Term 3 has arrived and we are busy diving into our new projects. Here's a little bit of what we've been working on:

7th Grade Portraits: 

The assignment for these students is to create their own self-portrait image in the way that they see themselves, or in other words, how they'd like to portray themselves. We've been trying to think of a way for students to easily draw themselves because especially for myself, it is easier said than done to illustrate oneself's face. Below you will see a demonstrative video on how we will draw our faces. Some students will still elect to freehand but they are much more daring and artistic than I.

I decided to try this method out myself by starting with a general photograph of my lovely face: 

The next thing I did was through a transparency, I traced my face the way the teacher did in the youtube video: 

Lastly, I created three different versions of my own self-portrait. One is a sketch. The other is collaged through magazines. The last one is all made out of words. 

Students will be required to have at least 8 symbols and 15 words in their self-portrait to show who they are. Pictures will be coming when portraits start flowing in!

8th Grade SHOES!!!!

We have been studying the documentary Off and Running. This documentary is about a young female in high school. Avery is African American and was adopted by two Jewish parents, along with her brother Rafi who is adopted and is bi-racial and her little brother Zay-Zay who is also adopted and Korean. As you can see, Avery does not have the typical "American Family". By stepping into her shoes, we see her coming of age story and how she tries to attempt to find out who she is. 

Our middle school students are also at a point in their lives where they are really coming into their own and learning about who they are and where their families have come from. 

THE ASSIGNMENT: You are to create your own sneaker/boot/shoe and decorate it with symbols that show the observer of the shoe what it might be like to WALK IN YOUR SHOES. 

Pick your shoe: Picking your shoe is more important than digging out an old sneaker that you no longer want. You bought the shoe in the first place... why? 

Here's mine: 

I chose this sneaker because as an adolescent, I loved converse! I had at least four pairs at one time. I no longer wear these shoes mostly because they are old and the insides are all worn out. I think it depicts me because I like to be comfortable yet fashionable at the same time.







The next step is to paint the sneaker so that I can start from scratch and will be able to decorate the sneaker myself:

As you can see, I will be able to decorate the sneaker as I please. Below you will find my blueprint for my shoe and my plan. Every student is required to draw their own sneaker first so that they know not only the materials that they will need, but also what they need to do in preparation of creating the sneaker.

Students have started their own shoes... more pictures of progress to come!