Joycelyn Dressing
Artist | Art Educator
Elementary Student Teaching
Park Road Elementary
1st Grade
Mixed Media Lines
Big Idea: Continuity
Essential Question: How does the element of line convey emotion, structure, and meaning in visual communication?
Focus Artists: Noemi Ibarz, Frank Stella
Unit Overview: Students review fine motor skills and artistic concepts from the previous year while experimenting with a variety of media, including chalk, tempera, and paper sculpture, to explore the element of line in a game-like manner.
3rd Grade
Printmaking
Big Idea: Community
Essential Question: How do individual identities and group identities interact to shape the dynamics of a community?
Focus Artists: William Estrada, Tuyo
Unit Overview: Students experiment with additive and subtractive printmaking methods before selecting their preferred technique and creating a final edition. They then collaborate to create a quilt-like display to showcase the unique identities in their classroom communities.
4th Grade
Inventions
Big Idea: Inventing
Essential Question: What is innovation and why is it important to the advancement of a society?
Focus Artist: Nam June Paik, Alcopley, Anna Atkins, Leonardo da Vinci
Unit Overview: Students discuss the intersections of art and inventing and how artists are problem solvers. After a group brainstorming session students engage in designing and creating cardboard relief models of an invention that would solve a problem of their choosing.
4th & 5th Grade
Crochet
Big Idea: Patience
Essential Question: How do artists and designers learn from trial and error?
Focus Artist: London Kaye
Unit Overview: A two-class mini lesson where students learned to crochet a chain and created friendship bracelets to share and trade. These lessons were inspired by student interest in crochet after I shared some of my personal artwork at the beginning of my student teaching experience.