Assessment Strategies

            While art education provides students with wonderful opportunities for creativity and lessons in life, another large part of art education that will assist them in life is the assessment portion. “The primary purpose of assessment is to determine students' achievement of the Arts expectations; however, this same information can also be used to determine the effectiveness of prograams and teaching methods to enable all students to achieve to the best of their abilities” (Assessment in Visual Arts). While the assessments help the teacher, students learn how to assess other aspects of their lives, other subjects in school and learn the best ways to do this. There are two types of assessments that should be used, summative and formative. Examples that can be used in the classroom are listed below.

            There are summative assessments that should be used within the art education program. These types of assessment are used to, “diagnose, revise curricula and determine if objectives have been met” (Clements). For instance, one can give the children a questionnaire to fill out with questions like “what was good about art this year? What did you learn this year about how to make art?, Do you have ideas to make art class better?”(Clements). Another way to use summative assessment is by having the students create portfolios that they turn in at the end of the year.  “The portfolio is a great way to illustrate improvement over time” (Assessment). When the student hands in the portfolio, the instructor can then grade all the final products that have been worked on throughout the course. Rubrics are also a good type of summative assessment. In art, often people define art differently. “ The best way to take the subjectivity away is to have a rubric that explains in detail the amount of proficiency there must be for each aspect of the assignment”(Assessment). It works even better if the instructor works to involve the students in creating the rubric so that each of their perspectives on what should be assessed is taken into account.

            As for formative assessments, these types of assessments are used to help students throughout the process of creating their art. They should be, “conducted as students form their art pieces and form their thoughts during art discussions” (Clements). A great way to assess student’s interest and skill throughout the different art projects and processes is with the use of a visual journal/sketchbook. “This is a great way for students to reflect on current projects...notes or thoughts can be written or drawn” (Assessment in Visual Arts). By allowing them to have a more private space, the instructor can get a feel as to how the student is doing with certain tasks, feeling about a certain project, especially if they tend to be quiet on the one to one level. These can be assessed with, “a tally sheet showing the regularity or as a means of checking the development of ideas for a project” (Assessment in Visual Arts). One great way to do a formative assessment is through having the students do demonstrations for whatever skill or project is being worked on. As they demonstrate for others, whether the class, or in small groups, the instructor will be able to see their progress on certain skills and lessons (Assessment in Visual Arts). While the above are great ways of assessing the student, the best way is to watch and talk to them about the project they are working on. By having a ‘conference’ with them, the instructor can discuss their self-assessment by asking if, “they are happy with it so far or what do they feel like changing?” As the instructor, they can simply give open ended questions and suggestions that will lead the student to assess their works based on the criteria and help them as they progress with a certain skill or project (Assessment in Visual Arts).

" Incredible @rt Department. Ed. Ken Rohrer. incredibleart.org, 2010. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. <http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/toolbox/assessment.html>.

"Assessment in the Visual Arts." Art Ed Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. <http://home.oise.utoronto.ca/~hinwood/art_assessment.htm>.

It is of special importance that equal ROM ABOE

Clements, Robert D., and Frank Wachowiak. Emphasis Art: A Qualitative Art Program for Elementary and Middle Schools. 9th ed. San Francisco: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. 52-56. Print.

Contour Line Drawings

 

The contour drawings were interesting to do because using the viewfinder I was surprised how mine turned out. I usually have a problem with proportion if I am not using a grid, and luckily the viewfinder helped me much more than I expected it too. As for the images, the first once I chose was a part of a lamp. I knew immediately it would provide me with an image I could crop and draw at an angle. I see this lamp every day and usually it is just a lamp. However, this day it was a real piece of art, with beautiful lines, shapes and proportions. Simple drawings of every day items can helps us to really see the beauty in them which I did.

The table drawing came as I was waiting in a building for class to start. Again, I realized it had some unique lines to it, and though I didn't draw them a part that was so unique was the way the tiles reflected in the window behind the table. The candle I chose to draw was chosen for it's many curved lines. Often curves can be hard to see and draw correctly. While it was not my best, to me it was one of the more fun items to draw because while a candle, I found it's curves and lines beautiful, especially as a whole object.

Art Critique in the Classroom

        Art evaluation and critiquing within elementary classrooms is an important part and aspect of art education. This process of having children assess each other’s work allows them to develop even more skills that will be useful in late life. By having to critique work, they will learn methods to giving constructive criticism which is a skill that not many people possess. Students will also be able to understand each other better and learn from one another’s works, when given the perspective of other students. As is mentioned in Emphasis Art, “If you can bring children to notice something they have never noticed before, to see with their inner eye, you will have started them on a rewarding journey toward a thousand discoveries” (Clements p52).

Children will begin to look at objects, not just art with a different perspective. Throughout other classes and subjects, like history or English, they will be able to better assess their own works within assignments... When conducting an art critique, the instructor must remember to be considerate of several factors. One of the biggest being that, the point of a critique is to help students grow and learn from themselves and others. It is necessary to make sure the children are using not only art related terms but are identifying details and what they are feeling. In Emphasis Art, this consideration is mentioned, students, “…saying that Jose’s work is sad…is not enough. Students need to be able to identify specific visual details, qualities of art that support emotional response” (Clements p 52). Other considerations include making sure to call on quiet students and allow them the chance to give their opinions. Instructors must always remember to encourage positive comments and remind the students that negative comments are not appropriate, until they learn to phrase things in a neutral or positive way (Bartel).

There are numerous exercise and methods that can be used with students to help them grow when it comes to having to critique a piece of art. One great exercise to have older students, who are comfortable writing, do, is to draw names out of a hat of two other students. Afterwards give them a few minutes to study the artwork and then write out first what they want to say. The instructor can give them some open ended, soft questions to answer like, “What do you see? What is the most creative thing you see?”(Bartel). Then remind the students they cannot give any negative comments. As the students are critiquing, make sure they know that suggestions are not allowed but instead use open ended questions to help bring in other ideas (Bartel). Afterward, the artist can have a moment to explain their work. In this process, no child’s feelings will be hurt, and students can learn to look deeper and see the views of their other classmates (Bartel).

While the above method allows the students more freedom, another great exercise when they critique each others artworks is one with more structure. This follows the exercise we used in class. First have the students either pair of or hang up their pieces on a wall. Then begin first with description. Ask students to tell you who the artist is and tell you what was used to make it, as well as where and when it was created (Payne). They can also describe the lines, or light they see. Then move on to analyzing the art piece. Ask the students how it as planned, and the points of emphasis (Payne). Help them identify the points of emphasis, such as a figure or a specific scene (Payne). The student can then begin to interpret the work, ask them to describe how it makes them feel, if it reminds them of other things they have experienced or how it relates to other events or times of the world (Payne). Finally, in the judgment step, the instructor must be careful that the students use art language and not any negative language. Ask them to present their opinions, or compare it with other similar works and a great point is to ask them how original the work is/isn’t, and what makes it that way (Payne). Through these and many other exercise, the students in class will begin to critique even better and use the tools they learn in the lessons, outside of just the art classroom.

Bartel, Marvin. "Critique to Foster Artistic Creativity." Art Education. "Leave No MIND Behind", 2008. Web. 17 Sept. 2010. <http://www.bartelart.com/arted/critique08.html>.

Clements, Robert D., and Frank Wachowiak. Emphais Art: A Qualitative Art Program for Elementary and Middle Schools. 9th ed. San Francisco: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. 52-56. Print.

Payne, Joyce. "Teaching Students to Critique." ArtsEdge. The Kennedy Center, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2010. <http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3338/>.

Self Portrait

When we were told we would be doing our self portraits, I was definitely nervous at first, especially when I finished my first two attempts. I clearly had some issues with the proportion of my face and making the features look more realistic instead of cartoonish. I really enjoy drawing with the use of a grid, as it often makes my drawings much more realistic looking and I feel I do a much better job. I enjoyed this assignment a lot, because like I mentioned, I enjoy the grid way. I have done it before and the pieces I drew came out quite well for someone who hasn't taken many art classes. (Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures!!)

Attempt 1

Attempt 2

Attempt 3- I continued to work on and redo the final picture and it turned out better than I thought it would

Picasso

Having to create 8 designs was a project that while very time consuming I really enjoyed. I really had to dig deep for some creativity in deciding what designs to do. However, I also loved the structure to the assignment like having to use complementary colors, etc., because it helped me to learn more about the color wheel and structured part of art than just pulling out designs. I am really happy with the way my designs turned out, I probably could have come up with a couple better ones, but I think for this being my first really creative art design in awhile, I did well.

I must admit I LOVED putting our 8 designs, or other ones we came up with, into the our blind contour drawings. The idea is a wonderful way to get a Picasso like piece of art and was really fun too. I did like the way my head turned out with the designs except that it looks like a man, when originally it was the drawing of a girl. I suppose it is good it just looks like a person.

Why teach Art?

Throughout schools today many art programs are being cut because school boards do not think that art education is as necessary and needed as are math, English and history programs. The arts," have been marginalized in public education...are treated as educational frills...and are the the first pursuits to be dispensed when resources are scarce" (Kamhi).It is this kind of thinking that is creating that may create a downward spiral of our education systems. Art is one of the most crucial aspects of our education, for as we learn and grow, art will be an every day part of our lives. Students need to have and deserve to have art programs because through those programs their lives and learning will be richer, deeper, more real, and will assist them in learning throughout their life.

If students are learning about and attend art classes they will see how useful it is in other classes and aspects of life. Art for instance can be used in and is science, math, history, physical education, technology and more. For instance, art becomes and assisted in physical education as students learn to have coordination of their fingers, hands, body, and arms. Their eyes and arms and other senses must work together as they create. There are also art forms that require real physical strength, such as creating sculptures, working with large pieces of clay, or creating a large painting. By teaching art, we can help teach our students things they will use in everyday life from problem solving strategies, to deep thinking, to opening up their imaginations and really creating something unique. Luckily, the national government has begun to recognize the importance of art in the lives of our students as well as ourselves, and has created a National Arts in Education week which will hopefully help the arts in all the ways mentioned above with our students. "With this declaration, the House is recognizing  that arts education, including the disciplines of dance, music, theater, media arts, literature, design and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element..."(US). Teaching art is teaching life to students. In an article entitled, 'Why Teach Art', there is a wonderful closing list of reasons to teach art,

"WE TEACH ART

So you will be human.

So you will recognize and appreciate true beauty.

So you can communicate from the very depths of your soul.

So you will be sensitive to life and the peoples within it.

So you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world.

So you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness -

more life"(Farrell).

Farrell, Tina. "Why Teach Art?." Incredible @rt Department. Ed. Ken Rohrer. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/Files/why.htm>.

Kamhi, Michelle M. "Why Teach Art?." Aristos. Ed. Louis Torress and Michelle M. Kamhi. The Aristos Foundation, Dec. 2006. Web. 13 Sept. 2010. <http://www.aristos.org/aris-06/efland.htm>. 

" U.S. House of Representatives declares September 12-18, 2010 National Arts in Education Week ." ArtAlly. N.p., 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2010. <http://www.artally.org/index.php/art-education/national-arts-education-week-september-12-18-2010/>.

Reflection

Art is many things to every person. No single person's definition of art is entirely correct. This can clearly be seen in the images posted on the prompts. Each of these items is a piece of art, maybe not to us, but most certainly to the person that created it. Defining what art is can only be done individually for we each have our own definitions. To me, art is almost everything around us, from things in nature which are often arranged in the most beautiful fashion though not by humans, to paintings done by children or famous artists. Art can be whatever we want it to be and for me, I see art in almost everything around even things like buildings, clothes and simple things like hairstyles which are a form of art. I have no perfect definition of art, I only know that when I see something that sparks a thought of creativity or that is beautiful or stirs the emotions I tend to view it as art. I think that if we are able to really open up our minds and look at the world around us as art, we can gain a different perspective on the world and ourselves. One thing I love about actual paintings, drawings, sculptures etc, is the perspective they can give us on the world, emotions, feelings, events etc. However this does not mean they are the only form of art. Art is such an abstract concept which is why it is so fascinating, the fact that we can all interpret it in our own way makes it that much more meaningful. Art does not have to be outwardly beautiful or have to win a prize to be loved, art in the end is just what we want it to be and what we choose to see it as.

Mandala

Creating a mandala was not only fun but helped me to really think about what represents me. There are many other things I could have added but some important ones made it on here, such as my love of chocolate, the sombrero because I love that my mom is from Mexico and the potatoes from my homeland that I love...Idaho.