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Learning Standards Standards

What does a student learn in ?

This is the year students start treating media projects like real productions with a point of view. Students pull from their own lives and the world around them to plan videos, audio pieces, animations, or digital images that say something on purpose. They sharpen their craft, give and take honest feedback, and revise before sharing the final piece. By spring, students can plan, produce, and present a finished media project and explain the choices behind it.

  • Video and audio projects
  • Planning a project
  • Revising work
  • Sharing finished pieces
  • Critique and feedback
  • Meaning and message
Source: New Hampshire New Hampshire College and Career Ready Standards
Year at a glance
How the year usually goes. Every school and district set their own curriculum, so treat this as a guide, not official pacing.
  1. 1

    Finding ideas worth making

    Students start the year gathering ideas for media projects like videos, photos, audio, or animations. They pull from their own lives and from work they admire, then sketch out what they might make.

  2. 2

    Planning and building a project

    Students move from rough ideas to real drafts. They organize their plan, learn the tools they need, and put together a first version of a video, image, sound piece, or digital design.

  3. 3

    Sharpening craft and technique

    Students practice the skills behind the work, such as framing a shot, editing clips, cleaning up audio, or adjusting timing. Drafts get revised based on feedback and a clearer sense of what the piece should do.

  4. 4

    Looking at media with a careful eye

    Students study finished media work from other artists and from classmates. They describe what they notice, take a guess at what the maker was trying to say, and back up opinions with specifics from the piece.

  5. 5

    Presenting work to an audience

    Students choose which pieces to share and shape them for a real audience. They think about how setting, order, and small choices change what viewers take away from the work.

  6. 6

    Placing work in a bigger picture

    Students end the year connecting their projects to the wider world of media, from the shows and ads they see daily to art from other times and places. They use clear criteria to judge their own growth.

Mastery Learning Standards
The required skills a student should display by the end of Grade 7.
Connecting

  • Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art

    MA:Cn10.7

    Students connect what they already know and what they've lived through to the media art they create. Personal experience shapes the choices they make in a project.

  • Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural

    MA:Cn11.7

    Students look at a piece of media art and explain what was happening in the world when it was made. They connect the work to real events, places, or communities to show why it looks or sounds the way it does.

Creating

  • Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

    MA:Cr1.7

    Students brainstorm and develop original ideas for media projects, like short films, digital images, or interactive designs, before starting to build them.

  • Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

    MA:Cr2.7

    Students plan and refine a media arts project by making deliberate choices about images, sound, or text. They revise their work until the piece communicates what they intended.

  • Refine and complete artistic work

    MA:Cr3.7

    Students revise a media project based on feedback, checking that each creative choice serves the work before calling it finished.

Performing/Presenting/Producing

  • Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation

    MA:Pr4.7

    Students review their own media projects and decide which pieces are strong enough to share. They explain why a specific work represents their best thinking or clearest message.

  • Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation

    MA:Pr5.7

    Students practice and improve a media project (a video, animation, or digital image) until it's ready to share with an audience. The focus is on refining the craft, not just finishing the work.

  • Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

    MA:Pr6.7

    Students choose how to share a finished piece so the audience understands the idea behind it. The way a project is presented is part of the message.

Responding

  • Perceive and analyze artistic work

    MA:Re7.7

    Students look closely at a media piece (a photo, video, or website) and explain what choices the creator made and why those choices shape how the audience reacts.

  • Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work

    MA:Re8.7

    Students explain what a media artwork is trying to say and why the creator made specific choices, like the images, sounds, or words used to shape the message.

  • Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work

    MA:Re9.7

    Students use a set of criteria to judge media artwork, explaining why a piece succeeds or falls short based on specific standards, not just personal taste.

Common Questions
  • What is media arts and what will students actually make this year?

    Media arts covers things like videos, podcasts, animations, photo projects, and simple web or game design. Students plan a project, build it, revise it, and share it with an audience. The work moves from quick experiments early on to more finished pieces by spring.

  • How can I support media arts at home if I don't know the software?

    You do not need to know the software. Ask students to walk through their project and explain what choices they made and why. Five minutes of real questions about a video or photo project does more than any app on your phone.

  • Does my child need fancy equipment or a paid editing app?

    No. A phone camera, a free editing app, and a quiet corner are enough. Most projects at this age are short and care more about clear ideas than polished gear.

  • How should I sequence the year so students aren't just stuck in software tutorials?

    Lead with idea generation and storyboarding before students touch the editing tools. Once they can pitch a project in a sentence, teach the tool features they need for that project. Save longer, more independent pieces for the second half of the year.

  • What does mastery look like by the end of the year?

    Students can take an idea from a rough plan to a finished short piece, explain the choices they made, and give useful feedback on someone else's work. They can also tie a project to a real audience or purpose, not just a class assignment.

  • Which skills usually need the most reteaching at this grade?

    Planning and revision tend to lag behind technical skills. Students will often jump straight to editing and skip storyboards, then resist going back to fix structural problems. Build in short revision checkpoints so revising feels normal, not like punishment.

  • My child says the project is done after one try. How do I push for revision without a fight?

    Ask one specific question, such as what a viewer would notice first or what part feels slow. Then let students decide what to change. One small revision based on a real reaction is worth more than a long lecture about quality.

  • How do I know students are ready for eighth grade media arts?

    They should be able to start a project from a prompt, work through a rough draft and at least one revision, and talk about their choices using words like audience, purpose, and message. Comfort with giving and receiving feedback matters as much as technical skill.