Art Appreciation · Semester 1 Plan
Your weekly schedule
Mon P4 (45’) · Tue P6+7 (double, 90’) · Wed P1 (45’) · Fri P2 (45’). Four teaching days, five periods, one double, 225 minutes a week. There is no Thursday session.
Art Appreciation · Semester 1 · next: S2 outline
Mixed G11+G12, Autumn 2026-27. 15 deliverable-based lessons across 65 teaching days / 82 periods. A lesson is one deliverable, not one day: if a day is lost, the deliverable does not move — the beats compress and the cut beat is named. Dates follow the school calendar.
Because this is a mixed G11+G12 room, both cohorts’ absence blocks affect the course — G11 Juniors Days (11-04→06, 12-02→04) and G12 Seniors’ Days (the 10-26 week, 11-26/27). Attendance matters: a lost Wednesday costs a whole unit stage.
The five units
| Unit | Weeks | Gate |
|---|---|---|
| U1 Origins and Ancestral Memory | W1–3 | A1 board, Fri 2026-09-18 |
| U2 Narrative, Myth and Allegory | W4–7 | A2 Titian-vs-Manet essay, Tue 2026-10-13 |
| U3 Food, the Table and Ethics | W8–12 | A3 essay, Tue 2026-11-17 |
| U4 Images, Mediation and Modernity | W13–17 | A4 synthesis, Tue 2026-12-15 |
| U5 Semester Close and Retrospective | W19 | EoT retrospective, Tue 2027-01-05 |
Each unit page lists its lessons. Full register: S1 Assessments.
Theorist spine in teaching order: Warburg → Berger → Benjamin → Steyerl → Sontag → Greenberg → Danto. The three constellations (A1 board, A4 synthesis, EoT retrospective) are the same move at increasing scale.
Week by week
| Wk | Teaching days | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| W1 | Tue 09-01 · Wed 09-02 · Fri 09-04 | Atlas method (Tue double opens the course); Wed = A-Level Introduction Days; CS1 darkroom reflection + Fri |
| W2 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 09-07 → 11 | Lascaux/Chauvet — “the wall is the evidence”; LB1 seminar Fri |
| W3 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 09-14 → 18 | Neolithic; constellation workshop on the Tue double; you sit A1 board Fri 09-18 |
| W4 | Mon 09-21 · Tue 09-22 · Wed 09-23 | Critique flow taught cold; narrative/myth/allegory; LB2 Wed. ⚠ Fri 09-25 is Mid-Autumn (no session). A Sun 09-20 make-up day may run — the timetable will be confirmed in class |
| W5 | Mon 09-28 · Tue 09-29 · Wed 09-30 | Storyboards (CS2 Tue) + break homework Wed 09-30 — then 12 days of holiday |
| W6 | Fri 10-09 only | ⚠ One session. National Day removes Mon–Wed and there is no Thursday. Break debrief + CS3 fit here. A Sat 10-10 make-up may run — confirmed in class |
| W7 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 10-12 → 16 | Titian Venus of Urbino / Manet Olympia; you sit A2 Tue 10-13 (double); Fri 10-16 Foreign Culture Day (lessons run) |
| W8 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 10-19 → 23 | U3 opens; Eat Drink Man Woman — Tue double (90’) + Wed (45’) = 135’, covers the 123-minute film; LB3 Fri |
| W9 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 10-26 → 30 | ⚠ G12 out all week. Four self-contained sessions, nothing carries, nothing assessable; LB4 Fri |
| W10 | Mon 11-02 · Tue 11-03 · | Heda ×2 + LB5 Tue 11-03 — the last both-cohort session before the deadline. ⚠ G11 out Wed–Fri (Juniors Days) |
| W11 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 11-09 → 13 | Last Supper; Bruegel/Steen; Qingming scroll walked (Tue double); CS4 Heda paragraph Fri |
| W12 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 11-16 → 20 | Cassatt; Rosler; Weems; you sit A3 Tue 11-17 (double); Fri 11-20 Foreign Culture Day (lessons run) |
| W13 | Mon 11-23 · Tue 11-24 · Wed 11-25 · | Berger Ways of Seeing; LB6 Wed. ⚠ G12 out Fri (Seniors’ Day) |
| W14 | Mon 11-30 · Tue 12-01 · | Godard + LB7 Tue 12-01. ⚠ G11 out Wed–Fri (Juniors Days) |
| W15 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 12-07 → 11 | Ukiyo-e; Benjamin; Steyerl; CS5 poor-image lab Wed 12-09; Fri 12-11 Foreign Culture Day (lessons run) |
| W16 | Mon–Tue–Wed–Fri 12-14 → 18 | Photography and truth; Sontag; Greenberg; you sit A4 Tue 12-15 (double) |
| W17 | Mon 12-21 · Tue 12-22 · Wed 12-23 | Danto; Warhol/Duchamp; LB8 Tue (End-of-Semester Activity, short room); retrospective announced Wed 12-23 + break homework |
| — | 🚫 Winter break, 12-24 → 01-03, school-wide | |
| W19 | Mon 01-04 · Tue 01-05 · Wed 01-06 · Fri 01-08 | Mon = inventory the semester; you sit the EoT retrospective Tue 01-05 (double); Fri 01-08 last teaching day |
| W20 | — | Exam window 01-11 → 18; this course sits no exam |
| W21 | 01-19 → 21 | Work returned; 1:1 feedback (~8 min each); S2 goal-setting (LB9, no S1 weight). Return days sit outside the normal timetable |
Standing protocols
Session spine 45’: 5 land / 10 look / 20 work / 10 close (one student says what changed, one what is stuck — not optional). Critique: describe → account → judge, never out of order; the describe round is written before it is spoken. Assessment review within 5 working days: criteria + 10 minutes’ silence to find your own gap, one strength + one move, written; the next lesson opens with the move. Homework ≤30 min/day; break homework 3–4 h per ten-day holiday.