Sara E. Thomas
I assess my students in a variety of different ways and think that using rubrics is extremely important; especially since grading art is so subjective. In order to assess students and hold them accountable for attending class each student is given a daily participation grade. This grade will be extremely important on the days in which the students are doing group work. Students will also receive a group grade for their presentations. Also included in that grade will be a grade for information presented, and for their spoken contributions during the presentation.
Throughout the process students will be asked to complete peer critiques. While I think that it is important for me to track the students progress, I also think it is important for them to see each other’s progress. I find that the students are each other’s best critics. Students will easily be able to look at another student’s photographs and pick out the most successful one. I try to train them to be specific and to also offer suggestions if they are going to comment on a peer’s artwork. Towards the end of each project I also have students fill out a peer critique form. This allows a new set of eyes, besides mine, to look at their artwork and respond.
Their final piece of artwork will be graded using a rubric. The criteria on the rubric will be given to students at the beginning of the assignment. The rubric will include the following criteria: an accurate Google map showing boundary changes for five years, place marks of important places, the addition of well composed photographs by each student of their neighborhood. Students will be given a self-evaluation containing this rubric to fill out before they hand in their artwork. The teacher will then fill out the same rubric to determine the grade.