WHITE OAK MIDDLE SCHOOL
2022-Present

STUDIO ART I
​BIG IDEA: IDENTITY

GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How is our art influenced by our identities?
How can artmaking be a means of developing and understanding identity? 

GOALS:
Develop a strong classroom community
Work with and alongside others
Develop familiarity with different artists and different forms of artmaking
Develop familiarity with art as a form of research
Develop willingness to challenge oneself, try new things, and make mistakes
Engage in honest and meaningful reflections that support artistic and personal development
Developing accountability (accepting responsibility for one's actions)

Identity Mind-Maps

​Students created elaborate artworks that involved mapping out different parts of their identities. The goal was for students to discover how the different aspects of a person's identity are connected.

LOCATION-BASED ZINES

​Students created zines in which they mapped out different parts of an important place in their lives.

Woven Pouches

While students were completing state testing during their other courses, art class was spent learning how to weave pouches and learning about contemporary and historical weaving practices from around the world.

STICKY NOTE EXHIBITONS

Students created mini exhibitions that they themselves would want to go to. Each exhibit needed to have a clear theme, theme-specific elements, and artwork labels.

PSA: I WISH MY TEACHERS/ADULTS KNEW

Create a poster or design for a billboard based on something you wish your teachers/adults knew

STUDIO ART 1: Ceramics

Students learned and experimented with a variety of different hand building techniques. Then, they created their final pieces.

STUDIO ART II
BIG IDEA: RELATIONSHIPS

GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How are our relationships connected to our identities?
How can artmaking be a means of instigating, building, and sustaining relationships?

GOALS:
Develop a strong classroom community
Work with and alongside others
Develop familiarity with different artists and different forms of artmaking
Develop familiarity with art as a form of research
Develop willingness to challenge oneself, try new things, and make mistakes
Engage in honest and meaningful reflections that support artistic and personal development
Developing accountability (accepting responsibility for one's actions)

MAKE A BAND

Students learned about graphic design and creating a series of related artworks. Then students worked together to create merchandise for their group's band based on the name of the band.

​RELEVANCE TO STUDENTS’ LIVED EXPERIENCES:
This project serves as a means of working together and getting to know classmates while working on somewhat independent projects that are dependent on what others are making. In addition, most students listen to music and are familiar with the amount of merchandise associated with musical artists. 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
What makes up a group's identity/look/aesthetic?
How are group identities used in the art world?
How does forming a band help us get to know our classmates?

DATA-BASED ZINES

Students learned about various types of art that involve data. Students used the Question Formulation Technique to come up with questions to use and interview others. The data collected in their interviews was then used to create a zine, which is like a short self-published book.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: 
Art can be used as a means to get to know details about important people in our lives.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
How can art be used as a means of getting to know others?
How can art be used as documentation of our current lives?
How can art be used to map out information? 
How can art be used to visually reveal/communicate connections?
How can art be used for self-reflection?

HARLEM RENAISSANCE & LINOLEUM PRINTING

Students learned about the Harlem Renaissance and how black artists explored what it meant to be black in America. Then, students created artworks that celebrated communities they were a part of through relief printmaking.

​ENDURING UNDERSTANDING:
People create art to celebrate communities that they are a part of.

RELEVANCE TO STUDENTS’ LIVED EXPERIENCES:
Students are part of many communities within and outside of school

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
How can interactions impact the creative process?
How can artmaking express our relationship to society, history, and culture?
Why might there be relationship between art and the social, historical, and cultural context in which it is made?

CERAMICS & SCULPTURE
BIG IDEA: INFLUENCES

GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How can we influence others through art-making?
How are we influenced by others?

GOALS:
Develop a strong classroom community
Work with and alongside others
Develop familiarity with different artists and different forms of artmaking
Develop familiarity with art as a form of research
Develop willingness to challenge oneself, try new things, and make mistakes
Engage in honest and meaningful reflections that support artistic and personal development
Developing accountability (accepting responsibility for one's actions)

Coil pots

During this project, students learned and experimented with the coiling technique. 

Monuments

In progress

​Students interrogated what it means to make a monument to something. After learning about a variety of artists who make monumental work, students came up with their own ideas for monuments. They created their monuments out of cardboard, tape, hot glue, paper mache, and/or tempera paint.

​ENDURING UNDERSTANDING:
People create monuments to celebrate, acknowledge, commemorate important events and people.

RELEVANCE TO STUDENTS’ LIVED EXPERIENCES:
Monuments are seen in public spaces all around us, especially being so close to DC (and other historical places)

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
How does creating a monument of something change how it is perceived/understood?
How can monuments be used to bring attention to things that are often forgotten or overlooked?