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Arts

Arts

Go to: Visual Arts | Music | Dance | Theatre | Media Arts | Teachers Guide

Arts Video Brief

Pauline Crooks, Arts Coordinator from the San Diego County Office of Education, helps to clarify artistic literacy and shares a strategy for interacting with a work of art. Click play to watch the video below.

 

Visit the SDCOE Arts page.

 

Visual Arts

What is literacy learning in the visual arts?

In the visual arts, developing literacy occurs as a result of engaging in an authentic creative process through the use of traditional and nontraditional materials and applying the formal elements of art and principles of design; knowing an arts language to describe art; and discovering the expressive qualities of art to be able to reflect, critique, and connect personal experience to art.

Adapted from The California Arts Standards from the California Department of Education (2019) .

Visual arts texts that students create, read, view, or listen to include but are not limited to:

Visual works of art, proposals, art reviews, technical documents, interviews, biographies, and informational text about the aesthetics and historical/cultural context of visual art.

Downloadable Formats

The Discussion Cards by the San Diego County Office of Education are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

 

Order a Printed Class Set!

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Music

What is literacy learning in music?

Developing music literacy means:

  • Discovering the expressive elements of music

  • Understanding the basic concepts of music

  • Knowing the terminology that is used to comprehend music

  • Developing the skills necessary to produce music

  • Being able to reflect, critique, and connect personal experience to music. 

Adapted from The California Arts Standards from the California Department of Education (2019) .

Music  texts that students create, read, view, or listen to include but are not limited to:

Musical performance (live or archived), music notation, scores, performance or album reviews, artistic statements, interviews, biographies, and informational text about the aesthetics and historical or cultural context of music.

Downloadable Formats

The Discussion Cards by the San Diego County Office of Education are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

 

Order a Printed Class Set!

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Dance

What is literacy learning in dance?

The dance standards are designed to enable students to achieve dance literacy. To be literate in the artistic discipline of dance, students need specific knowledge and skills that allow for fluency and deep understanding. This means discovering the expressive elements of dance; knowing the terminology that is used to comprehend dance; having a clear sense of embodying dance; and being able to reflect, critique, and connect personal experience to dance.

Adapted from The California Arts Standards from the California Department of Education (2019) .

Dance texts that students create, read, view, or listen to include but are not limited to:

Dance performances (formal and informal, archived and in person), dance notation, dance reviews, artistic statements, interviews, biographies, and informational text about the aesthetics and historical/cultural context of dance.

Downloadable Formats

The Discussion Cards by the San Diego County Office of Education are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

 

Order a Printed Class Set!

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Theatre

What is literacy learning in theatre?

Developing literacy in theatre means discovering the expressive elements of theatre, knowing the terminology that is used to comprehend theatre, having a clear sense of what theatre embodies, and being able to reflect, critique, and connect personal experience to theatre. Drama processes encompass envisioned worlds and unscripted activities designed to engage students in a wide range of real and imagined issues; theatre includes the broader and more traditional conventions of the craft that have been developed over the centuries – scripted plays, acting, public performance, and technical theatre elements.

The theatre student makes a character, scene or story, real or imagined, come alive (creating), shares it with others (performing), analyzes and evaluates the product (responding), and connects the experience to all other contexts of meaning or knowledge (connecting).

Adapted from The California Arts Standards from the California Department of Education (2019) .

Theatre texts that students create, read, view, or listen to include but are not limited to:

Performance (formal and informal), scripted drama, theatre reviews, technical documents, interviews, biographies, and informational text about the aesthetics and historical/cultural context of drama and theatre.

Downloadable Formats

The Discussion Cards by the San Diego County Office of Education are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

 

Order a Printed Class Set!

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Media Arts

What is literacy learning in the media arts?

Artistic literacy in media arts is broad and diverse and addresses global, creative, conceptual, and technical competencies. Media arts is the emerging basis for communications, design, and social interaction in our increasingly digitally centered world, and California’s Creative Economy. Therefore, students should gain experience in production and design that has real-world relevance and applications that can include:

Multimedia Communication – The ability to communicate and express in a variety of media forms, and/or combined media, using various tools and processes, for specific purposes, intentions, and audiences.

Interdisciplinary Integration – Media arts projects can incorporate multiple content areas and arts disciplines, such as a video broadcast of student produced documentaries, dramatic stories, and informational bulletins for the school campus.

Design Thinking – Is a problem-based approach of producing iterations, prototypes and models, which are repeatedly tested and revised to success.

Media and Digital Literacies – Media arts students practice critical autonomy in discerning the quality and veracity of media, are empowered in producing their own messages and products, and in conscientious engagement in virtual environments.

Adapted from The California Arts Standards from the California Department of Education (2019) .

Media arts texts that students create, read, view, or listen to include but are not limited to:

Media arts projects, prototypes, models, narrative texts, storyboards, technical documents, reviews, interviews, biographies, and informational text about the aesthetics, production and historical/cultural context of media arts.

Downloadable Formats

The Discussion Cards by the San Diego County Office of Education are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

 

Order a Printed Class Set!

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