Personal tools
TIIP
UCLA TIIP Logo
Navigation
 
You are here: Home Partnerships & Grants UCLA TIIP TIIP I and II Team Portfolio Showcase Woodrow Wilson Project Portfolio Sample Art Lesson Plan that Supports a Career Pathway Focus

Sample Art Lesson Plan that Supports a Career Pathway Focus

The sample unit plan for art is designed as a thematic unit for students in a Fine Arts Academy (AFA) with an emphasis on a career pathway in the arts. In this unit, students will be asked to take on the role of a graphic designer and redesign the cover art for a preexisting novel or book. They will consider specific principles of design and elements of art while planning out their concept.

Thematic Instruction to Promote Career Pathways within Academies/ Small Learning Communities

Art Work

For the past few years, I have concurrently taught school-wide elective art classes and specialized thematic elective courses designed specifically for students in the Fine Arts Academy. All SLC/Academies have their own specific thematic elective that are intended to further emphasize the theme of the academy, such as Constitutional Law for the Law Magnet or Latin American studies for the Agents of Change SLC. These thematic electives are also an ideal opportunity to incorporate a Career Pathway through thoughtful and relevant lesson planning. While all of my art classes focus on teaching the concept, techniques, and skills needed for the course, my thematic elective course ties in to specific careers for visual artists. For example, we cover lessons and activities that include the role of an art historian, a graphic designer, an art critic, etc. This allows this specific group of students to practice art as professionals do and how this can be transitioned into future experiences/opportunities. For the specific unit represented in this section, students were asked to take on the role of a graphic designer hired to re-design the artwork for a preexisting book/novel. Students were able to select a book of their choice that they had previously read and were familiar with. After having worked with the elements of art and the principles of design in previous units, they were asked to use their prior knowledge and skills to complete the culminating task for this unit.

 

Book Cover Redesign Student Work 4

Unit Plan for Book Cover Redesign Project 

(click link above to view unit plan)

 

Suggestions for Application of Thematic Career-Pathway teaching in other content areas:

Using the career-pathway focus in the core classes can be done by creating assignments or projects that address a real job task that is authentic to a specific career, a task that someone really does in their work life. Creating a career pathway unit within a core class begins with developing a scenario or problem statement tied to real-world roles to allow our students to learn content specific knowledge while still preparing for 21st century skills needed within the career force. Instruction can be further expanded through interdisciplinary lesson planning where parts of a task our completed in different classes based on content. Some examples are listed below:

  • For a 9th grade English class within an Environmental Science Academy, students can be asked to write a persuasive essay from the perspective of a member of an environmental conservation agency about a current environmental issue or as a director from a private company with a different stance on the same issue. 
  • For a 9th grade English class within an Agents of Change/Social Justice Academy, students can take on the role of a journalist for a newspaper/magazine and write a persuasive piece about their position on a current social or civil rights issue.
  • For a narrative writing unit in an English class, students in a Health Sciences Academy can take on the role of a health worker writing up a report on a specific case focusing on the details from beginning to end. 
  • In a Business Academy, writing a detailed business proposal to receive funding can be a narrative writing assignment in their English class.
  • In a geometry class within a Fine Arts Academy, students can take on the role of an interior designer to determine the dimensions of a specific room and how to plan their design and placement accordingly.
  • Within an environmental sciences academy, students can be asked to construct a bird house for a specific species of bird after researching all of the specific patterns and needs of that species.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

  1. What might be some key concepts for you about thematic instruction?
  2. What are you noticing about the promotion of career pathways?
  3. What might be some implications of this section of our project for classroom practices?
Document Actions

UCLA Center X
1320 Moore Hall, Box 951521
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521
(310) 825-4910