This appendix provides a possible structure for arts criticism. You are encouraged to adapt the process to suit your students'abilities and needs to promote discussion using arts vocabulary. The following seven steps can be used to guide students in responding to visual artworks, dances, music, and dramatic presentations. An audience member moves back and forth between the steps. Thus the steps cannot be isolated from one another as they appear here, and the approach outlined should be considered only as a general guide.
Students objectively describe the artwork, taking inventory of what they saw, heard, or experienced.
Their responses should be objective, not interpretive. Students analyse what contributes to the effect of a work of art. This analysis includes an examination of how the artist has used various materials, instruments, elements, and principles. Encourage students to use the language of the discipline in their analysis. Students' perspectives, associations, and experiences will affect their interpretations.