Excerpt from paper by Patty Knott

Note: This is written for photography – but activities can be adapted
This action plan to design activities to develop greater student understanding of criticism and aesthetics will employ Grant Wiggin's acronym WHERE for unit plans (pg.115). Where are we headed? What understandings are desired? Students will understand the assignments, the resources available for accomplishing the tasks, and how the task will be assessed. Hook the student through engaging entry points.  Criticism and aesthetics lessons will be organized around questions and problems. Entry points can also include puzzles, role-playing, and current issues in the art world. Explore and engage/equip.  Through a variety of activities and strategies the students will uncover the theories and stories that lead to aesthetic issues. Students will be engaged in Wiggin's six facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge (p.125) as well as reaching conclusions through various intelligences.

Example:   Artist David Hockney claims that the painting masters of the 15th and 16th century used optical devises to achieve their realistic effects.  Investigate the arguments for and against Hockney's claims. List the pros and cons. Take the role of the artist, the historian, the critic and the scientist. (Note scientist Charles Falco's extensive research to support Hockney's claims)  Simulate a press conference in which Hockney would be questioned about his findings. Simulate the use of convex and concave mirrors. Take an ethical stand. Did these artists cheat? What current technologies may cause similar controversies for today's artists? Visit, on line, the Getty's exhibit "Devices of Wonder." Research how art and optical devices influence ways of seeing.

Reflect and rethink.  As the investigation into issues of criticism is a building process throughout the course, students will be guided in self-assessment and inquiry in order to make informed value judgements. Exhibit and Evaluate.  Products and performance will reveal the quality and effectiveness of the student's progress through the process.

Projects to consider:

Classify/Connect: Art historians and art critics classify, categorize, and group works according to similar characteristics.  Students will be asked to put works together based on good reason. Sort photos according to modes, subject matter, styles, periods, etc. in game like activities. Classify, compare/contrast, and justify reasons.

Project/performance: In what ways can a collection be brought into the classroom? (Keep in mind the Internet as a resource.) What individuals are involved in a collection (viewers, supporters, experts, critics, historians, collectors, conservators, artists) and in what ways do they impact the collection? How is a collection selected? Who decides which works are important enough to be displayed? Create a collection based on a theme.

Logic:   Have students compare the four steps of art criticism to the scientific method of inquiry used in their science classes. Discuss the essential questions occurring in each step of the critical process. Ask, "What do I see? (description); How is the work organized? (analysis); What is happening? What is the artist trying to say?" (interpretation); and "What do I think of the work?" (judgment). Have students demonstrate the similarities and differences between the two methods, e.g. a dialogue between a scientist and artist arguing which is the better approach. 

·      Simulate a “who done it mystery” about a photo, provide clues. 

·      Create mathematical formulas, problems, percentages to describe a photo  (i.e. using the rule of thirds for space, levels of contrast, etc.) 

·       Create logic puzzles based on art issues. 

·       Determine how advances in the technology changed the art form.

·       Investigate the science and technology of determining forgeries. 

·       Create a game about photo.

Movement/Music:  The elements and principles of art and design permeate the form.  How can you find examples of these principles that relate to you?  i.e. visual rhythm and musical rhythm; line and form in dance. 

·       Relate to a work through the senses. If it had a scent what would it be? A taste? If it made sounds, what would you hear? A song, specific instruments, high pitch or low pitch? 

·       Create a song from a photo image or find images to illustrate your favorite lyrics. 

·       Create a drama /act out the creation of a historic photo, i.e. Lange's Migrant Mother. Play the role of the aesthetician, critic, historian, and photographer. 

·       In groups, students create movements to recreate the space, lines, shapes, textures, etc. in a photo. Decide collectively how to order the movement phrases to make a dance performance. Discuss the choices made and the similarities and differences between dance and the visual arts-- time being an obvious difference.

·       Imagine "walking through" the place depicted in a photograph. As the students imagine themselves as integral parts of a work of art, the work is made more relevant to them and they respond more thoughtfully.

Verbal/Visual: Develop students' interest in the topic with a preliminary journal activity. Have students write about a special photograph they remember. Why do they remember it? What emotions does it evoke? Share responses. 

·       Timelines    Assign each student/group in the class a specific time period to cover or a specific aspect of research. Present and display in a central location for others to see. Use technology to expand the project by using a presentation program to create individual slides for each entry on the timeline. Introduce a time travel assignment by allowing students to choose a photo from an online collection as a point of focus for their essays/journals. Allow students to think about which historical period they would like to visit. Have students create a timeline of their own over the course of an entire school year. They could gather/take the photos they think shaped life for them during the school term. 

·       Find several examples of photographs that caused change throughout the 20th century. Explain the power of photographs as agents of change.

·       Find several examples of photographs where photographers deliberately changed the image. Have students select examples of photos where the photographer deliberately created an artificial scene to photograph. Analyze the motivation behind these changes and the consequences. 

·       Discuss the ethics of photo manipulation.  Create and research guidelines to determine a photograph's credibility. Distribute or display 3 - 4 photos and ask students to vote whether the images are completely accurate. Ask how they know. Have students try digital manipulation of photographs to see how the truth changes. Discuss their creations. How easy is it to change a photo? 

·       Create a persuasive essay/speech about the regulation and censorship of photographs. 

·       Conduct a survey about a photo or an issue in photo 

·       Create a skit depicting a meeting where a group is selecting a photo to give to an art museum. Roles include members with various beliefs and issues. 

·       Dramatize a TV talk show focusing on a controversial photo subject or issue, i.e. Sally Mann's photos of her children caused her to be censored.  Was she abusing her children? 

·       Put a controversial photographer on trial. 

·       Conduct a debate about an issue in photo. Is photo art? Should digital manipulation be identified? 

·       Have a photo "tell it's personal" story. 

·       Write a poem about a photo. 

·       Create a dialogue between 2 photographers seated next to each other at a dinner party. 

·       Investigate a social issue represented through a photographer's body of work  (i.e. Cindy Sherman's feminist issues) 

·       Write a series of letters between a photographer and a critic 

·       Create the personal diary of a photographer (Ex.  Dan Eldon, 23 year-old photojournalist who filled seventeen visual journals documenting his political activism in Somalia, until he was murdered in 1993.) 

·       Write a letter to a Hollywood producer explaining why an image could be the basis for a good movie. What is the context of the image? What comes before and after?