The lessons below form a visual arts unit exploring ceramic vessels. The lessons build on one another and are intended to be taught in sequence. Teachers who are proficient in teaching studio ceramics can use these lessons to teach students of all skill levels.

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Lessons 1–4 of 4

Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 1
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts
Lesson Overview: This is the first lesson in a sequential unit. Students view ceramic vessels from different time periods and cultures and discuss their meanings, functions, and original contexts. They develop criteria for value and meaning of these objects, and create a timeline to situate the objects in history.

Lidded Vase / Unknown

Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 2
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts
Lesson Overview: This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students are tested on what they learned about the history of ceramic forms in "Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 1." They start work on a personal clay vessel that has a specific use or meaning in their contemporary culture, which could be discerned through study by future archeologists and art historians.

Black-Figure Cup / Ptr Copenhagen 103

Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 3
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts
Lesson Overview: This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students begin work on a ceramic vessel, which they designed in "Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 2." They discuss their artistic choices and identify elements derived from historical examples, while considering how artists appropriate ideas from earlier artists.

Basin / O. Fontana

Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 4
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts
Lesson Overview: This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students hold a critique session to evaluate the work of their peers using the criteria for value and meaning they developed in "Ceramics: A Vessel into History—Lesson 1."

Potpourri Vase / Sèvres

Lessons 1–4 of 4