STRAND ONE
Students learn in the Arts by active participation -- they learn by doing. Creating refers to the making of art: for instance, students write dialogue, compose music, choreograph a dance, or draw a picture. Performing refers to the interpretation and presentation of an existing work: for example, students sing or play musical compositions by Leonard Bernstein, act, direct and design a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, or perform a traditional folk dance.
Creating and performing form the core of Arts education. In the classroom they are intertwined as activities that are lively and learner-centered. Students make images that reflect how they see their world, they practice playing instruments, join hands in a circle dance, or collaborate to improvise characters. Creating and performing often entail learning by interacting with others in a group. Teachers and students are partners in inquiry as they observe, respond physically, demonstrate techniques and talk with one another. In this ongoing activity, observation and discourse are an integral part of learning and assessment.
Through creating and performing, students learn to use Arts as a form of communication for ideas, emotions, and beliefs. In order to communicate effectively in the Arts, students must master basic skills and concepts, a body of knowledge that is sometimes called "Arts literacy."
| Learning Standard 1: Students will use the Arts to express ideas emotions and beliefs. |
| Learning Standard 2: Students will acquire and apply essential skills and literacy unique to each discipline. |
Strong Arts programs evolve from sequentially designed experiences in creating and performing that are thoughtfully integrated with the standards described under the Strands of Thinking and Responding, and Connecting and Contributing.
LEARNING STANDARD ONE
Students will use the Arts to express ideas, emotions and beliefs.
In the process of creating and performing, learners develop an awareness of how the Arts can communicate fundamental ideas about human experience and the world, and convey nuances of emotion. Throughout their lives people who are attuned to the expressive qualities of the Arts ask essential questions such as these:
| Who am I and what is important to me? |
| How can I make others understand what I think, feel and believe? |
| How do the Arts help me perceive and understand the ideas, emotions and beliefs of others? |
| How to the Arts help me think about what is important to society? |
Students will:
| Demonstrate the ability to work with the media, tools and techniques of dance, music, theater and visual arts to express ideas about Arts processes. |
| Create works that express conceptions of self and family in dance, music, theater and visual arts. |
| Perform works that express ideas, emotions and beliefs in dance, music and theater. |
| Employ expressive qualities to create a mood in dance, music, theater and visual arts. |
Students will continue the K-4 Standards and:
| In the visual and at least two of the performing Arts - dance, music, and theater - create works that express relationships among individuals, their community and the environment. |
| In at least two of the performing Arts - dance, music, and theater - select and perform a varied repertoire of works that exemplifies different moods. |
| In visual and at least two of the performing Arts - dance, music, and theater - manipulate elements to enhance an expressive effect. |
Students will continue the K - 8 Learning Standards and:
| In at least one Art form - dance, music, theater or visual arts - create and/or perform works that show a point of view about social and personal issues |
| In at least one Art form - dance, music, theater, or visual arts - demonstrate the ability to create improvisations, adaptations or additions that complement or match the mood and/or style of an existing work |
| In at least one of the Arts - dance, music, theater, or visual arts - create and/or perform works that show an understanding of how selective use of techniques processes, tools and technologies, and/or materials contributes to the communication of ideas, emotions, or beliefs |
LEARNING STANDARD TWO
Students will acquire and apply the essential skills and literacy unique to each Art form.
In this standard, some essential questions are:
| What are the fundamental skills, knowledge and techniques unique to each of the four Arts disciplines? |
| How can these skills, knowledge and techniques be demonstrated effectively? |
| What are the elements of learning common to all the Arts? |
| How does the practice of creating affect the process of responding to the Arts? |
Students will acquire and apply the essential skills and literacy unique to each Art form.
Dance Standards
| Demonstrate the ability to work in a group of learn-and-perform sequences of movement. |
| Demonstrate the ability to make patterns in space both individually and as a member of a group. |
| Demonstrate the ability to maintain individual space when working in a group. |
| Identify body parts, stretch and strengthen muscles, develop flexibility and coordination in a variety of ways. |
| Identify, demonstrate and use dance and movement vocabulary such as hopping, skipping, sliding, running and leaping, bending and twisting expressively and selectively. |
| Identify fast and slow tempo and rhythm in music, sound, and speech, and create movement with the same qualities. |
| Learn, rehearse, and demonstrate dances from various world cultures and historical periods. |
| Demonstrate audience skills of listening, observing, and responding with respect for the performers and behavior |
Music Standards
(Please see note on selecting music -- before beginning of 2nd Learning Standard)
| Sing accurately and in tune alone and with others. |
| Play classroom and ensemble instruments with proper technique alone and with others. |
| Present formal and informal performances. |
| Read, write and reproduce simple invented notation and staff notation in treble and bass clefs. |
| Use a consistent system of syllables, numbers, or letters to read and reproduce melodic and rhythmic notation. |
| Improvise and compose simple pentatonic patterns. |
| Show basic understanding of sound production on acoustic and electronic instruments, including synthesizer and computer. |
| Interpret music through movement. |
| Demonstrate audience skills of listening attentively and responding appropriately in classroom, rehearsal and performance settings. |
Theater Standards
| Demonstrate the ability to create characters, using imagination, concentration, movement, and voice and perform in classroom dramatizations (Acting). |
| Use formal and informal role-playing, storytelling and play making (Playmaking). |
| Make choices about characters, action, and use of space; plan, rehearse, and |
| present dramatizations and informal performances (Directing and Management). |
| Create a sense of time and place using basic design elements; use sets, costumes, props, and lighting to transform actors and space into dramatic characters and settings in the classroom (Design and Technical Elements). |
| Demonstrate audience skills of listening, observing, and responding with respect for the performers and behavior appropriate style of the performance. |
Visual Arts Standards
| Demonstrate the ability to draw upon imagination and memory to tell stories visually and compose images. |
| Use observational skills in order to represent the shapes, patterns, colors and textures of people, animals, objects, and the visual environment, such as landscape, in two and three-dimensional media. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of two-dimensional processes such as drawing, paint on, printmaking, flat collage and weaving; and of three-dimensional processes such as modeling in clay, carving and construction by using these processes to create works. |
| Identify primary and secondary colors; predict and demonstrate the effects of blending or overlapping primary colors; demonstrate knowledge of making dark to light values of colors. Identify and use basic two-dimensional hollow and solid geometric shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle) and three-dimensional forms (sphere, pyramid, cube). |
| Create and exhibit art works individually and as members of a group. |
| Demonstrate viewer skills of observing, discussing and respecting artists' work exhibited in the classroom, school and public places. |
Students continue the K - 4 Standards and apply their learning in at least three disciplines balanced between the visual and performing Arts.
Dance Standards
| Demonstrate strength and stamina through exercises and activities. |
| Demonstrate and describe how muscles work in a variety of movements. |
| Demonstrate the ability to use the body and groups to form shapes and lines. |
| Identify and respond with movement to changes in tempo, rhythm, and quality of sound. |
| Demonstrate understanding of the different stylistic characteristics of folk, jazz, classical and modern, historical and contemporary dance. |
| Demonstrate the ability to perform in at least two dance styles (such as folk, jazz, classical or modern) as a member of a group. |
| Choreograph and perform original interpretations of ideas and experiences. |
| Demonstrate audience skills in observing dance performances and participating with behavior appropriate to the style of the performance. |
Music Standards
| Sing with expression, expanded range, in harmony, and using clear enunciation in English and other world languages. |
| Perform expressively and accurately on classroom, electronic, and/or ensemble instruments alone and with others. |
| Demonstrate consistent rehearsal and performance protocols. |
| Demonstrate the ability to read, write, and reproduce basic melodies and rhythms in treble and bass clefs. |
| Use a consistent system of syllables, numbers, or letters to read music. |
| Improvise and compose more complex melodic and rhythmic phrases. |
| Interpret more complex music through movement. |
| Show understanding of the mechanics of sound production by the voice, as well as traditional and ethnic instruments. |
| Show awareness of the use of computers and synthesizers in creating and per- forming music. |
| Listen to formal and informal performances with attention, showing understanding of the protocols of audience behavior appropriate to the style of the performance. |
Theater Standards
| Demonstrate acting skills and create characters drawn from observation and improvisation; interpret characters in scripts; analyze descriptions and dialogue to justify character motivation (Acting). |
| Write and refine characters, dialogue, and action individually and in groups (Playmaking). |
| Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively to explore the meaning of texts, make artistic choices and prepare and present dramatizations and performances, (Directing and Management). |
| Analyze and manipulate visual and aural qualities to create theatrical environments (Design and Technical Elements). |
| Demonstrate understanding of how an audience collaborates with performers by responding with feeling and enthusiasm appropriate to the performance. |
Visual Arts Standards
| Apply imagination to creating works that are original interpretations of narratives, are original interpretations of narratives, fantasies, scenes, or objects from everyday life. |
| Refine observational skills and create two and three-dimensional works that represent form, color, texture and proportion of objects, people and places. |
| Select and use art materials, tools and processes, including computer techno- logy, to create specific effects. |
| Create compositions that reflect knowledge of the elements and principles of art, i.e., line, color, form, texture; balance, repetition, rhythm, scale and proportion. |
| Demonstrate the ability to apply elements and principles of art to graphic, textile, product, and architectural design. |
| Use art materials, tools and equipment appropriately and safely. |
| Demonstrate the ability to present exhibitions of artwork and demonstrations of art processes. |
| Demonstrate understanding of appropriate behavior at exhibitions in schools, museums, and cultural institutions. |
Students will continue the K - 8 standards and:
Dance Standards
| Demonstrate understanding of concepts of balance, and muscular and skeletal alignment. |
| Demonstrate the ability to use steps involving balance and proper alignment to move in a variety of patterns, such as in a circle, or diagonally, across the floor. |
| Interpret complex ideas through movement. Explain how dance embodies abstract concepts and communicates through imagery. Rehearse and perform a dance so as to emphasize its imagery and concepts. |
| Perform dance sequences alone, with a partner and in ensembles. |
| Choreograph and perform short dances, explaining the rationale for style and approach. |
| Demonstrate the ability to practice appropriate audience behavior at a variety of dance concerts, demonstrations and performances. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of individual needs for strength and stamina by selecting appropriate exercises for a specific style or technique and by defining an individual program to increase endurance and range of movement. |
| Select a specific style of dance (such as European classical, ballet, jazz, modern, post-modern, folk or classical dance from a world culture) as an area of performance concentration; learn and perform dances characteristic of that style alone (if appropriate to the style), with a partner, and/or in ensembles. |
| Choreograph works for other dancers, using mythological, historical, or current events as a theme. Select music, design and construct costumes and sets based on the corresponding styles of music, clothing, visual arts, architecture, or literature of the period. |
| Take an active role in creating, organizing, designing, rehearsing and performing full-length public dance presentations. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of career or avocation opportunities in dance by researching, interviewing, writing about, or making an oral presentation on a person who is or has been a choreographer, performer, dance company manager, film, television or multimedia artist, dance educator, therapist, historian, or critic. |
Music Standards
| Sing, and perform on at lest one instrument alone and in ensembles, demonstrating an ability to perform more advanced vocal or instrumental works with accuracy and expression while following a conductor's cues. |
| Rehearse alone and in groups outside of class. |
| Interpret more advanced music written in treble and bass clefs, reading one's own part from a multi-part score. |
| Create improvisations, arrangements, and compositions in major and minor keys for traditional and non-traditional instruments. |
| Use technology such as computers and synthesizers for composing and performing. |
| Listen to performances of extended length and complexity with proper attention and audience protocol. |
| Perform a repertoire of solo, choral, and/or instrumental ensemble music drawn from a wide variety of genres and periods, showing sensitivity to nuance, balance and expression. |
| Develop and follow a consistent and self-directed practice and rehearsal schedule. |
| Demonstrate a mature understanding of rehearsing for and performing in full length concerts, plays and musicals. |
| Interpret complex vocal and/or instrumental scores and be able to read, write, and accurately reproduce one's own part. |
| Compose and notate multi-part scores. |
| Perform extended improvised solos with technical proficiency and stylistic understanding. |
| Demonstrate basic competency with electronic music technology. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of career or avocational opportunities in music by researching, interviewing, writing about, or making an oral presentation on a person who is or has been a composer, arranger, performer, conductor, musicologist, music business manager, technologist, film, television, or multimedia artist, music educator, therapist, historian or critic. |
Theater Standards
| Create sustained and consistent characters who communicate meaning clearly to an audience (Acting). |
| Create dramatizations and plays that communicate meaning clearly to an audience (Playmaking). |
| Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively to explore the meaning of texts, make artistic choices, and prepare and present dramatizations and performances. Schedule, rehearse, and publicize productions, taking into account business and financial considerations (Directing and Management). |
| Conceptualize and develop designs using visual and aural elements to support texts and performances. Use skills safely and responsibly to create functional scenery, costumes, makeup and lighting (Design and Technical Elements). |
| Demonstrate the ability a audience members to give constructive critiques of rehearsals and performances. |
| Analyze physical, psychological and social dimensions of characters and create characters in a variety of genres and styles (Acting). |
| Create dramatizations in a variety of forms, genres, and styles (Playmaking). |
| Produce unified productions that communicate meaning to an audience |
| (Directing and Management). |
| Collaborate with directors to conceptualize, develop and execute unified visual and sound designs. Apply technical knowledge safely and responsibly (Design and Technical Elements). |
| Define and carry out a personal theater project, or take a leadership role in a group project. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of career or avocational opportunities in theater by researching, interviewing, writing about, or making an oral presentation on a person who is or has been an actor, playwright, designer, director, technician, dramaturgy, film, television, or multimedia artist, theater educator, therapist, historian or citric. |
Visual Arts Standards
| Apply imagination by creating works that interpret social issues. |
| Apply observational skills to the representation of physical structures, surface details, and spatial relationships in unified compositions. |
| Demonstrate the ability to create multiple solutions to an artistic problem by interpreting one subject matter in at least two media, or at least two different styles. |
| Demonstrate the ability to apply visual arts knowledge to problems in graphic, industrial, crafts, textile, architectural, or landscape design; and to multimedia television, film or video production. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of the use of symbolism in visual art by creating a self-portrait that incorporates symbols of personal experiences. |
| Distinguish the characteristics of toxic and non-toxic art materials, including wet and dry media, glazes, solvents, and glues. Make choices of materials based on health considerations. |
| Demonstrate appropriate behavior as a viewer of traditional exhibitions and as a participant in interactive installations, performance art, or art demonstrations. |
| Demonstrate the ability to conceptualize, organize, and complete an individual or collaborative visual arts project. |
| Create a series of works interpreting the same subject differently by emphasizing approaches such as the elements of design, media or processes. |
| Create a series of works that demonstrate skill in manipulating the techniques of a particular medium, such as watercolor or clay, or process, such printmaking or multimedia design. |
| Use observational skills to create unified compositions representing depth and volume. |
| Control the expressive content of work by deliberate choice of materials, processes, styles and symbolism. |
| Produce a portfolio of original work that culminates in a one-person exhibition. |
| Demonstrate knowledge of career or avocational opportunities in visual Arts by researching, interviewing, writing about, or making an oral presentation on a person who is or has been a fine artist illustrator, cartoonist, graphic, industrial, theater, architectural or landscape designer, art historian or critic, museum curator, designer, or conservator, art educator, therapist, film, television, or multimedia artist. |