assessment strategies

Exhibitions and Displays

I got this strategy from the book and thought it was what most resembles the assessment I had in my elementary art experiences. This strategy suggests that teachers display their student’s artwork in various way s so that it is not only the teacher who can assess what learning has been going but everyone else as well. The parents, fellow teachers, administration and peers can all see the depth of knowledge that went into the art projects and see the value of art in schools. This strategy also motivates the students to do their absolute best work. They will try their hardest to make sure what everyone sees is a true portrayal of their skills and knowledge.

• Teachers can display artwork for parent teacher conference and kind of use it as a quick snap shot of what the students have been doing all year. They can also display the work in the hallway and just switch it out every so often as the students work progresses. Something that would be fun to do with the community is to have an art exhibition and invite the students to show their favorite piece of work for friends and family to come and see.

Objectives

I’m no sure if this is it’s own strategy but I think that it is a good way to assess students in an art classroom. Having specific objectives gives the students an idea of what they will be assessed on. They will be motivated to do what you ask them to if they completely understand it. I think this assessment is best suited for those students just starting out in an art class. This is a good way to teach skills or fundamental concepts and know that the students are comprehending. It involves more structure and so wouldn’t be the best strategy to always go with but I think in the beginning stages it would be appropriate.

• Teachers could use this approach when emphasizing a certain style, time period or culture. When teaching about specific artists you could give your student’s direct objectives so that they can learn and experience the same style of artwork as that artist. Again, like I mentioned before it would be appropriate for students who are just beginning so they have critic and structure until they learn the skills necessary to venture out on their own and really be able to express on paper what they have created in their minds.

Art Criticism

Have the students’ critic famous pieces of art, or even their peers artwork if you think they can handle it, and look for specific things that have been featured in class. You check for their understanding of art concepts and vocabulary by seeing if they can identify them in the work of others. Have them explain why that particular feature works or doesn’t work in a painting based on what you’ve taught them in class.

• This strategy can be applied whenever you are learning about different artist, cultures, or just new concepts and skills. This can also be beneficial when trying to integrate art with other subjects because you could try to getting the kids to in corporate the feel, textures, or tone to a piece the correlates to the topic you are addressing.

http://home.oise.utoronto.ca/~hinwood/art_assessment.htm

Effort and Attitude

If students take responsibility for their artwork and the process it takes, show pride in what they’ve created, and contribute positively to class discussion and critics I think that can be an adequate assessment. IN the art classroom it is hard to really assess the students because they are all at different levels of skill and ability. IN the elementary classrooms where art is really for learning and expression not so much grades and end of year tests, I think this strategy is very appropriate. If you can tell that the child tried their best and had fun with the project I think that should definitely count for something. A lot of times projects that the students have full creativity in and no limits are the ones that they really throw themselves into and learn a lot about themselves from. I think these projects are extremely beneficial assigned once in a while but not every time.

• This strategy would be most accurate when used on fun creative projects that you really just want to know about the student or see what their skill level is at. You could also use this when integrating other content classes by asking the students to interpret an idea onto paper or illustrate the topic being discussed. In this manner you could easily assess what the student got from the discussion or what they felt was most important because it would be what they put down on the paper.

http://blogs.scholastic.com/arts/2008/10/assessment-stra.html

Levels

I watched a video online about this strategy so I hope I understood it correctly. You have levels that the students are put into at the beginning of the year and they progress throughout those levels. Their grade is dependant on what level they perform at. The teacher outlines exactly what it takes to be at each level and what you need to do to move up to the next level. They emphasize hot to progress through the levels so that the students are really building on their skills and acquiring art abilities. The give each student feedback on their art work telling them what their current level is and then sort of a heck list of things that would need to be improved in order to meet the next levels qualifications. The teachers that used this strategy took their level qualifications straight from the state or national standards. They then simplified the language so that it was “kid-friendly”.

• This type of assessment would not work with the younger grades you would want to use it with kids that are able to self-critic or that can handle the kind of pressure that comes with having to prove what grade you deserve. If you have a big classroom this would be a good way to make sure that you weren’t comparing the students to each other but that their grade was dependent on what work they were able to do and the progress that they made. When you do an art project that would take a couple of weeks this is a good way to continuously improve it and make sure it was their best work by the end.

http://www.teachers.tv/videos/ks3-ks4-creative-arts-art-assessment-awarding-levels