Teacher(s) Melissa Miller

Subject group and discipline Arts: Visual arts

Unit title

MYP Year

Unit 2: Watercolor

Grade 9, Grade 10

Unit duration 5 weeks (125 hours)

Inquiry: Establishing the purpose of the unit

Key concept

Related concept(s)

Identity

Arts: Visual arts

Composition
Visual culture

Global context
Genre

Orientation in space and time

Statement of inquiry
Intentional choices of color enable artists to express who they are are, where they come from, and their ideas.
Inquiry questions
Factual What color schemes are characteristic of
successful art?

Conceptual

How does color affect the way we see?

Objectives

Summative assessment

B: Developing skills
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.
C: Thinking creatively
i. develop a feasible, clear, imaginative and
coherent artistic intention
ii. demonstrate a range and depth of creativethinking behaviours
iii. demonstrate the exploration of ideas to
shape artistic intention through to a point of
realization.

Outline of summative assessment task(s) including assessment

criteria:

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

Debatable What is the value of adding color to a

composition?

Relationship between summative assessment task(s) and

statement of inquiry:

The summative assessment assesses the students'

ability to use the color schemes that they learned
effectively, but also to brainstorm a greater idea,
thought, or concept, and use color as a vehicle to
express that. In this instance in particular, students are
expressing a thought, idea, or concept about
themselves, as the map that they are creating is about a
place, fictional or non-fictional that is personal, a place
or thing of significance. The project is cumulative, in
that it also encourages them to use some of the other
lessons they have learned about composition, value and
contrast, but they will be assessed on how their use of
color contributes to the message they are
communicating with their audience. The bottom line
that students should understand throughout the year is
that art communicates ideas, and the elements and

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Task
November

19
Wednesday

9:00 AM

Watercolor Maps (B, C)

Throughout the unit, we will
discuss the idea of maps and how
maps might make us think
differently. Additionally, students
will be learning about watercolor
technique and the idea of mixed
media. They will find a map that is
significant to them, so it may be of
their house, of a city they lived in
before, or perhaps a fantasy map
of a place that only exists in a book
they love. They will then create the
map in a more abstract idea, using
the watercolors as well as ink.
Students will then explain their
color choices, and how they
learned the schemes we learned
about in class in their final project.

principles of art help artists communicate those ideas.

The elements and principles, and in this case
particularly color, have records of success that artists
use as they articulate their message in their art.
Students' artist statements and final critiques are part
of their summative assessments as well, which
assesses the students' ability to reflect on their process
and explain the connection between their art and their
ideas, and also assesses their ability to interpret and
evaluate both their work and the art of others in the
context of greater ideas.

Approaches to learning (ATL)

Arts
B: Developing skills
i. demonstrate the acquisition and development of the skills and techniques of the art form studied

Communication

Self-management

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

I. Communication skills
Exchanging thoughts, messages and information
effectively through interaction
Give and receive meaningful feedback
Reading, writing and using language to gather and
communicate information
Make inferences and draw conclusions
V. Reflection skills
(Re-)considering the process of learning; choosing and
using ATL skills
Identify strengths and weaknesses of personal
learning strategies (self-assessment)

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Thinking

VIII. Critical thinking skills

Analysing and evaluating issues and ideas
Use models and simulations to explore complex
systems and issues
IX. Creative thinking skills
Generating novel ideas and considering new
perspectives
Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas,
products or processes
Create original works and ideas; use existing works
and ideas in new ways

Action: Teaching and learning through inquiry

Content

Learning process

Knowledge & Skills:

Learning Experiences

Knowledge & Skills TBD

The following are addressed in this unit from the
National Core Art Standards:
http://nationalartsstandards.org/sites/default/files/
Visual%20Arts%20at%20a%20Glance%20rev.pdf
- Creating Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize
artistic ideas and work.
- Creating Standard 3: Refine and Complete
- Responding Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic
work
- Responding Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning
in artistic work.
- Responding Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate
artistic work.
Standards:

Writing
Text types and Purposes
1. Write arguments to support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or texts, using

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

Students will see rubrics and examples, as well as demonstrations of each technique and vocabulary we learn.
They will also access knowledge each day by looking at and responding to the selected artists through their bell
ringers. They will practice connecting the concepts we are learning through the reflections at the end of the
period.
Students will start the unit by learning the definitions of basic color theory terms like primary, secondary, tertiary,
complimentary, split complimentary, monochromatic, analogous, neutral, warm, cool, tints, shades, hues,
tones, and triads. They will learn new definitions of element and principle vocabulary words with relation to
color including balance, harmony, value, and contrast. Then, students will find these colors and combinations
of colors through magazines and place them in their DW to create a reference for themselves. They will then
extend their understanding of Notan and the idea of balance as the balance between light and dark color in a
composition, with each kind of value being spread throughout the frame. Students will then work on creating
their own tints, shades, tones, and hues with different media. We will use liquid water color as well as water
soluble crayons. Students will then learn how to make neutral and they will learn watercolor techniques like
wet on wet, wet on dry, mixed media techniques including ink and collage, as well as the use of salt and resists
and wash.
Students will then move on to their still life watercolor, where they will deepen their skills of rendering objects by
not only working on proportion, value and composition as they did in the last unit, but adding the component of
color. They are thinking about hue, but also shade, tint and tone, and the relationships between two colors.
Students will go through a mini critique and reflection at the completion of this project and then move on to their
final project of their personal map. Students will have heard about this in advance, and will start this last project
by brainstorming and drafting several times what their map will look like about a place of thing significant to

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valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient

evidence.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine and convey complex ideas,
concepts, and information clearly and
accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.

them. Students will be given guidelines listed about the components of their map projects, and several days to
work. At the completion of this project, they will write an artist statement explaining their process and their
ideas, connecting their thoughts to their art. Lastly, they will participate in a class critique where they will
evaluate the work of others, deciding what parts are successful, and asking questions to artists in order to better
understand and give and recieve feedback.
At the beginning of the unit, most students in this class will go to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago,
where they will be lead through the museum to discuss the interpretation of modern art. While we have started
to have conversations concerning greater meanings in art, students have not had discussions with much depth
so this will be a jumping off point for those conversations to begin.
We will continue these discussions through our Bell Ringers each morning at the start of class. As students
come in the classroom each day, they will respond to a question or a piece of art. These questions include,
"What color-word associations do you have and where did they come from?" as well as asking students to
look at a piece of art, identify which color schemes are used, and think about and respond to what message the
artist might be sending. We will look at artists like Georgia OKeefe, Sonia Delaunay, Kandinsky, and Marina
Richterova.
Students also have Developmental Workbook Assignments throughout the unit. The first is the study of
foreground, middle ground and background as they work with overlapping. This helps them visualize as they
will need to more to more abstract art forms as we move to the summative assessment map project. They will
also work with an art image by recreating it with its complimentary colors. This will help students think critically
about the colors that were originally used in the image, and how they are changed with the use of different
colors.
Students will also complete Digital Sketchbook assignments, in which they look up a piece of art, describe and
respond to it, each week. This includes a short interpretation of the artwork, and an educated evaluation of
what the artist intended to communicate through the piece. During this unit they will be working specifically on
color-related drawings and pieces to reinforce our work in the classroom.
Teaching strategies
Students will receive feedback from me regularly as they turn in their weekly Developmental Workbook
assignments. They will also receive feedback from their peers formally and informally. They will be given rubrics
and will practice grading themselves and justifying the grades they gave themselves. I also return all other tasks
mentioned with feedback on them.

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

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Task
November

6
Thursday

Color Schemes Activity (A)

Students will use a medium of their choice to turn in a reference for each of the color
schemes they have learned in class. They will also be given some color schemes which they
will need to label. They will be assessed on primary, secondary, tertiary, complimentary,
monochromatic, split complimentary, analogous, triads, tints, tones and shades.

9:00 AM
Task
November

12
Wednesday

Monochromatic Still Life Painting

Students will start with a still life as they learn to color with their painting. They will bring in
objects to create a still life and they will be given a few days to apply the paint to their work to
create their first painting, which will be monochromatic to become familiar with the behavior
of the watercolors.

9:00 AM
Task
November

14

Vocabulary Quiz
Vocabulary working with water color and color schemes. Students will write out color
schemes or answer questions to demonstrate understanding.

Friday

9:00 AM
Task
November

24
Monday

9:00 AM

Artist Critique
Artist Critique
Students will do an in-class critique of each other's work. They will give several students
feedback using "plusses" and "deltas." We will then have a conversation about a few select
pieces to practice. Students will be practicing giving genuine and meaningful feedback about
the work of others. The "plusses" let other students know what is working well, what is
intriguing, what is interesting about looking at the piece, and the "deltas" are suggested
changes. These are explained as not necessarily being improvements or negative aspects of
the image, but suggestions to grow.
Students will have a mid unit critique on the 24th, so that students can make some of the
changes suggested, and a final critique on the 2nd of December, after students have finished
their pieces and written their artist statements.

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

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Paper
December

1
Monday

9:00 AM

Artist Statement
Students will complete an artist statement that answers the following questions:
1. Describe your artwork. Be specific. If I wasn't looking at your artwork, and you were to tell
me what it looks like, what would you say?
2. What was your process in creating this work of art? What materials did you use? What
steps did you take? How did your project evolve from your initial idea?
3.. What is your map a map of? What inspired it? What artists are you thinking of? Why are
you attracted to their styles? What is important about this place to you? Why did you choose
a map of this particular place?
4. What color schemes did you use in this piece? Why did you use those color combinations?
How does the intentional use of color make your piece more successful?
6. What do you think is successful about your work? What do you like about it? What did you
find frustrating? If you could do it again, what would you change?
7. Use the criteria at your table to grade yourself on this project. Look at the rubric carefully
and justify why you deserve each of the grades you give yourself.

Describe how you will differentiate teaching & learning for this unit?
There is a significant amount of student choice in this unit, which will allow for natural forms of differentiation, as
students can choose to work to the level they are at. Students will be able to choose many of their colors within
a scheme and content that they are interested in.
In addition, many of the assignments lend to opportunities to push students further if they need it, or give
additional support as students develop those skills. For example, in the exercises on color schemes, students
may not have as many colors to put into a color scheme. However, if they need to be pushed, I will encourage
them to use various kinds of colors and try to match colors they see with colors they can make and include
neutrals through those colors. Another opportunity for this is when students learn about neutral colors. Most
students will be completing a three by three grid which they will create the neural of two complimentary colors.
For students who are ready to be pushed further, they will also create a color that has equal contrast with the
original color and the neutral (ie, a neutral yellow) and will have more in depth conversations about the contrast
between colors. Students with special needs will also be given additional time, preferential seating, and I will
check in with them frequently throughout the class for one-on-one instruction when needed.
For their artist statements and critiques, students with special needs will be given support and an outline and a
reduction in paper size if appropriate. They will also be given graphic organizers for many assignments as well.
For students who meet with a resource teacher, I will be in contact with their resource teacher so that they are
making use of their time in resource class to benefit their understanding of color and paint in art. I will work
closely to ensure that if they need additional time, they have access to that.

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I am also available for students to come in during lunch, as well as before and after school, so if they need
additional time they have access to it then as well. This will go for all students, and I encourage them to come in
if I feel like they can benefit from that time.
Lastly, I have one student with anxiety, and for all students, I know they are less prone to anxiety if they know
what we are doing each day in class, so I will provide a calendar that has major assignments and quizzes to
ensure they know ahead of time what is going on and are not taken by surprise.
Learner Profile
Inquirers: Students will constantly ask themselves, "Why did this artist choose this color scheme?"
Risk takers: Students will be using themselves as the subjects of their piece, which requires them to take risks to communicate more personal ideas and thoughts.
Resources
Journal:
http://frangipanni.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Watercolor-landscape-techniques-and-tips
http://www.artistsnetwork.com/the-artists-magazine/oconnor-blank-color-mixing-charts
http://drawgabbydraw.tumblr.com/post/39910504834/sorry-for-the-double-post-this-looks-better-as-a
http://www.pinterest.com/melmiller7/unit-2/
http://createartwithme.com/2013/11/01/dry-pastel-techniques-worksheet/
http://prezi.com/_cdygl2d9ugp/color-scheme/
Reflection: Considering the planning, process and impact of the inquiry
Prior to teaching the unit

During teaching

What do students already know, and what can they do?

What potential interdisciplinary connections can we
identify?
Could we develop authentic opportunities for service
learning?

What difficulties did we encounter while completing the

unit or the summative assessment task(s)?
What is the level of student engagement?
How can we scaffold learning for students who need
more guidance?

What do students already know, and what can they

do?
What potential interdisciplinary connections can we
identify?
Could we develop authentic opportunities for
service learning?

Not only do I think students need more time on

specific aspects of the unit, like the creation of color
schemes and the mixing of colors, but I think I could
have helped them use their time more effectively. I
came across students looking for green 10 times for
different parts of their color schemes collage project.

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

After teaching the unit

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Our last unit was on value, so they will study value in

a different context. Before, they created value
through line. Here, they are using another medium
and adding another dimension by recognizing the
difference of values within colors and seeing the
importance of using values in different colors. They
have also been exposed to still life drawings.
I would like to use students' history class to connect
artwork to historical context and further understand
the ways in which art connects us with the greater
world. In our last unit, we looked in particular at Kara
Walker and her messages about race and slavery in
America, so will be looking at using examples to have
deeper discussions that relate directly to what
students are learning about in history.
I would like to talk about this idea of service learning
because I do not have any ideas yet, but would like to
add this into my plan.

I should have started at the beginning by asking

them to take large quantities of color and use them
for several different color schemes.
In addition, I think this may have been more effective
with paint chips. I used the paint chips for the Notan
activity, and I do not know that the activity was as
effective as I was hoping for students, and I think it
may have been more effective and beneficial later on
in the unit, while students are planning out their color
schemes for their map.
Students have so far been engaged and I think they
are ready to move on to the next steps, where they
are doing more than just exercises in creating
different colors. However, I think many students have
found success and are more confident in their abilities
because of their careful attention to color mixing and
placing colors together.
I think I could have scaffolded better by providing
better references of color. I don't know that the color
wheel I gave students to reference was the best use
of color. I found that students often have a hard time,
when looking at a color, to tell the difference between,
for instance, a green and a yellow green, and an
orange and a red orange. I think a greater and more
in-depth discussion on contrast maybe would have
avoided this, as well as a better reference that
students could keep with them in their DW before
they make their own color wheel would have been
helpful.
Additionally, for the students who are ready to move
on, who had strong backgrounds in art in middle
school, they could have been challenged further
during these activities. There are several activities
where students could place different colors next to
each other to study the true mixing and the use of
complementaries and split complementaries and the
effects that it has on the human eye that would be

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both engaging for these students and beneficial for

them as they grow as an artist. I will provide this
activity as students move on in their artwork.

Middle Years Programme Unit planner

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