Assessment in Art

At first I was thinking that assessing art would be almost insensitive. To me, art is so personal that to grade it is almost like grading the person. Yet, if I’m going to teach art, I’m going to have to grade it somehow right?

The thing I liked most from the textbook was this passage:

“Don’t apologize for making suggestions to children, initiating projects, and emphasizing art fundamentals. Where promising sequential , imaginative and qualitative art programs exist, the classroom or special art teacher is organizing, coaching, motivating, questioning, demonstrating, evaluating, approving and advising – in other words, TEACHING (R. D. Clements & F. Wachowiak, 2010, p. 52).”

For some reason in my mind I was thinking real artists would let students discover art on their own by almost letting them roam free. This passage really made the structured teacher inside of me breathe a sigh of relief. The idea of students roaming free with markers, paint, crayons and scissors if frightening to me. It’s nice to know that I can be a teacher and an artist at the same time.

Since I determined guidelines were a must, I needed to find out how to assess if students met those guidelines. In Assessment in Art, it talked about many different ways to assess art. My favorite was portfolios. The book described the portfolio as a story, something that showed the growth of the student (D. K. Beattie, p. 15). I think the best way to assess students in any subject is to look at their progress and using a portfolio is one way to do that.

On a website it suggested that a rubric be used in order to grade art. This is because they take out much of the subjectivity (Art Teacher Toolbox). I think it will be important to use rubrics as well as have students complete a portfolio. This way I will be fair and be able to assess their progress. Overall, I think assessment in art will be manageable.

References

Art Teacher Toolbox, Assessment. Retrieved from: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/toolbox/assessment.html

Beattie, D. K. Assessment in Art. Retrieved from: https://online.uen.org/webct/urw/lc129121021.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

Clements, R. D. & Wachociak, F. (2010). Emphasis Art. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.