Lessons · Teaching · responding to art, and the four questions that make it teachable

Four questions that turn looking into a lesson

A structured response to a work runs: describe what is there, analyse how it is arranged, interpret what it might mean, and judge how well it does what it set out to do. Describe, analyse, interpret, evaluate. The order matters, because judgement made before description is taste.

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In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.

What it is for

This is the framework the examination expects and it is genuinely the most useful thing in this whole road for a classroom. It gives every child something to say, starting with the one thing nobody can be wrong about: what is actually in the picture.

How to think about it

Spend most of the time on describing. 'I can see three figures, all looking left' is a contribution that cannot be wrong, and it gets the quiet child speaking. Only move to interpretation once the room has built a shared description, and make evaluation the shortest part.

Worked example

Describe: name what is there, with no opinion at all

Colours, shapes, figures, what is in front of what. Everyone can join in.

Analyse: how are the elements arranged, and what does that do

Now the principles arrive. Where does the eye go, and what put it there.

Interpret: what might it be about, supported by what we described

Every interpretation has to be pointed at something in the work, which is the rule that keeps it honest.

Evaluate: does it do what it set out to do, and that is the shortest step

Not 'do I like it'. Whether it succeeds at its own purpose.

Your turn

Name the first step of a structured response to a work.

Describe, analyse, interpret, evaluate: the first is

The trap

Starting with 'what do you think it means'. That is step three asked first, and it produces guesses from the confident children and silence from everybody else. Description first is what makes the discussion universal.

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