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 :-)
