I'll be honest, I don't love to draw. That is why, when tasked with creating a drawing unit for a high school Art Fundamentals class, I wanted to create a unit that drawing lovers and everyone else in between could enjoy. The unit started off with a series of mini lessons in oil pastel, chalk pastel, and colored pencil. Students spent 2 class periods with each medium. During the first class, they practiced techniques, and during the second class, they applied what they learned the day before in an activity of some kind. The oil pastel activity was collaborative in which the students would move around the room to different artworks and add something to the artwork based on a prompt which resulted in 15 collaborative works of art. The colored pencil activity was similar but instead the prompts assessed students' knowledge of elements of art and principles of design.

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These mini lessons fueled our learning for the final project, called Zoom In, in which students chose a small magazine clipping to inspire their artwork. The clippings were all rich in color, texture, and value. The task was to render the magazine clipping somewhere in the artwork and the rest of the composition is up to to you, but it should be related to the clipping and portray a chosen principle of design. Students chose between oil pastel, chalk pastel, and colored pencil for their project. This unit also included two in-progress peer assessment sessions: a gallery walk and small group critiques. Students learned what constructive feedback looks like and how to discuss artwork thoughtfully with their peers.

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