SLO's in the (online) Art Room

Since December I have been working with my team to prepare for next year, the first year that teachers will be measured in the art classroom based on assessments that (hopefully) show student growth. A Student Learning Objective (SLO) will be created which shows goals for students in your classroom based on certain data (example from ODE). The way we will measure if students meet these goals are assessments called Student Growth Measures (SGM). More information about SGM from ODE can be found here. 
As you may know, I have given a pilot assessment to my students to see what a pre-assessment and post-assessment could look like in the Art 1 classroom and what issues may come up. The pre-assessment was given to 4 different sections of Art 1. Two sections gave a test with multiple-answer, multiple-choice, essay, and short answer questions. The other two sections gave a pre-assessment with multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions. I did this to see how different types of questions may or may not show student growth. So far, the data has been helpful to seeing what students already know and don't know when entering my classroom. More about data collected here. However, we did run into a few issues along the way.

One of these issues is collecting reliable and objective data that tests student knowledge. I mentioned we used essay questions on this pre-assessment. Though this is a great way for students to explain their knowledge, it was difficult to grade the content opposed to a student's writing style/skill. Even though we had a rubric, grading was subjective and the results varied in a large way between different teachers (see above). Since we are being evaluated on this data as teachers, it is important that our assessments provide reliable and valid results. 
Changes have been made to the test since we first gave it to create one solid version that does not include essays or short answer. This is the version that will be used next year. We included multiple-choice (making sure every question as 4 choices) and multiple-answer questions. To create the final (for now) version of the pre-assessment and post-assessment, we looked though the scope and sequence of our course, the existing questions on the test, and student results. The assessment includes at least one question about each topic in the course.
Example:
3. What kind of drawing is a quick sketch that captures what the artist sees?
A. Portrait
B. Point-of-view
C. Gestural
D. Linear Perspective 

I am also currently working on a SGM for my Art 5 class but because this course is so independent it is difficult/impossible to create a multiple-choice type of assessment for it. Therefore, I am considering reviewing student portfolios as they enter and at the end of the course. If graded by an unbiased source (someone outside of my classroom) using a rubric, perhaps I could get reliable and valid data from this method. I will also be able to see where students are coming from and what their strengths and weaknesses are before I begin working with them. 
I look forward to the weeks to come when I will be giving my post-assessment and be able to see if my students have grown. I will continue to post my results from this assessment journey I am on!

My Experience as an Online Student

It is a bit embarrassing to share with you that until recently I had never taken an online class. Throughout high school and college, all of my coursework has been in person. Though I feel I’ve done a good job of learning about effective online curriculum and teaching strategies, I obviously only knew one side of the story. There are many things I wonder about when it comes to my students. Why did they do this assignment, but not that one? Why don’t they make more of an effort to stay on track? How can you be this far behind? Why on earth would you do 10 assignments in one night?! Thus, I conducted an experiment myself of what I would be like as a student in their shoes. For this experiment I used free online coursework provided by Class-central.com in conjunction with the Open Learning Initiative. “The Open Learning Initiative offers online courses to anyone who wants to learn or teach. Our aim is to combine open, high-quality courses, continuous feedback, and research to improve learning and transform higher education,” (Carnegie Mellon on OLI). I enrolled in Spanish 1 in late December, a course where a grade and certificate is received by participants. In my Spanish class there were over 4,000 students enrolled (makes my 260 students seem like a small number!). I was ready to begin.

I started very motivated about doing well in this course. I completed all the assignments I could in the beginning, which to my surprise included watching several videos and completing a written and spoken assignment. At first, I hoped Week 1 would include a quiz rather than the written assignment because to me that felt like a quick and simple way to accomplish something in my class. Aha! First realization: students often do all the open quizzes in my class before attempting an art project. Why? Perhaps it is because they also feel like a quiz is a quick way to accomplish something, to fill something in on their grade book, and to see how they are doing. However, the projects are worth more of their grade and focus on students putting their learning into practice by demonstrating mastery of a concept.

The next several weeks went well. I found myself logging in once a week to complete my homework. This of course meant I was spending quite a bit of time all at once getting things done, and I was only taking ONE course. Many of my students take 5 courses at once. It would be smarter for me to login multiple times a week to get my assignments done in smaller chunks, but it takes a lot of dedication to find the time during my busy week to do this. Second realization: Online learning takes dedication, time management, and self-discipline! This is really no surprise to me, but it takes more than I once imagined.

In the beginning I received feedback from every assignment I submitted, usually a couple days after I submitted it. As the course went on, the number of assignments that the grading team had to look through became much higher and the feedback I was receiving seemed to drop off completely. A week went by, two weeks, and still no grade for my recent assignments. Finally, it had been a month since receiving any feedback or grades and I also stopped submitting work. Without feedback or contact from my teacher, I did not login to my class for 4 long weeks! I thought to myself, “I am my worst student.” If even a motivated person like myself was capable of blowing off classwork for an entire month, of course my students could. Many of them have distractions like myself: full time jobs, family issues, and whatever else life throws at them. However, I do always make sure to give timely feedback. Realization three: It is easy to get more behind than you realize and timely feedback is essential for student motivation.

At four weeks behind, the option of giving up and just retaking this class later (or not) sounded pretty good to me. But wait! How on earth can I encourage my students to be successful in this online environment if I myself choose not to succeed? Realization four: giving up is easy, but it is not the best option! So I got back on. I worked over spring break. I buckled down and got it done. In the end, I was able to come back and catch up. I took the quizzes and re-took the quizzes. I studied and worked on the assignments until I got it all done. As behind as I was, the system was quite forgiving in letting me catch back up on what I had missed. This is a plus to online learning, and perhaps even required in this environment.

Through this experience I have gained insight and empathy for my students. My “why’s” have been answered, and I have learned some Spanish along the way. I will use these insights when speaking with students and working with them to help them login and succeed. It is not as easy as you would think, but that just means we all need to work on our self-discipline and use the tools at our disposal. Together we can do it! 

Experts and Virtual Field Trips

This week students in my class are working to creative an advertisement about an art museum of their choice. We talk about design elements and how to create an effective layout. I really wanted to bring this lesson to life for them so I used a very special video and a web tool to create more interesting virtual environment. 

Interview with an Expert: The notion of bringing in an expert to your classroom to act as a guest teacher or speaker on a specific topic is not new. However, this is something I haven't physically been able to do in my class. Because I am talking to them about graphic design I thought it would be neat to "bring" a graphic designer in to speak with them. While it is easy to find a video online where a graphic designer talks about what they do (this is what I used to show), I wanted something more personal. So, I created a video just for them with the help of my mom (a graphic designer). Students responded very positively. In their notes for the day, they all seemed to recall information the expert had shared with them in higher frequency than the information I lectured about.

Virtual Field Trip: At the beginning of my class, I asked how many of my students had ever been to an art museum. Many of them hadn't or if they had it was a long time ago. I wanted to start the lesson with something neat and also help remind or show students what visiting an art museum might be like. Thanks to Google Art Project this is possible. Students were able to virtually explore the MOMA and share their reactions. They were excited and had so much to say about what they saw! This tool has many great applications in the art classroom so I encourage you to check out all that it has to offer.

New ideas are what keep my classroom exciting for students and this lesson was really fun to teach. I hope these ideas help spice up your classroom (virtual or not) as well!

When it Doesn't Work

Most often when I write in this blog, I am writing about the positive things that are working in my classroom. But let's be honest, not everything we try in our classrooms is successful. Yesterday I taught a lesson that I have taught before but I received very different results. In this lesson I have students critique a piece of art for the first time using Feldman's Method of art criticism. They then use what they have practiced to critique their classmates' portrait drawings. I have written about critiques in my classroom before, and I had grown to believe they were always exciting for students because that is what I have experienced the last 3 semesters I have held them. In previous cases I had students come to class on optional days, beg me for more critiques, and stay over an hour in class just to discuss the work as much as possible. Yesterday, this lesson was a flop. I asked prompting questions and heard crickets. Students were exiting my classroom left and right. The thirst for discussion was non-existent, polar opposite from what I am used to seeing. What went wrong? Is it just a different group of students or it is something more? I looked at the factors that have changed since I last tried a critique. This semester I give students credit for attending my live lessons by completing guided notes. This has increased attendance and seems to improve student performance on quizzes and projects. For this lesson I did not require students to complete any guided notes because I wanted to free up their time to be immersed in the discussion. For some this translated as no credit=no reason to participate or even stick around! This semester I have been teaching Art 5 lessons during the time slot so I have not done my weekly optional critiques for students this semester. These had previously been a very popular time for students to meet and it offered them a social outlet and opportunity to make friends with their classmates. Perhaps these optional critiques showed students that discussing art can be fun, and even something they look forward to. I never realized these small changes could affect the culture of my classroom in such a strong way. The guided notes I have added seem to encourage more students to attend my live sessions and watch the recordings of them, but has it discouraged those students who attend my lessons for social opportunities and the pure pleasure of learning? Too often in our educational system are we focused on the grade and away from what we have learned. How can I both hold my students accountable and remind them that the learning is more important than the grade? An age old question I can't answer, but if you have ideas please share.

Show it off: Literary Magazine Online

Many brick and mortar schools have literary magazines, a publication that is produced monthly/annually that displays the best of student written work and visual artwork. We also have one as an online school. Each school year the teachers in the art department save the best student artwork and submit it at the end of the year for entry into our literary magazine, titled "Keystrokes". The English department collects written work from students. We create printed versions of the publication (limited) as well as an online version that students are able to share with friends and family. One of my Art 1 students from last year created the painting on the cover for 2012. For those of you who have requested to see more examples of student work from my school, check out the 2012 issue of Keystrokes for a closer look! 

Click the image to download Keystrokes

Preventing Plagiarism in the Online Art Classroom

The risk of plagiarism in the classroom is not a new concern. However, we are used to seeing it in the form of writing. In the online art classroom because I do not see my students completing work, I am vulnerable to the risk of receiving plagiarized work from the Internet. Especially with sites like DeviantArt, students have many places online that they could find amateur artworks to pass off as their own. So how do I make sure students are submitting their own work? Part of what I do is pay attention to style and quality of work submitted. If I have a student submit something that is clearly above the level of previous work they have submitted, that is a red flag. If I receive a drawing that has very low resolution (especially 72dpi) this is also a red flag. However, just because I think it is plagiarism does not mean I can prove it. For this, Google image search is a wonderful tool so I have created a step-by-step guide you can easily use if you are ever suspicious about student work.

Step 1:

 

 

 

Go to Google.com and click on Images

 Step 2:

Once in Image Search, click on the camera icon

Step 3:

Click upload image (make sure you save a copy of the image in question)

Step 4:

Click browse and find the image on your computer

Step 5:

Once submitted you will see one of several things. Google may provide you with a best guess of what the image's search terms were (you would then click on the link for "sketches of rooms"). It also will provide you with visually similar images and sometimes the image in question is present right there!

Here is another example of what you may see. Sometimes you won't see the image in the list of similar images but Google will provide you a list of websites where the image is present. If you have the option to click "All sizes", make sure you do as this will widen your search and help catch students who are clever and re-size the image before submitting it.

Aligning to Common Core in the (Online) Art Classroom

As the 2012-2013 school year continues to tick by, we continue to align the Art 1 classroom to meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which will be mandatory by 2014-2015. Though it seems far away, my teammates and I are already working towards 100% alignment. Of course we all still have many questions. We spent last week together in PD brainstorming ideas for aligning our Art 1 curriculum to the CCSS. In many cases we are adding small written assignments to accompany drawing projects. This has lead to some shifts away from reading quizzes and towards short writing assignments. We also have changed some projects to incorporate more ideas of visual communication as a form of writing. As far as CCSS, I am continuing to follow the idea that art is a text meaning students can read artwork as a text and write artwork as a text to meet these standards. 

One of the lessons we’ve changed is the still life lesson. Before: students are instructed to choose 3 objects, set them up in a still life scene, and draw them using 7 different values. After CCSS changes: students are instructed to look at examples of still life paintings/drawings that tell a story. They will choose 3 objects that tell a story (drawing instructions are the same as before) and they must title their still life drawing something that describes their story. A rather small change not only aligns with CCSS but also incorporates more meaning and excitement into this project.

In addition to artwork as a text, it is helpful to know what your school offers in the way of textbooks or online resources to provide students with readings at grade level that go along with your content. 

In the texture lesson, students currently learn the differences between simulated (2D) and tactile (3D) textures and create a texture study by drawing out 4 different textures. We thought this would be a good opportunity to have students look closer at sculpture through an article in Scholastic Arts Magazine. For teachers who don’t know about this resource, it is an amazing way to align to CCSS. It provides articles, images, videos, and even written and multiple-choice assessments for grades 4-12! Right now, all the digital resources including issues of the magazine are free, though at some point will become viewable only to subscribers. We are going to use the section on sculptures from a recent issue to have students write about the role that texture plays in whichever sculpture they choose.  

 Looking at our lessons to align them with CCSS has allowed my team to focus on changing lessons that have been weak in the past. A lesson many students have trouble with is our Cubism lesson. Students learn about the style of cubism and about Picasso and Braque. With this knowledge, they create 2 pieces of art, one that is realistic, and one that is a cubist version of that same subject matter. We discuss the differences and similarities between analytic and synthetic cubism but students still have trouble with this concept, especially when it comes to making their cubist artworks. Thus I have added a reading and sorting activity to this unit to help students spend time looking at synthetic and analytic cubism more closely. Students will get their reading from Encyclopedia Britannica and use the reading to guide them in arranging characteristics of analytic and synthetic cubism into the correct categories.  

Whatever lessons you teach in your art classroom, aligning to CCSS does not have to mean big changes and extra work. Small changes and additions can make your lessons more meaningful and help students succeed.