Assessment, Understanding, and Reflection

-Student Pre-Assessment and Post-Assessment Analysis

The following graphs diagram the results of our pre and post-assessment. These graphs demonstrate student growth and achievement throughout our unit and time as Art Explorers.

Graph A (below) demonstrates individual student growth through pre and post-assessment. Student's pre-assessment was based off student's sketch book covers at the beginning of the unit, and student's post-assessment was based off of their final project from the lesson "The Here and Now." Students were evaluated based on the following criteria: planning and ideation, creation and exploration, and reflection and connection. Students were then given a score of 1-4 in the following categories; in progress, partially proficient, proficient, and advanced. We then compared the scores from pre and post-assessment and all students demonstrated growth except for one student.

Graph A: Indivdual Student Pre and Post-Assessment

Next, we divided students according to the groups which they sat in and worked collaboratively with in the lesson "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." Overall, we found that all the groups improved by the end of the unit. The green group had the overall highest average, and the orange and red groups showed the highest growth, with a 3.4% increase in average from pre to post-assessment.

We were happy to see an increase in average in all four groups. This shows that students were able to meet our objectives and that our students gained something from their art making experiences. We saw many noticable changes in students throughout the course of the class. Many students came out of their shell, so to speak, and were highly engaged with making art and communicating with their peers. Many students also developed their own unique styles by the end of class, and art teachers were able to easily distingusih between student's artwork.

Graph B: Group Pre and Post-Assessment Average

For our final collection of data we decided to focus on one specific element of the original assessment, which was reflection and connection. We chose to focus on this specific element because it was something that we incorporated heavily into our lessons, through critiques, students sharing their work through skits, the discovery board, and gallery walks. We emphazised student reflection and connection to stories and their personal lives. All the artwork that students created during our lessons was personal, pertinent, and passionate. In the graph below, one can see that we had a handful of students that preformed exceptionally well, and fell into the advanced category (Zoey, Oliver, Nyima, and Delia). Unfortunately, we had a few students who fell into the partially-proficient category, but as one can see from the graphs above, they moved from in progress to partially-proficient, showing that all three of these students still showed growth. Finally, the majority of our students fell into the proficient category with reflection and connection.

Graph C: Individual Reflection and Connection Post-Assessment

Overall, our assessments show clear student growth in many ways. However, instead of having two different projects to assess it would be valuable to assess the same project before and after. We would do the sketchbook assignment of having students depict themselves as art explorers before the unit and then again at the end. This way, we can clearly gauge how students have grown throughout the unit because we would be comparing the same project instead of two different projects. Additionally, it would help to have individual interviews with students to generate a conversation in alignment with the criteria in the rubric. This way, we can have students explain their learning, which couldn't be done through written form since they are Kindergarteners. Having a dialouge with studnets would help us assess them because in a way they would be assessing themselves.

-Formative Assessments-

Throughout the course of our class we used many formative assessments to check in with our students and assess their areas of growth. After almost every class we had some type of formative assessment which included students sharing their work with each other, analyzing how they contributed during group work, telling stories about their artwork, or reflecting in their sketchbooks.

Reflective activites also played a large part in our formative assessment of students. Some of our reflective activites included exploring cave drawings, doing an ARTeological dig, and putting on a skit which showcased the futuristic vehicles that students created. These reflective activites were largely performance based, which made the assessment fun and engaging for students. By using interactive "critiques" students were able to give each other feedback. and could identify themselves what went well in their piece and what they could continue working on.

We also used the discovery board to help students visualize and bring attention to their learning. While students were working on their projects teachers would listen to their discoveries such as, "When I use the fat part of the marker it makes a big line and when I use the end it makes a skinny line!" Teachers would write down the discoveries on sticky notes and ask students questions about them to further the learning. At the end of class as students lined up to go to recess, teachers would hand the sticky note discoveries back to students and have students put their discoveries on the board. This helped students get closure on the lesson and reflect on the discoveries that they had. The discovery board helped establish routine and became an essential tool in classroom management.

What did I learn about Teaching?

My time working with the wonderful Polaris Art Explorers taught me a multitude of things and gave me the invaluable experience of being able to actively apply theories and techniques while I learned them. As I reflect on my time at Polaris I am able to see a large curve of growth from the early hesitant and intimidating days of the semester to the confident and fun finish of the art exhibition. At the beginning of this experience I often relied on my time working with middle schoolers to inform and guide me while working with kindergartners, however I quickly realized that it’s very important to define and take advantage of the differences in these age groups and am now confident in my ability to work with and teach kindergarten art.
One of the biggest areas of growth and adjustment to the kindergarten age was managing the logistics of working with this group while being a displaced art teacher. The combination of the excitement and short attention span of a group of eighteen 5-6 year olds and having to bring the art classroom to them every week gave me a very clear understanding of how challenging it can be to work in elementary art education. This is especially true when considering this experience was only with kindergarten and not a K-5 responsibility. The early classes where a bit hectic, for example during our first attempt at the clay artifacts project we did not have a clear method for labeling which work belonged to which student and we had to think on our feet to devise a system thanks to the prompting of our instructor. By the last project we multiple name labels on every piece of student work and delegated it all to specific student folders, a vast improvement in our logistical management.
An additional benefit from this experience was seeing the actual and real time power of talking with students about their art work. At Polaris I was able to take the theory learned in Art Education Methods 325 and apply them in real time. I saw the importance of asking open ended questions, giving precise feedback and praise, and giving students space to work.
As I now transition from student to student teacher and finally to full teacher I know that my experiences and many learnings at Polaris will inform and improve my practice for years to come. I know that the struggles of working with multiple ages, being an “art on a cart” teacher, and skillfully talking about student art will transfer well beyond this experience. The Art Explorers made me excited to continue to work with Kindergarten students, their eagerness to be involved and excitement make teaching them fun and gratifying. I am confident and excited to take the next step in my education as a teacher and am equally confident that the lessons and growth of this semester will continue to improve my efforts.

-Specific Considerations-

Effectively talking to students about art:

Throughout the semester I saw the continuing importance of correctly talking to students about the art that they create. I saw this very specifically in the “Future is Now” lesson in which a student wanted to draw a flower instead of a futuristic self-portrait. Remembering the lessons from EDUC 325 I prompted the student to think about careers she could have to work with flowers. I then left that student with that simple prompt and later saw that she drew herself as a gardener. This and other similar experiences showed me the importance of carefully talking and guiding students so that they continue to create genuine art.

This was perhaps the biggest learning of the semester for me. I saw that it takes huge amounts of careful planning, consideration, and management of time and materials to be a successful art teacher. As mentioned before it was a continual struggle to sort, organize, and store completed student art work. Though we improved greatly as the semester progressed this remains an area that I will be very proactive about and mindful of as I begin teaching.

Classroom Logistics:

Effectively reflecting on student learning:

The consistent use and upkeep of the blog showed me the importance and value of recording student learning. The blog became a repository for reflecting on our students work and improving our own practice. Additionally I used the blog to show friends and family what the art explorers where learning. Being able to transition from simply recording what our students were doing to fully recording how and why they were learning was an extremely valuable skill that I gained this semester.

During my experience at Polaris creating lessons transitioned from an experience rooted in theory to one that actually created an experience for students. It may sound overly simplistic but during the course of the semester I was able to see how the objectives, GLEs, PGL’s, Bloom’s, and a host of other standards and theories actually related to and supported student learning in a well-planned lesson.

Writing effective lessons:

Management through instruction:

Working with kindergarten students provided a host of unique challenges and opportunities to grow. One of the most important lessons that I learned was that good engaging lessons will proactively solve 90% of behavior situations that students present. When we had very well planned and thought out lessons classroom management was in turn very easy. This principle will transfer to every age of student and I will retain this knowledge as I transition into the next steps of my career.

Based on the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards

Demonstration of Mastery of Pedagogical Expertise in the Content (This is an assessment of your growth around: creating and writing lesson plans; developing effective ways for students to respond to their artwork; incorporating literacy and numeracy in art planning, making, and responding experiences; providing art experiences that are clear (scaffolding) and accommodate for all types of learners; creating art experiences that are pertinent, personal, and allow students to demonstrate passion about their investigations.)

During the course of the semester my ability to create effective and well-written lesson plans grew exponentially. I recognize that being truly comfortable with creating lesson and unit plans will be gained after years of experience: this semester gave me the opportunity to create a strong synthesis between the theoretical and standards based elements of the lesson with the actual reality of the classroom. I now feel confident in creating a lesson that has all the technical elements while also guiding the facilitation of a lesson that is successful. In experiencing more successful lessons I also see advantage of having a strong lesson plan as it connects to classroom management.

Safe, Inclusive and Respectful Learning Environment (This is an assessment of your growth around: consistently interacting with students; ensuring that all students have access to materials and that routines are evident; fostering an environment of mutual respect; showing concerns for issues of equity and social justice [recognizing individual uniqueness of students and what they want to investigate]; providing clear expectation for behavior; holding students accountable for behavior to maximize instructional time.)

This is the most important element of my teaching practice and what I do as an educator. Creating an environment in which students first and foremost know that I care before knowing what I have to teach is embedded in the nature of my instruction. This was manifested in various ways in my work with the art explorers. Students experienced a sense of security and familiarity in routines such as “show your Mona Lisa” that connected attending skills to art history and repetition of direct instruction be sharing with a peer or repeating for the whole class. Furthermore student’s individual identities were respected in the art explorer classroom. I recall a conversation that I was able to mediate between several students that focused on how different people have different styles of hair and the positive nature of this. I look forward to continuing the promotion of safety and inclusion in my student teaching.

Plan and Deliver Effective Instruction (This is an assessment of your growth around: using appropriate language and instructional strategies for students’ intellectual and social levels; sharing specific learning targets aligned to the standards; designing assessments and instruction that meets the outcomes/objectives of the art experience; organizing instruction effectively; providing effective opportunities for students to reflect on their art work; monitoring progress and adjusting instruction properly; using technology effectively; communicating effectively with students.)

The practical application of skills at Polaris gave me the opportunity to greatly improve my ability to talk with students about their art. I experienced the importance of asking open ended questions to students and offering them specific feedback about their work in order to foster a more genuine student art experience.

Reflection of Practice (This is an assessment of your growth around: collecting and analyzing student learning in multiple forms [blogs, artwork, teaching journal, images, video] to inform instructional practice; implementing observations and information from documentation; collaborating with colleagues to improve teaching and learning; maintaining positive relationships with peers.)

I had an absolutely amazing group of peer teachers to work with during my time at Polaris. Working with these two individuals allowed me to grow and learn through understanding when to lead and when to follow. Our documentation of student learning grew more sophisticated over the semester as we were able to look past simply recording student action and begin to record student learning. I look forward to being able to take what I learned from this group work and apply it to my individual learning and recording while student teaching.

Demonstration of Leadership (This is an assessment of your growth around: taking responsibilities for assigned tasks; working collaboratively for the benefit of students; supporting the work of colleagues by sharing expertise and working together to support students’ growth and development; advocating for the teaching of art; adhering to standards of professional practice [dispositions].)

This semester showed me the importance of recording student learning and ideation as a means of defending and justifying art programs. In this way I believe I am now better equipped to take my voice into a school and illustrate how and why art helps students thinking and growth. I also believe I will be able to transfer this leadership to various situations and circumstances in my future classroom and school community. I am now in the transition from student to teacher and am very excited to continue this challenge and experience in student teaching.