Investigation

Introductory Photo
Curriculum
Grade 9-12
Sarah Anthony
David Uzochukwu, A Familiar Ruin - VIII, Raphael Hefti, Lycopodium
2015 2011
“In photography there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated.”
- August Sander

Claire
Warden,
Mimesis

“Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique,
who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’.
Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.” -
Man Ray
 Curriculum Vision Statement
● The art classroom prepares students with the visual vocabulary, self efficacy, and technical skills to
participate as critical consumers and contributing citizens.
● Art Education is important because it employs visual literacy, which demands perceptive, critical,
analytical thinking that can be practiced in other areas of life.
● The art making process fosters perseverance in students because it demands thoughtful
consideration, attempts at new skills, and allows for multiple approaches to problem solving.
Students become investigators, researchers, and experts in trial and error. Students are generators
and executors of their own ideas, they choose where things go, what happens next, and how they
wish to communicate their personal narratives and insights.
● The consistent theme of art curriculum should be to embolden and empower students to take
action for social justice.
● Equal weight should be paid to skill and concept, creating challenges for students but also ensuring
levels and opportunities for success.
● The technical skills taught in the classroom should serve as a vehicle for bigger ideas to be
explored while students solidify their personhood, develop strategies for self actualization, and
cement their internal validation systems.
● An art curriculum should prepare students for navigating their internal world, as well as the
exterior world.
 Curriculum Goals
❖ To develop critical thinking
skills.
❖ To equip students with the
tools necessary for critically
analyzing media and the
world around them
❖ To support and encourage
students as they find their
personal voice
❖ To facilitate exploration, risk
taking, mistake making,
critical analysis, and creative
response
❖ To produce social justice
oriented citizens who
approach all areas of life and
interaction through a lens of
❖ To enable and encourage
students to explore their
own interests, ideas,
passions, cultures, questions
and concerns to develop
unique and meaningful works
of art
❖ To foster perseverance and
thoughtful consideration
❖ To facilitate self discovery of
students and the growth and
solidification of a their
personhood while cementing
their internal validation
systems
Karen Navarro, Subject #3
 Carrie Mae Essential Questions
Weems,
Untitled
(Woman ❖ Why do artists have the responsibility of
and illuminating hidden narratives?
daughter
without ❖ Who possesses the power to deem one subject
makeup), important and another unimportant?
1990
❖ How do artists investigate their own
experiences and empathize with the
experiences of others?
❖ How does noticing hidden messages or details
Enduring Understandings aid in an artist’s perceptual and conceptual
❖ Artists closely observe the world around them and respond to it through a inspiration?
critical lens. Carrie Mae
❖ Art can be a vehicle for self exploration and understanding.
❖ Art can be a vehicle for understanding other’s experiences through a lens of Weems,
empathy.
❖ Artists have the ability and responsibility to illuminate hidden and
Untitled
counternarratives. (Eating
❖ Artists can use skills and techniques to create emphasis around a subject,
educate their audience, and evoke an emotional reaction from their audience.
Lobster),
1990
Curriculum Map
Each unit will take about 2-3
months, depending on
whether this course is taught
in both film and digital, or
one or the other.
 Unit 1
Perception
and the
World Around Us

Vivian Maier, New York, New York

Unit 1 Goal + Objectives ❖ Students will realize their own visual
Students will independently use their learning style.
❖ Students will know that artists explore
to...
their world and actively look for
❖ Observe the world around them and
inspiration.
respond to it critically ❖ Students will be skilled at interpreting
❖ Manipulate available resources to achieve and critiquing various works of art.
desired outcomes ❖ Students will be skilled at solving
technical issues they experience while
shooting or in the darkroom.
❖ Students will create compositionally
balanced photographs when
composing their shots.
❖ Students will know how to utilize
aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to
create their intended photographs
William Eggleston, Big Wheels, 1969
Enduring Understandings
❖ Students will understand that:
➢ Every individual has a unique outlook to the world and the ability Gordon
to develop personal opinions Parks,
➢ Passion can be communicated and made contagious through Railroad
artwork Gang Moving
➢ Perception is a valuable tool in critical analysis of one’s a Portion of
surroundings Track, New
➢ The way artists choose to depict a subject can change the York, New
perceived importance of that subject York, 1946

Essential Questions
➢ How do artists notice things?
➢ How do artists communicate
passion and critical thinking
through their artistic choices?
➢ Who decides what is important, or
Tenzing Dakpa, Untitled
why something is beautiful?
 Unit 1 Lessons
Finding the View Your Unique Lens
Alien to the World

Juan Madrid Brandon Thibodeaux, Christmas Tree, Alligator,

Miss. Nydia Blas, Untitled, The Girls Who Spun Gold
 Unit 1 Assessment
Example Alien to the World
Mission Report
Unit 1 Lesson 2
Name:
Date:
Class:

1) Choose Your 4 favorite photographs, and discuss why you chose to photograph and include them in your mission report. Specifically,
what makes them interesting or worth documenting?

1) What were your strengths during this mission? Be specific:

1) How do you wish this mission had gone differently?

1) What technical difficulties did you run into while on your mission? Based on this report, we will adjust our training regimen.
 Unit 2
Interpreting
Our
World

Joel-Peter Witkin, Feast of Foods, Mexico City, 1990

Unit 2 Goal + Objectives
❖ Students will be able to independently use their
learning to… 
➢ interpret personal experiences and other’s
experiences through a lens of empathy.
➢ both convey and comprehend meaning
through artistic representation and
symbolism.
Lydia Panas, Xie Yue
❖ Students will know how to identify
and explain the specific techniques
photographers use to create mood in
their artwork.
❖ Students will know how to design
conceptually meaningful photographs.
❖ Students will be skilled at writing an
artist statement and explaining their
artwork to others.
❖ Students will be skilled at imagining
the experiences of others.
Enduring Understandings
❖ Students will understand that: Barbara
➢ Everyone deserves to tell their own story. Kruger,
➢ Shared history is the basis for many forms of Untitled
communication. (Your body is
a
➢ Artists can use a variety of techniques to elicit specific
Battleground
responses from their audience. ), 1989

Essential Questions
➢ How can an artwork manipulate emotion?
➢ What role does personal history have in
interpretation?
Robert and Shana ➢ What is the difference between taking a picture
ParkeHarrison, and making a picture?
Cloud Cleaner
➢ Why does an artist choose to provide some
information, and choose not to provide other
 Unit 2 Lessons
Your Portrait, My Portrait Dream Interpretation Worth 1,000 Words

Jess T. Dugan, Duchess Milan, 69, Los Angeles, CA, 2017

Dora Maar, Untitled, (Hand-Shell), 1934 Bieke Depoorter
 Unit 2
Assessment
Example
 Unit 3
Illumination
Through
Transformation

Gabriel Garcia Roman, Carlos & Fernando, 2016

Unit 3 Goal + Objectives
❖ Students will be able to independently use their
learning to… 
➢ Question narratives and the sources from which
they are produced.
➢ Seek out and discover counter and hidden ❖ Students will know how to represent
narratives. experiences through artistic metaphor and
➢ Critically analyze the flow of information and symbolism
systemic power structures within society. ❖ Students will know how to derive meaning
from elements of an artwork.
❖ Students will be skilled at comparing and
contrasting the main narrative and counter
narratives.
❖ Students will be skilled at justifying their
artistic choices
❖ Students will be skilled at making educated
guesses about the outcomes of specific
combinations of elements.
❖ Students will be skilled at writing an artist
Farrah Karapetian, Muscle statement and explaining their artwork to
Memory, 2013 others.
Enduring Understandings
❖ Students will understand that:
➢ There are many sides to any one story
➢ A person has the power to reclaim the narrative
➢ Destruction can be a form of transformation
➢ Artists use creative techniques to educate
audiences Nydia
Hartono

Essential Questions
➢ Who decides what story is told?
➢ How do artists communicate a story through
very basic elements?
➢ What role do artists play in challenging the
Elizabeth
Opalenik, status quo?
Untitled
 Unit 3 Lessons
Artifacts from the Story Destroy Expectations Unsung Cyanotype

Len Lye, Anne Lye, 1947 Kari Wehrs, Tristan, Vicki Reed, Handyman
2016
 Unit 2
Assessment
Example
Art Room Differentiation Plan
Standards
Based
Scope and
Sequence
Chart
Content & Skills to be Assessed
❖ Developing skills
❖ Overall effort / time management
❖ Understanding of the basic concepts of
the Single Lens Camera and the Darkroom
❖ Inventive problem-solving
❖ Intuitive exploration
❖ Exhibiting care for materials
❖ Exhibiting respect for others
❖ Participation during critiques and class
discussions
Assessment Tools & Strategies
❖ Teacher designed rubrics
❖ Final Products
❖ Artist statements
❖ Research materials (where applicable)
❖ Work logs
❖ Test strips and Contact Proof Sheets (CPS)
❖ Teacher meetings
Art Program Assessment
❖ Grades will be determined through
teacher rubrics, which will be shared
with students prior to the beginning
of each lesson so that students have
a clear idea of what is expected of
them.
❖ Final grades will be determined by
reviewing a combination of final
products, work logs, artist
statements, self assessments,
research materials, and overall class
participation and effort.
❖ Students have the option of
submitting reworked elements of
their work at any time for an
improved grade up until the closing
Sources
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Dewhurst, M. (2010). An Inevitable Question: Exploring the Defining Features of Social Justice Art Education. Art Education, 63(5), 6–13. doi: 10.1080/00043125.2010.11519082

Gates, L. (2016). Embracing Subjective Assessment Practices: Recommendations for Art Educators. Art Education, 70(1), 23–28. doi: 10.1080/00043125.2017.1247565

Gude, O. (2007). Principles of Possibility: Considerations for a 21st-Century Art & Culture Curriculum. Art Education, 60(1), 6–17. doi: 10.1080/00043125.2007.11651621

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Joo, E., Keehn, J., & Ham-Roberts, J. (2011). Rethinking contemporary art and multicultural education. New York: Routledge.

LENSCRATCH. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://lenscratch.com/

Massachusetts Department of Elementary. (n.d.). Massachusetts Learning Standards. Retrieved April 5, 2020, from http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/

Mayer, M. M. (2008). Considerations for A Contemporary Art Curriculum. Art Education, 61(2), 77–79. doi: 10.1080/00043125.2008.11651146

Pollock, M. (2008). Everyday antiracism: getting real about race in school. New York: New Press.

Sontag, S. (1978). On Photography (6th ed.). Toronto, Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.

Stewart, M. G., & Walker, S. R. (2005). Rethinking curriculum in art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Zande, R. V. (2017). Design education: Creating Thinkers to Improve the World. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.