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The middle school
aged kid is 11 to 13 years old, in grades 6, 7, or 8.
Middle school is a time of transition for most children. Beginning
in sixth grade students start to think more abstractly and start to search
for self meaning, and begin to look for ways of self expression.
Middle school can be a time for the expansion of the self.
Because my own middle
school years were so important in my social, intellectual and spiritual
development I have built much of my art curriculum around this central
focus of the self. I believe it is vital for middle-school-aged
students to learn creatively various ways of seeing themselves in their
environment, in our society and in the world.
Seventh Graders
at Spring Harbor Middle School have an hour of art every other day.
This class has a very "self" centered theme. Students
will spend much of their semester on a scrapbook project that is accomplished
quite independently. The scrapbook incorporates a series of self-portraits
as well as various personal themes including:
- Nuclear Family-
Photos, drawings or design representing the people student lives with,
include pets!
- Place of Residence-
Use photos, stories or poems, drawings, a plan, or a dream home with
descriptions. Home Decor magazines for ideas or photos.
- Bedroom...Mixed
media presentation of actual or dream room. Use catalog pictures or
photos of furniture or cut out colored paper.
- Friends- photos
or drawings with signatures, descriptions, paper cut out designs for
backgrounds, etc...
- Super Stars- A
montage of heroes and celebrity crushes or devote the page to one hero
or several, who ever the student looks up to and/or adore.
- Likes & Dislikes-
Present personal preferences including; food, color, sports, music,
classes, animals, etc.
- Time- Present how
time is spent. Use graphs or tables, or journal a typical day in student
life with illustrations
- World Events- Present
magazine/newspaper clippings with current events, prices, and movie
listings. Write down the most memorable experiences.
- The Future- Present
hopes, dreams and aspirations with words, photos or illustrations.
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