Evaluating process over product in student art

-

In a world where adults judge the quality of an art program by the quality of the student work, the artwork students produce independently causes shock, but rarely awe... not at first. 

What we're talking about here is the difference between teacher-led art projects that often produce cute refrigerator-ready artwork and open studios where students practice artmaking to express original ideas.  Student-let art programs are called by different names such as TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior), Choice-based art, or open studio. This general observation about the quality of student work pertains to all grade levels from Kinter through 12th grade, but this article will focus on elementary art. 

When teachers switch to an open studio art curriculum, and there are a lot of research-backed reasons for doing just that, they often decry the quality of the work.   Here's a rubric I use to help explain what I'm looking for.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting Class on the Right Foot with Middle School Artists

-
Image
Someday I want to see a scan of the pre-teen brain during a class transition.  Want to bet it lights up like fireworks?  But whatever is going on in there, my bouncy kids need help to focus their bodies and minds after all the super exciting things that happen in the 3-minute walk from their classroom to my STEAM art room. I learned a new procedure for starting class in a PD last year and tried it super quick... darn if it didn't work better than anything I've done so far (like everything plus the kitchen sink).  Here are the ABCs of the procedure step by step.  (This sequence was created based on the work of Hyde and Charles, Sequoia Union High School District. 2016.) A)  S cout for Respectful Behaviors.  Invite 2 reliable students into the room to tally respectful behaviors they see as the class enters. They're the kids who can stand on the line with their arms down, their bodies calm, and their voices off modeling appropriate line behaviors and this gives me a chanc
Read more

How One Young Artist Found his Way (Or, The Trouble with TAB)

-
Image
This is about the transition of one young man from a "devoted goof-off" to an expressive artist through the power of the studio habits of mind.    Over the course of a year, this young artist learned to express complex and powerful ideas and emotions using art materials.  The goal is to show how kids learn through TAB exploration. The trouble with TAB is that it's a long road to results because the skills students develop are complex and subtle.  TAB teaches a way of thinking.  This boy's accomplishment represents a two-year journey. If you compare it to acquiring math skills, people already "know" the sequence for that development from year to year... (not that the existing sequence is all that useful for many kids) and without a sense for developmental stages for creative problem-solving administrators and parents tend to judge artwork from project to project.
Read more

Studio Hacks: Free Drying Racks, Paint delivery, and more

-
Image
  Recycled nursery racks are free and make wonderful drying racks for the days when I run out of space on the regular drying racks. These racks store pretty flat when they aren't needed and even kinders can handle them. To handle about 800 art servings a week, my students are using a lot of markers, pencils, paper, and paint. Here are some of the hacks I've been using this year to manage markers and paint. Four paint wheels fit on a microwave plate from the dollar store. Students sometimes use the plates as palettes.  When the plates are stacked they keep leftover paint fresh overnight. Sharpie caps glued into a toner cap. Those toner caps again.  This time Sharpie caps are hot glued into the sections.  I have only lost one sharpie all year.  Mr. Sketch markers.  Caps are hot glued into the holes.  I drilled them into 2 x 2 redwood and it took me about an hour to make 6 trays like this.  The downside is that sometimes kid
Read more