Grade 8 Fine Arts Massachusetts Standards

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

Describe and demonstrate influences of their personal dance style and preferences.

Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen understanding.

Identify dance ideas from different cultures connected to different historical populations.

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Create movement ideas that combine multiple varied artistic elements (e.g., explores how level and shapes interact with space and force).

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

Use the basics of one type of dance notation to document an original movement idea (e.g., Laban and Benesh).

Refine and complete artistic work.

Apply strategies to overcome creative blocks.

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Envision and describe a character's inner thoughts and objectives in a dance work.

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Demonstrate more complex technical dance skills (e.g. utilize weight shift and balance to support elevations and landing with partners).

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Match a dance performance with expressed intent (e.g., wanting the audience to identify with an emotion).

Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Analyze how cultures are reflected in a diverse range of dance works.

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.

Explain how a dance is connected to the particular cultural, historical context where and when it was created.

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

Develop criteria for evaluating a dance work (e.g., students create criteria for a performance that is juried by students).

Connecting

Creating

Responding

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Generate media arts ideas that integrate multiple images, sound and interactivity in a variety of ways.

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Develop artistic plans that are clear enough for others to implement those ideas.

Refine and complete artistic work. Apply strategies to overcome creative blocks.

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. Prepare a theme-based exhibition.

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation. Utilize different approaches to share media work.

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Match a media work with expressed intent (e.g. wanting the audience to feel tension between two positions).

Perceive and analyze artistic work. Analyze how culture is reflected in a diverse range of media works.

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Explain how a media artwork is connected to the particular cultural, historical context where it was created.

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. Develop criteria for evaluating a collection of media artwork (e.g., students create criteria for a media exhibition that is juried by students).

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. Describe and demonstrate influences of personal artistic style and preferences in media arts.

Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen understanding. Explain and demonstrate how the media art are evolving in different cultures (e.g., how media arts are evolving differently in Korea versus the United States).

Responding

Connecting

Presenting

Creating

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. Describe and demonstrate influences of one’s personal musical style and preferences.

Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen understanding. Identify how musical ideas and traditions migrate with the people who originated them to affect other cultures, historical periods, and musical genres and styles (e.g., immigrant European folk music).

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Compose musical ideas (e.g., rhythms, melodies, ostinato, and harmonies) using expanded forms (e.g., introductions, transitions, codas).

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Document an original melody and simple accompaniment using standard notation (e.g., a melody and chords).

Refine and complete artistic work. Refine draft arrangements to ensure consistency in notation (e.g., key signatures, notes, and rhythms are written correctly).

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. Identify basic strategies musicians use to practice and employ them in readying a musical work for performance.

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation. Perform with accuracy and expression a repertoire of vocal or instrumental literature with a level of difficulty of 1, on a scale of 1 to 6; or a comparable scale with at least four harmonic parts.

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Match a musical performance or composition with expressed intent (e.g., wanting the audience to feel a particular emotion).

Perceive and analyze artistic work. Analyze how cultures are reflected in a diverse range of musical work.

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Explain how a musical work is connected to the particular cultural and historical context where it was created.

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. Develop criteria for a rubric for evaluating musical works (e.g., students create criteria for a performance that is juried by students).

Responding

Performing

Connecting

Creating

Responding

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Creating

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

Performing

Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen understanding.

Connecting

Refine and complete artistic work.

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.

Improvise short melodic and rhythmic ideas that reflect characteristics of different genres.

Record decisions about accuracy of written music (e.g., adding reminder of key signature, or indicating beat subdivisions for a difficult rhythm).

Refine musical interpretations exploring different elements (e.g. dynamics and articulations).

Identify basic strategies musicians use to practice and employ them in readying a musical work for performance.

Perform with accuracy and expression works from the vocal or instrumental literature with a level of difficulty of 2, on a scale of 1 to 6; or a comparable scale.

Match a musical performance with expressed intent (e.g., wanting the audience to identify with an emotion).

Analyze how cultures are reflected in a diverse range of musical works.

Explain how a musical work is connected to a particular cultural, historical context where it was created.

Develop criteria for a rubric for evaluating musical works (e.g., students create criteria for a performance that is juried by students).

Describe influences of one’s personal musical style and preferences.

Identify musical ideas from different cultures studied in history and social science (e.g., American native).

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. Describe and demonstrate influences of their personal artistic style and preferences in theatre.

Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen understanding. Identify multiple cross-cultural approaches to storytelling connected to different historical populations (e.g., ancient Greek city-states).

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Generate contextual ideas for a character beyond what is given in the script (e.g., a character's backstory, attitudes, likes, and dislikes) and explain how these ideas connect to other elements in the play (e.g., setting, plot).

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Utilize personal notes to support performing in roles with extensive verbal lines and performance directions.

Refine and complete artistic work.

Develop a scripted character by articulating and using the character's inner thoughts, objectives, and motivations in a theatrical work.

Apply strategies to overcome creative blocks.

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. Envision and describe a scripted character's inner thoughts and objectives related to the given circumstances in a theatrical work.

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Use various acting techniques to expand skills and develop character choices in a theatrical work.

Execute a variety of technical elements (e.g., scenic, lighting, props, costume, sound, and makeup) to create a design through rehearsal for a theatrical work.

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Match a theatre performance with expressed intent (e.g., wanting the audience to think about fairness).

Perceive and analyze artistic work. Analyze elements of a work that are indicative of the historical or cultural context in which it was created.

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Explain how an artistic work was influenced by the culture and historical context in which it was created.

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. Develop criteria for evaluating a theatrical presentation (e.g., students create criteria for a performance juried by students).

HSS Connection: Students identify the characteristics of a Greek tragedy.

HSS Connection: To dramatize the meaning of the concept of “equal protection,” students write and act out a script based on a Supreme Court case, such as the 1954 decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka (HSS Connection.

Performing

Connecting

Responding

Creating

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. Describe and demonstrate influences of personal artistic style and preferences in visual arts.

Relate artistic ideas and works to societal, cultural and historical contexts to deepen understanding. Identify visual ideas from a variety of cultures connected to different historical populations

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Generate artistic ideas that demonstrate differences in composition principles (e.g., balance, proportion, emphasis) and push the boundaries of what materials can do

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Develop clear artistic plans that others could implement

Refine and complete artistic work. Apply strategies to work through creative blocks.

Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. Curate a theme-based exhibition.

Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation. Utilize different approaches to share artwork (e.g., digital portfolio, exhibit installation)

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Match a piece of artwork with expressed intent (e.g., wanting the audience to feel tension between two positions).

Perceive and analyze artistic work. Analyze elements of a work that are indicative of the historical or cultural context in which it was created

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Explain how an artistic work was influenced by the culture or historical context in which it was created

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. Develop criteria for evaluating a collection of artworks (e.g., students determine criteria for an exhibition juried by students)

Presenting

Responding

Creating

Connecting