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Lesson Plans


Re: Art Assessment

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Marge Dickinson (dickinsonm)
Sat, 6 Jan 96 03:15:28 -0600 (CST)

I hope you don't get discouraged. I followed a teacher in a grade school
who taught holidays and I got grief from the teachers who expected me to do
Pumpkins in October (apologies to the Getty). What I did was start writing
down my classroom objectives (the students will look at (artist name) art,
the students will talk about art, the student will make art) listing the
specifics for each lesson. When the art work was posted in the hall, the
students and I hung it around the objectives sign. Parents, teachers and
the principle began checking the objectives sign to see what the students
were supposed to be doing. Pretty soon I began getting comments like (get
this) "I didn't know you had a curriculum," and pretty soon: "they really
got the right idea on that last lesson, didn't they?" I did keep a box
of craft lesson for the classroom teacher to use and when they asked me if
I was going to make valentine boxes, I said "I'm really sorry I wont have
the time, but I have two or three ideas that you can do- let me show you
how they work." Pretty soon, I had my nice sequential program - and a
trained faculty who eventually bragged about what the students were
learning in art. I Never did poster contests (most of them are junk) and
we studied several artists each year which could be used in social studies,
also. It all takes time. Marge

>Marge Dickinson wrote:
>>
>> You're right. It is important that we are accountable for our
>> teaching. I am working with 15-20 districts developing assessments based
>> on curriculum. These are assessments which the teachers create based on
>> what they teach. Each district sets up what amounts to a 'test company'
>> and teachers are responsible for creating valid and reliable assessments.
>> Alignment with curriculum must be precise and proven. A good example of
>> what happens is one anecdote: a 6th grade teacher prepared an assessment
>> for his students which he piloted in one class. While grading the
>> assessment, he discovered that most of the questions missed had to do with
>> color. He was disappointed but realized that what he was teaching, the
>> kids were not getting. He is in the process of revising his presentation
>> methods to address the 7-learning styles, is talking to other teachers
>> about how they teach color and completely revising his lesson plans. The
>> students will benefit, don't you think? It really is an exciting process
>> and VERY empowering. Parents are starting to notice.
>> Thanks for your message. Marge
>>
>> Marge Dickinson
>> Galva, IL
>> e-mail: dickinsonm
>> phone: 309-932-2880
>> fax: 309-932-8207 my own thoughts on assessment keep coming
>>back to my own
>situation at my school. I am following a teacher who started out as a
>Special Ed. Teacher, reducated now Art Teacher. She had been at my school
>for 13 years. What I am finding more and more is that her style and mine
>vary dramaticaly. I find that a lot of the difficulties my students are
>having is that they have not had the experiences that I am assuming they
>have. Myself being a first year teacher, I am following closely to our
>County POS(Program of Studies). The problem comes that the prior teacher
>did not. I compound my own situation with thoughts, such as, these
>children have been preprogramed by another teacher, one who in my
>opinion, does not have a desire to teach art as a discipline. So I work
>with it. Does it get better? No one at my school seems to care as much as
>I do about the children taking something away with them when they leave
>my classroom. Maybe this is because I am young and idealistic? Just mine
>thoughts.
>
> Derek Parsons

Marge Dickinson
Galva, IL
e-mail: dickinsonm
phone: 309-932-2880
fax: 309-932-8207