Assessment, Understanding & Reflection
The following graphs diagram the results of our pre and post-assessment. These graphs demonstrate student growth and achievement throughout our unit and time as Art Explorers.
Graph A (below) demonstrates individual student growth through pre and post-assessment. Student's pre-assessment was based off student's sketch book covers at the beginning of the unit, and student's post-assessment was based off of their final project from the lesson "The Here and Now." Students were evaluated based on the following criteria: planning and ideation, creation and exploration, and reflection and connection. Students were then given a score of 1-4 in the following categories; in progress, partially proficient, proficient, and advanced. We then compared the scores from pre and post-assessment and all students demonstrated growth except for one student.
Graph A (below) demonstrates individual student growth through pre and post-assessment. Student's pre-assessment was based off student's sketch book covers at the beginning of the unit, and student's post-assessment was based off of their final project from the lesson "The Here and Now." Students were evaluated based on the following criteria: planning and ideation, creation and exploration, and reflection and connection. Students were then given a score of 1-4 in the following categories; in progress, partially proficient, proficient, and advanced. We then compared the scores from pre and post-assessment and all students demonstrated growth except for one student.
Next, we divided students according to the groups which they sat in and worked collaboratively with in the lesson "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." Overall, we found that all the groups improved by the end of the unit. The green group had the overall highest average, and the orange and red groups showed the highest growth, with a 3.4% increase in average from pre to post-assessment.
We were happy to see an increase in average in all four groups. This shows that students were able to meet our objectives and that our students gained something from their art making experiences. We saw many noticable changes in students throughout the course of the class. Many students came out of their shell, so to speak, and were highly engaged with making art and communicating with their peers. Many students also developed their own unique styles by the end of class, and art teachers were able to easily distingusih between student's artwork.
We were happy to see an increase in average in all four groups. This shows that students were able to meet our objectives and that our students gained something from their art making experiences. We saw many noticable changes in students throughout the course of the class. Many students came out of their shell, so to speak, and were highly engaged with making art and communicating with their peers. Many students also developed their own unique styles by the end of class, and art teachers were able to easily distingusih between student's artwork.
For our final collection of data we decided to focus on one specific element of the original assessment, which was reflection and connection. We chose to focus on this specific element because it was something that we incorporated heavily into our lessons, through critiques, students sharing their work through skits, the discovery board, and gallery walks. We emphazised student reflection and connection to stories and their personal lives. All the artwork that students created during our lessons was personal, pertinent, and passionate. In the graph below, one can see that we had a handful of students that preformed exceptionally well, and fell into the advanced category (Zoey, Oliver, Nyima, and Delia). Unfortunately, we had a few students who fell into the partially-proficient category, but as one can see from the graphs above, they moved from in progress to partially-proficient, showing that all three of these students still showed growth. Finally, the majority of our students fell into the proficient category with reflection and connection.
Overall, our assessments show clear student growth in many ways. However, instead of having two different projects to assess it would be valuable to assess the same project before and after. We would do the sketchbook assignment of having students depict themselves as art explorers before the unit and then again at the end. This way, we can clearly gauge how students have grown throughout the unit because we would be comparing the same project instead of two different projects. Additionally, it would help to have individual interviews with students to generate a conversation in alignment with the criteria in the rubric. This way, we can have students explain their learning, which couldn't be done through written form since they are Kindergarteners. Having a dialouge with studnets would help us assess them because in a way they would be assessing themselves.
Formative Assessment
Reflective activites also played a large part in our formative assessment of students. Some of our reflective activites included exploring cave drawings, doing an ARTeological dig, and putting on a skit which showcased the futuristic vehicles that students created. These reflective activites were largely preformance based, which made the assessment fun and engaging for students. By using interactive "critiques" students were able to give each other feedback. and could identify themselves what went well in their piece and what they could continue working on.
Throughout the course of our class we used many formative assessments to check in with our students and assess their areas of growth. After almost every class we had some type of formative assessment which included students sharing their work with each other, analyzing how they contributed during group work, telling stories about their artwork, or reflecting in their sketchbooks. We also used the discovery board to help students visualize and bring attention to their learning. While students were working on their projects teachers would listen to their discoveries such as, "When I use the fat part of the marker it makes a big line and when I use the end it makes a skinny line!" Teachers would write down the discoveries on sticky notes and ask students questions about them to further the learning. At the end of class as students lined up to go to recess, teachers would hand the sticky note discoveries back to students and have students put their discoveries on the board. This helped students get closure on the lesson and reflect on the discoveries that they had. The discovery board helped establish routine and became an essential tool in classroom management. |