FYI: Ms. Isenhour got married over the summer and is now Mrs. Isenhour-Stewart.
I hope this helps avoid any confusion.
Last school year was amazing, and I this year is going very well.
I am very excited to see each of you again for another great year of ART!
"What I do as an art educator is not really different than what other teachers do, which is to help my students make sense of their experiences and themselves, to facilitate critical inquiry and creative problem solving, and to support the creation of meaningful interactions and interconnections between and within the world around them." ~David Darts
"When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece."
I am extremely excited about the 2007-2008 school year, and I hope you are as well. It is going to be wonderful, and here's why:
- We will make wonderful artworks that focus on using all 7 of the elements of art (line, value, shape, form, space, texture, and color).
- We will learn about art as it applies to everyday life.
- We will understand how to interpret our environment and emotions.
- We will sharpen our abilities to think creatively and approach problems from many sides.
- We will teach each other about ourselves and how we work as one group.
- We will develop our awareness of who we are as individuals and artists.
This year is a little different than last year.
Previously, all grades did the same beginner art curriculum that focuses on the elements of art.
This year, the seventh and eighth graders will be completeing the intermediate curriculum which shifts its focus to the principles of art.
One of the biggest advancements this year, is that there is the 8th Grade Honors Course. These students are were to stay in art for a whole semester. The curriculum for this course is much more advanced and deals with a variety of media experimentation.
ART CLUB
For information about the Art Club, please visit our website.
Please feel free to contact me if you need anything. Below, I have posted a copy of our class syllabus that explains the course, expectations, and the classroom rules and procedures.
SYLLABUS
Mrs. Isenhour Stewart
Art Department
North Rowan Middle School
isenhourstewartrn@rss.k12.nc.us
(704) 639-3018 ext. 224
Mrs. Stewart's Philosophy I believe that each student can learn to become an artist. I expect you to behave and try your best at each assignment we are given. Other than creating artworks, we will critique famous works, study artists, take notes, complete quizzes and tests, and become art scholars. I expect you to be respectful and productive. Our classroom is open to new ideas and visual concepts. We will be supportive of each other and grow as a learning community.
Notebook Starting from the first day of class, you need to keep assignments, handouts, and notes in chronological order in a notebook. Therefore, each page should have both a date and title at the top. You are responsible for keeping this information organized and with you for each class. This notebook is very important because it holds the information you will need to study for quizzes and tests. Your notebook will be checked once every two weeks. Each notebook check will count as a quiz grade.
I will provide you with the folders and dividers for our notebooks.
The folders will stay in our classroom at all times.
Your five subject dividers will be labeled:
1. POD
2. Notes
3. Vocabulary
4. Art Journals
5. Graded Work
Classroom Rules and Behavior
We will...
1. Follow all school rules.
2. Be respectful to all faculty, staff, and each other.
3. Come to class prepared with necessary supplies EVERYDAY (pencil, eraser, and notebook).
4. Work on art assignments for the entire class period.
5. Return any supplies to where they belong and keep our classroom clean.
6. Be safe in the art room. (There are too many tools and instruments that can cause harm to you and/or others so please utilize common sense by using each instrument for their intended usage and follow all Mrs. Stewart's directions to ensure the safety of all (i.e. scissors for cutting paper, hot glue for gluing art materials only, pencils are for drawing, etc.))
Classroom Expectations
Entering Class
You will come into class and sit in your assigned seat.
You will have your pencil, notebook, and paper ready.
You will be quietly working on your POD and ready for class to start.
Exiting Class
You will clean up and pack up when Ms. Isenhour gives you a signal.
You will return to your seat and wait quietly.
Mrs. Stewart will call the quietest tables first to line up at the door.
We will leave the classroom in a calm, quiet, and orderly manner.
If you do not come to class with all the necessary materials, ask neighbors at your table if you can borrow from them. If you cannot borrow something from a neighbor, you will need to sign out a material and I will loan you what you need.
Consequences
1st Offense: Verbal Warning
2nd Offense: Student conference; phone call home to parents or guardian
3rd Offense: Call to parents/guardian; extra assignments; conference with parents/guardian
4th Offense: Office referral
Rewards I appreciate when you work hard, show respect to all, and follow instructions. Therefore, I want you to be rewarded for good behavior. When I see you doing what you are expected to do, I will come by and give you a brownie point. When you collect 15 brownie points, you can turn them in on Friday in exchange for a piece of candy and a slip of paper that communicates to your family how well you did. If you get this slip signed and returned to me, the 15 brownie points can turn into 5 points extra credit. Remember, these are your brownie points, and as much as I like sharing in other circumstances, you may not share your brownie points. Each student needs to earn his/her own points.
Absence It is your responsibility to make up missed work as soon as possible. Pre-announced tests and assignments will be taken with the rest of the class or on the first day of your return to class. You will have the number of days you were gone plus one to make up an assignment. If you do not make it up by then, you will receive a zero. For you to have a productive environment, you need to make up your assignments before school, during lunch, during my planning period, or after school. You should not work on it during class because you will be working on the current assignment at that time.
Tardy I expect everyone in the classroom on time. If you get an unexcused tardy, the first time is a warning. The second unexcused tardy, you will sit aside of class and read a book, magazine, or news article about an art related subject that I give you and write a 1 page (at least 3 paragraphs) essay about what you read and your opinion about what was discussed for a grade. If you are tardy a third time, you will write another essay and stay after or before school with me for 10 minutes. If you are tardy a fourth time, you will write another essay and stay after or before school with me for 20 minutes. If you fail to come and make up this time you missed, you will be given a detention.
Bathroom Breaks We have only a little bit of time in our class each day; therefore we need to be in class and working hard. You have 9 bathroom passes per quarter. If you use all nine in the first few weeks, then you are out of luck for the rest of the quarter. I recommend you have one bathroom pass a week. Please use this for an emergency. If you do not use all of your passes, you will receive 2 bonus points attached to your lowest art assignment grade for each pass you did not use.
Weekly Assignments You will have to complete some of your projects at home or after school with me. There will also be regularly assigned homework throughout the quarter. You should keep these assignments in your notebook. Our assignments will be clearly written out and updated on the boards. All assignments are due on Fridays. You may turn in late work on Monday for 5 points off. No work will be accepted after they are one day late (with the exception of emergency situations, holidays, or absences).
Art Journals Each day of the week we will write a few sentences reflecting on an art related subject that is displayed on the board as the beginning of our weekly art journal. Every Friday, we will write a large entry in our art journal in class. If you do not finish, you need to turn it in by Monday with 5 points off. You will keep your journals in your notebook under the last divider. We will discuss an art topic together, and then you will write an essay answering certain questions. Each art journal will be different from the next. Instructions will be clearly written on the board and discussed each Friday.
General Daily Schedule The daily schedule will be posted on the board each day for us to follow throughout class.
1. Enter classroom and follow procedures or instructions on the board
2. We will all work on the POD or DOL
3. We will learn about what we are doing today
4. We will get our necessary supplies
5. We will work diligently on our assignments
6. We will clean up when instructed to do so
7. We will return to our seats and wait quietly for dismissal
General Weekly Schedule
The weekly schedule will be posted on the chalkboard for us to follow.
Monday: Begin a new assignment or project
Tuesday: Work on our assignment
Wednesday: Work on our assignment; Review for a test or notebook check
Thursday: Work on our assignment; Take test or conduct notebook check
Friday: Finish assignment; Follow turn-in procedures; Art Journals; Brownie Pts.
Grading A point system will be used in grading all art projects, test, quizzes, assignments and homework. The following factors will be used in determining grades: Following directions, Meeting the deadline, Individual artistic growth, Neatness, Using knowledge of elements and principles of art, Attitude and Work Effort
Each student fills out a rubric when they turn in an artwork. If there are any questions about their grade, all graded materials are kept in our classroom in their folder. The rubric shows what the student can improve upon to bring up their grade.
Grading Scale
93-100 A Excellent
85-92 B Good
77-84 C Average
70-76 D Below Average
60-69 E Not Acceptable
Final Grade
Art projects; Classwork; Participation 65%
Tests; Notebook Checks 25%
Homework; Art Journals + 10%
Final Grade 100%
Extra Credit
There are many opportunities to receive extra credit. These ideas will be given to you throughout the semester. You can complete one of these per week to receive a maximum of 5 points. These points will be added to a low scoring art project.
Thank you for checking out our classroom homepage. If you would like to help our classroom, you can always donate your time or supplies such as paper, paint brushes, drawing pencils, etc.
This site will be updated frequently for your benefit.
Have a wonderful day!
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
By Elliot Eisner
The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.
Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution
and that questions can have more than one answer.
The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.
One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.
The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving
purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.
The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor number exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.
The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects.
The arts traffic in subtleties.
The arts teach students to think through and within a material.
All art forms employ some means through which images become real.
The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said.
When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source
and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.
The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young
what adults believe is important.
SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications.
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