ART Assessment

Chapter Chat - 2/14/14
The Complete Guide to Simple Art Assessments by Jessica Balsley (founder of theartofed.com)

This is an online book all about art assessment - perfect for my action research!!!  Jessica Balsley is an art educator and found of theartofed.com, a blog FULL of wonderful resources for art teachers everywhere.  Balsley begins this book with an explanation of what assessment means specifically for the art teacher - not just another scantron multiple-choice test.  She explains that grading projects isn't enough in the art room, but that true assessment involves students independently performing tasks without the assistance of the teacher.

Balsley offers many assessment ideas that are fast, simple and relevant for the visual arts classroom teacher to obtain important information (DATA) in order to validate our programs and report the great things students are learning and accomplishing in our classroom.  One of the main points of the first chapter in this book is to create good assessment questions that involve students to use a higher order of thinking (brilliant!).  Balsley states that "by getting to the higher order questioning, you will be serving your students to be better prepared for the future...We can teach creativity and critical thinking through our assessments".  What a great opportunity for our students to learn this lesson and such a great environment for them to learn it!

Balsley continues this chapter with recommendations of verbs to use in the questions to include in these assessments.  Examples are 'describe', 'why' and 'what process'; by simply changing the way we pose questions, we can give students the opportunity to use a higher order of thinking!  One of the other techniques outlined in this chapter is the use of a question deck, a set of cards you can refer to at any time.  These decks can include any questions that get students using their higher order of thinking such as: What media did the artist use? How do you know (what clues does the artwork give you?), or Why do you think he or she chose this media?  Students have an opportunity to 'think like an artist'.  Any questions can be used in these decks and because they are made ahead of time, they are ready for you to use with students at a moments notice.  I really like this idea!!

I have not finished the book but am definitely looking forward to doing so and utilizing much of the information that is offered!