Global interpretations.

Teachers in our Unified Arts team at Conestoga Valley Middle School created an interdisciplinary unit that involved all of the special area team teachers and tied into the core team subjects.

We used the Olympics, with the many foreign countries and cultures from around the world, as our theme. Each teacher in our team created special activities and event days that integrated into their own areas and involved the core class units of study.

I developed a lesson integrating the eighth-grade graphic design unit with some of the countries studied in geography class. Each student received a foreign country to use as a theme for an illustration. To develop ideas for the illustration, students spent one class period researching historical landmarks, famous historical figures, important geographical locations, native animals, historical events, and the cultural heritage of their assigned country. Students developed at least three different sketches from their research. I displayed travel brochures and posters in the classroom, along with magazine photos of foreign countries.

I gave a short demonstration on the ClarisWorks paint program. To encourage students to become self-learners and make them more knowledgeable about the program before we entered the computer lab, I created a simplified manual. Students answered a list of questions on the operation of the tools in the program by reading this manual.

Students began their sketches in black line only, no fill color was to be used in the illustration until I gave permission. Students had one day in the lab to practice the tools and familiarize themselves with the pull-down menus. I demonstrated how the Duplicate and Transform menu could help them in the development of their drawing. They also needed to discover, before they used color, how to use the zoom box to create details within the illustrations.

When I finally gave permission to use fill color, students could not use the spray can tool. I wanted them to learn to control the use of color instead of the color controlling them. I showed students who wanted individual pixels of color various ways to achieve the effect, for instance, editing the paintbrush tool into as many pixels as they desired.

No gradient colors could be used until the very end because they are extremely difficult to change once they have been saved, Students experimented with various color changes and light directions. Once they reached the last step. I demonstrated how to create paths through enclosed spaces so that the gradient color would fill in all of the background area. Students showed a variety of experimentation and self-discovery as they became more confident with the computer. They adjusted and altered their original sketches to improve their understanding of form and texture within their illustrations.

Throughout the unit, I encouraged students to save their work on their personal disks every ten minutes. They also saved their work on our file server at the end of each class period as a back up for a disk failure. The illustrations were printed on Apple StyleWriter printers located in the artroom. Disks made it easier for me to access their illustrations for printing.

We used twelve class periods to complete this unit, with a few students coming into the classroom during study hall and lunch periods. All students received a personal copy of their own work along with a self-evaluation sheet that helped them to reflect on the objectives of the lesson and gave them a chance to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses.

Students from all developmental levels were excited about their accomplishments. The illustrations showed a wide range of creative expression. For recording and interpreting facts about people, places, and events from countries around the world, the computer proved to be ideal.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and ideas.

Linda Christy is an art teacher at Conestoga Valley Middle School in Lancaster. Pennsylvania.