ARTS EDUCATION CURRICULUM
Following the New BC Curriculum from the Ministry of Education under the umbrella of Arts Education, Alpha’s Visual and Performing Arts Department strives to teach the whole child through an artistic lens.
The Arts Education Curriculum is comprised of Core Competencies, Curricular Competencies, Big Ideas, and Content. This is how they best work together:
We are teachers who are passionate about differentiated learning and inclusion for all students and their neurodiversities. Using a Universal Design for Learning (UDL), all students’ needs are accommodated for within our classrooms, and the beauty of the broad spectrum of the arts makes it much simpler to meet each student where they will find success.
To see more what each course has to offer in BC, from Photography all the way to Guitar, please follow this link:
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/arts-education
ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITIES:
Each of our teachers will be able to offer any student seeking enrichment in their learning, another goal for their education in the arts. Whether it be taking on a solo within Concert Choir, playing a more difficult section in Band, learning an additional monologue for their repertoire and taking a lead in directing in Drama, choreographing a portion of a performance in Dance class, or working with a new and challenging medium in Visual Art, enrichment can always be available to help a student feel that they are being challenged within the classroom.
SPRING PRODUCTIONS and OUTSIDE OF TIMETABLE CLASSES:
Our main stage Spring Productions here at Alpha actually happen within our timetable, but outside of our regular school schedule. It is what we call in Secondary School, the X or Y block. Our Theatre Production PM class, known commonly as Theatre Company, is a class that any student in grades 9-12 can enroll in, which then performs multiple times in the year, including for the spring main stage production. There are many roles within the class from running lighting, designing costumes and set decorating, to stage managing and performing. If this is something that your child might enjoy, selecting THEATRE PRODUCTION PM during course selection is for them! This is a linear full-year course, and its schedule fluctuates from year to year. It is currently offered after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays both online and on site, and Wednesdays after school, online only.
Other courses in the VPA Department are also offered outside of the regular timetable, whether it be an AM CLASS (Dance Company, Senior Band, Choral Music) or a PM CLASS (Jazz Band, Theatre Company). If required, lunch hours may be used to fill the scheduling needs of these classes. For example, often Yearbook will meet over certain lunch hours when the course is not regularly scheduled.
ASSESSMENT:
While keeping with the concepts of Assessment for and of Learning, as well assessing the competencies, the VPA Department is working on creating universal rubrics using Standards Based Learning.
Find an example for Drama here:
Note that students in grades 8 and 9 receive only letter grades for assessment, and students in grades 10, 11 and 12 receive both letter grades and percentages.
However, at the crux of our assessment, is knowing that every student’s version of excellence will be displayed differently. As these are skills-based courses, student effort is essential in illustrating understanding and displaying their knowledge, but we can’t expect perfection. After all, not all popcorn kernels pop at the same time. In the VPA, we celebrate when each kernel pops and achieves excellence.
