Instruction & Assessment
Teaching art is such a fulfilling content area, and it enables art makers to express themselves more deeply. Students are figuring out who they are, what they care about, how to be a participant in the world, and communicate in ways that words might fall short. I can see how the art classroom provides opportunities for k-12 students to practice patience, empathy, introspection, persistence, and collaboration.
Assessment in the art studio is crucial for all stakeholders— teachers, students, parents, and admin. Assessment functions as a way for teachers to create meaningful and stimulating lessons or demos for students to utilize for artmaking inspiration. It also allows a way to judge how successful a lesson or demo was, and identifies issues or potential places for changes that the teacher can make. Assessment historically has been formal and final way to grade students, and for admin to give observations to instructors. I believe that it is extremely beneficial for students to be a part of the assessment process, and that final assessments deprive them of the ability to make changes during the artmaking process, not just at the end for a new project they do in the future. Self assessment is one of the most important forms for both teacher and student. It gives students a level of accountability and awareness of their internal processes. When should a teacher assess? It should be happening all the time, even when it’s not obvious to a viewer.
Summative assessments in the art classroom can show up as quizzes, portfolio reviews, and tests. They are the least common method of assessment, since the art studio is typically focused on process, not end product. Inevitably, there does need to be some product that a teacher can observe to offer a grade or standard reached by the artist. I think that low-stakes quizzes can be fun and help support units on learning the studio habits or elements and principles of design. It can also be a great way to assess how much students are remembering about stations that need a lot of safety requirements or technical skill. Formative portfolio or gallery reviews can also provide students with a needed “push” to consider an artwork finished, which can be really difficult for young students. I also found that I was doing more frequent summative assessments with middle school students than I have been with elementary students.
Formative assessments are the most amorphous, continuous, and can be deployed on an as-needed basis. Teachers can advise students in ways to change or make adjustments to their works in progress. Formative assessments can also help students workshop how to strengthen their art visions. Teachers can provide journal prompts, exit tickets, and works-in-progress checks to see how a student is working and thinking in the art room. In a busy classroom, these written formative assessments can provide the teacher with insight for students that might be more quiet or shy, compared to the students that typically get more attention or expect more teacher focus.
Effort grades can be subjective and difficult to deploy equitably. I think it is worth noting that each student has to be assessed in effort and behavior appropriately, and to ensure that students have room to improve and grow in their assessments on engagement. As long as the student is physically in the class, the student should never be receiving a zero on any assessments, and even if students are earning a “1” on a 4 grading scale, they always have the chance to resubmit work, rework anything that didn’t meet expectations, or they can explain why their process didn’t work out, and what could be changed for future projects.
Making accommodations for assessment ensures that all students have the opportunity to succeed. Different ability levels in students effect how students can be assessed when a teacher is constructing a rubric, so keeping that rubric as flexible and equitable as possible is key. Assessments should also always be linked to the standards, so that students know how their actions in class connect to the grades or assessments that the teachers are doing. I have experienced my own assessments falling flat, and realizing that it wasn’t the students that didn’t “get” my intended concepts, but rather it was my own disconnect between my Big Ideas and the demonstrations/lectures I was giving. It really helped me improve the same lesson the next time I taught it.