Arts at mis

At Midtown International School, the Arts are recognized as an essential part of our everyday life. MIS offers a wide variety of arts classes to develop and nurture the students’ unique gifts and talents. The students can create their own arts experience and learn through theatre, sculpture, drawing, photography, music, and film studies. The classes are enriched through carefully selected field trips to arts institutions such as the High Museum of Art or the Atlanta Symphony or visits to local artists. All of our arts classes encourage and develop a growth mindset through a process oriented creative curriculum and an emphasis on intentional thinking through design. The Arts at MIS promote empathy and enable students to collaborate, communicate, and cultivate a spirit of community in which learning can be fun.

Theater

MIS Theatre is devoted to building student confidence, knowledge, and growth.
MIS Theatre designs intentional projects and performance opportunities that challenge students to explore, expand, create, and collaborate both on and off stage. Working within a nurturing and safe environment, students focus on producing quality performance through solid theatrical principles.
Tone Lane
​Theater & Public Speaking

Public speaking

Public Speaking and Presentation is about creating tomorrow's leaders.
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​PSP students are engaged with the tools and principles that are currently being used in today’s thriving business, social media, visual and audible platforms.
Don’t You Dare Say UM
“Don’t You Dare Say UM” is an annual public speaking competition where students train and compete for first place. Speakers are judged on voice, diction, body/gesturing, and content relevance. They are given a topic and have one minute to successfully deliver a speech without saying “UM” or UGH.” In addition, there is a 4 second delay rule in place.

Visual arts

In the MIS Visual Arts studio, students will recognize themselves as creative and capable artists, and understand how visual arts has a place in culture and society.

The MIS Visual Arts program allows students to develop their artistic skills through a challenging and engaging art curriculum. The MIS Visual Arts Department strives to give students the opportunity to develop their creative-thinking and problem-solving skills as they explore a variety of mediums and techniques and apply them to their own unique works of art.

The MIS Visual Arts department believes that all students have a natural desire to create and visually express themselves, their ideas, and their curiosities, and therefore each student receives instruction and support that best benefits his or her needs. Student achievement is based on the individual progress of a student and their ability to work through challenges, towards the completion of their own artwork.
Lower Grades
​Kindergarten through 4th grade students will use their imagination and creative-thinking skills to generate ideas and express themselves through their artwork. Students will be given the opportunity to explore a variety of mediums and art techniques to strengthen their artistic skills while learning about other cultures and making real life connections. Students will brainstorm, visualize, and sketch on their own and with a group to develop their ideas from start to finish, and understand that art is a process. Throughout the school year, students will participate in art exercises and work on various works of art that focus on one or more of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.
Middle Grades
In middle school, students will examine their own art progress and use critical-thinking skills to improve their art techniques in various mediums. They will make a greater effort in creating meaningful works of art that capture their own thoughts and ideas on selected themes and issues. They will brainstorm, visualize, and sketch on their own and with a group to continually develop their ideas before working on a final piece. Throughout the year, they will discover their own style of art, while gaining an appreciation for art history. They will make intentional choices with one or more of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design, and practice giving and receiving constructive feedback while they discuss their own work and that of their peers.
Upper Grades
Junior high and high school students are given the opportunity to explore and focus on the following art disciplines: Photography, Mixed-Media, Illustration, Film & Media Studies, and Mural Making.

Music

Students at MIS dive immediately into music and get a hands on learning experience.
Through the integration of music, movement, and speech, the students build a foundational understanding of music and musicianship and instill lifelong learning with and through music.
Students experience a broad variety of musical impressions, and learn about ways to musically express themselves through singing, dancing, playing instruments, listening to music, and music theory.
Andrew Schmidt
Music Team Lead
Chorus
​The MIS Chorus is offered as an elective starting in fourth grade.
Chorus emphasizes on vocal development, music comprehension, and the study of a variety of choral repertoire. The students develop basic vocal techniques and skills including: awareness, good posture, tone quality, diction, and vocal health. The students also focus on understanding and practice of basic elements of music including music reading skills. The students perform at various school concerts.