Action Research Update

This week I had my eighth grade students working on finishing up their self-portrait caricatures.  As they finished their work, they were asked to take a picture with their iPad and write an artist statement following multiple prompts including explaining the project using the unit vocabulary, writing what they like about their work, what they would change, what challenges they came upon and how they overcame them, and whether or not they enjoyed the project (and why!).  Tomorrow I will have students prepare their artist statements and pictures ready to send, however they will not be sending them to me, they will be sending them to their parents.  I expect some students to need additional time at this point as they may not have put a lot of time into their work.  I am going to see how many students require additional work time and who are ready to send it right away.  I will have a quick summative assessment for students about this process - I am trying to get students to take pride in their work, and take ownership of the work that they do and grade they earn.  My goal with this process is also to get the parents involved as well.  I may have students choose a teacher or administrator within our district to send their next work to - this will help to get more of our community involved, while providing students with a larger audience - they will wholeheartedly take ownership for the work they create, the statements they write and the pictures they take.

The eighth grade portraits have been displayed above the book shelves in our Media Center! Below are a few images of the display! Enjoy :-)

BMS BEARS!

My eighth grade BEARS group has been working extremely hard on creating a display for the front of Byron Middle School.  After about ten weeks of work we were finally ready to put the display up!  Students created large 3D letters spelling BEARS - each letter holds a significant meaning for our middle school students and staff: Belonging, Educated, Active Learning, Respectful, Selflessness.  We will continue to take pictures of each of these characteristics happening in our school and hang them with the letters.  I am so happy to have had the opportunity to work with this group of students to create a display for our school!!!

30 Day Challenge

My “30 Day Challenge” is to keep on top of grading during second quarter for all of my classes.  I tend to let projects pile up and procrastinate a bit with grading projects.  My goal is to get my grading completed in a timely manner this quarter therefore providing useful feedback to students that will help them improve techniques throughout their next projects.

With the beginning of second quarter taking place this week, I have updated all of my grade books in IC (our grading software) - this takes some time to make sure everything is in the correct order and has the correct dates, so I am glad to have it updated for this quarter.  I will be trying some new things with my 8th grade students, so I will update those projects as the quarter goes on.

One step I will need to take is to create a “grading routine” for myself - When I have a project due, I plan to grade those projects that same afternoon or the following morning. I will then be able to get the grades into IC so students and parents can view their grades right away. I have been having my high school student assistant to take photographs of all finished work for Artsonia - this has really helped to keep on track with my grading as well.

Another step I plan to take to complete this 30 day challenge (and beyond!) is to print all grading rubrics and scales so that I will not run out while I am in the middle of grading.  I have been working to update my grading rubrics so as soon as I finish one I plan to get it off to the printer!

**Another challenge I have been working on the past couple of weeks is getting things ready for our annual Art Sale that supports our high school Visual Art Scholarship recipients.  I have recently been working on making greeting cards and some wall decor.  I have quite a few things I still need to make for our December 1st sale, so I will continue my goal of working each night on these items :-)

Blogging

This week we have been asked to create a reflection about our interconnectedness with another community member.  Because I have met so many great people throughout my time in the M.Ed. program I thought I would reflect on the way that I have met these fabulous teachers...Blogging!

I have had a very positive connection with the blogging process that we began during the M.Ed. program.  I recall when our instructor first told us that we would be creating and maintaining a blog, I was having serious doubts about being able to carry it out!  It turns out that the blogging process has been a very positive one for me - I have gotten so many great ideas from the blogs that I have started to follow - and I have enjoyed sharing things from my classroom with others.  I especially like to share the work that my students are creating in class; they work so hard and I am happy to be able to share the work that they create.

The reflection process that the blogging prompts is very powerful.  I have found it very beneficial to take a moment and reflect on what happens each day.  My days go by so fast, with so many kids going in and out of my room, I like that I have gotten into the routine of taking some time to think about what went on in the art room each day.

I feel like the most difficult roadblock to overcome was my own self-doubt.  I often thought that people out there in ‘blog land’ wouldn't care what I am doing in my classroom!  I am so glad to have not listened to myself, because I have enjoyed the blogging process so much - whether or not people out there are reading, responding or enjoying my blog!  :-)

Through the process of blogging I have learned (and continue to do so) so many new strategies that I can use in my classroom.  I have been able to communicate with other teachers about issues that I care about and I have had the opportunity to share the great things that are happening in my classroom.  

My attitude has everything to do with a positive outcome!  There are definitely days that I find it very difficult to keep a positive, growth mindset. However I give myself a choice each morning, I can either choose to have a bad day (which the kids can see from a mile away...no kidding) or I can choose to make each day a good day and deal with what comes at me head on.  Something that helps me to maintain a positive, growth mindset each day is to say “good morning” to everyone I pass from my car to my classroom in the morning.  I also enjoy having conversations with students and co-workers outside of class and of course laughing (I love to laugh!) it certainly takes some of the pressure off of a busy day :-)

8th Grade Ceramics

Eighth grade ceramic containers and lids came out of the kiln today - and just in time for the end of quarter 1!!!  This group did a fantastic job with this project!  Students began by rolling slabs of clay to cut out their pieces, they used the score, slip and seal technique to connect their pieces together.  They measured and cut a lid to fit their container then created a unique handle to complete the ceramic containers.  Students then applied the first layer of glaze and tried their hand at sgraffito - applying layers of glaze then scratching out a design.  They definitely learned a lot about working with clay and overcame some difficulties throughout the process.  Below are some examples of their hard work - I could not be more proud!!

Glaze!

Yesterday afternoon I was finally able to get to my kiln to unload fifth grade ceramic houses and seventh grade ceramic mugs!  I love to see all of the different colors in a glaze fire and students love to finally see the end product of their ceramic unit after a few weeks!  Right away the sixth grade masks and some of the eighth grade memory boxes went in for their final firing.  I cannot wait to see how all of their work turns out!  :-)

Kindness

This week we have reading about the power of kindness.  Kindness, respectfulness and selflessness are all characteristics that I feel are very important for our students to understand and be able to demonstrate.  Lately, I have not been seeing these characteristics lately, so it was a great time to review this information.

Today I presented my 8th Grade BEARS group with a Kindness Challenge.  I began our time together by sharing with my students a couple of videos.  The first one was Kid President: "How to Change the World (A Work in Progress)".  Kid President always has such an inspirational message and the students really enjoyed this one (some of them were introduced to Kid President for the first time while others had seen videos by him before).  The second video I shared with students was: "Thai Life Insurance" commercial that shows how the power of selfless kindness can affect so many people.  I was touched by this commercial and knew right away that I would share it with my 8th grade students!

During my class today I had a student share a video with me that he had seen about the power of kindness.  This video is called "Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang".  I was so happy that this video was shared with the class - and from one of their peers!  All of these were very powerful videos and was a great entrance point to my challenge for them.  I challenged each student to complete a random act of kindness by the end of the day tomorrow.  I will be sending them a survey tomorrow afternoon asking them if they completed a random act of kindness, give a brief description of what it was, how many people it affected, how it made them feel, if they will continue to participate in random acts of kindness and if they enjoyed this challenge.  My hope for this challenge is that students will take it seriously and will think about what they can do in school and our community to make it a better place for everyone!  I am excited to see what responses I receive from students!  I will report back soon!

Red Ribbon Week

This week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week with some dress-up days!  Monday was "Catch the Wave", Tuesday "I Mustache You Not to Do Drugs", Wednesday "Orange You Glad You're Drug Free?", Thursday "Hooked on Books, Not Drugs", and Friday will be "Say BOO to Drugs".

I don't have pictures of each dress-up day, but we certainly had fun with it this week!  What a great way to get the important message out about maintaining a healthy and drug-free lifestyle!

Byron Community Showcase ART SHOW!

We were busy today setting up our Art Show (grades 1-12) for the Byron Community Showcase taking place tomorrow from 9am to 1pm.  It is always a great opportunity when we can share the work created by the students in our schools!! And of course, we always have a great time setting up the shows right Lindsey and Amanda?  Thanks to Gretchen for helping us out too!!! 

Enjoy the Byron Community Showcase at the Byron Middle School on Saturday, October 25th from 9am to 1pm!!! 

Red Ribbon Doors!

During the month of October, our BEARS groups have been learning about the dangerous effects of drugs and have been spreading awareness in our school about the importance of saying NO to drugs.  Next week we will be participating in Red Ribbon Week at our school; taking the pledge to stay safe, healthy and drug free.  One way we are spreading awareness at BMS is with door decorations.  Below is my 8th grade BEARS door design for Red Ribbon Week!  Stay tuned for some fun dress-up day pictures to further promote a safe, healthy and drug free lifestyle!!

ArtBooks!

This quarter I had my fifth through eighth grade students create ArtBooks for class.  I use these like a sketchbook although students do not have sketch assignments on a daily or weekly basis and they do not take them out of the classroom (except when necessary).  I have been using these ArtBooks for lesson and unit notes and brainstorming ideas for final projects.  I have really liked utilizing the ArtBooks in class, because I can gain useful information (formative assessments!) just by asking students to show me what they are working on in their books.  We have been able to adapt this as a routine in class - students know that when they have a question I am going to ask to look in their ArtBooks to access their notes or sketches.  I also like that the ArtBooks help to get students involved with the lesson during the instructional process - rather than going through a lesson and then having them work on something.  This is a great way to encourage accountability in class and I think the students are doing really well with these!

Below are examples of the Art Math my fifth grade students are currently working on in their ArtBooks.  Fifth graders are learning about color theory: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary/Intermediate Colors as well as Complementary and Analogous Colors.

Promoting Student Ownership

I recently found an article from the November 2008 issue of Education Leadership titled "Formative Assessment that Empowers".  My action research has been on promoting student responsibility and ownership in my middle school art room and I continued to search for suggestions on how to do this with my students.  One example outlined in this article was about a seventh grade teacher who had their students create a checklist and rubric to plan, monitor and refine their drawings of the water cycle.  As the teacher walked around the room each day, he was able to refer the students to their checklist and rubric to offer connections or lack thereof.  It was noted that students soon became focused on the checklist and rubric and it aided in the quality and accuracy of their drawings.

My eighth grade students are currently working on a micrography drawing lesson - drawing only with text.  Before students began working with ink, I guided them through the process of creating a checklist for their work.  We then used the checklist to create the rubric that will be used to assess the final drawings.  The drawing checklist consists of the following criteria: Shading is completed using only text; Full range of values present (gradation); Final product is clean and undamaged (craftsmanship); Drawing is complete (design fills the paper); Creative design (unique, detailed, interesting).
Students will also be assigned to complete a written self-evaluation; this checklist consists of the following criteria: Complete sentences; Legible (easy to read and understand); Lesson vocabulary used correctly.

This is the first time I have created a checklist with the students - in the past this is something that I had always created for them prior to the beginning of the unit or lesson.  For the most part I thought this process went over very well - because it was the first time going through this with students, I noticed that they did not offer very much for the checklist, so I had to really push for students to participate.  I think that this would improve the more students are exposed to this process.  Overall, this helped to give students a say in the work that was being assessed while also providing them with a very clear outline of expectations for their drawings.

Click on the link below for this Educational Leadership article -
Formative Assessment that Empowers

Example of Micrography

3, 2, 1...Action!

Last Friday we had our annual Freaky Friday celebration at Byron Middle School.  Freaky Friday falls on the Friday of Homecoming week and all of our middle school parents join their students for a day at school!  The kids absolutely love this day, and I think the parents enjoy going back to their middle school days too :-)

Last Wednesday as I was drifting off to sleep I began thinking about how I could involve the students more in the project introduction when their parents are in the classroom.  And then it came to me - why not let the students tell their parents what they have been learning about with a movie?  Great idea, except, I had never made a movie incorporating multiple photos and video clips...so it was going to be an experiment.

I was so excited to introduce this idea to my classes - and they were super excited when they heard about it!  I was so happy...and relieved that they wanted to participate.  We took many pictures and recorded a few video clips and I put them all together using iMovie on my iPad.  They were ready to go for parents on Friday and my students and I were excited to share them.  They were a big hit!!  I have expressed to my students that I would like to create movies about our lessons and they seemed to really like that idea.  What a great way for students to take ownership and share what they are learning in the Art room!

I have included a couple of the movies for you to watch.  Enjoy!

Action Research Update

One of the articles I have recently read is How to Help Students Take Ownership of the Learning Process, by Jeffrey Carpenter.  Carpenter suggests five strategies that encourage students ownership in school.  One suggestion is to use formative peer assessment as it can provide "more immediate and individualized attention".  I have used formative peer assessments in my fifth through eighth grade visual arts classes and have really enjoyed the feedback that students are providing for one another.  Today I had students in my fifth grade class conduct formative peer assessment with their one-point perspective drawings.  Students were to locate the horizon line, vanishing point, orthogonal lines and comments on their partners' details.  The conversations that students were having were great and some realized that they needed to change or add things on their drawings which is so helpful as I don't always have a chance to get around and talk one-on-one with each student every single day.  I will continue to use formative peer assessments for a quick way for students to gain useful feedback about their work.

Reflection

My action research work has focused mainly on encouraging my art students to take responsibility in the art classroom.  Throughout the past few weeks, I have been creating classroom routines with each group of students that I see - grades five through eight.  I am beginning to see students adapt to these routines including multiple cleanup routines, conducting pair share discussions and checking artwork with self assessment checklists.  One additional task I will be starting with students is to have them photograph their artwork (whether at the beginning stages, in progress, or finished) and email their parent(s) with a description about what they are learning in art and what the project is that they are working on.  My goal with this activity is to encourage students to take ownership of the work they create as well as providing important information about the art classroom to our middle school parents while opening up lines of communication for parents to discuss talk about their child(ren)’s work.

I am feeling very good about the work that is going on in my art classroom.  I do realize that it will take some time to continue to make our new routines a part of our everyday procedures, however each day we are improving and it is getting a little bit easier each time we go through with these classroom routines.  I am very hopeful that parents will enjoy hearing about what their students are working on in class, as well as seeing pictures of their work in class.  

Praxis Folio

Question 1: Why is teaching my content important to what I believe about teaching? How do I see these beliefs aligning with my teaching practices?

I truly believe in providing students with a well-rounded education.  Offering students core subjects as well as specialized subject areas is important for their growth throughout their school years.  Teaching art is a passion of mine; I feel that it is important for all students to have the opportunity to explore the world of art because it opens up opportunities for self-expression, provides students with opportunities to develop independence as well as collaboration skills, develops higher order thinking skills (critical and creative thinking) and provides a means for every student to learn and achieve.  I feel that I directly align my teaching practices with my beliefs; I provide my students with the opportunity to be creative in their own personal way while developing higher order thinking skills.  I have recently incorporated more collaboration among students within my classroom and will be doing so more in the future with other school staff and school administrators.  

Question 2: How is my understanding of content concepts guiding me in making needed changes in my teaching practices in the area of my content?

Although I teach the same units each quarter, sometimes in the same day, they are never the same for each group of students.  I am constantly assessing my students to see how they are doing, to see if I can move ahead or if there is need for reteaching.  Everyone works at a different pace, especially when creating art.  I encourage my students to take their time and in turn I need to make changes in my teaching to accommodate for their individual needs.  Encouraging students is another passion of mine, as it is difficult to hear students say that they “can’t” complete a task that I have introduced to them.  My goal is to make it very clear to my students that I do not accept “I can’t” in my classroom.  I work with them one-on-one every chance I can get to help them along and work through their struggles with the concept at hand.  Although I provide my students will project outline I think it is also important to encourage students to experiment with materials and technique in the art room; I want them to feel comfortable to think creatively and try new things.  I have learned so many great ideas from my students and I know this would not have happened if I would not have allowed them the opportunity to be creative.

Question 3: How am I coming to connect the depth of understanding and application needed in the learning process of each student? How am I changing my  content delivery to account for the cognitive processes of my students, engaging them in solving real life problems for building knowledge?

One main technique that I use in my classroom to account for all cognitive processes of my students is to work with them one-on-one.  This is not always an easy task, however, it is something I try to do with each student on a daily basis.  I get a new group of students each quarter; once I get to know each student my goal is to provide them with any information they may need.  Some of my students do better with information in writing at the board, while some need a copy of the information in their hands.  I currently have 6 sections of student for art each day, so my daily/weekly goal is to be organized for my students.  With so many kids coming into my room each day, I know how important it is to be organized so that they know exactly what their job is in class each day.  

I do think it is very important for students to engage in real-world problems.  I have begun working on creating projects for my students that prepare them for the real-world interactions that they will (or have already) encountered.  Collaboration is one of the ways that I encourage real-world situations in my classroom.  Students will work work collaboratively with people all their lives, and I feel that it is an important aspect for them to learn.

Question 4: How can the gifts, backgrounds, and interests of each person in the classroom community be used to help one another learn and make my content understandable and meaningful in their lives now?

I love learning about my students on an individual level.  Each student brings different experiences to my classroom and I enjoy giving them the opportunity to share their personal experiences with their peers and myself.  I aim to connect the material that I teach to student’s everyday lives.  Allowing students to work collaboratively opens up the lines of communication between students.  I love to see students work with one another to solve a problem and it takes various experiences to do so in the classroom setting.

Believing In Students

Recently, we have been asked to read the article "Believing in Students: The Power to Make a Difference" by Richard Curwin.  In this article, Curwin suggests five ways to reach out to the students in our classrooms: Stop Using Rewards, Encourage Effort More Than Achievement, Give Second, Third and Fourth Chances, Don't Say "You Failed" say "You Haven't Done it Yet", Increase Opportunities to Learn.

My assignment was to implement one of these ideas in my classroom and reflect on how it affected me and my students.  In my classroom I stress the importance of the process rather than the end product.  I encourage students to try their best and be patient with themselves as well as the process because, at times, they are learning some processes for the very first time.  My focus this week has been on Curwin's recommendation of "Don't say 'you failed' say 'you haven't learned it yet".  I do not tell my students that they have failed when they are working in my room, I don't think it is helpful for student learning and so I simply do not say it!  I focus, instead, on students who look at me and tell me they "can't" do the work in class.  I replied to those students that they need to practice because they are just learning it now and it's not going to be easy the first time they try something.  I have noticed that students will continue to try when they are given this response.  They don't always get it right away, but at least they are not giving up!  I will definitely continue to use this in my classroom with my students because they need to know that they are learning and it isn't always going to be easy!

Personal Playbook

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible."

Vince Lombardi

For our master's program we completed a Personal Playbook created by Kathleen DuBois.  The question on the front page of the playbook is, "If you could accomplish anything within the next year, what would it be?".  Two of my goals for this year are to set up an art club at the middle school and provide a summer art camp for our middle school students next summer.

In order to accomplish these goals, I have a lot of planning and organizing to do this year.  One of the activities in our personal playbook is to declutter our world, so I have attempted to do just that!  I have purchased items for my classroom to help keep myself and my students organized this year, while giving students more responsibility in the art classroom.  I spent this morning in my classroom organizing my desk and filing cabinets to get myself organized for the upcoming school year, so I can focus on my long term goals mentioned above.  Organization is something that I have had to work for in my life, it hasn't always come naturally for me, so this step has been an important one in achieving my goals.

I am looking forward to getting this school year underway to implement many new activities that I have been learning about this summer and getting together with a small group of students to get our middle school art club underway!

Summer Adventures!

As a part of our SMU experience, we were challenged to be adventurous this summer.  I absolutely LOVE adventure, but that doesn't necessarily mean I've done everything and I don't have fears :-)  Recently, my husband, Brandon, and I took our fourth trip out West to Wyoming (we love it there!).  We spent most of our time exploring in the Big Horn Mountains with our 4-wheeler.  We were able to see some excellent sights; driving upwards of 70 miles a day!

One of our day trips took us to the ghost town of Kirwin - A very neat place!  This town was once a busy gold and copper mining town, home of close to 300 people in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  We knew that in order to get to Kirwin, we would have to do some water crossings - I am not much of a water person - so this had me a little...nervous.  With the winter that we all had around the nation, we knew that Wyoming had a lot of snow, meaning also that they had a lot of snow melt for the spring and summer.  This did not help to make me more at ease about having to take our 4-wheeler through rushing river crossings!

We gave it our all and trudged through the river crossings - and made it across without being carried downriver!  It was actually quite exhilerating going through each crossing and I found myself having a lot of fun - it had pushed my fear for the water aside so I could thoroughly enjoy the experience :-)

Kirwin, Wyoming

Although not the area of the river we crossed (this is much lower) this was only accessible on foot and there was a bridge to cross :-)

Another adventurous experience that also had me feeling the nerves a bit was riding on top of 10-15 feet of snow at about 10,000 feet in the Big Horn Mountains!  Despite the sunny days, the snow was sticking around and was quite hard so it was holding us up - I was a little skeptical at first, but once I made my way around a few times, I was having a blast!

That's me!  Taking the 4-wheeler out on the snow :-)

 Our trips always lead us on some great adventures - I feel that I am constantly testing my "adventure skills" wherever we go!  One of our final adventures - more like totally nervewrecking moments that Brandon and I took part in, was exploring the Tongue River Cave near Dayton, Wyoming.  We had read about this public access cave in one of our Wyoming hiking guides and thought it would be fun to check it out, so we packed up a lunch and donned our headlamps and the camera, of course, for another exciting adventure.

The hike to the cave is a quick 3/4 mile, with a quick elevation gain, so it was pretty steep.  Once at the entrance of the cave, it was very hard to ignore (as we were warned about in the book) the spray paint graffiti on the rocks, both in and outside of the cave.  We explored approximately one mile into (and who knows how far down) the cave!  The pitch blackness was very intense - after all we are usually led through caves with a tour guide and multiple lights!  There was quite a bit of extremely fine dust and eventually water, which made for some slippery walking.  Simply put, I was terrified as we began to explore the cave, but once we made it back to the entrance, I was so glad we had done it and we are looking forward to going back and explore it some more!

Here I am in the cave - we used the flash on the camera and it really lit up the space; but don't let that fool you, it was completely pitch black in here without the lights!  Notice, the spray paint...

Here is Brandon, and although it's a little blurry, I wanted to show more of the darkness of the cave - I had my headlamp shining on him as I took this photo :-)

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time once again in Wyoming!  We are already planning out our next trip West to see what other adventures we can plan for next summer!

Art Education Blogs

One of our recent SMU assignments is to share educational blogs that we are using for our summer action research.  The research I have been conducting so far is focused on assessment in visual arts and although these blogs are not specific to only assessments, they have been helpful in my research so far!  Happy blogging!

One blog that I follow fairly regularly is The Art of Ed.  This is an organization that offers relevant professional development for art teachers and have daily posts by various art educators on multiple topics.  Examples of recent topics include: 9 Steps to Efficiently Rewrite Your Students Learning Expectations; Easily Organize Your Standards with a Planning Matrix; Is is Appropriate to Use Social Media During the School Day?.  I enjoy reading this blog to see what teaching techniques other art educators are currently using. You can visit this blog at www.theartofed.com.

Another Art Education blog that I have recently started following is The Teaching Palette.  One of the recent posts that really caught my attention is Design Thinking Through STEAM Education.  I have attended a keynote addressing STEAM and know a little bit about implementing it into a school, however I would definitely like to learn more.  We currently have STEM classes at Byron Middle School and there has been talk of moving into the concept of STEAM, so this post will be a good one to read.  There are also a multitude of topics on this blog consisting of art classroom management techniques, using iPads in the art classroom, iBooks in Art Education and many more.  I am excited to continue searching on this site in preparation for next school year! you can visit this blog at www.theteachingpalette.com.

Action Research Reflection

Action Research Reflection

My mini action research question was: How can I create more meaningful assessments in my visual arts classroom?  As I began my research on this topic, I soon realized that there are so many variations of assessment and I really had my work cut out for me!  The first change that I made in my classroom was to provide my students with more formative assessment - I had been doing this beforehand, however, once I learned more about formative assessments and how to use them effectively in my classroom, I began utilizing them more often.

Some examples of formative assessments that I have begun using throughout my research are: exit slips, table/group worksheets, partner questions, group discussions, fist-to-five, among others.  With the use of formative assessments, I am able to gain important information about my students in a rather short amount of time.  I have started using a worksheet with my fifth grades students to complete in their table groups during our color theory unit.  I introduce and review a lot of material in this unit and I was searching for a way to help students through this learning process.  I use the worksheet to get students thinking and talking about the material with their peers, without the pressure of answering questions out loud in front of the entire class.  I purposefully added questions that force students to really think back on the material discussed the previous day, and ensure to them that if they cannot answer all of the questions, that’s okay.  I am able to see what material students are struggling with by looking at the questions that they are unable to answer.  I have found it very beneficial to use formative assessments with my students so that I can learn where they are at: what they still need help with and what they know well, in a short amount of time (not to mention I don’t have to add another grade to the grade book!).  

Summative assessment is also an important aspect of the art grading process and I spent a lot of my time researching various ways in which to do this in my art classroom.  One way I attempted to make my assessments more meaningful to my students was simply to explain the grading rubric to them and allow them time to ask questions.  There are times that I forgot to do this step and if students had had at least one rubric explained to them prior, they understood it better.  On the other hand, if they did not have a rubric explained to them prior, they didn’t understand it as well therefore it didn’t mean much to them.  Based on a student survey I gave to one of my fifth grade classes, 85% of the class found it helpful to hear about the grading rubric ahead of time; 10% of the students didn’t mind either way, and 5% of students did not respond.  

Data collection was a struggle for me during this research, so this is an area that I would definitely like to improve on in the future.  I plan on continuing this research topic into the beginning of the 2014-15 school year and I would like to continue to collect data with all of my middle school classes (grades 5-8).  One way in which I hope to collect data from my classes is to get their input on what type(s) of summative assessment they prefer (percentage, total points, letter grade, checklist, rubric).   I will need to decide what other data I will collect throughout a more extensive research on this topic as well.  Another aspect of this research that I would like to explore more deeply is the importance of formative assessments - I did not conduct much research on this topic of assessment, however I feel that it is a very important type of assessment to use in my classroom, so I would love to learn more about specific formative assessments in the art room.

Although I feel that I learned a great deal about creating more meaningful assessments for my students, I have decided that I will continue with this topic for the upcoming year.  I have been doing a lot of reading on this topic and have learned much more since the completion of this mini action research and I am looking forward to taking time this summer to conduct additional research on this topic and create some surveys for the kids to get their input.  

Community Art

I have been working on a very exciting collaborative project with Matt Weyers, a sixth grade teacher at BMS.  Sixth grade students have been very busy creating sculptures for Byron businesses.  Students chose an area business and called them to see if they would be willing to display a hand-made sculpture for approximately two weeks.  They were very nervous but excited to contact businesses and start getting the okay to start planning and building their sculptures.

Students began their planning process with a pencil sketch of their sculpture.  They then had to decide what materials they would like to use to create their 3D sculptures.  Materials used included: wood, wire, chicken wire, paper mache, clay, cardboard, paper, paint, and so much more!  We all learned a lot while going through this process and the end products show how hard these kids worked to complete their sculptures for our Byron businesses!  

Two students work on their clay sculpture for the Bear's Den.

These ladies are working on their toothbrush and toothpaste sculpture for Byron Dental Group.

This group of sculptors are busy preparing their mailbox for the Byron Post Office.

These gentleman are preparing sculptures for Gamez & More and Ace Hardware.

Students created "Spot" the dalmatian for the Byron Fire Department.

Here is the whole group with all of their fabulous sculptures!!

Making Changes in the Classroom

Apply a strategy you picked up from our f2f collaboration time - From Tates's 20 Strategies

Brainstorming and Discussion - I always allow time for students to brainstorm their ideas and often require students create a sketch of their work, whether it’s 2D or 3D.  What I have started to incorporate more into my teaching is student discussions about the concepts they are learning.  Recently I have implemented this into my fifth grade classroom; students were instructed to get with a partner and show each other their one-point perspective drawings.  Each student was then to point out where the horizon line, vanishing point and orthogonal lines.  They were also instructed to find evidence of areas that their partner used a ruler in their drawing.  The last question I asked students to discuss with their partner was why it is important for us to learn about perspective drawing, what does it help us do?

The conversations that students were having during this time were fantastic!  After their partner discussions I brought them back together in a large group to review what they had just talked about.  I noticed a large increase in student participation during our large group discussion after they had been given time to review the information with a partner.  I will definitely be using this brain-based teaching strategy for more assignments and classes.

7 Principles to Inspire Success

1.	Believe in yourself. Always stay true to what makes you unique and trust your gut. See your differences as strengths rather than handicaps. And, instead of comparing yourself to others…be inspired by them!
2.	Work hard. Pure and simple. Ideas aren't worth anything unless you put them to work. You have to be responsible, dependable, disciplined and never stop learning or growing.
3.	Take risks. It's O.K. to be afraid but you just have to plunge in anyway. This isn’t easy, especially when it feels like the tide is against you, but it’s just necessary to take risks in order to stay fresh and relevant. You will make mistakes but your efforts will also make a difference. Just take a deep breath and step out of that comfort zone!
4.	Keep an open mind. Be willing to adapt and change when you need to. Adjust your sails to catch that wind. Be strong…yet flexible and resilient…like bamboo…and bend rather than break.
5.	Accept your limitation. Be willing to ask for help…and be able to say “no”. There’s no way you can be everything to everybody all the time! Surround yourself with good people and enlist their help when you need it most.
6.	Treat others with respect and kindness. That golden rule never, ever goes out of style.
7.	Never stop dreaming. Your visions can guide you to great things…but you need to be patient and don’t give up on yourself or on an idea that might seem slow in coming. It just might need a little more time to germinate and become strong. I have chosen to include all seven of the "Principles to Inspire Students". I feel that they each bring something very important to my art classroom and I try hard to incorporate each of the listed principles into the lessons that I teach. So many of the principles listed are what I tell many of my students on a daily basis! I love to see them on one comprehensive list!

Spring Conference - Action Research

2014 Spring Conference

The sessions I attended at the 2014 Spring Conference were about the following: Standards Based Grading, Providing students with more choice in the classroom, Providing students with choice in their writing, Classroom management, and Differentiation.  I was excited (and maybe a little nervous) to finally attend this conference to see what the process was like for the second year students presenting their action research.  After reading their abstracts and action research papers I began to feel a bit of relief; I was going in the right direction after all!  

I thought it was very interesting to see how each student began their presentation - I learned a few new 'ice breaker' activities and it really got me thinking about what I will do to introduce the people in my group next year, as well as some activities to use in the classroom to introduce students or just move around!  Some of the sessions I attended had folders with paper copies of the information, while others provided us with a link to their presentation online.  It was nice to have the information right in front of me, however I really liked having access to the online information because there were links available to access some of the resources they used and it was very helpful to be able to go right to it and save it for later reference.

Reflecting on my experience at the conference, I think I am going to create a more detailed action research question/goal.  The action research I am working on right now is 'how to create more meaningful assessments in the art room'.  I think this will be an ongoing research topic, as grading practices seem to change all the time.  After attending the writing session I did at the conference, I would like to research about how to incorporate more writing into my middle school art class.  During that session I wrote down quite a few ideas just based on what the presenter had tried in her classroom and it really got me thinking about what more I could do.  I was also very interested in the session I attended about providing students with choice in the classroom (choice seating, writing activities, etc.).  I may also look into providing some choice in my classroom.