Standards and Backwards Mapping

Introduction--Subject, Grade Level, Explanation

• The subject for the class is visual arts. The grade level is Grade 8 (MYP Year 5).
• The standards that I'm working with are International Baccalaureate Middle Years Art standards or the IB-MYP Arts Standards.
• I am going to look at is:
  Criteria B: Developing skills
  Year (5)
  i. demonstrate the acquisition and development of the skills and techniques of the art form studied       ii. demonstrate the application of skills and techniques to create, perform and/or present art.
• I chose this standard because my students tend to be weak in the development of skills area and I want to plan better lessons to help them and to help myself better meet the criteria.

Four Proficiencies

At the end of this unit students will be able to:

• demonstrate the acquisition of the skills of the art form studied
• demonstrate the acquisition of the techniques of the art form studied
• demonstrate the application of skills and techniques to create, perform and/or present art

Three Assessments

Assessment 1

Demonstrate the Acquisition of Skills 

The students use their class sketchbook to research a set of skills and techniques from an art form and develop these over time. The students will present a final portfolio of process pages showing their development with written annotations explaining how they acquired the skills.

Assessment 2
Demonstrate the Acquisition of Techniques

The students would select a technique from the art form studied and demonstrate it on a drawing or painting rubric with steps, spaces for annotation and written explanation. The final assessment would show the steps of the technique with written explanation clarifying using appropriate language and art terminology.


Assessment 3

Demonstrate the Application of Skills and Techniques
In a final summative artwork the students would apply the skills and techniques that they acquired into a summative artwork. The artwork would include a written annotation detailing the skills and techniques used and the process for applying them to their artwork using appropriate language and art terminology.

Three Learning Engagements

Demonstrating Skills

The students would look at the artwork for the unit and break down the skills that the artist uses in a class discussion and written exercise. They would then observe a practical demonstration of the art skill by the teacher. The students would then participate in individual practice exercises utilizing the skill.

Demonstrating Techniques

The students would watch a video demonstration of an art technique and take notes on the process. The students would then work in groups with teacher feedback to recreate the technique. After the group work and feedback, the students would then recreate the technique individually.

Applying Skills and Techniques

The students would create a small scale artwork using the skills and techniques developed and apply them to their overall work. The teacher would provide a finished sample with steps on how to use and apply the skills and techniques into the final artwork. The students would follow the steps and develop and artwork with the skills and techniques from the artwork studied.