Through the gate

Make notes in your portfolio about:

• the method the artist has used

• what the method contributes to the artwork

• why the artist might have used this method.

Use your notes to help you talk to your group about the method. Add your notes and any relevant images to the collaboration space.

Search one or more landscape picture books for examples where illustrations suggest any of the five senses (taste, touch, hearing, smell or sight). In your group discuss:

• Which of the five senses are suggested in the book?

• How has the artist suggested the sense/s?

Choose an artwork and talk with your group about how the artworks had an effect on your senses and how the artist achieved this.

Look through one or more landscape picture books for examples of illustrations that evoke an emotional response or mood.

• What mood or emotion is expressed in the image?

• How has the artist created this mood or emotion?

• What adjectives (descriptive words) would you use to describe this image?

Choose an artwork and talk with your group about the mood and emotion and how the artist has achieved this.

If your artwork will have an horizon, where will it be positioned?

View the image gallery below. Look at the position of the horizon in each photograph. What do you notice?

Attributions—Horizons

If your landscape will include a vanishing point, how will you show it?

View the image gallery below. Find the vanishing point in each photograph.

Attributions—Vanishing point

The Balcony 2³ 1992 is an oil painting by Australian artist Brett Whiteley. It is one of a series of paintings that show the interior of, and the view from, Whiteley’s home in Lavender Bay on Sydney Harbour. He used a colour in this painting, and a series of paintings, that he said made him feel ecstatic. Which colour do you think that was?

How many colours can you see in this artwork?

Entrance to the Seaport of Desire⁴ 1964 is a watercolour artwork made by Australian artist John Olsen. He has painted an aerial view of Sydney Harbour with watery lines, shapes and symbols. He wants to tell the viewer about the excitement of returning to the harbour after travelling in other countries. It has been said that Olsen’s map-like artworks are landscape artworks without horizons. Olsen uses an arrow to draw the viewer into the painting.

Make a list of objects you think Olsen has represented in his artwork.

Songs of a Summer Night (Lynne’s Garden)⁵ 1985 is a mixed median artwork by Colin Lanceley. He liked to make artworks about things he considered beautiful. This artwork is about his friend Lynne Clarke’s garden where he often enjoyed an evening meal. Clarke’s father was Australian painter Russell Drysdale. Lanceley’s garden paintings often had black backgrounds representing the night and included many other colours and 3D objects. Lanceley said ‘I love using the colour black. I love using it against other colours, because it makes them sing.’

Search for the 3D objects in Lanceley’s work.

Kuringai⁶ 1977 is an oil painting by Australian abstract artist John Coburn. Coburn said ‘I want to express my feelings about nature and the world’. Coburn used simple shapes and bright colour to achieve this.

What do you think are Coburn’s feelings about Kuringai, where there is a national park?

The text you write will appear with your artwork in the class picture book.

Refer to your artwork, other images, language features and write to evoke a sensual and emotional response.

Look at the collaboration space to see what book sections the class chose to include, for example, a preface or acknowledgement page.

Decide which class members will write these sections. The cover will be made at a later stage.

The assigned class members should now write the relevant book section.

Carefully check your work:

• read your writing carefully. Can it be improved?

• ask another student to edit your work and suggest improvements

• look at the collaboration space to ensure your work addresses the relevant decisions made in ‘Plan the book’.

In your group, select one of the collaborative artworks listed below by Martu artists. The page that opens includes a link to an image of the artwork and a guide to help you explore it.

• Yarrkalpa—Hunting Ground, Parnngurr Area

• Kulyu 2014

• Our Country 2011

There are many ways you could collaborate to make your artwork. Here are a few to get you started:

• some group members draw, others complete the painting and others add the details

• divide the painting into sections, one area for each group member

• all work together on each step of the work

• some group members start the work and others build on it as they have time.

Decide how your group will work to produce its artwork. Consider who will be responsible for different roles. Document this in the collaboration space. You might change the process as you make your artwork and different needs arise.

Choose an area that your group is familiar with as the subject for your collaborative landscape artwork. You could view the area by looking:

• down from a high point

• up from a low point

• from your eye level

Students from Nowendoc Public School used Google Earth to look down on their chosen geographic area. The image gallery below shows details from their large collaborative artwork.

As a group decide:

• what media will be used

• how you will get started

• what colours, symbols, patterns and techniques might feature in the work.

Record your decisions in the collaboration space.

It is usually easiest to start with the back layer of paint, work up to the top layer then add the details. Be prepared to change your plans and add new ideas as you progress.

• set up the space

• plan the spaces and hang artworks

• set up and test the technology

• have a run through of the presentation.

• welcome guests as they arrive

• operate the technology

• assist guests with technology if needed

• make sure guests leave a review of the book

• thank the audience for attending.

The resource supports students across Stage 2 English and creative arts (visual arts). It was initially trialled with Years K–4 and could be easily adapted for Years 5–7.

Watch Through the Gate with Collaborative Online Learning⁸ to see Nowendoc Public School students and teachers in action with Through the Gate.

While the resource is written for Stage 2 students they will require support to ensure:

• students can read and understand the activities

• in-depth and skilled discussion

• students work to their potential

• all students contribute responsibly and fairly to group work

• safe access to technology.

Teachers will need to assist students with the structure of their portfolios and the collaborative space in the OneNote Class Notebook, ensuring organisation for easy access to group work and other documentation.

English Outcomes, Stage 2

Objective A

Objective B

Objective C

Objective E

Visual arts, Stage 2

VAS2.1 Represents the qualities of experiences and things that are interesting or beautiful by choosing among aspects of subject matter.

• focuses on details of subject matter and areas of beauty, interest, awe, wonder and delight

• seeks to investigate traditions in art suited to different subject matter (for example, the landscape, the figure, the narrative, formal and abstract properties, the use of symbols) and uses these in their artmaking

VAS2.2 Uses the forms to suggest the qualities of subject matter.

• emphasises or exaggerates certain qualities of selected subject matter by focusing on details, using distortion and elongation, changing viewpoint or enlarging or reducing the scale

VAS2.3 Acknowledges that artists make artworks for different reasons and that various interpretations are possible.

• recognises that people have different views about artworks and their meanings that are informed by their understanding of such things as the circumstances of the work, the artist’s intentions and skill, and what the work is about

VAS2.4 Identifies connections between subject matter in artworks and what they refer to, and appreciates the use of particular techniques.

• identifies resemblances between subject matter in artworks and the features of things as they exist in the world, recognising similarities and differences in how things are represented in the artworks

• talks and writes about the meaning of artworks in terms of how subject matter realistically represents things in the world

Through the gate provides explicit pathways for learning across the curriculum⁹ content for the following:

Cross curriculum priorities:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

• sustainability

General capabilities:

• critical and creative thinking

• information and communication technology capability

• intercultural understanding

• literacy

• personal and social capability

Students should be aware when visiting websites to view artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that these sites may contain images and voices of people who are since deceased.

Ensure that students practise good digital citizenship by providing correct attribution and copyright information for images.

Useful links:

Digital Citizenship¹⁰ for schools

Creative Commons Australia¹¹

Students and copyright¹².

Consider how and when you and your students will give feedback, and formative and summative assessment, at different points throughout the project.

Online collaboration tools can provide a range of feedback and assessment methods.

Consider using:

• the comment tool in Google Docs or Word Online to give specific feedback at a particular point

• the simultaneous audio and written commenting functionality in OneNote Class Notebook

• other programs – for example Jing¹³ or Screencast.com¹⁴ – to give feedback via screencasts and audio.

See Technology rubrics for any classroom¹⁵ for marking guidelines for digital work.

Some YouTube videos are suggested to support learning. A teacher login is required to view these. They are not accessible via a student portal login.

View the videos before showing them to students to ensure their suitability.

Students:

• work independently to search the Art Gallery of NSW collection for examples of landscape artworks. Each group member contributes these to a group Art Set. The group discusses the decisions that underpin the collaborative collection

• work as a class to make decisions about their class book. For example, what type of images will be accepted, the format and structure of the book

• share responsibility as they create a page for the class book and plan and conduct a book launch.

Students:

• examine different types of landscape artworks, develop a definition for ‘landscape artwork’ then apply their knowledge to their own art making

• explore picture book artwork, text, language features and layout, then apply their learning to design and create their own class picture book

• work in groups to study a variety of artworks and techniques, then share their findings with the class to create a body of knowledge

• engage in interdisciplinary learning activities through writing, art making, and the study of Australian Aboriginal artworks.

Students:

• take on roles such as author, book illustrator, publisher and curator to meet the challenge of creating a collaborative book and organising an event to launch it

• consider suggestions for a book launch then plan and carry out the event. They make a running sheet and present the event for a real audience.

Students:

• connect with the Art Gallery of NSW¹⁶, searching its collection and curating group Art Sets about landscape artworks

• contribute to an individual portfolio and a collaborative space using Microsoft Office 365, OneNote Class Notebook

• use apps to manipulate a photograph

• use presentation software such as Google Sides or PowerPoint

• might use an augmented reality app such as Aurasma ¹⁷as part of their book launch. They might also choose to create a virtual art gallery using software such as Emaze¹⁸.

Students:

• work for an extended period of time through the process of producing a book and planning and hosting a book launch

• plan their class book launch, making decisions, scheduling tasks and timelines as well as assigning tasks to class members

• collect reviews of their class book

• reflect on the launch event, its successes, issues and ways to improve such an event next time.

Students:

• define landscape artworks providing varied examples

• interpret artworks and create meaning through artworks

• contribute to a collaborative artwork and explain why their group artwork should be chosen for the cover of the class book

• write and illustrate a page for a collaborative book using textual features

• create and publish a multimodal digital storybook for a particular audience.

The first section introduces students to their landscape picture book task and the steps involved. They view Why we love Australia, created by Nowendoc Public School K–4 students after studying picture books, in particular Why I Love Australia, by Bronwyn Bancroft, and In my Backyard, by Nette Hilton and Anne Spudvilas.

After gaining an overview of their task, students get organised for the work and learn how they will be assessed.

Overview

To address the challenge, students will:

• work across English and visual arts subject areas

• use collaborative technology to share their individual and group work

• access The Art Gallery of NSW Art Sets¹⁹ to study, define and build their knowledge (see further note in ‘Get organised’ below)

• apply their knowledge to create landscape artworks

• study picture books to build knowledge then construct a class picture book for a specific audience through planning, collaborating, decision making, problem solving and creating

• use ICT to create an authentic product, a class digital book, for a specific audience

• present their book at a launch

• find innovative ways to complete a reading for a defined audience

• develop skills to work collaboratively.

Get organised

Before students begin their work:

• set up a OneNote Class Notebook²⁰ (Office 365 suite accessed via the NSW Department of Education portal), including:

  • collaboration space where you and the class can work together, contributing, reading, viewing, reviewing, and commenting on work

  • a private Notebook for each student to build their portfolio of work, accessed only by the student and you, the teacher

  • a content library to place content for the class to view.

• organise students into groups of about five student

• establish an Art Set¹⁹ for each group on the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) website. Art Sets allow students to create and save their own gallery of artworks in the AGNSW collection. They can also upload their own artworks to the set.

• create a new file in PowerPoint Online (Microsoft Office 365) or Google Slides for the class presentation/multimedia book

• have students select one member of their group to be the first photographer for Photo Voice (.pdf 153kb) (see more on Photo Voice in ‘Assessment’ below).

Note: Consider student safety and privacy of data when setting up Art Sets for each group.

Assessment

Students will have the opportunity to reflect on their own work and assess and give feedback on their group’s work, and the class’s work.

Photo Voice (.pdf 152kB) will enable students to develop their understanding and assessment of their learning process. Teachers and students can use this tool to evaluate the learning process.

Ongoing teacher assessment and feedback will allow for specific teaching and guidance to support student progress. Assessment and feedback should cover a student’s:

• work processes and end result

• responsible and fair contribution to group and collaborative tasks

• planning, research, decision making, and problem solving

• ability to work both individually and as a group member, contributing to group success

• organisation and content of their portfolios.

Both teacher and peer feedback will enable students to build on their learning and make changes, where needed, to improve.

Implement Photo Voice when you begin ‘Through the gate’ with your class and continue throughout the task.

This section of the resource encourages students to work together to construct their knowledge of landscapes and landscape artworks.

Landscape or not?

In order to generate ideas and understanding about landscapes students look at a series of images and discuss whether each is a landscape and, if so, why. Students decide whether things such as oceans, sky, buildings, people and animals fit within the definition of ‘landscape’.

Wynne Prize

For this section, students will need to access to their group’s Art Set²¹ on the NSWAG website.

Note: If you haven’t already created the Art Sets for each group you will need to do so now. Consider student safety and privacy of data when setting up them up.

Students develop their understanding of landscape art by:

• studying landscape artworks entered in the Wynne Prize, a real-world art competition

• selecting three previous Wynne Prize winners and adding the artworks to their Art set²¹

• discussing the group’s Art Set and why the particular artworks were selected. Students can also look at the choices of other groups and give feedback. Students could create an Art tour²¹ of landscape artworks if planning an excursion to the AGNSW.

Students could also search Google cultural institute²² for landscapes or Australian landscapes.

Landscape artworks

Students independently write a definition for ‘landscape artwork’. They build on this knowledge as they:

• work interdependently to develop a group definition of ‘landscape artwork’

• test their definition against that of an expert in the field. To do this, students could access an online art dictionary, communicate with a landscape artist or communicate with art gallery personnel. Students refine their group definition as appropriate.

Ensure students have experienced a variety of landscape artworks and understand that a landscape artwork might be a photograph (although a snapshot is not necessarily an artwork), painting, drawing, digital artwork or mixed media.

Frame a landscape

Students apply their knowledge by creating landscape artworks themselves. They take photographs of a nearby landscape and choose their favourite to manipulate in an app such as Waterlogue, Glaze or Prisma to make it look like a painting, considering the mood or emotion they want create. Students discuss their artworks in terms of the definition they have built. Encourage students to discuss the:

• difference between their original and manipulated photographs

• moods, emotions and sensual inclusion that artists can develop through their artistic decisions

• artist’s intention as they create

Reflect

Ensure students reflect on the questions under the last tab. This could be through individual reflection, including writing in a journal, and group or class discussion, as appropriate.

In this section, students build on their knowledge of the features of a picture book. They choose a landscape they are familiar with and make a landscape artwork which they share in the collaboration space.

Picture books

Students look at some children’s picture books that focus on landscape. They should become familiar with a variety. Some suggestions include:

• Why I Love Australia²³ by Bronwyn Bancroft

• My country²⁴ by Ezekiel Kwaymullina and Sally Morgan

• A is for Australia: A Fantastic Tour²⁵ by Frané Lessac

• Where the Forest Meets the Sea²⁶ by Jeannie Baker

• In My Backyard²⁷ by Nette Hilton and Anne Spudvilas

• Window²⁸ by Jeannie Baker

• Our Island²⁹ by the children of Gununa and Alison Lester and Elizabeth Honey. You might like to show the YouTube video Our Island by the children of Gununa with Alison Lester and Elizabeth Honey³⁰.

Ask students to consider the target audience for the books and techniques the author uses to address this audience.

Students examine the text in different books to discover how its appearance and arrangement varies. Discuss with students how choices about text can affect readability. Some general rules for accessibility include:

• place text on a clear area of a page rather than on a busy or patterned area

• make sure there is strong contrast between the background and text colour. You could show students how to use a Colour contrast analyser³¹.

• use light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background

• use appropriately sized, clear fonts.

• don’t use red or green text.

Language

Here, students explore the language used in the landscape picture books. They choose one picture book and search for:

• adjectives

• adverbs

• words that relate to any of the five senses (taste, touch, hearing, smell or sight).

If you can access Bronwyn Bancroft’s Why I Love Australia, read the book to students one page at a time without showing them the illustrations. Ask students to imagine what landscape the words are describing. Discuss and then show students the illustration.

Students explore figurative language devices such as alliteration, personification, simile, onomatopoeia, metaphor and rhyming words. Explanations are accompanied by an example from ‘Why we love Australia’ by Nowendoc Public School students. You might ask students to focus on:

• one of the language devices

• a few of the language devices

• one device per group and report back to the whole class

• all devices, with each group member concentrating on one and reporting back to the group.

Art

This tab assists students to construct knowledge about some art techniques and how artists use these to communicate with viewers. They could study:

• monochrome colour

• primary and secondary colours

• complementary colours

• different perspectives

• symbols

• patterns

• shapes and lines.

Students work independently to search book illustrations and/or artworks for these techniques. They choose one artwork and make written notes about it, the techniques used and the artist’s intention. Students place their information into the collaboration space, pooling their information. They use their notes to report to their group about their chosen painting and research.

Check that each group member is exploring a different technique.

Student artworks are provided as examples of these techniques but you could show other artists’ examples as well.

Note: Teachers could set up an Art Set for each technique. Consider student safety and privacy of data when setting up Art Sets.

Senses and emotions

This tab focuses on the artist’s intention. Students will develop their understanding of how artists use particular techniques to evoke mood and emotion and to represent the senses in their work. It is sometimes easier for students to understand if they are looking at two paintings which evoke opposite feelings. You might bring specific landscape works to the class to ensure students are exposed to a wide range of forms such as paintings, photographs, drawings, installations, weavings, film/video and book illustrations.

Your landscape

Students apply their knowledge of landscape artworks and art making techniques to create a landscape painting that encompasses the senses, mood and emotion. They discuss their proposed artwork and seek feedback from others as they make their work. Urge students to continuously evaluate their work and make decisions that assist them to generate meaning and to make changes as needed.

Encourage students to give constructive feedback on their group’s artworks ensuring that all works are included. You might like to set an example by commenting on some works yourself.

Reflect

Ensure students reflect on the questions under the last tab. This could be through individual reflection, including writing in a journal, and group or class discussion, as appropriate.

Before starting this section

If possible access the book My Backyard by Nette Hilton and Anne Spudvilas and complete the following activity before students begin this section.

Provide each group of students with 15 rectangles of paper (each a quarter of an A4 page) numbered 1–15 and drawing tools. Read from the book one page at a time without showing the illustration. Students discuss the landscape they imagine and take turns to make a drawing on the numbered rectangles corresponding to the book page numbers. After the reading, students order the pages on a desk so that they match the book. Students view each group’s sequence.

Discuss how each group’s drawings are similar and/or different. Why is this?

Show the students the pages of the book and discuss the writing strategies the author has used to evoke images (alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia, adjectives, adverbs, similes or metaphors).

Play an excerpt from one of the following YouTube videos:

Australian rainforest sound³²

Sounds of the city³³

Ask students to imagine the environment where the sounds were recorded. Students write four sentences that would evoke a visual image. Students compare their writing with the text in My Backyard, identifying similarities and differences.

Students make any alterations to their writing for improvement.

Backyard artworks

This tab introduces students to four artists with distinct styles who have made artworks to represent their backyards or nearby environments.

Brett Whiteley, The Balcony 2³

John, Olsen, Entrance to the Seaport of Desire⁴

Colin Lanceley, Songs of a Summer Night (Lynne’s Garden)⁵

John Coburn, Kuringai⁶

Student groups will use the study guide provided to explore the artworks and report back to the whole class. Ensure that each of the artists has been studied by at least one group. You might wish to show students other works by these artists so they begin to identify the artist’s individual style.

You could place the links to the artwork and the study guide in the Class Notebook content library or add them to an Art Set.

Students will need to understand the elements of art³⁴ particularly shape, line, colour and space.

Art appreciation games

The following games will assist students to develop a deeper understanding and interpretation of art.

Veto

To encourage students to talk about the art elements and emotion in the artwork play a game of Veto.

Show the students one of the artworks and three to six words they cannot use when describing it. These vetoed words will probably be nouns and should discourage students from describing just the physical objects in the painting. You might also include some words that they must include. When students have played this game a few times they can create their own vetoed words.

Version 1: Students could play this game in competing teams. Each team has a turn of providing one to four words to describe elements of the artwork (not using the vetoed words), within a specific time. Teams are out if they fail to do this. You might provide some words that they must use.

Version 2: Provide a group of students with three or four artworks, and the vetoed words. The group chooses one of the artworks to describe to another group of students. Team members take turns to offer one to four words that are not on the veto list to describe the artwork in a specific time. You might also like to provide some words that must be used in a sentence to tell about elements of the artwork. The other students have to guess which of the artworks is being described.

Example of vetoed and must-use words

Backyard shapes

Students follow the steps in Backyard shapes (.pptx 4MB) to make an abstract artwork about their backyard or an area in the school grounds. You might prefer to direct the activity.

The steps are a guide and students do not have to stick to them rigidly. Encourage student’s individual ideas and creativity. Talk to them about the art elements relevant to their work, particularly space as it relates to composition and about their artistic intention.

The last step encourages students to look back at the work of the four Australian artists to get ideas for completing their own work. They might, for example, decide to work like:

• Brett Whiteley, adding a colour that they find exciting and relevant to their landscape

• John Olsen, adding lines and marks that lead the eye around the page

• Colin Lanceley, adding three-dimensional objects

• John Coburn, keeping the work simple with emphasis on the shapes.

Students could:

• colour areas, detail or outline shapes with oil pastels

• wash over the oil pastel with water colour so the oil pastel lines still show

• wash over sections with strong and/or diluted colour for colour variation

• add other shapes.

The ‘Backyard shapes’ PowerPoint guide also includes two interpretations of the artmaking activity.

Artist statement

The student’s Artist statement³⁵ should be short, concise and written in the first person. It should provide the viewer with information they might ask for if the artist was there. It might help if students record themselves talking about their artwork first and use this as a guide for their writing.

Reflect

This is an opportunity for the students to consider their learning. This could be an individual activity or completed in pairs. You could use this as an assessment tool.

In this section, students plan their class multimedia picture book and create the landscape artworks that will form the pages of the book. They also write the accompany text.

Plan the book

Students will be required to make many decisions about their landscape picture book, such as:

• the age of the proposed readers

• title

• the font that will be used

• layout of the pages

• the book sections to include (see ‘Book sections’ below)

• what will be accepted as a landscape artwork

• the landscapes that will feature (see ‘Choose a landscape’ below)

Book sections

These links might assist you to guide students writing the book sections:

How to write a preface and a foreword³⁶

What is an Acknowledgement page?³⁷

Preface, Foreword, Introduction³⁸

Choose a landscape

To decide what landscapes will feature in their class picture book, students complete the activity ‘Choose a landscape’. They brainstorm about the Australian landscape and then choose a variety to capture in their artworks.

Before starting:

• Read aloud to your class, one page at a time, Why I Love Australia by Bronwyn Bancroft (or another book that describes landscapes). Ask students to close their eyes and imagine the landscape being described on each page. Students guess the type of landscape described. Ask them what descriptive words in the book helped them to visualise the landscape.

• Write the landscape type and the descriptive words suggested by the students in the collaborative space. Talk with students about the words, discussing adjectives, adverbs and the language features that Bancroft has used.

• Show students the book illustration. Discuss the illustration and how it contributes to an understanding of that landscape.

Students then brainstorm landscape types along with descriptive words for each. They add these to the collaboration space. Where possible show students a video of different Australian landscapes as stimulus. Travel videos are often suitable.

Ask a student to make a two-column table in the collaboration space and label the columns ‘Name’ and ‘Landscape’. Students add their names and a landscape for their class book page. Make sure that a variety of landscapes are represented and that all students have been allocated a landscape.

Make artworks

Students search for photographic images, artworks and/or book illustrations of the landscapes they are using and add these to the collaboration space—these will be used as a reference for their own artworks. Students create an artwork that will be on one page of the class book. They might need to revisit art techniques in the Explore picture books section or in the collaboration space.

Write

Encourage students to use descriptive language such as adjectives, adverbs and other language features to accompany their artwork in the book.

Students could read their text to classmates or to students in another class and ask them to identify the landscape type before showing the accompanying artwork. They could ask the listener for suggestions to improve the text.

Assist students to decide on class members for the task of writing the additional book sections.

Ensure students proofread their text and correct any mistakes.

Build the book

Each student uploads a photo or scan of their artwork to a new page in the online class book. They add their text and format it.

If there are other book sections to add, these should be created also. Remember, the book cover will be created in the next section.

Once all the pages (except the cover) have been created, the class should view the pages and decide in which order they should appear. Change the order of the pages and finalise the book.

Finally, ask students to think about a title of the book, if they haven’t already done so.

Reflect

Ensure students reflect on the questions under the last tab. This could be through individual reflection, including writing in a journal, and group or class discussion, as appropriate.

Working together

Students look at the Museum of Contemporary Art website to see images of Martu artists from the Far Western Desert⁷ working together to create artworks. They might identify how the Martu artists organise the shared work.

Students discuss the pros and cons of working alone and working with other people. They could debate ‘That people don’t like painting alone’.

Organise students in groups with each group using the study guide to explore at least one of the included Martu paintings

Book cover artworks

Students work in their groups to make large landscape paintings—one will be used as the cover of the class book. Students decide:

• what type of artwork might appeal to the audience

• which landscape to paint

• the perspective for the landscape

• how they will make the painting and share the tasks.

Students look at the Collaborative art image gallery to see the steps that one class took to make a collaborative artwork. Pause the image gallery as needed and discuss the steps the students took in their collaborative process.

Learn more about assigning student roles³⁹.

Students will need a large sheet of good quality art paper. Depending on how they choose to work and on your school art supplies, students might:

• glue smaller sheets of art paper together to make one large sheet before they begin

• students might work on individual sheets and join these together later.

Vote for a cover

Each group makes a pitch to have their artwork used as the cover illustration. This could be presented to the class or to another class of the age the book is intended for.

Set up a class voting system to decide on the cover to be used. Remind students they should consider each painting on its merits and appropriateness for the intended audience. Students could:

• use Google Docs to design a digital voting form

• hold a secret ballot with a printed voting form.

When the book cover artwork has been decided, talk with students about how the other works might be used. Students could:

• feature the artworks on posters to promote the launch

• photograph sections of the works to be printed on bookmarks

• display the artworks at a book launch exhibition

• use the artworks as inner pages or back cover illustrations.

Cover text

All students should participate in the discussion about the book title and cover image.

Assist students to decide on which class members will complete the cover and add it to the online class picture book.

Reflect

Ensure students reflect on the questions under the last tab. This could be through individual reflection, including writing in a journal, and group or class discussion, as appropriate.

This section requires students to work as cooperative learners⁴⁰. They will be involved in both independent and interdependent tasks and need to understand the importance of individual and group accountability. Students must understand that each person’s efforts will benefit both the group and the individual.

Publish

Discuss with students the tasks that will need to be done to complete and publish the book. Determine who will complete the different tasks. Students will need to:

• proofread all slides and correct any errors

• finalise the order of the pages in the book and make changes accordingly

• add any extra pages

• complete other tasks they identify.

The picture book will need to be made available to its intended audience. Choose the appropriate option from the ‘Share’ dialogue box (suggestion: anyone in the NSW Department of Education who has the link can view only).

Plan the launch

Students consider how they might launch their book. If they have never been to a book launch you might need to give some guidance.

Assist students to prepare a survey, for example in Google Forms, for audience reviews of the book.

Encourage students to incorporate a digital element to the launch. They could include augmented reality and/or a 3D gallery for visitors to view their original class book artworks. You might ask invited audience members to bring a device with the appropriate app loaded.

Augmented reality

To provide an opportunity to include augmented reality, students will need an iPad or smartphone to make individual videos of each class member reading the page they made for the class book. Students then use a device with the Aurasma app to take trigger photographs of the artworks and attach the appropriate videos. Viewers use devices with the Aurasma app to hover over the original artwork and the appropriate video reading will play.

Aurasma is very easy to use. View the Aurasma tutorial or the Aurasma step-by-step guide⁴¹

3D gallery

Emaze⁴² offers an easy-to-use that students could use to create a virtual gallery.

Get ready

While students are preparing for the launch they will need constant teacher support. They should be encouraged to try new and innovative ideas but the teacher must also ensure their work is appropriate and safe. Check all students have tasks and that tasks are shared fairly. Emphasise that all students need to contribute for the event to be successful.

Assist students to create an audience review form. They could use:

• Google Forms

• Mentimeter (see the Vimeo clip: Metimeter tutorial for teachers⁴³ to get started). The audience at the launch will need a smart phone to participate.

Book launch

This should be a fun event but, at the same time, students must be aware of their responsibilities to ensure the success of the launch.

Be sure to provide the audience with the Bitly link for the audience review form. The audience can access this on their smartphones or tablets and you could also have tablets set up for this purpose.

Reflect

Ensure students reflect on the questions under the last tab. This could be through individual reflection, including writing in a journal, and group or class discussion, as appropriate.