I'm eager to showcase this fantastic class that I'm co-teaching. Folks, we're absolutely excelling with our Discovery Wheel. This Humanities course is delving deep into the world of art and beyond. The seamless integration and cross-curricular connections are simply organic, not at all contrived. It is a forced to be reckoned with as you can see by this issue of our published magazine. Yes, we did this.
What is this class? Our Discovery Program is designed for our seventh and eighth grade students who wish to pursue their passions. The courses in the Discovery program contain a rigorous collection of content designed to allow highly motivated learners to select a path to either discover STEM or discover Humanities further. Throughout the first semester, students will take a deep dive into each course along their chosen path. During the second semester, students will engage in a culminating project of their own design focused on an interest discovered during their coursework. These projects, completed in partnership with community members and Discovery teachers, will give students real world practice in research, written, and spoken expression all while learning more about topics that inspire them. Students will be expected to present in a Spring Consortium toward the end of the school year. This is a year-long program.
The Path to Discover Humanities:
In the Path to Discover Humanities class, students investigate three strands of humanities – community outreach through the arts, communication studies, and creative expressions – to identify and develop their passions and skills in art, journalism, and writing. As part of the class, students will also produce a literary magazine, Maclay in the Middle, by engaging in the process of researching, interviewing, writing, designing, and editing content for the magazine. The Path to Discover Humanities class offers individualized feedback and support for students who are interested in pursuing writing, art, or journalism or who are simply interested in discovering more about humanities and developing as a learner and individual.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH THROUGH ARTS
COTA challenges students to explore their community's needs and address them through creative arts projects, fostering cultural understanding and community cohesion. Through collaboration, students will discover the transformative power of art in strengthening communities. Additionally, we'll learn about design principles, Canva, branding, logos, and social media strategies, as well as explore photography techniques to enhance our visual storytelling.
COMMUNICATION STUDIES
Communication studies focuses on learning the elements of journalism, public speaking, and graphic design. Students will learn about the fields of print journalism, graphic design, creative writing, and broadcast journalism. Students will use InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere video editing software to create the Middle School Humanities Magazine and the Middle School News.
CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS
Discover Humanities provides students with additional instruction and writing experience. Students will practice planning, revising, and editing for an authentic audience. Additionally, students will learn how to incorporate research into writing and develop credibility as a journalist. Each student is encouraged to try new techniques and experiment with developing a personal voice in writing as they learn to think and read like writers.
What makes this class possible? This team teaching trio right here! This photo below is just full of joy for me. Yes, our block scheduled B days are jam packed during our class times but we make it work and the students rise to the occasion and produce stellar work as you can see by the submissions below.
The theme for this magazine was fairytales. And, man let me tell you what they nailed it! So, if this looks like your typical class it is not. We have managed to get these kids to soar. I am hoping to do a post this summer on our 4th magazine that deals with Tallahassee turning 200! (Bicentennial)
We use InDesign, Photoshop, and Canva in this class. We have a social media presence on Instagram called Maclay In the Middle. Check it out.
Arts integration empowers us to cultivate chefs who make decisions, rather than cooks who simply follow instructions. So, yeah... we are Cheffin' it up in our Humanities class. Thanks for stopping by and reach out if you want to learn more about this invocative class.
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