John Sevier Middle School

Fall/Spring 2021-2022

Class: Visual Art

Instructor: Hunter Hilton

Room: Room 104

Email: [email protected]

VISUAL ART Syllabus

Course Description: This is a Visual Arts course at John Sevier Middle School. This class is meant to explore different mediums, techniques, and applications of Visual Art using critical thinking skills. Students are expected to demonstrate effort on a daily basis, and they will demonstrate improvement and proficiency with different mediums and techniques.

**Standards to be taught and met are found at: https://www.tn.gov/education/instruction/academic-standards/arts-education.html (Links to an external site.)

Materials: Students will be expected to have their laptops and a pencil each day. (Students working virtually will provided with different work depending on circumstance.)

Format: This class will largely be based on participation and effort on assignments. I understand that not everyone will be a great artist from the beginning; however, I do expect students to be engaged in classroom activities and put in the required effort to complete projects of considerable quality within the provided deadlines.

Grading Policy: Your grade will largely be determined by Participation. If you try, you’ll do well. If you don’t, then you won’t. The rest of your grade is based on Effort, Quality, and Skill. Don’t worry, “Skill” is not “how good you are at Art” it’s about how much you’re improving and demonstrating your understanding. So, it looks like this:

Participation: 70%

• How do I define participation? I do not mean that you DID something. Put simply, students need to put in considerable effort each day towards a completed assignment. You can imagine that if effort is poor, participation grades will also drop. If the student does not meet the guidelines of the assignment, then that will count as not participating. 

Effort: 15%

• “Effort” means does it look like the work of a 6th, 7th,or 8th grader. Try. I understand what the work of each student looks like, and I can tell when a student gives their best effort. If Participation is on excellent, the Effort portion of the grade is generally excellent as well

Quality: 10%

• Does your look sloppy, rushed, and chaotic? Take the time to tidy up your pieces of artwork. Yes, this takes extra time, but these small elements greatly affect the perception of your artwork, and it will only improve your grade.

Skill: 5%

• Students that produce work at a high level deserve the extra points. Even if you are not a great artist, and you have given me your best effort every single day you are already at an A. Every student has room to grow, and grades are representative of the student giving their best effort.

Assignments: Assignments will be given on weekly basis and are due on dates specified by teacher as needed. All assignments will be completed in class, unless a student is in need of extra time outside of class to complete an assignment. Dates vary depending on school activities, trips, testing, etc.

This Course will be divided into two different overarching sections of material

• PowerPoint/Demo Days:These are days that serve as an introduction to new course material. This is where relevant assignment information is delivered as well as other items that deepen our understanding of the topics we will be tackling.
• Work Days:These are days where students are expected to participate fully in the completion of their project. The teacher moves around the classroom providing individual feedback to help each student reach the best project outcome possible

Assignments that exist outside of this framework will be specified by the teacher on a case-by-case basis. This will be relevant to any student that might be working from home. Students working at home will not have access to class materials, so their project guidelines will be specific to their individual needs.