ART HISTORY AND THE NATIONAL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA (LE BREVET)

 

The study of art history is mandatory for all elementary and junior high school students (6^th-grade through 9^th-grade). This is a curriculum founded on a multi-disciplinary approach to works of art that permits students to master the historical and cultural landmarks essential to understanding works and enriching their artistic practice. Although it’s not directly part of the IB requirement, the cultural openness is also part of the IB learner Profile.

Objectives

The goal of this instruction is to offer every student:

• The opportunity to directly and personally discover works of art that are relevant to diverse artistic domains, time periods and civilizations;
• The capacity to see the works in a more sensitive and reflective manner;
• The possibility of acquiring a personal culture with a universal value;
• A means of learning about occupations linked to the artistic and cultural domains.

Curriculum:

Teachers can select works according to their subject’s curriculum. Yet, it is mandatory that certain requirements be respected in terms of time period theme.

Within each time period and theme teachers will select a specific period and a problematic in order to guide students in their research. 

Teaching Methods

This instruction, which involves every discipline, particularly engages with artistic and historical material. It applies to historical periods studied over time in every level of scholarly curricula. The studied works will belong to six major artistic categories:

• Spatial Arts: architecture, landscaping;
• Language Arts: literature (stories, poetry);
• Everyday Arts: design, art objects;
• Sound Arts: music (instrumental, vocal);
• Performing Arts: theater, dance, circus, puppetry
• Visual Arts: painting, drawing, sculpture, cinema, photography

Art history and the National Junior High School Diploma (le Brevet)

Knowledge:  in the themes presented in the ninth-grade, the student masters:

• Knowledge of works belonging to artistic domains;
• Historical, geographical and cultural landmarks that permit him or her to situate works of art in a particular time and place;
• The elements of vocabulary specific to great artistic domains;
• The fundamentals of technical production of works of art.

Abilities:  by acquiring this knowledge, the student is capable of:

• Situating works in its time and place;
• Identifying the constitutive elements of a work of art (its forms, production techniques,             meanings, uses);
• Discerning between subjective and objective analytical criteria;
• Understanding the relationship between works based on precise criteria (setting, genre, form, theme, etc.).

Evaluation methods, personal research and portfolio

Methods

The art history evaluation will be based on the student's work that will contain a historical, artistic and cultural dimension. Every discipline, but above all the humanities, will play a role in this evaluation.  The evaluation is specific to the historical period inscribed in the ninth-grade history program: the twentieth-century. The evaluation, organized by the institution, will consist of an oral exam that will last fifteen minutes and will take place in April within the institution. A committee consisting of two teachers will perform this evaluation.

The individual oral exam is organized according to the following procedure:

• A presentation of a portfolio containing, at least, five works of art selected by the student. A minimum of three works of art must belong to the twentieth century time period. The portfolio must be organized around, at least, two of the themes outlined beyond (5min)
• Following the presentation, the jury committee will ask questions about either personal research or the work from the portfolio (10 min.).

The evaluation will be graded out of 20 points, with a weight (coefficient) of 2. These points help determine, based on the total number of points obtained by the candidate, whether the student obtains the diploma as well as his or her grade (mention), as determined by Article 2 of the July 9th, 2009 Decree, published in the J.O. N° 170 on July 25th, 2009.

The Portfolio

All students will start to build their portfolio in 6^th grade and will continue it through 9^th grade. Each teacher must contribute to this portfolio. This portfolio can be electronic.

The portfolio consists of documents on works of art seen along with each teacher in class.

This portfolio could be organized as a “chronological fresco,” a summary made by the students that places the studied works, in chronological order, along with a page presenting the works or could be organized thematically. The methodology workshops that aid the students in making their portfolio will be held four times throughout the year at the CDI in partnership with teachers of diverse subjects. Each document, created at home or during the CDI workshops, will be an analysis of a work studied in class. 

The librarians will be in charge of the organization of the portfolio.