Community Feedback Sessions

Overview

In this fifteenth lesson of Exploring Whakairo Traditions, students present developing ideas for their whakairo-inspired artworks and participate in structured peer feedback. They use feedback to clarify intention, strengthen links to established practice, and plan purposeful next steps while maintaining respect for Māori cultural knowledge and protocols.

Learning intentions

• Students will present an artwork proposal and explain its intended meaning, materials, processes and cultural influences.
• Students will identify how artists use established methods and ideas appropriate to painting, design or carving-related visual practice.
• Students will give specific, respectful and useful feedback using visual arts language.
• Students will use feedback to select, refine and order ideas within a developing body of work.

Success criteria

• I can clearly explain the concept, intended audience and cultural context of my proposed work.
• I can connect at least one formal choice or process to an artist, tradition or established practice I have investigated.
• I can give feedback that identifies a strength, asks a purposeful question and suggests a practical next step.
• I can record and prioritise feedback before deciding how to develop my work.

Curriculum links

• Produce a systematic body of work that shows understanding of art making conventions and ideas within painting: students generate, develop, edit and order related ideas.
• Demonstrate an understanding of methods and ideas from established practice appropriate to painting: students discuss how investigated methods and ideas inform their own decisions.
• Produce a resolved work that demonstrates control of skills appropriate to cultural conventions: students consider how materials and techniques can be managed according to their intention.
• Visual Arts learning at Level 7: developing practical knowledge, developing ideas, communicating and interpreting, and understanding the arts in context.

Lesson structure (120 minutes)

1. 0–10 min · Welcome and cultural framing. Teacher opens with the opening question and cultural framing slides, acknowledges the significance of whakairo and reminds students that feedback must focus on their own developing responses rather than judging or claiming ownership of cultural forms. Students review the learning intentions and silently consider: “What do I want my audience to understand or feel?”

2. 10–22 min · Model constructive feedback. Teacher models a short presentation using an example concept and demonstrates the feedback sequence: notice, interpret, question, suggest. Teacher distinguishes description from judgement and shows how to refer to composition, form, pattern, material, process, symbolism, audience and context. Students use the presentation and feedback organiser to record one example of specific, respectful feedback.

3. 22–32 min · Presentation preparation. Teacher explains that each student has two minutes to present and one minute to clarify questions, then checks that all students have a concept sketch, reference images or research notes, and a proposed next step. Students rehearse with a partner, preparing a concise explanation of their intention, influences, materials, process and one decision they are unsure about.

4. 32–77 min · Feedback sessions one and two. Teacher divides the class into five groups of five and facilitates two rotating rounds. In each round, students present in turn while peers complete the organiser: one observed strength, one connection to established practice, one question and one actionable suggestion. Students listen actively, ask clarifying questions and avoid prescribing designs or treating cultural references superficially.

5. 77–87 min · Pause and review. Teacher pauses the groups and uses the mid-lesson discussion prompt to focus students on the quality of feedback received. Students highlight the two most useful comments on their organisers and discuss with a partner which feedback is relevant to their intention, which may require further research, and which they will not adopt.

6. 87–108 min · Feedback sessions three and four. Teacher resumes the rotations, ensuring each student receives feedback from a wider range of classmates and checking that comments remain specific and respectful. Students complete the remaining presentations, then ask presenters to restate their intended next step to confirm shared understanding.

7. 108–120 min · Synthesis and exit reflection. Teacher displays the plenary and reflection prompts and leads a brief whole-class debrief about how feedback can support generation, development, clarification and regeneration of ideas. Students complete the final section of the presentation and feedback organiser: “The feedback I will act on is…”, “I need to investigate…”, and “My next practical action before the next lesson is…”.

Resources

• the Community Feedback Sessions slide deck
• the presentation and feedback organiser
• Students’ concept sketches, visual diaries and research
• Reference images and artist/practice notes
• Timer or projected countdown
• Display board or digital screen
• Pencils, pens and sticky notes
• Tables arranged in five groups of five

Assessment

• During preparation, check that each student can explain intention, context, influences, materials and a specific uncertainty.
• Circulate during presentations and monitor whether feedback is observational, connected to visual arts conventions, culturally respectful and actionable.
• Collect or photograph the completed organisers. Use the final reflection to identify whether students can prioritise feedback and define a practical next step in their systematic development.

Differentiation

• Provide presentation sentence starters: “My intention is…”, “This choice connects to…”, “I am investigating…”, and “A decision I need feedback on is…”.
• Allow students to present from notes, use a recorded explanation, or present first to the teacher or a trusted partner if public speaking is a barrier.
• Offer a visual vocabulary bank covering composition, contrast, repetition, symbolism, pattern, texture, scale, material, process, audience and context.
• Extend confident students by asking them to compare two possible directions, justify which better serves their intention, and identify how feedback might lead to regeneration rather than simply correction.
• Reinforce that students should research and acknowledge Māori sources appropriately; avoid copying significant customary forms or motifs without understanding their meaning, context and permissions.