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Learning Standards Standards

What does a student learn in ?

This is the year media projects start carrying a real message. Students plan a video, podcast, animation, or digital design with a clear purpose and an audience in mind. They learn to refine their work through drafts, take feedback seriously, and explain the choices behind each cut or edit. By spring, students can share a finished media piece and talk about what it means and why they made it that way.

  • Video projects
  • Podcasts and audio
  • Digital design
  • Drafting and revising
  • Audience and purpose
  • Critique
Source: Connecticut Connecticut Core 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

    Sparking ideas for media projects

    Students start the year by collecting ideas from their own lives and the videos, games, and images around them. They sketch out plans for short media projects before touching any tools.

  2. 2

    Building and shaping the work

    Students move from rough plans to real drafts using video, audio, photo, or animation tools. They learn to organize files, try different versions, and pick what works best.

  3. 3

    Polishing technique and craft

    Students focus on the details that make a project feel finished, like clean cuts, clear sound, steady framing, and readable text. They practice the same skills across several short pieces.

  4. 4

    Sharing work with an audience

    Students choose which pieces to show and think about how the setting changes the message. They present work to classmates and talk about what they wanted viewers to feel or understand.

  5. 5

    Responding to media with a critical eye

    Students look closely at media made by classmates and professionals. They describe what they notice, figure out what the maker was going for, and judge the work against clear standards.

  6. 6

    Connecting media to the wider world

    Students tie their projects to their own experiences and to events, communities, and history. They notice how the time and place a piece comes from shapes what it means.

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 something from their own life to a media arts project, using that personal link to shape the choices they make in the work.

  • Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural

    MA:Cn11.7

    Students look at a piece of media art and explain how the time period, culture, or events around it shaped what the artist made. Context turns a finished work into a window into how people lived and thought.

Creating

  • Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

    MA:Cr1.7

    Students brainstorm original ideas for media projects, like short films, digital images, or animations, and decide on a clear creative direction before they start making anything.

  • Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

    MA:Cr2.7

    Students plan and shape a media arts project by making deliberate choices about images, sound, or layout. The goal is a finished piece that reflects clear creative thinking, not just a first draft.

  • Refine and complete artistic work

    MA:Cr3.7

    Students revise a media project based on feedback, making deliberate choices about what to keep, cut, or change until the work is ready to share.

Performing/Presenting/Producing

  • Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation

    MA:Pr4.7

    Students choose which of their media projects to share and explain why each piece best shows their skills or ideas.

  • Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation

    MA:Pr5.7

    Students practice and polish their media project until it's ready to share with an audience. That means reviewing their own work, making improvements, and preparing a final version that reflects their best effort.

  • Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

    MA:Pr6.7

    Students present their media art project to an audience and make deliberate choices about how it looks, sounds, or moves to get a specific message or feeling across.

Responding

  • Perceive and analyze artistic work

    MA:Re7.7

    Students look closely at a media piece, such as a photo, ad, or short video, 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 artist was trying to say and why specific choices, like color, sound, or camera angle, support that meaning.

  • Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work

    MA:Re9.7

    Students look at a piece of media, like a short film or a photo series, and use a clear set of standards to judge whether it works. They explain why, pointing to specific choices the creator made.

Common Questions
  • What does media arts actually cover this year?

    Students make digital projects like videos, podcasts, animations, photo essays, and simple games or websites. The year focuses on planning a project, building it, sharing it with an audience, and then talking about what worked and what didn't.

  • How can I help at home if my child wants to make videos or podcasts?

    Ask them to show drafts and explain choices: why this music, why this cut, why this title. Five minutes of real questions does more than buying new gear. A phone and free editing app are enough to practice the skills that matter most.

  • How should I sequence projects across the year?

    Start with short form work that builds technique, like a 30-second story or a one-minute podcast. Move into projects that connect to history, culture, or current issues by midyear. End with a longer piece students plan, revise, and present to a real audience.

  • Does my child need fancy software or equipment?

    No. A phone or a school laptop with free tools handles almost every project at this level. What matters is the thinking behind the project, not the price of the app.

  • Which skills usually need the most reteaching?

    Planning and revision are the two weak spots. Seventh graders often want to shoot first and think later, then call the first draft finished. Building in storyboards, rough cuts, and a required revision round before the final usually fixes both.

  • My child says their project is done after one try. What should I say?

    Ask what they would change if they had one more hour. Then ask them to actually try one of those changes. Treating the first version as a draft, not the finish line, is the habit this grade is trying to build.

  • How do students learn to give and take feedback on each other's work?

    They use shared criteria to talk about specific parts of a project, like pacing, sound, or how clearly the message comes through. Critique works best when it points to evidence in the work and suggests one change to try, not a general thumbs up or down.

  • How do I know my child is ready for eighth grade media arts?

    By spring, they should be able to pitch an idea, plan it on paper, build a draft, revise it based on feedback, and explain their choices to someone else. If those five steps feel familiar to them, they are ready.