Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Lesson 01 — Making, Composing, Devising & Designing: Where We've Been, Where We're Going

Learners recall four Grade-7 arts ideas — message and revision, dynamics and ensemble, timing and expression, accessibility and barriers — and preview this unit's four strands and eight goals. They meet the unit's organizing idea: we **make** a series, **compose** a piece, **devise** a performance, and **design** a prototype — then **critique** each with evidence, not mere taste.

D07 P3: Intellectual & Cognitive Awareness D07.S1 50 minutes Draft

Objectives

Essential question

What does it mean to make, compose, devise, and design — and where are we going in this unit?

seriescritiquecomposedeviseprototypeevidenceobservationjudgment

Materials

Standard materials

Low-tech / no-cost

Enriched / lab & device

Works in different contexts

A map of the unit showing four strands — visual arts, music and sound, movement dance and drama, and making and design — each with two short goals, connected by the words make, compose, devise, and design
A map of the unit showing four strands — visual arts, music and sound, movement dance and drama, and making and design — each with two short goals, connected by the words make, compose, devise, and design

Lesson 1 — Making, Composing, Devising & Designing: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going

Summary

Learners recall four Grade-7 arts ideas — making a work with a message and revising it after feedback, performing with attention to dynamics and ensemble, performing with attention to timing and expression, and designing with accessibility in mind — and preview this unit’s four strands and eight goals. They meet the unit’s organizing idea: we make, compose, devise, and design — then critique each with evidence rather than mere taste.

Objectives

  • Begin to name what a series is — many works exploring one theme — as the unit’s first goal. (D07.S1.08.01)
  • Begin to name the difference between observation and judgment in critique. (D07.S1.08.02)

Connection

You already make things every day — a drawing in the margin, a tune you hum, a dance step you try, a fix for something that broke. What you may not have done is slow down and look at how you make, and how you decide whether a work is good. This unit gives you a craft for both: a cycle of making and revising, and a way of critiquing that uses evidence — what is actually there — instead of just “nice” or “not for me.” Today we remember what we already know how to do and see where it is taking us.

Materials

  • Unit map sheet
  • Recall cards

Preparation

  • Copy the unit map sheet and recall cards.
  • Retrieval: from Grade 7, recall (a) creating an artwork with a personal message and revising it after feedback, (b) performing with attention to dynamics, phrasing, and ensemble, (c) performing with attention to timing, expression, and ensemble, and (d) designing with accessibility in mind. Today we link those to the new unit.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). It is the unit’s opening and retrieval pass, so the goals are modest: (1) recall four Grade-7 ideas — art with a message, revised after feedback; performance with dynamics and ensemble; performance with timing and expression; design with accessibility in mind; (2) preview the unit’s four strands — visual arts, music & sound, movement/dance/drama, making & design — and its eight goals; (3) plant the organizing idea: we make, compose, devise, and design — then critique with evidence, separating observation from judgment. Do not try to teach the eight goals today; just name and locate them. The critical-thinking lens: “observation vs. judgment” is the habit we carry through the whole unit. The global lens: every culture makes, composes, moves, and designs, though the forms differ — and the arts of other cultures are living traditions to honor with respectful questions, never specimens (S-056). The ethics lens: critique is honest and kind — it names what is there and separates fact from taste (philosophy §5). The egalitarian lens: every learner can make with what is at hand — paper, voice, body, found objects — so no one is locked out by equipment. Spacing note (S-039): this recall pass is what makes the unit’s ideas stick later.

Procedure

  1. Recall (10 min). In a small group, look at four recall cards: art with a message, dynamics & ensemble, timing & expression, accessibility & barriers. For each, say in one sentence what you remember from Grade 7.
  2. Connect the four (5 min). What do all four have in common? (Each is about making on purpose and improving after feedback.)
  3. Meet the map (10 min). Look at the unit map. Four strands: visual arts, music & sound, movement, dance & drama, making & design. Eight goals — two per strand. Read each goal aloud once; don’t worry about understanding them yet.
  4. Plant the big idea (10 min). The unit’s idea in one breath: we make a series, compose a piece, devise a performance, and design a prototype — then critique each with evidence, separating observation from judgment. Say it back in your own words.
  5. Wonder (10 min). Write one question about each strand in the wonder box. Which question do you most want answered by the end of the unit?
  6. Close (5 min). Today we remembered what we know and saw the road ahead. Next: we begin a series on one theme.

Differentiation

  • Support: Give sentence starters for the recall round (“In Grade 7 I made… and then I changed…”).
  • Extension: Add a fourth Grade-7 idea of your own and say why it will matter in this unit.

Assessment

  • Formative (observation): Can the learner recall each Grade-7 idea in one sentence and name the unit’s four strands?
  • Artifact: The completed unit map (or the learner’s written recall), kept in the portfolio.

Home connection

Ask someone at home: what is something you once made, composed, performed, or fixed — and what did you change after someone gave you feedback? Bring the story (no names needed) to the next lesson.

Resources