Assessment

Art and Assessment. That is a tricky one. I've had lots of questions about this one since I started teaching this year. As far as pre assessment, I haven't done a lot of that. There was an instance where I was about to give out an assignment to my high school kids, but realized it would only work if they had some prior skill, so I assessed by raise of hands, who felt comfortable in value drawings, or would they like a warm up assignment before getting into the next project. I was shocked that they all wanted the warm up and I was then able to check their skills and give them things to work on when we did move on to the more advanced assignment. It's tricky, because I haven't taught these students before and because it's art, their skills and knowledge base is scattered.

In my eight grade class, where things are going much smoother second semester, I've been able to design warm up activities for most of our projects so I am able to see progress at the end of the larger assignment. I've had a couple of projects where post assessment has been successful because I've broken them down into different objectives and given points based on those objectives, for instance, project theme, completeness and neatness. I was then able to give a more non biased grade, rather than purely looking at their work as an art critic. I think it makes it fair for everyone.

Another thing I've done, is taken the time to go into their portfolios and look at their work. I'm able to get a good look at where the talent and effort lies within my class. We made mini sketchbooks at the beginning of the semester and inside there is a place for the students to assess themselves. They can check the boxes for, I did it, I got it, I need help with it, Mrs. Ruiz has passed it off, and then we are able to move forward from there. I am constantly consulting with my mentor as to the best practices of assessing the kids artwork and look forward to learning more as I take further classes.