Arts · interpretation · audience
Disciplinary Literacy for the Arts
A two-part professional-learning page for arts teachers on artistic symbol systems, polysemous vocabulary, artist statements, captions, critique, discussion stems, and audience-aware writing.
The arts course has two videos. Part 1 frames arts literacy across visual and performance domains; Part 2 turns those ideas into caption writing, vocabulary, Frayer models, and discussion stems.
Playable video and right-side resources
Support students as interpreters, makers, and public explainers of art.
The two videos show how arts literacy lives in the intersection of symbol systems, background knowledge, vocabulary, genre, audience, interpretation, and expression.
Understanding Literacy in the Arts
Ohio Literacy Academy on Demand videoPart 1 explains that arts literacy includes symbol systems and performance practices, but the professional-learning focus is on language comprehension: history, genre, medium, technique, symbolism, attribution, audience, artist purpose, and the specialized meanings of common words such as line, form, value, depth, and space.
- Artistic domains have their own symbol systems, but students also need language for interpretation and explanation.
- Arts vocabulary is often polysemous: familiar words take on technical meanings in visual art, music, dance, theater, and design.
- Authentic arts texts include artist statements, grants, proposals, press releases, social posts, storyboards, treatments, and critique.
Department reflection
- Which familiar word in your course has a specialized arts meaning students may miss?
- What authentic arts text could students read or write as part of their portfolio?
- How can students practice describing the medium, technique, audience, and purpose of a work?
Strategies for Arts Literacy
Ohio Literacy Academy on Demand videoPart 2 focuses on practical supports: writing captions for images or performances, choosing key vocabulary, adapting genre and audience, clarifying technical words such as composition or dynamics, using Frayer models for confusing alternate meanings, and giving students discussion stems so they can articulate artistic choices.
- Caption writing can be adapted by genre, audience, and goal: inform, persuade, entertain, explain, or invite critique.
- Technical arts vocabulary becomes powerful when students use it to describe a specific piece, performance, or creative decision.
- Sentence stems can help students participate in critique and describe their artistic vision more fully.
Department reflection
- What short caption, artist statement, or critique could students write for a current work?
- Which technical words should students use accurately in that writing or discussion?
- What sentence stems would help quieter or less confident students participate in critique?
Suggested use
Turn the video into one concrete classroom move.
Choose one current artwork, performance, score, image, caption, or artist statement and decide what students need language for: description, interpretation, critique, explanation, or audience engagement.
Decide whether students need support naming technical features, interpreting meaning, writing for an audience, or discussing their own creative choices.
Notice where the videos discuss polysemous words, caption writing, artist statements, composition, dynamics, mood, and discussion stems.
Use a Frayer model, word map, or sentence-frame set to help students describe the art more precisely and confidently.
Source credit: Ohio Literacy Academy / ReadOhio / Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. This page embeds or links to source materials and companion classroom resources rather than hosting mirrored copies. Resource links are placed next to the relevant video so a content-area teacher can watch, reflect, and open the most useful tools from one place.