Hi students!reflection 3

FINAL YEAR?

If you are in the 2nd year of your IBDP visual arts course, and in a school in the northern hemisphere, for you it’s just about over.

The deadline for the final digital upload is April 10th (October 10th for southern hemisphere schools) so by now your teacher should have digital files of all your selected studio work and workbook pages saved somewhere safe – possible already uploaded to IBIS. Maybe you have already had your exhibition – if so I hope all went well and it was a great success!

If all this has been achieved you may be celebrating the end of your DP visual arts course!

(Although you probably have examinations still to come in another five subjects,  so maybe you shouldn’t do too much celebrating just yet?)

FIRST YEAR?reflection 2

If, on the other hand if you are a 1st year student, then you still have a year to go – so maybe this is a good time to take stock, reflect and review.

  • Theory of Knowledge questions can generate great art ideas and lead to fantastic pages and provocative studio work – so think about your other subjects and issues that are happening in your DP course, as well as things that are happening around you and in the wider world
  • How has the investigation component gone? Most students choose option A so that the investigation only counts for 40% of the mark, but if you like to the book and enjoy the research and planning aspects, it’s not too late to choose option B
  • How about your studio work? One thing that frequently trips students (and some teachers) up is the misunderstanding relating to work having personal relevance. Yes, its certainly mentioned in ones of the studio assessment descriptors – but read the rest of the descriptor! (“personally relevant artworks that show exploration of ideas reflecting cultural and historical awareness and artistic qualities.”). That’s the bit that is more challenging and that’s the reflection 1bit that’s often ignored or forgotten.
  • In fact – now is probably a great time for you to refresh your memory of the assessment criteria – they are quite complex but they are what the examiner will use to mark your work – so you might as well familiarize yourself with all the descriptors, both investigation and studio.

By this time next year – April 7th 2015 – you should have pretty much finished everything.

The digital upload process changes every year as technology develops, and hopefully by then one change will be make the upload available for students to do (you could be uploading your files – rather than leaving it all to your stressed art teacher!)

Either way, go and look at the art show put on by the seniors (if you haven’t already) and just pause to consider and REFLECT where you are, and what direction you might want to go in. And discuss all of this (of course!) with your teacher!

Images

REFLECTIONS (in Vienna, my photos)