School, Iowa
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