My name is Jennifer West and I teach Visual Art to the students of John Adams Middle School in the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District. Welcome to my blog! The difference between a blog and a website is that a blog is interactive. Whether you are a student, parent, colleague, or just an interested person, I welcome your feedback. Please take a moment to look around and you will find information about me, slide shows of student work, my own professional portfolio, links to art websites and resources, classroom expectations and procedures, assessment information, and the visual art grading system. Enjoy!
Our school is on a block schedule in which students receive art instruction for 90 minutes two times a week and 45 minutes once a week. Depending upon which visual art course a student is signed up for, they will have varied experiences in the length of the course and the materials and mediums we will explore. However, regardless of the course, projects will be aligned with Santa Monica/Malibu and California state visual art standards. These standards center around the elements and principles of art and design. In addition, projects will be students centered and thematically tied to the social studies and science curricula. The following is a list of the visual art course offerings for the 2009-2010 school year:
6th grade exploratory visual art
Students signed up for the JAMS 6th grade exploratory wheel enjoy the visual art rotation for a total of 12 weeks. During this time, students are exposed to a variety of tools, techniques, processes, art history movements, and cultural arts. Most projects are thematically aligned with the Humanities curriculum. Students will build a small portfolio and sketchbook for them to take with them.
7th Grade Exploratory visual art
Students signed up for the JAMS 7th grade exploratory wheel will enjoy integrated visual art and Spanish throughout the entire year. Both the art and Spanish sections of this class will be built around Latin American artists, art movements, and cultural practices. Myself and Jeanie McNamara will be working together with students throughout the year to provide them with a fun and rewarding experience of the arts and how they contribute to the rich cultural heritage of Latin America.
8th Grade Exploratory Visual Art
Students signed up the JAMS 8th grade exploratory wheel will enjoy integrated visual art and technology throughout the entire year. Myself and Glenn Sato will be working together with students throughout the year to provide them with a fun and rewarding experience of the arts as they relate to technology. Many of our projects will serve the practical purpose of creating student generated electronic artwork and graphic design projects to support the various functions and activities taking place on and around the JAMS campus. Other collaborative projects will include teaching graphic design programs, visual design principles, and creativity through the natural integration between visual art and technology.
7th and 8th grade intermediate visual art
This is a year long course created especially for visual artists wishing to learn more advanced and in-depth information, techniques, vocabulary, and processes. Students in this course will receive many opportunities for growth and development as artists through special opportunities, art materials, and techniques at a more advanced level. All 7th grade students enrolled in this course are invited to enroll in the 8th grade advanced visual art course offered the following year. All students will leave this course with a full portfolio and multiple sketchbooks.
At the end of the school year there will be private art show at a gallery. Students from the intermediate and advanced art classes will be invited to include at least one piece of the artwork they have created in art class.
8th grade advanced visual art
Students enrolled in this year long course are the “cream of the crop” at JAMS. These very special and talented artists have demonstrated an extreme commitment to excellence in the arts through the exploritory rotation or intermediate visual art in the previous year. The visual art curriculum for this course is geared specifically towards meeting the portfolio requirements for submission to the advanced placement visual art courses offered at Santa Monica High School. While it is not a requirement that students have plans to enter the AP program at SAMO, should they decide to attempt it, they will be on their way with a portfolio and sketchbook that meets enrollment requirements!
Portfolio requirements for submission to the Advanced Placement art program at Santa Monica High School:
A total of 10 pieces are required and should include:
A still life (collection of objects)
A self-portrait;
A figure drawing (part or all of a person, preferably from real life, not a photo.)
Portfolio will include at least three different media: photo, acrylic, pastel, watercolor, clay, wood, etc.
At the end of the school year there will be private art show at a gallery. Students from the intermediate and advanced art classes will be invited to include at least one piece of the artwork they have created in art class.
