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Lesson Plans


Re: more on grading students!

From: Mark Alexander (malexander06)
Date: Sun Feb 27 2000 - 11:28:07 PST

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    Rosa and all,

    I grade all of my students like this:

    50% ATTITUDE & EFFORT
        (have they done their best work, stayed on task, been helpful at
    cleanup, followed instructions, used their time well, etc..?)
    25% CREATIVITY
        (have they answered the project's requirements in a creative way?)
    25% SKILLS
        (did they show they understood the skills and concepts taught with this
    lesson and previous lessons?)

    Yes, many students get A's, and quite a few get B's. Some get C's, D's, and
    unfortunately some even get F's.

    I have some special students who get modified grades. For example, some will
    never be able to understand perspective. Some have motor problems so they
    don't have the control a particular lesson may require. These students can
    still get an A if the rest of the requirements are met, especially the
    attitude and effort part. I usually don't document the special compensation
    these students receive, but perhaps I should.

    I had one parent of a LD student come in to complain. She said, and this is
    a direct quote, "My son can't draw for shit, so how comes he gots a A for
    art?" I explained to her just as I always explain to all of my students on
    the first day: There are not likely to be very many Albrect Durers or
    Picassos here at our school. It would be unfair to expect a student to
    exhibit extreme talent in order to earn an A. Likewise, it would be possible
    for an extremely talented art student to fail the course, and this has
    happened, because half of each student's grade is based on how hard they
    try. In our art program, the process of making art is usually more important
    than the product of these efforts.

    I use informal criteria lists in the grade book to keep track of this for
    K-4 (graded E, S, N, U)

    I use self evaluation sheets to document grading criteria for grades 6-12
    (A, B, C, D, F in one school, and numerical grades in the other two schools)

    I like to emphasize that every student will get a good grade if they just
    try their best on all of their assignments.

    I hope this helps,

    Mark Alexander
    malexander06
    K-12 Art
    Region One in northwestern Connecticut

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Rosa Juliusdottir <rojul>
    To: ArtsEdNet Talk <artsednet>
    Date: Sunday, February 27, 2000 1:08 PM
    Subject: more on grading students!

    >Thanks to all who answered my question about what a student needs to
    >accomplish to be able to get an A.
    >I was really happy to read the different comments and they are very
    >helpful. I also teach at our University to the future art teachers and look
    >forward to share this with them in our discussion about evaluation and
    >grading systems.
    >I was glad to hear that there are teachers out there who think it is
    >possible to get an A if you do your work as asked for and try as hard as
    >you can. I also understand what you say MaryB about not everyone being an
    >A person, but I donīt understand then how it is a possibility in the
    >grading system if you know allready that it is just a possibility for a
    >very few. I understand not everyone can get an A, except if they fulfill
    >what you expect them to do and put their very best effort into it. But then
    >you can also get many students to try harder knowing this I feel,
    >especially in our field.
    >And how true Wendy about the kids who have all sorts of problems to deal
    >with at home that they donīt succeed often in school. But my experience is
    >however that art is one field you can often get kids with difficulties to
    >become successful if you get to them in the right way, for so often they
    >have never experienced success in any shape or form.
    >Anyway again thanks. I really liked reading all the responses and I am
    >happy you answered.
    >Best regards from the land of fire and ice.
    >Rosa
    >
    >
    >
    >---
    > 

    ---

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