DB #4 Assessment

In every kind of learning situation one party is teaching and one is learning.  When students are learning what art is and how it’s done, having your work assessed is just as important as the process of doing the work.  In my experience learning happens best when you get feedback on your progress.  Feedback comes in many forms but in essence it is any response or reaction to an action.  For students feedback is their grades, comments made while working on a project, praise given once completed or any response to their work.  Some of the different ways to assess are critiques, rubrics, multiple-choice test, performance-based evaluation, and portfolios.  In my experience portfolio-based evaluations and critiques with my peers and teachers have been the most beneficial.  Every student responds differently so the more ways you have to assess them the greater the students chance to show what and to what degree they have learned.  At the beginning of a new unit or art process it is very important to have the students demonstrate their knowledge base.  After the unit is completed comparing their finished pieces to the first trials can show the growth of each person’s ability no matter where they started out.  A successful learning experience is the change, expanding, in understanding and an ability of show said change.   It will look different for every student and teacher. 

You can push against a wall until you’re blue in the face but until the wall moves nothing has been accomplished.  Good or bad feedback is the proof of the wall moving for me.  When creating art the ability to step back and be evaluated on what has been done enables me to move forward and make better work.  Talking with my peers in a work-in-progress critique or one on one with my teacher has been the most helpful assessment for my work.  If you are never told how you’re doing, how will you know to move forward?  I can’t count the number of times I have received a grade for something and not understood why the grade was not better or worse.   

For my lesson planning rubric assessment will be used.  This way the students have a clear understanding of what is expected, and through demonstrations of techniques and exemplars the students should be able to actuate a successful project.