Here are my Chinese block name thumbnails.

Here are my aboriginal creations.

This turned out kind of wierd, but here is the Andy Worhol print.

Here is my Chinese block name.

Here is my water color with new and improved background color!

Here is my shoe through the view finder.

Here are my two favorite water colors!

Another try at the bamboo ink.

This was fun!

This is for Jane, who believes that I can do it!

Effective assessment strategies.

What are some effective assessment strategies that can be used in the art room?

There are many ways that a teacher can assess their students work. The one that I found to be very interesting was the use of a journal or diary. I think that this is a fantastic way for the students and the teachers to become a more confident and better artist, while allowing the teacher insights on what the students are thinking and feeling about their own work. In chapter 5 of Emphasis Art, they talk about this; “Engaging students in verbal and written expression concerning the meaning they ascribe to their work.”

I think that this could work both ways. A teacher could also keep a journal about the students that they are teaching and reflect back on the progress that each of them has made as well as using this journal as a tool to keep track of that progress. At OFSTED.GOV.UK there was an article that stated: “As a regular part of her practice, the teacher found opportunities for pupils to share and think critically about their work. Half way through one Year 8 lesson, for example, she selected three pupils to hold up their paintings and to say briefly how they were developing. None seemed put out by this. Each spoke confidently about what they were trying to do, and how successful they were in realizing their intentions. The three paintings offered quite distinct but equally bold solutions to the expressive problem the teacher had set and thus gave other pupils the green light to take a more adventurous approach.” Now imagine that both student and teacher had gone and written about this experience in a journal, both would benefit from the entry and experience.

Finally, I found this in Assessment in Art, Chpt. 2 by Dr. Donna Kay Beattie: “Journals, diaries, and logs are written and visual records of students' ideas, reflections, experiences, explorations, notes, studies, replies to teacher's questions, and statements on goals and objectives. Student journals are useful in all four visual arts disciplines as both teaching and assessing tools. A sketchbook used as the journal encourages exploration and the practice of media and techniques in art production. The art journal also serves as a tool for clarifying thinking processes, guiding research and other work processes in the reflective disciplines, and evaluating these processes and the final products.” I can not think of a better way for a student to find confidence in themselves then to write what and how they feel about their own work.

These were a blast! I didn't want to stop!

Made some new textures!

Snowflakes are a blast!

How can you integrate Art into your classroom?

 

How can you integrate Art into you classroom?

Being one of those people would couldn't draw a picture of a rainbow to save my life, I have begun to learn just how fun art can be. I have six beautiful children, all of them different in their own ways, who excel at everything that they do, whether that be sports, grades, reading, math or just whatever they put their minds to. I never really occurred to me that there might be a common link that they all share. “Studies have shown that quality arts-integrated learning helps to 'level the playing field' in the classroom for students of varying intellectual and physical abilities, as well as social and cultural backgrounds, while providing an exciting learning environment for all.” www.neohiofamily.com/articles/index.php?view=viewarticle&id=256

After reading this article it was like a light bulb going off in my head! I am not saying that every school that my children have attended are deeply entrenched in the arts, but they do a lot of art work and teaching about various things to do with the arts. An article at eHow.com had a small article that had a sentence in it that would further link this idea for me. “Tap into student's multiple learning modalities and assign hands-on projects that allow students to express their creativity.” I had never thought that a gap could be bridged between learning something and art. Could my children become more adept to learning by allowing their creativity to be unleashed? Could there really be a link between the two? There was a paragraph in Chapter 9 of Emphasis Art that read: “Math and art are two complementary ways of knowing about the world. Especially during the Golden Age of Greece and during the Renaissance, math and art came together. Nowadays, computers, microscopes, and radio telescopes are bringing them into relationship again. You can help your students to appreciate these interrelationships through a variety of art and mathematics lessons based on measurement, shapes and proportions. Rather than a world or math as distinct from a world of art, you can provide the bridge and help your students to see their interconnectedness.”

So how does all of this work? I mean I like to think that I appreciate art as much as the next person. I have looked at many pieces of art work but, do I feel any smarter for having done so? Not really, but I am not surrounded by works of art everyday or do I draw a picture everyday. At http://www.teachhub.com/ there was an article about 12 ways to integrate art into your classroom and it talks about this very thing. “Introduce students to artistic works that match your curriculum. Mythology and famous stories throughout the centuries have inspired ballets, operas, symphonies, sculptures and paintings.” This was the way that I have not been getting, by immersing myself in art or artistic themes maybe I could get those creative and mental juices flowing. This is how we can, and must, introduce art into our classrooms. To let the children get their creative juices flowing and to be able to express themselves in artistic ways. We need to explore new ideas and ways to introduce the everyday and mundane things in life artistically.