18 Week Middle School Lesson Matrices: 6th, 7th, and 8th Grades Narrative Overview

I designed my 18 week middle school curriculum by first considering which foundations are vital for students in middle school to examine and then master. In 6th grade, basic foundations are taught to the students. These skills are then built upon in 7th and 8th grade. For example, in 6th grade, students will learn the basic foundation of line. In 7th grade, they will learn how to incorporate line into two-point perspective. Finally, in 8th grade, students will examine line in relation to multiple perspectives. This is addressed throughout my middle school curriculum with, not only line, but other rudimentary art skills as well. This building of fundamentals will allow students to revisit and review what they have learned in their prior art classes and then discover how to apply it in new and exciting ways. My middle school is also organized in a way that will have students in each grade working in the same media, or similar media, at the same time. This will give structure to my curriculum and also allow for easier clean-up and classroom and material maintenance. Within 6th grade, students will explore foundations of: line, shading, light, the color wheel, color harmony, shape variety, texture, negative space, and balance. They will work with materials including: pencil, charcoal, oil pastels, paints, clay and glaze, ink, and collage. This course will call for students to explore a variety of themes including identity and family history, diversity, the use of the figure in art, and environmental issues. Students will also examine common household products as art. This course will have students question what is and is not art. Students will also consider art in relation to contemporary culture and ponder how technology has influenced art today. Within 7th students will explore skills which address: two-point perspective, pictorial

depth and space, focal points, limited palettes, elements and principles of design, the illusion of movement, and abstracted forms. Students will work with media including: charcoal, watercolors, linoleum and ink, paints, Paris craft and paints, clay and glaze, and newspaper. Students in this course will explore themes of urban development, environmental issues and nature, collaboration, and diversity in relation to other cultures and various handicaps. Students will examine how the surrounding world affects them and similarly how they can affect the surrounding world. Next, my 8th grade curriculum allows students to work with the fundamentals of: multiple perspectives, figure drawing, information and imagery recall, observation skills, form, material manipulation, cross-hatching, and reworking pervious works. Students will work in media including: oil pastels, Conte crayon, watercolors and gauche, oil paints, clay and glaze, paperclips, and Plexiglas and ink. Students will explore themes of identity, the fragility of memory, human brutality, the subconscious, the progression of art, and diversity in relation to background and culture. Students will consider aesthetic questions and be asked to find the beauty of everyday life. They will also study the influences that both internal and external factors may have on artwork. Throughout 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, students will be asked to look at art in reference to its historical context. Students will also examine contemporary visual culture with each lesson to see how art is relevant today. Throughout my lessons, students will be expected to work with one another and thus learn from one another. Within each of these courses, students will be asked to complete a journal as well. This journal will aid as a resource to farther student understanding and knowledge. Students will use their journals for short essays, sketches, tables, or simply to record important thoughts and ideas. These courses are designed to emphasize

diversity while asking thought provoking art historical, critical, or aesthetic questions. It is my goal with this curriculum to challenge students to become deeper thinkers through art.