Artistic Vision
Art Education. Straight Up.Archive for March, 2010
Grading Student Art (Part 2 of 2)
In my last post, I addressed the issues I am having with a new system I started working with the other month. In this post, I’d like to touch on the other issue I’m coming across with my new system.
After I have entered the grades in my Excel spreadsheet, I convert those grades to fit in my school’s grading structure. I then finish things off by putting comments in for each student’s grade. I comment on each of the five categories used to calculate their grade to provide them with feedback to improve their work. So, the student sees the following in the comments area for each of their project grades:
(SAMPLE)
Grading Scale: 1-5
—
Composition: 3.5 – Move arrangement down and to the left; overall your work should not be “kissing” the edge of your canvas–either fit the subject comfortably within the four sides or have it go off on the top and either side.
Drawing: 4 – The angles on your boxes look good except for the top box; use the “perpendicular and parallel” technique we learned in class to keep your focus.
Values: 3.5 – Your values are all over the place-your darks are too dark and your lights are too light which means you are missing your middle values; start with your darkest dark and then progressively work up to the lightest value-it looks like you jumped from dark then light and didn’t consider the whole piece
Technique: 4.5 – Your lines are crisp and clean; watch the streakiness of your paint application
Ontime: 5
It is here that I’m finding it taking quite a bit of time. The amount of time it is taking me to reflect on each aspect of my student’s work is draining me; every night I’m begrudgingly grading. To make matters worse, I’m finding many students are not bothering to read the feedback—unless they are failing.
How do you grade your student’s work?
Do you incorporate much feedback?
Is your feedback written or verbal?
Grading Student Art (Part 1 of 2)
I switched over to a new way of assessing my students’ work the other month. Previously, I never formally recorded notations about my students’ work. I had a generic rubric in front of me that considered three categories:
- Creativity/Originality
- Effort/Perseverance
- Craftsmanship/Skill
With those three categories listed vertically on the left, I have five columns running horizontally across the top that cover the numeric grade values for “A” through “F.” Bullet points under each numeric grade value correspond to the category along the left. Therefore when grading, I start with the first category on the left and slide my finger across considering the bullet points under each numeric grade value. I would assign a grade for each category and then average them together for a composite.
From the general to the specific
I began wondering whether my generic rubric was not giving sufficient feedback to my students so I moved to what I am doing now: a unique rubric for each assignment. Presently, I start with an Excel file where I set out five characteristics and then measure each student piece based on a scale of 1-5. I set up Excel to average the totals. This allows for students who may struggle with one aspect of a project but still do well overall.
Yet, I’m finding a couple of difficulties with this new system. The first I’ll address in this post. Presently, my school’s grading structure reads like this:
- A (100-95)
- A- (94-92)
- B (91-86)
- B- (85-83)
- C (82-77)
- C- (76-74)
- D (73-70)
- F (69-0)
Such as it is, when a student earns a 3.5 (out of 5) on one of the five project-specific categories, she would receive 87. I calculate that by starting with an 82 (top of the scale C) and then move five points up the grading scale.
The issue I’m running into seems to be on the lower end of the scale. Students who earn lower numbers on all five of the project-specific categories are receiving nearly the same as students who are getting middling scores. And, while I am not seeking to punish students with a bad grade, I certainly do not want to reward their poor effort and/or “I-don’t-care” attitudes. I want to devise a system to help me be as fair as humanly possible at all grade-point levels.
To address this concern of mine, I thought about changing where on the grading scale I should start my grading. If I move to the middle of each grading scale, a student who receives a “3″ would receive an 80 instead of an 82. Likewise, a “3.5″ would now become an 83 vs. an 87 which seems more in keeping to what I am getting in quality on that level.
Unfortunately, this adjustment doesn’t fix the problem alluded to previously because of the incredibly large range for an F (69-0). I certainly can’t begin at the middle point for students who receive a “1″ because that would mean I would need to start at 34. Generally speaking, the lowest grade I have given in that range is a 1.7. My old system which would start me out at 69 would push this student all the way up to a 76 (C-) which is much higher than she deserved given her final product. In the new system, she would earn a 41 which I’m not sure she would be able to recover from.
Obviously, I need to solve for this scenario. Should I start at the middle-point of a 100, namely a 50? I’m frankly kinda stumped here. How do you grade your students’ work? Do you use a generic rubric? A specific one? Do your students even earn F’s?
Your recommendations and thoughts would be appreciated.
Using Manga and Superheroes to Teach Drawing
I’ve mentioned before that I been contemplating changing my present stand-alone courses (i.e., Drawing from Observation, Introduction to Painting and Ceramics) to the more traditional Art I, II and III classes where drawing, painting and ceramics would be covered using units of study.
One of the perennial problems I continue to face in my school is with the student demographic. Namely, my particular urban population doesn’t see much purpose in seriously studying visual art. Likewise, their parents remain ignorant to any potential career opportunities.
This past year, student schedules prevented me getting a new crop of 9th and 10th graders. The seniors I had weren’t interested in doing much work without a serious amount of prodding. It was pretty dreadful. Fortunately, I worked it with my administration behind the scenes to move them along to other things.
My hope centers on using manga and comic book superhero art as the foundation for the drawing unit for Art I. I’ve gotten Mastering the Art of Manga, Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist and Superheroes and Beyond. I’ll look for other books to supplement these texts as I further develop what I plan on teaching. If you have recommendations I’d appreciate your feedback.
Book Review: Creative Time and Space, Making Room for Making Art by Rice Freeman-Zachery
I was reading an interview on Empty Easel with Rice Freeman-Zachery and it prompted me to buy her book: Creative Time and Space. Visually, the book does a fabulous job of showcasing the featured artists’ work. As for the content, I found myself wanting more.
The author, Rice Freeman-Zachery, weaves her own thoughts amid the mish-mash of anecdotal references by the featured artists on the various chapter topics:
- Exploring Time
- Making Time
- Corralling Time
- Stuck in Time
- Jumpstarting Time
- Mental Space
- Soul Space
- Real Space
- Creative Habits
- Taking It on the Road
The book is for those who are struggling with “making room for making art.” Rice includes little exercises in the form of “Try This” boxes to help you explore your own ideas about why you are where you are artistically and how to jump-start your passion for your art to get your back on track.
There is so much about this book that I wanted to like but much of it I had heard before. Surely, there is quite a bit here that is grounded in practicality, which just goes to show you why the reviews on Amazon were all positive. The author’s style is very warm and engaging. You cannot help but feel her passion and desire to motivate you.
However, what disappointed me was the fact that the Empty Easel interview, 10+ Ways to Make Time for Your Art, more clearly addressed what I needed to hear than the 171-page book. I expect an article that references a book to whet my appetite for the full-course meal that the book will provide me when I read it.
My Top 10 From Creative Time and Space
- Take a notebook/sketchbook with you everywhere. As Freeman-Zachery puts it so well, “Writing down ideas reinforces the value of creative thinking and encourages your brain to spend more time in creative mode.”
- Set studio boundaries so my creative time is seen as important to me (and others)
- Cut down on Web surfing and devote my time to painting
- Stop (or severely cut back on) watching TV since it easily and needlessly sucks up my evenings
- Consider implementing a schedule for myself (some of the featured artists’ schedules encouraged me, others were overwhelming)
- Write out my goals (both short-term and long-term)
- Make a studio-efficiency list as I work that could make my next studio experience more enjoyable
- Make a list of things that inspire me and when a rut hits, revisit it
- Make a list of what attracts me and/or scares me about my art; then take steps to work through that list
- Use my head-space as well as my studio space to infuse both thoughtful and spontaneous creativity throughout as much of my day as possible
You’ll notice in my list, time management plays a key role (see #2-7 above). In fact, that is really the crux of the matter and so the first half of the book is devoted to giving the reader strategies.
Rice (and a few of her featured artists) strongly recommends journaling. I have not made time for this and haven’t felt it to be a detriment. Who knows, you may find it essential. There were other pieces of advice throughout the book but I just didn’t find them compelling. They seemed more fluffy than substantial. Of course, we are all individuals and such little bits of esoterica may inspire you towards productivity.
The chapter on your studio—Real Space—was probably one of my favorites because I loved hearing about the variety of places these professionals did their work. I found it very encouraging since I just cleaned out a small space in our bedroom to work. (I’ll try to post on how that is working out for me in the near future.)
Well, that’s my take on Rice Freeman-Zachery’s Creative Time and Space. I can’t say I would definitely purchase this book again BUT I would have taken it out of the library and documented what I found that was practical. (3 1/2 Stars out of 5)
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