Teaching Practice

Running Head: TEACHING PRACTICE

Assessment, Standards, and Strategies

in my Teaching Practice

Sarah Greer

Northern Illinois University

Z1689155

Comprehensive Exam

Professor Siegesmund

Summer 2019
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Your mission is to document and observe the world around you as if you’ve never seen it
before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document your findings.
Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn
to. (Smith, 2008, p. 11)

Teaching art as an art educator is a mission to continue to observe the world with my

students, as the learning from one another is a spiral that is ever evolving. If I were to only have

my students observe the world without taking note of their observations, can I truly effectively

teach the visual arts? If I were to only share with students the values I have placed within the

visual arts, am I truly generating a classroom that engages individual interest? Without a

continuous learning as a whole classroom effort, I believe that the visual arts will greatly falter.

We must be explorers of the world and take notes, collect, document, and record together. And

this exploration should be ever present within the art classroom. In this essay I will briefly

introduce my approach to student assessment, the Illinois Art Standards and how they apply to

my teaching, and teaching strategies I use for student success.

Assessment: What student learning outcomes do I feel are important to assess in my

teaching? And what does “learning art” mean?

There are three primary learning outcomes I believe are important to assess in my teaching:

1. Confidence: a student builds confidence in their ability to create art

2. Experimentation: a student takes risks in the art classroom with their creativity

3. Discussion: a student has improved in their ability to discuss creative practices, terminology,

and visual culture in the form of a written reflection, an artistic reflection, or via verbal

discussion

Through all three ways, I believe a student is “learning art.” Yet learning art is a

continuous process. Eisner (2002) explains student learning efficiently:

Seeds that are planted do not come to fruition until they are watered. In education the
water the seeds need may not be provided until after the assessment has been made. The
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fact that the seeds have been planted is the first crucial move. Planting the seeds is one of
the contributions teachers make to their students’ development; when those seeds actually
flower can’t always be predicted. (p. 71)

Planting educational seeds and recognizing that not all seeds sprout or bloom at the same time is

important. Not every seed needs the same water; some require more while some require less. Yet

“planting the seed” is a crucial role of the teacher. Some seeds grow quickly. Some lie dormant.

Thus, the teacher needs to continuously take note on how to teach in different methods and to

study what methods nurture growth. Teachers must also be equally cognizant of what may hinder

growth in the classroom garden.

Confidence

Confidence is a skill that I believe students can build within the classroom. I have found

that a major factor to students not producing work in the classroom stems from poor self-esteem

and poor confidence in one’s own artistic ability. I believe the art classroom certainly plays a

role in improving the mental well-being of students. There are prevention strategies that teachers

can utilize for students to combat low self-esteem, depression, and other mental struggles. Meece

(2008) mentions that “schools can play a much larger role in preventing these problems” (p.

120). Strategies for coping with stress and problem-solving skill training are some of the best

strategies for educators to include (p. 120). In my classroom, I highlight the importance of trial

and error and that without the fear of failure, students are encouraged to combat feelings of poor

self-esteem and poor confidence. I believe creating art assists students in managing stress while

also building problem-solving skills.

Experimentation

The art classroom is an excellent source to practice problem-solving skills. Walker

(2001) explains: “artmaking involves problems- technical, aesthetic, stylistic, conceptual, and
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expressive” (p. 49). These problems are not limited solely to the art classroom; these are life

skills that are applicable outside of the art classroom. The art classroom allows students the

freedom to learn failure and how to overcome failure without major consequence. I firmly

believe that a child should never be punished for attempting something new. To take risks is to

problem solve. Walker does give us a list of art problems that can be presented and constructed

within the art room for students and they are: transformation, concealment, disruption, illogical

combination, and opposition (pp. 51-2). These art problems can be used with most big ideas, yet

they must be linked to big ideas for students to explore meaning (p. 52). To learn to problem-

solve is a valuable life skill for all students and this skill is readily applicable in the art

classroom.

Discussion

As an educator, I do recognize that not every student will go on to be an artist after taking

my classes. I do, however, recognize the valuable skills that students can learn outside of solely

developing works of art. Walker explains:

One reason that artists are able to explore big ideas over long periods is the time that they
invest in building a solid knowledge base. Similarly, students need an adequate
knowledge for artmaking if their exploration and expression of ideas is to be substantive
and complex. (p.37)

Assessing student knowledge on the arts is useful to gauge student understanding. If a student is

not producing artwork that is to the level of what state standards indicate they should be

producing their age, that does not mean a student is not understanding what is being taught. I can

assess their learning via means of classroom discussion, small-group discussion, or written

prompts. To be able to communicate about art is an admirable skill in my classroom.

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In my classroom, students “learn art” by building confidence, experimenting without fear

of failure, and discuss creative practices within the art room.

Standards: Do I center my teaching based on the new Illinois Art Standards? Do these
standards reflect my teaching? What other outcomes do I seek? What is important to me as
a teacher?

I do not center my teaching based on the new Illinois Art Standards for a variety of

reasons. I do believe that these standards are reflected in my teaching since I believe they easily

fit to almost any lesson. Eisner (2002) tells us “how one teaches something is constituent with

what is taught” (p. 150). However, my major issue with the new standards is the removal of

experimentation in older children. For context, I taught high school art for the past year. For

many of my students, they had never been in an art classroom before. One fourth of my students

were newcomer students who had just begun schooling in the United States. Their work did not

align with the Illinois Art Standards for their age group. Even for my students that went to school

in the same district since kindergarten, they struggled with meeting the standards that were

aligned to their grade range since they did not receive art education since Pre-Kindergarten. If

students received art education since Pre-Kindergarten, these standards would be more

applicable, yet this is rarely the case.

The four standard areas are: Create, Perform, Respond, Connect (IPTS 2016). While I

prefer a stronger emphasis on the area of creation, I do appreciate the consideration and

affirmation to include performing, responding, and connecting within art curriculum. They

reaffirm that the art classroom is not limited solely to creating. I will also say that a major benefit

to these standards is that they are a valuable tool when arguing for more art inclusion in K-12

education. Eisner (2002) explains that “the first task in school reform is to create standards that

will tell the public what students should know and be able to do at the end of an instructional
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period, say, by the end of a school year” (p. 161). The standards outline what the state is seeking

for level of proficiency for each age. To achieve these standards, art should be present for the

entirety of a child’s K-12 education.

As for outcomes, my intention is for an improvement every year of my primary learning

outcomes: Confidence, Experimentation, and Discussion. I believe these three learning outcomes

can and should be applied to every student age group. For students to see improvement within

themselves as the school year progresses is ultimately important to me as a teacher.

Strategies: What strategies do I have for communication my assessments of student success

in achieving these outcomes to the students themselves, other teachers in your school,
administrators, and parents? How do I use assessment of student learning outcomes to
communicate the significance of my work as an educator?

Communicating assessments of student success is profoundly present within my teaching

practices. I connect all my classes to a Google Classroom account where I can easily leave

feedback, rubrics, and resources for students and their parents to view. The convenience of

Google Classroom is that students and their parents can access this information at any time that

is convenient for them. Lynch (2018) describes Google Classroom as having these benefits:

accessibility, exposure, paperless, time-saving, communication, collaborative, and engagement. I

personally find the collaboration aspect of Google Classroom to be the most beneficial aspect of

the platform. Students document their work in Google Classroom and can view their progress as

the year progresses. Some students even opt to continue access to classes that they have already

completed to view their artistic progress years later. Another benefit to using Google Classroom,

as Lynch states, is that “exposure to Google Classroom may help students transition into other

learning management systems used in higher education.” Using Google Classroom has multiple

benefits and truly helps in connecting course content with students. I especially find that having

an open line of communication to parents via Google Classroom as a valuable asset.

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Another asset to online storage is that my administrators have access to data collected

within Google Classroom. This data can be accessed anywhere; this is not limited to school

computers only. The data collected in Google Classroom also serves to provide future students

with previous student examples for projects. While this data is useful for administrators, parents,

and students, this data is useful for my teaching practice as well. I can reflect and evaluate what

changes I should implement in my teaching practice to continuously evolve my classroom to be

efficient and rewarding.

Conclusion

In my classroom, I find that student assessment is best measured in confidence,

experimentation, and discussion. I also do not center my teaching strategies around the Illinois

Art Standards, yet I do find them as valuable when I import them into my curriculum. I also

involve teaching strategies such as incorporating communication within my teaching strategies to

promote student success. “Teaching art” is more than a finished painting or drawing; truly

teaching art involves multiple skillsets. These skillsets are almost always evolving and as an

educator, I need to always focus on how to adapt and apply necessary changes in my curriculum

throughout my teaching practice.

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References

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Illinois State Board of Education. (2016). Illinois Learning Standards for Fine Arts. Retrieved
June 10, 2019 from https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Fine-Arts.aspx.

Lynch, M. (2018, October 24). 10 Benefits of Google Classroom Integration. Retrieved June 10,
2019, from https://www.thetechedvocate.org/10-benefits-of-google-classroom-
integration/

Meece, J. L., & Daniels, D. H. (2008). Child and adolescent development for educators. London:
McGraw Hill.

Smith, K. (2016). How to be an explorer of the world: Portable life museum. New York: Penguin
Books.

Walker, S. R. (2001). Teaching meaning in artmaking. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications.