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TITLE: An Animated Moment
Grade Level: High School 9-12 (Proficient, Accomplished & Advanced)
Author: Danielle Crowe
Artistic Processes: Creating, Producing, Connecting

Task Description:  Students will generate a short 2 dimensional digital animation based on a moment from their own lives that illustrates something distinctive about them. The animation will demonstrate the Principles of Animation through a character moving within an environment in a sequence that illustrates a defining moment for that character.

Evidence of Student Learning Collected: Artist statement – short animation MCA Document

MCAs model effective assessment practice and demonstrate that standards-based teaching in the arts is specific and, rigorous, by sharing a glimpse into one teacher's classroom. The MCAs on this website come packaged with a suggested strategy for assessing student learning, types of evidence to collect, model rubrics, and samples of student work demonstrating their process and learning. The samples of student work illustrate the unit in action by providing a snapshot of a moment in time showing student response to instruction.   

Click on "View the full MCA"  as a guide for re-creating this unit and assessment customized for your classroom. 

VIEW THE FULL MCA

Theatre Connections:

TH:Cr1.1.I.b. Explore the impact of technology on design choices in a drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr1.1.II.b Understand and apply technology to design solutions for a drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr1.1.III.a. Synthesize knowledge from a variety of dramatic forms, theatrical conventions and technologies to create the visual composition of a drama/theatre work. 
TH:Cr3.1.I.c. Refine technical design choices to support the story and emotional impact of a devised or scripted drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr3.1.II.c. Re-imagine and revise technical design choices during the course of a rehearsal process to enhance the story and emotional impact of a devised or scripted drama/theatre work.
TH: Cr3.1.III.c. Apply a high level of technical proficiencies to the rehearsal process to support the story and emotional impact of a devised or scripted drama/theatre work.
TH:Cn11.1.II.a. Integrate conventions and knowledge from different artforms and other disciplines to develop a cross-cultural drama/theatre work.

This model cornerstone assessment was created and piloted during the 2020-2021 school year, funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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ILLUSTRATING THE PROCESS: SAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK

Task #1 - Concept

Task #1  Concept

In the first task, students brainstormed a defining moment in their lives - either an experience that influenced who they have grown to be or a moment that demonstrates a characteristic that defines them (sets them apart from peers- the kind of story their parents might tell when they talk about them to new people).  Brain mapping or idea web strategies were introduced to help organize their thinking and they were challenged to design a character and environment to create a short animation.

Performance Standard: 
MA:Cn10.1.HSII Synthesize internal and external resources to enhance the creation of persuasive media artworks, such as cultural connections, introspection, research, and exemplary works. 

Student Work Sample:  Student DC-1 – Brainstorming Process and Artist Statement/Reflection

In this sample Student DC-1 translates ideas gleaned using a brainstorming tool into a concept for a digital animation examining a real life emotion. 

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Frame samples from the animation

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Task #2 - Production Qualities

In the next step, students selected a look and feel for their animation to create a personal aesthetic. 

Performance Standard: MA:Cr2.1.1.HSII  a. Apply a personal aesthetic in designing, testing, and refining original artistic ideas, prototypes, and production strategies for media arts productions, considering artistic intentions, constraints of resources, and presentation context.

Student Work Sample:  DC-4 
Here another student's work, Student DC-4, is used to illustrate the way in which the students turned their seed of an idea into a fictionalized moment captured through a distinct aesthetic. In this case, expressing the student's experience as new immigrant, feeling out of place in unfamiliar surroundings. 

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Student DC-4's final animation; stumbling into the scene of a crime becomes a metaphor for the experience of immigrating to another country.  

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