Dear visitors,
Thank you for visiting my blog.
I am truly grateful for your feedback and comments, especially around results release time. I have received emails, WhatsApp messages, and sometimes DMs on my Instagram, telling me that their results, their students' results, or their child's results (from parents) scored a good grade in Art & Design IGCSE. They shared that they referred to my blog content, and I am beyond happy, humble, and grateful knowing that the resources here have benefited so many of you.
Thank you, and it truly encourages me to keep improving.
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As I shared with my overseas teachers' network, I would like to explain how I guide my students in the early stage of their coursework using Canva.
Since Canva became easily accessible a few years ago, I moved away from manual sketching for early planning and started using Canva for idea development at the early stage. This method works for both Components.
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Once students have gathered their primary sources (their photo collection), I demonstrate in class how to prepare a layout, for example, for Prep or Page 1.
As a teacher, I always show two layout options for each prep, from Prep 1 through to the final piece.
With Canva, once the photo collection is ready, it becomes much easier to arrange ideas, including where to place the title, which subject matter images to prioritise, and what size the chosen subject matter should be.
After my demonstration, I ask students to present two layout ideas of their own for each prep, pacing this according to the school's academic term calendar.
Each student presents two ideas to me, for example, for Prep 1.
As you can see here, the student experiments with the layout arrangement. From these two ideas, the teacher and student discuss further and choose, or refine, the final layout to work from for Prep 1.
Once we have discussed and decided on the layout, we move on to media discussion and selection, and the student types out their chosen media for reference.
Once the digital layout discussion is complete, the student continues drawing and applying media. I continue giving feedback on their work, particularly making sure the skills demonstrated and the refinements made align with AO2 (Explore) and AO3 (Develop).
To be honest, you can guide your students to use any graphic platform, not necessarily Canva. They could use Procreate, Adobe Photoshop, or any app they are already familiar with.
What I find is that using a graphic platform, Canva in my case, helps both me and my students a great deal at the early ideas stage, since we can see the arrangement of the subject matter clearly, provided the students have enough primary sources (their own photographs) to choose from.
I always recommend primary sources, so no internet images should be used for the subject matter, except in the case of a recorded or recopied painting, where a picture of the artist's original work is taken from the internet for reference.
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I hope this brief sharing helps you in guiding your students, particularly in helping them present a strong visual story from beginning to end, one that reflects thoughtful development and observation, in line with AO1 (Record), AO2 (Explore), AO3 (Develop) and AO4 (Present).
Please comment below if this sharing helps you in any way.
Thank you and best wishes.
