Creative Arts
Murdoch Middle School values the arts as essential to a well-rounded learning experience. Experiences in, through, and with the arts promote the social, emotional, physical, and academic development of all students.
Objectives-Provide students with experiences in a broad range of arts disciplines, including visual arts, drama, dance, music, and media arts.
-Facilitate the development of artistic behaviors through a choice-based visual arts program.
-Integrate with project and skills content to enhance and support academic learning.
-Connect to community through visiting artists and performance and display of work.
Choice Based Visual Arts
One of the key features of the Creative Arts program is Open Studio. In Open Studio, students learn to behave and work like artists. The classroom is a shared studio space, offering a wide variety of materials and equipment to students. The teacher acts as a facilitator, introducing materials, techniques, artists, and styles. Daily mini-lessons reinforce the elements and principles of art, while building upon the personal choices of the students. In the Open Studio, students are free to make their own choices in terms of media and content. Like artists, students are encouraged to develop a personal style, and to create work that is meaningful to them and communicates something unique. There are opportunities to work in drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, 3-D construction, digital media, and fibers. Students participate in open studio during the course of their four years here, while developing skills and a more sophisticated style over time.
Open Studio Rubric
Open Studio Template
Arts Integration
Another key features of the Creative Arts programs is arts integration. Art projects are connected in meaninopengful ways to support and enhance academic content, both as a tool for developing deeper understanding of subject material and as an alternate way of expressing knowledge and ideas. Arts integration reflects the many ways that students think and learn. It also allows students to connect learning experiences to their own lives and the world.
Examples of arts integration:
Dance and Earth Science:
Student groups choreograph dances to reflect their understanding of the layers of the earth and geologic change. Dances are preformed in front of peers after extended practice.
Dance and Earth Science Rubric
Artist Study and Spanish:
Students choose an artist from a Spanish speaking country to study in-depth. In Spanish class, students research biographical and cultural information about the artist, and create written work that represents their understanding of the artist’s life. In art class, students study the artist’s style and technique, and create an original piece inspired by the artist. Artist statements are written in both English and Spanish.
