Making Students Proud

When I speak to many of my students for the first time, they are nervous about taking an art class. They feel they're bad at drawing and that I am going to judge their work on standards set by other students who are "much better" than they are. One of my missions as an art teacher is to help my students become more confident in their work. When they feel confident, they work harder on their drawings which sometimes even translates to work in their other classes. As a student who struggled in the beginning of high school, I didn't really believe I could achieve good grades until one of my teachers showed me I could by helping me earn my first A. After that, I worked very hard to keep an average of A's and B's for the rest of high school and got into my first choice of colleges.
I see many of my students feeling as though they can't succeed and I am striving to find ways to help them feel confident in what they do so they can use this confidence in all aspects of their learning. A couple ways I have done this in my classroom are giving detailed feedback and posting their work for others to see.
When I give students feedback, I make sure it is detailed and includes both positive comments and ways for them to improve (growth-producing feedback!). Because I don't always have the opportunity to talk to every student about each project, my written feedback is where they get this information. 
Some examples of feedback: 
"-------, this is a great start. It looks like you used linear perspective correctly here to create a complex 3-dimensional house. However, your drawing is very sketch-like and looks unfinished. Please spend some more time on this drawing to complete it for an A. (Think about what you can add to the setting, darken up lines, straighten up lines)."
"------, your use of detail is fantastic in this drawing and your house looks 3-dimensional. However, it does not look like you used a vanishing point as your guide. Remember, the vanishing point is always on the horizon line. Please review my corrections and submit a quick sketch showing me you understand how to use a vanishing point in your drawing for an A." For this feedback I also gave the student visual feedback as well to help him improve (see below)

As an online teacher I don't have a bulletin board to display student work so instead I use digital tools. In the past I have used simple HTML pages to display images of student work but I have found a new, exciting tool this year. I use a website called Animoto to create videos of student artwork. As a teacher you can get a free education account if you are a teacher which gives you more video themes to pick from and does not limit the number of videos you can create. This tool makes viewing their artwork and classmates' work fun and engaging and I have had wonderful feedback so far from students and administrators.

The Perks of Data

Pre-test grades earned by students

I am beginning the second week of my semester this week and learning a lot about my students. As I have talked about in previous entries, I have students fill out an “interest inventory” or get to know you assignment at the beginning of my class. This semester, I am also piloting a pre-test that measures what students already know about art. At the end of the class they will take this test again (with some different questions on the same information) to display the growth they have made in my course. My interest inventory has always told me much about what my students wanted to learn and what they already knew, but the pre-test has taken it to a new level. I am now able to gage the level of understanding for specific concepts. I put a question in the pre-test asking students if they had ever taken an art class before, it turns out that 55% have prior art experience while 45% do not. Almost half of my students are completely new to this subject so depending on their interests, they may have never drawn realistically before. I analyzed the data from the test to see what concepts students were widely familiar with and which they were often incorrect about. Students understood foreground, pattern, texture, portraits, primary colors, mixed media, and abstract art, or they were at least able to guess the correct answers for them. I was surprised to see how much they already feel comfortable with coming in. This tells me that when I get to these concepts in the curriculum, students won't need as much time in the lesson to focus on the terms, but perhaps we can spend more time going over examples and brainstorming for their projects. On the other hand, students were often incorrect on the questions about linear perspective, value, art criticism, and cubism. This data seems to match up with what are usually some of the most difficult lessons to teach. Having this information early will help me focus in on these lessons and provide multiple ways of learning. I added a question to my interest inventory that I found to be very helpful in understanding what methods I should use to teach these lessons. When asked which method students preferred for learning a new technique, they preferred demonstrations most often (see below).

Now I know what my students feel more comfortable with, what they will most likely struggle with, and how they learn best. With a class of 260 students, trends in data are very important to pay attention to! I will use this data to guide my instruction and look forward to seeing student growth at the end of my semester. 

Collaboration Between Students

Last week we closed up the first semester and I said farewell to my students. Two of those students are particularly special to me as they created an experience I didn’t expect to see in my large course of over 200 students. These students met in my class and became close friends. Every week of this semester I held an optional art sharing and critique day and the students who attended really gained a lot in their discussion skills and many of them created art outside of class to share during these sessions. Nearing the end of our class, I presented a project about Cubism in which students create two pieces of art, one being realistic and then a version of the first piece that reflects Cubism. The two students who became close friends asked me if they could work together and instead of changing their own pieces of art to reflect Cubism, they would like to change each other’s. The students met in our art critique sessions each week and shared in progress work while myself and their other classmates gave feedback. My students were able to collaborate and successfully completed the project, working off of each other's pieces of art to change them. It was a very positive experience for myself as a teacher to watch these motivated students work together (without the ability to speak with each other outside of class or in person). Next semester, I am planning to work with my Art 5 students to collaborate on a virtual class art show and I have high hopes for them after seeing these students use the tools and time we have to work together. Below you’ll see their finished pieces. 

"Realistic" by Barbara

"Cubist" by Bowen

"Realistic" by Bowen

"Cubist" by Barbara

Trying New Things

 

I apologize for the lack of entries lately. Winter break kept me busy relaxing. I am now getting prepared for the second semester of this school year and the first time I will be teaching Art 5. I am excited to finally put the course to work and see how students respond. I also have added more assignments to Art 1 that align with the Common Core standards as well as a pre-test and post-test to measure student growth. Starting next school year, 50% of my evaluation will be measuring student growth in my class. Next semester the Art 1 classes will test a multiple choice, multiple answer, essay, and short answer assessment. I am very excited to see the results and also a little nervous to see how much my students learn and retain at the end of the course. The pre and post-tests include art history and media questions as well as well as questions that have students explain why they chose a particular answer for a previous question, as the PARCC test will do. Lastly there are two essay questions: one that asks students to write about the merits of art education in schools and the other a critique of a specific piece of art they have never seen. I will be sharing the results of the pre-test and I believe this data will help drive my instruction. Previously I have issued a survey for students to take where they are asked what they already know about art, rather than specific questions. I believe the pre-test will give me more specific results. Also, this semester I am taking a Spanish course online. This is the first course I have ever taken online and I am doing an experiment to see how I perform in such an environment. I am already starting to understand the perspective of my students and the challenges of self-motivation. I am hoping these findings will help me serve them better. Stay tuned!

Thoughts on Common Core and the Arts

I just spent the last 2 full days learning about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the PARCC test that will go along with them. While at first overwhelmed and confused about how to apply these new literacy standards to the existing art curriculum, I have spent time researching what others are doing and working with my teammates to come up with some ideas. I am now very excited about these new standards. It has been said that the shift from the OGT test and current standards to the PARCC test and CCSS will switch our focus as teachers from teaching students what to think to teaching students how to think. And while the OGT’s never tested the arts, the CCSS for literacy is being introduced as everyone’s responsibility. They even have specific standards for us to meet, grouping all electives into a category called “other technical subjects”. Though this gives us art teachers more to cover in our classes and more curriculum to write, I am happily embracing this challenge to help our students become better thinkers. It seems to me that the CCSS are here to encourage us all to be better educators and really prepare our students for college and careers. Looking at the standards there were many things I was unclear about. One point of emphasis in the literacy standards was having students read complex texts. At first I wondered where we would find these complex texts for our students to read (online we do not have a text book to refer to) and also how these complex texts might relate to visual learning. I started googling “common core and the arts” and found a very helpful blog post (here) that outlines how a piece of art can be a “text” that students read. This really helped me get past my confusion and helped me come up with my first CCSS aligned lesson for my Art 1 classroom. Students complete a project in Art 1 where they create two portraits where at least one contains symbolism. In our live session we look at Renaissance portraiture and how artists communicate to the viewer about their subject such as personality or social standing. Though we always discuss this topic, I never have them write about it. Therefore, this lesson was one that could use a writing portion, and why not align it to the CCSS? Below is the assignment I came up with that I will be trying out next semester. It encourages students to “read” the pieces of art, analyze them, and provide evidence for their conclusions (evidence is very important in the literacy CCSS).

Portrait Analysis

You will begin your study of portraits in this lesson by looking at and analyzing the way that artists create portraits. Portraits often contain symbolism within them. Symbolism is the use of something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance. When artists use symbolism in portraits they are communicating about their subject to the viewer. For example, the type of clothing a subject is wearing in a portrait can tell us about their social class or the culture they come from. The objects surrounding the subject can tell about them too, if they are surrounded by books perhaps they are a student or scholar. For this assignment you will act as a detective to find clues within 2 portraits that inform you about the subject of the work!

Artemisia Gentileschi, 1615 Self Portrait as a Female Martyr	Paul Gauguin, 1886, Self-Portrait
Frida Kahlo, 1940 Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird	Kehinde Wiley, 2007, Dwayne I

Your Assignment

You will need to choose 2 portraits to write about from above. Write a detailed paragraph about each portrait answering the following questions: What kind of social class is the subject from? (wealthy, poor, middle class, royal...etc.) How does the artist communicate this? What do you think the subject's personality is like? How does the artist communicate this? Are their symbols present in the portrait? What do you think they mean? Why? Why do you think this portrait was created? Is there a story behind it? Why or why not? Make sure you are giving specific examples of evidence from each portrait for your answers. Think about how these artists captured their subjects in these portraits when creating your own portrait drawings! How can you show this person's personality and likeness? How can you incorporate symbolism? Submit your finished essay to the dropbox.

I am just beginning this task of aligning curriculum with the CCSS but I expect I’ll be posting more lesson ideas soon!

National Parent Involvement Day

 

Today is National Parent Involvement Day and my school celebrated by encouraging students to get their parents involved in their education. Students were asked to tell family members what they love about going to school online and give tours of their classrooms. Recently, our LMS added a Parent Portal that will give parents and guardians access to many useful tools to help their students succeed. It gives them an inbox that receives messages teachers specify for parents and access full classroom content. It also allows parents to see midterm and quarter grades, upcoming events, and how many credits their student still needs to graduate. I am hoping this new tool helps parents become more involved and aware of their childrens’ progress in school. As every teacher knows, parental involvement is essential in a child’s education. Other ways I try to get parents involved: newsletters home, personal phone calls, and field trips. Tomorrow I will be attending a field trip to a local art museum and I hope to meet many of my students and parents!

Developing an Online/Blended Studio Art Course

I have recently been asked by a former cooperating teacher to share my incites about creating an online art class. His department is being asked to do this for their brick and mortar school. So many schools are starting to create blended learning programs within their schools and I decided to share my ideas I'll be presenting to these teachers here as well.

Important Points to Remember

• Set a timeline and due dates-This allows a flexible class to still have structure and keep students on track with their work. See image to the left.
• Provide multiple forms of instruction (written instructions, visuals, student examples, videos)-You should provide everything you would in a traditional classroom but in a digital format. If you were to do a demonstration, make a video. Images of artwork and student examples can really get students interested and communicate the content better.
• Provide multiple forms of assessment (quizzes check reading, project demonstrates mastery, reflection questions show understanding)-I use projects as the biggest form of assessment in my classroom but I find quizzes and written work show another view of what students understand and are taking home from each lesson.
• Simple materials unless provided-Unlike the traditional classroom where you order supplies, in many cases students need to provide their own. Keep it simple when choosing supplies keeping in mind safety and cost.
• Be available for questions-Students need to know they can reach you if they need help by email, telephone, or in person.
• Give feedback for every grade-Written feedback is essential for communicating to students who are working independently about how they can improve or what they are successful at. In my classroom students are also able to make corrections and resubmit work for a better grade. This is something I have found to work well but it is up to you.

Sample Lessons

For a complete look at all the elements I include in the lesson visit my What Does a Lesson Look Like? post.
Here I have provided some images of what the curriculum pages look like in my classroom.

 

Art 1 Sample Lesson

This Art 1 lesson includes many visuals, some vocabulary, and many written instructions for students because this is an introductory course. I also included a video in this lesson to show what it looks like when someone is doing the shading techniques. I encourage students to include objects in their still life that tell a story. For most Art 1 projects they have a week to complete them.

 

Art 5 Sample Lesson

By contrast, this Art 5 lesson includes lesson visuals, more writing, and a project about concept rather than technique. The students in Art 5 should have much more experience in working independently on projects and are working on creating a portfolio for colleges. For Art 5, students have multiple weeks to complete projects but I ask for in progress work checks to provide feedback and direction when needed.