Assessment: Teacher-centered or Learner-centered?

After taking the test I got Learner Centered. After going through the test it sounds like it is a good fit. I did have a few points for the Teacher centered, but I had all but one for the learner centered. I agree with the evaluating of students of the different things they are good at. That is why I try to break my rubrics up into different categories so students can focus ahead of time on what they might need to work on. I also believe that we are learning together. Students think of new problem solving solutions all the time and that there isn't one right answer in the art classroom. I facilitate our goal for the class, but the students come up with the creative ideas and then I can help guide them. This is one of my favorite parts of being an art teacher, that everyone will do the same project, but they will all look different...it is FANTASTIC! The other part that is so nice is that the kids help each other and teacher each other skills. We all push each other to do our best and to do deeper creative thinking. It is also my job to help keep everyone positive and confident in their work. Sometimes they use need a little encouragement for them to realize what they are truly capable of.

Assessment Pre/post tests and Data in Art

I decided to read an out of one of my favorite websites "The Art of Education." The article was called "Using Pre & Post Tests to Measure Student Growth in Art: Part 1." In the article she defines what her objects of are and has the kids do a pretest so she knows what to focus on. Some of the objectives were proportion and perspective. She asked the students to define these terms and to draw a small sketch of what this would look like. I like that there was both a written response and a visual response to the questions. She then used data by checking off if they mastered the objectives. She used a roster and listed the objects so that the data would be easy to keep track of. She did this for 2 fourth grade classes. Even thought it is 4th grade it will still be easy and helpful for me to be able to incorporate this into my HS classroom. Source used: http://www.theartofed.com/2013/01/29/using-pre-post-tests-to-measure-student-growth-in-art/

Creating Interdependence

This week went by vary fast and there was a lot to get done. I had not intended on see interdependence, since it is an assignment that we do every year, but it was happening without even expecting it to. In my clay class we have been making clay houses. They are all very different and unfortunately there was a choir event in the middle of the week. This sent the students scrambling to finish. The clay can be very tricky with drying times and a 3 day weekend coming up. The kids were right to feel panicked. I have 65 kids taking clay class right now in two sections. What I observed was students helping and teaching each other tricks of the trade or just helping if their friend was behind in class. They weren't doing each others work, but actually sharing and teaching others their skills. It is a fascinating thing to see in the art classroom. I told the kids that were done that they could do homework or free time, but they chose to help each other. I am very proud of them to be confident in their peers. I have very large classes for clay so that might be forcing them to depend on each other besides the teacher.