Arts

Performing and Media Arts

Performing and Media Arts at SGS

In Performance & Media Arts at SGS, students learn to tell stories, take creative risks, and find their voice—on stage, on camera, and behind the scenes. From improv lessons to plays to photography to podcasting to filmmaking, students explore movement, media, and performance in ways that are engaging, collaborative, and deeply personal.

In 5th grade, students build confidence through improv, character design, and theatrical storytelling. By 6th grade, they’re experimenting with multimedia—writing poems, filming with green screens, and performing original work rooted in identity and creativity. In 7th and 8th grades, students take on even more responsibility and creative freedom: crafting podcasts, music videos, and short films that explore culture, communication, and visual storytelling. Along the way, they build concrete technical skills, reflect on their growth, and celebrate their work in community showcases.

PMA is a space where students are encouraged to express themselves boldly, experiment with technology as a medium for storytelling, and connect with others through the power of story.


 

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5th Grade PMA Overview

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  • Comic-Con Unit (Winter Term)

    ✓ Build and design a character based on values
    ✓ Design a superhero costume based on values
    ✓ Learn the story arc of “Hero’s Journey” or “Character’s Journey”
    ✓ Perform a speech with the class at the culmination with a costume that embodies the characteristics of the super person they created.

  • Intro to Improv and Theatre Skills (Spring Term)

    ✓ Learn basic improv and theatre skills
    ✓ Begin to learn how to use voice and body to express emotions
    ✓ Perform in mini-plays
    ✓ Work in teams to create short skits
    ✓ Learning various poses and movements to learn embodiment

6th Grade PMA Overview

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  • Science Fiction & Multimedia (Fall Term)

    ✓ Participate in improv and theatre exercises
    ✓ Collaborate with Humanities to learn the basics of Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futures, and Climate Fiction (CliFi)
    ✓ Learn the basics of storytelling and story arcs
    ✓ Learn about social justice themes for stories

  • Visual Storytelling (Fall Term)

    ✓ Create and perform in class plays
    ✓ Filming with Panasonic point-and-shoot cameras and using online editing software
    ✓ Learning how to rearrange, clip, split, and delete media clips with WeVideo
    ✓ Using green screen keying effects and editing effects on WeVideo
    ✓ Creating and filming a visual story with a basic storyboard

  • Avatar Movement (Winter Term)

    ✓ Learning various poses and movements using Avatar masks from Art Class
    ✓ Creating an identity-based character
    ✓ Making a multimedia project that highlights their combined skills learned in PMA, Art, and Humanities

  • Poetry Performance (Winter Term)

    ✓ Collaborate with Humanities to create a poem and perform it on a stage with a mic
    ✓ Create an Oriki (power statement based on identity) and perform it
    ✓ Participate in Poetry Night Culmination by using voice and body to express emotions tied to movements

7th Grade PMA Overview

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  • Audio Unit (Winter Term)

    ✓ Record with Zoom voice recorders
    ✓ Create mock radio commercials and real public service announcements (PSA)
    ✓ Learn to edit in audio software
    ✓ Create and record a Justice Monologue or a podcast

  • Music Videos (Spring Term)

    ✓ Use DSLR cameras to create a music video
    ✓ Learn to stage a music video and block their concepts
    ✓ Perform or showcase videos for in-class culmination

  • Photography Unit (Fall Term)

    ✓ Create “Frozen Statues”- Learn concepts of space, body, and consent
    ✓ Learn how to use a DSLR camera

8th Grade PMA Overview

List of 2 items.

  • Introduction to Filmmaking (Spring Term)

    ✓ Create a collaboration structure, utilize consensus building, and use critical peer feedback
    ✓ Film crew task management 
    ✓ Learn and utilize a formal screenwriting format
    ✓ Write a screenplay
    ✓ Create a movie production pitch with a script & storyboard
    ✓ Use Adobe Premiere editing software
    ✓ Finish their last SGS culmination called “Movie Premiere” featuring their work

  • Production - Filming & Editing (Fall Term)

    ✓ Create an independent film focused on pop cultural critique
    ✓ Create three Short Films in a 2-week group challenge to learn specific camera techniques and camera angles

Seattle Girls' School

Located in the Central District, Seattle Girls' School is an independent school for girls and gender nonconforming students in grades 5-8. Our mission is to inspire and develop courageous leaders who think independently, work collaboratively, learn joyfully, and champion change.

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