Students spent most of this week working on their pieces which explore the theme "You, Me, Everybody." In this first challenge, students are asked to consider how individuals form a sense of self and what makes us similar as well as distinct. We have spent much of our time up until this point working on getting used to various media application so that when it came time to really get into a concept, students would be able to apply what they thought would work best to finish a work they developed on their own. 

Inspired by artists of note for this assignment (Julian Opie, Frida Kahlo, and Do Ho Suh) as well as other works I show them from past students and a great TED talk by Phil Hansen, I ask for students to think about how they can use what they know about manipulating art media to say something about the theme that makes the most sense to them. Before beginning on final works, students are asked to create a series of thumbnail sketches of possible solutions as well as list the materials they think they may need to complete the work they would like to create.

This can be a big challenge for many. In order to avoid some of the pitfalls of feeling like they may never be able to come up with an idea, I saturate our Schoology page with old lessons/solutions from former students and step-by-step how-to's to help those who may be stuck with what to do. I also make sure and refer to artists that can be connected with the work they settle on doing for this project as well and use their sketchbooks as a place to explore and play with ideas. One of my favorite resources to use is the Scholastic Art Gallery of former student winners from around the country. Using student work that is both age appropriate and aspirational helps push students beyond simple or basic solutions and challenges them to think in a larger scope and to reach further than they have previously.

We will be finishing up this theme next week and I am very excited to see where we go next. There is a nice variety of materials being used and approaches to the topic that are making me think about the stories my students have to tell. It will be fun to share this work with parents at conferences next week. 

Here are some images of students working:

These leaves will be available for purchase during Parent Teacher Conferences on the 16th and 18th. 8th grade students made these on the first day of school and we took the time to glaze them this week. They were made by rolling out slabs and imprinting leaves before being bisque-fired and then glazed with one coat of a color. We rubbed some of the color off before putting on a clear coat and firing for a final time. They get that reddish look because of the type of clay that is used to create them.

​I love the results and think they would make a great addition to any fall themed table scape. Any leaves not sold will be available for purchase at the upcoming Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters craft fair at the high school on November 11th. The funds will be used to help offer additional opportunities for students to perform and participate in the WMS Art and STEM program. 

The first few weeks of class are spent on demonstrating how to manipulate media in a variety of ways so students can then make choices on how they would like to apply those concepts in their own work. I find this time to be some of the most fun and also some of the most frustrating. 

It is fun for me to see students dive into media and work with tools in ways they may have not thought of before. It is frustrating for students to understand that these are experiential learning exercises and not meant to be final products or projects. Many are not used to experiential learning practices that ask for them to play around with ideas; they expect to be given direct instruction and have that outcome be counted as the application of learning. 

As I work with students more and more, they will begin to see that these exercises are an important tool for gaining understanding and that how they choose to apply the exercises learned in their own work will be the real demonstration of the learning happening in class. This gap is sometimes hard to get students to see past, but it is something we will be working towards closing as the semester continues. 

As another week of ArtPrize 9 was in full swing, so was our excitement to be a part of it. For those of you not familiar with the competition, it is a 19 day annual event in Grand Rapids that really begins much earlier in the year with creating work and connecting with a venue. 

This year was the first year that a Youth Collaboration Award was offered, which was the incentive for us to pull something together rather quickly last spring. We almost did not make it in, though. It was not until the last day of venue connections that we found ours in Monroe Community Church. We are so thankful they took a chance on us and the response to our display has been amazing! 

Students this week were especially thrilled when our work showed up over the course of several days on local news because our venue was named by the Jury Shortlist as a Most Outstanding Venue finalist. Even though our work may not win the $5000 grant for the Youth Collaboration, being a part of a venue to receive this kind of recognition makes us feel like we won. 

When we came up with this concept to create a work that was a visual response to standardized testing due to the timing in which is was made, the goal was to make something that went beyond cliche kid art. We wanted to make something that we could put up in our school as art in and of itself. I think we did that and I am very proud of the response we have gotten for it.

I have a hard time with remembering names and I share with my students that as a visual learner, it helps me to learn something when I am able to see it connected with an image. This introductory project not only does that, but it also helps me learn about my students and what interests them most. It is fun to see how they approach this challenge and the variety in solutions as well as rationale behind the visual choices they make to complete it. 

In addition to finishing up their names this week, students also learned some new skills on Photoshop by selecting a level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and completing a tutorial within that level. It was nice to see students use their technology to advance their skills and try something new. Here are some of the results: 

Overall, this past week was pretty exciting. It was so incredible to see our work on the news, learn more about my students, and see my students try new ideas using technology. 

I am very excited to learn about the ArtPrize results later this week and everything else that is planned with my students! 

I am going to start out by showcasing our final event of the week first: ArtPrize9! We had a chance to spend a day downtown on Friday and make our way to venues that included the place where our work is being displayed. Our piece, "Painting Under Paper Cuts," is in the running for the Youth Collaboration Award of a $5000 grant. You can help us win with a vote.  Voting for the YCA ends on September 30th. None of this would have been possible without the help of parent and teacher chaperones.

It was a very warm day outside on Friday, but students stayed hydrated and in good spirits throughout the trip. One student reminded me how important experiences like these are when she explained this was her first time ever going downtown in Grand Rapids. I am happy I was able to be a part of that memory and introduce her to the awesome sights and sounds of ArtPrize9! I am also thankful to the ArtPrize Education team for offering this opportunity of both showing our work in the Youth Collaboration category and for having grants available for traveling downtown.

Check out the video below for more highlights from our trip:

Students worked on a project I use to help me put names to faces this week. I am a visual learner and I explain this to my students as I go through this challenge. Students start out by creating interest lists (what are five things that are essential to you, what are your favorite colors/objects/shapes) and then use those lists to generate ideas for transforming the letters of their names into their interests on their portfolios. 

We also use this challenge as a way to explain how we will be using sketchbooks this semester. It is a great way to get students used to the idea of sketching out ideas and working through solutions on a smaller scale before tackling it larger.

Students also learned a variety of colored pencil and marker techniques to apply to their names. We will be finishing these up on Monday and posting the results to Artsonia. 

This week had a lot of action in it. We started it with presentations of their Spinning Tops in the STEAM challenge and ended with a trip to ArtPrize9. It was super fun to see students begin to stretch their creative minds through projects that ask them to rethink and reconsider things we see or use everyday in new and interesting ways. 

I am looking forward to seeing how students finish out their names on Monday and work on our first major challenge that starts next week. I am also excited to meet with students about The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards next week and to find out the results of the Youth Collaboration Awards when voting ends on the 30th!

We kicked off our first full week of school with a STEAM collaboration. For those of you who are new to this blog, the STEM teacher and I combine our classes once a marking period to create a STEAM experience for students. In these sessions, students use Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math to create and collaborate on solving a variety of problems. 

This year, we decided we wanted to jump on the spinning craze that we all experienced with fidget spinners last spring and have students create spinning tops. After doing some research, we found an awesome resource at TryEngineering.org. We also found this video about the Physics of a Spinning Top that was posted by high school students on YouTube to share with our kids (they especially liked the background music):

Through this challenge, we wanted students to implement Design Thinking using the DICE model (Discover, Ideate, Create, Evaluate) and to work collaboratively to meet performance standards for the top they were going to make. Students were given the following items to use in their bag of materials to work with and many used the materials to create more than one top:

• CD
• 2 hot glue sticks
• 2 toothpicks
• 1 black plastic cup lid
• 2 small clear cup lids
• 2 marbles
• 2 washers
• 1 nail
• 1 screw
• 1 plastic bottle cap
• 1 string
• 2 craft sticks

Before building, students created a variety of sketches showing how they could use the materials to create their top. They also had a series of performance standards to consider in their design that outlined both the criteria and constraints of what was expected in their work. For example, the top could not be more than 20g, had to spin for at least 10 seconds, and they could not use extra materials outside of what they were given in their bag of goods. We also asked for them to consider aesthetics in their design and gave them an option to earn extra points for designing additional spinning tops. 

After their tops were created, they had to test them on two surfaces and record the results in a data table. To complete the project, students worked in teams to create a presentation that included images of their sketch, top, results of tests in the form of line graphs, and overall findings from the project.

We like to combine our Art and STEM classes for this STEAM collaboration because it gets students to see the connections between our classes and how we are going to use common language and expectations during their time with us. This is the third year we have been doing these types of activities and students will be presenting their finished work for this first STEAM collaboration of the year on Monday. 

ArtPrize 9 opens this week! That means starting on September 20th, people can vote for our work at Monroe Community Church and help our classroom win $5000 Youth Collaboration Award! I am so thankful to Jamie Dennett, our STEM teacher, for helping our work make it to our venue and to Steve Fridsma, our Venue Coordinator, for connecting with us and hosting our piece. There was an awesome team of volunteers at Monroe Community Church on Saturday who worked for hours on installation. In addition to that, I would also like to thank The Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters for covering our costs and our greater Byron Center Public School Community for their support in this endeavor. It has been a humbling experience and I look forward to celebrating at the opening reception on Tuesday, September 19th from 6-8:30 p.m. (here are the details if you would like to join). We would love to see you there!

Here are some details sent from the ArtPrize Education Team about how to vote:

• Voting for the Youth Collaboration Award is just like ArtPrize voting. Before you vote, you will need to download the ArtPrize app to your phone, or vote online. You will also need to visit ArtPrize in person. Visit this link to learn more about how to vote. 
• Eligible voters must be age 13 years or older to sign up for an artprize.org account and register to vote at ArtPrize.  
• You have to attend the ArtPrize in person in order to vote. You can verify attendance by downloading the ArtPrize mobile app and having your location services turned on while inside the ArtPrize district; or stop by an ArtPrize HUB.
• For the Youth Collaboration Award, voting begins on September 20th at 12pm and ends on September 30th at 11:59pm. This is also the end of Round 1 voting for general ArtPrize. You will not be able to vote for these entries during Round 2.
• The winner of the Youth Collaboration Award will be announced at the ArtPrize Awards Ceremony on October 6th at 7:30pm and can be viewed at the Rosa Parks Circle viewing party or on TV! 

One of the best parts of this experience is getting to see other artists' work on display and talk to them about their process and work. The images above include works from artists who traveled from Toronto, Oklahoma, Montana, North Carolina, and of course, Michigan. It is such an honor to have our work with such skill and talent and it will be so fun to see our students react to the exhibition. 

The next two weeks are going to be a whirlwind of an experience! Even if we don't win the $5000 grant, it has been worth the effort. We are already talking about what might be possible for ArtPrize 10...

As I have been doing for years now, students were introduced to my classroom by getting started with clay. I remember the first time we did this - I was terrified. I had visions of clay being thrown across the room with unruly students not following directions. I really could not have been more wrong in what actually happens when you engage students with meaningful materials to make an impact right from the start. 

Each year at our school we have an Empty Bowls event to benefit our local food bank. At the event, student-made ceramic bowls decorate our school cafeteria as the music students perform and ice cream is served. Patrons donate food and funds to our local food bank to get into the event and celebrate the students who are showcased. 

This year I purchased some additional resources like the doily below for 7th grade students to use to add texture to their clay before placing them into paper bowls as molds for the shape of the bowl. We were able to complete these pieces in only a couple of days and I am excited to see these fired and have them glazed and ready for our Empty Bowls event later this school year.

8th grade students used leaves and terra-cotta clay this year for the first day activity. Instead of making bowls for Empty Bowls, they created leaves that will be for sale to benefit our program at Parent/Teacher Conferences in October and the Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters Annual Craft Fair at the High School in November.

I am very excited that our Ozobots have arrived! This new resource was funded thanks to generous donors through DonorsChoose over the summer. It was something I had been thinking about incorporating into the STEAM curriculum and was able to do so thanks to the support of others who gave to our project. I am excited to get working with these little guys in the coming months and I look forward to also sharing the results! 

We have been celebrating Peter H. Reynolds' story "The Dot" annually for years in my classroom. Each year, we start the school year with some kind of collaborative permanent or semi-permanent work that will engage students with hands-on creating while overcoming the fear that can accompany creativity. 

This year, I discovered an artist from ArtPrize that will share our venue at Monroe Community Church to be our inspiration. Sue Ferrell is a local artist who has been participating in ArtPrize for years. This year she is using her skills as a painter and rocks as a canvas to create a large piece from over 100 smaller parts. 

I first showed students the video below of the story of "The Dot" and we talked about why I would take the time out to show them this. We had a good discussion about fear and creativity and believing in yourself. Several students used the story to discuss ideas about practice and thinking about art in new and different ways. So many middle school students get caught up in realistic drawing as being the premiere way of knowing whether or not they have talent. This story showed them that art is what you make it and can be whatever you want it to be. 

Once we looked at Sue's work, students selected their colors and how they wanted to approach the rock they were painting. These will be used in landscaping outside of our school (an exact location is yet to be determined). I am excited to share with Sue when ArtPrize starts so she can see what an impact her work had on my students. As usual, I will also make sure to share with Peter H. Reynolds who has always been very kind to me and my students when we showcase how we use his work in our classroom.

What is so great about getting students started with hands-on creating the first week of school is that we already get some work on our Artsonia page! Using Schoology, students are able to access their Artsonia uploads through classroom mode and use the standards-based rubrics to complete their work (including their artist statements). 

This week was a great one. I am always amazed at how ready students are to learn and engage with media in new ways. It is so fun to see their reactions when I ask them to get involved with these materials and to brace themselves for what is planned.

I hope everyone else had as great of a first week as we did and I look forward to sharing more next week! 

Guess what? This year is going to be the best one ever. 

As I start my 14th year of teaching middle school students in the Visual Art and Design classroom, I can say this with confidence because every new year is always better than the one before. There are always new goals to tackle and achievements to gain and I know this year we are in store of breaking all kinds of records for awesomeness because of these five fun factors:

Right out of the gate, we have a major opportunity for students to showcase their talents and potentially win our classroom $5000 in funds. I am so proud of our students for creating the collaboration "Painting Under Paper Cuts," that is in the Youth Collaboration Award category for ArtPrize 9. You can view and vote for the work at Monroe Community Church starting September 20th. I am still looking for volunteers to help transport the piece; if any parents are willing, please contact me. I am also very excited to be planning a field trip to ArtPrize again during the 19 day competition. This is the 8th time I have taken students to this event! 

I am so thankful to DonorsChoose, 3M, and all of the donors who helped fund two projects in the last month that will bring robotics opportunities to my students. I cannot wait to receive these resources and get students going with them to build and create new methods of communicating visually and connecting their learning in art to other subjects and content areas. 

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is one of my favorite competitions to enter student work in during the school year. This year will mark our 10th year participating! I am hoping to mark this 10 year anniversary with a record number of student entries, placements, and hopefully another chance to celebrate our National winners at Carnegie Hall in NYC. It is such a great opportunity for students to grow as artists when they participate in these programs and push their learning and skill to the next level. Sign up starts on September 13th!

​I love collaborative projects. I am very excited to try two new ones this year based on some great ideas from other teachers. They are both going to be early on in the school year and I look forward to getting them out into the public spaces of our school so others can enjoy the visual expression of each student coming together to make something as a whole! 

I am leaving this one as a wild card - an open space for anything to happen. There is always something that sneaks up on me out of nowhere and takes me by surprise each year. Last year it was the collaborative work we created for ArtPrize, the year before was having a student win a National Scholastic Gold Medal for making a gorgeous piece of jewelry out of paper, the year before it was being named National Art Education Association Middle Level Educator of the Year... I am not sure what crazy, exciting, new, scary, lovely surprise is going to show itself to me and my students this year, but that is okay. I know it will be amazing and that we will be excited and ready to greet it with open arms!

This summer has been a great one. I have had some awesome opportunities to travel, get fit (both physically and mentally), and reflect on what goals I have for the upcoming school year. I purposely took some time away from planning at the start of the summer in order to clear my head and look at the last school year with a fresh perspective. I did this in order to know what I wanted to keep in my classroom, what I want to try from the heap of resources I have accumulated over time, and how I want my students and I to leap forward towards new ideas and opportunities. Rather than create a ridiculous list of a million and one things I could do for this next school year, I am going to focus on three ideas that I know will have the potential to move my classroom forward in tremendous ways. 

I am so excited that one of the highlights for my students last year when they filled out their was also one of mine. Overwhelmingly students expressed both an enjoyment and desire to work with others in collaborative ways in the classroom. We did this through our STEAM collaboratives and it is something I am very excited to continue as we get going with this upcoming school year. One of my favorite things about the start of the school year is that the STEM teacher and I combine our classes to work on a PSA collaborative starting on the first full week of school. This year we plan on continuing with our four STEAM collaboratives and I am excited to fine-tune this process as we will be looping various projects in new ways.

When I think of 'the heap," I think of a massive pile of various ideas that have accumulated over time; many of them are yet to be realized for one reason or another. These are things I have learned or have seen in other classrooms through professional development and social media, but haven't been quite ready or knowing how to implement in my classroom. These are things I have been inspired by when I see others put it into action, but where I haven't yet bridged the gap between admiration to implementation due to lack of confidence, total understanding, or most often, lack of time. 

Well, there is one thing from the heap of ideas that I am ready to try out and that is using Ozobots in my classroom. They are these really neat little bots students can program to better understand code through the variety of commands they give their bots. It is also a great way of incorporating art because you can program the bots to do different things depending on colors they encounter and other things along the way. I see this being a great way to get students engaged with design and problem solving and I am really excited to announce that you can help us get this project up and running by donating to our DonorsChoose page! 

I am beyond excited to announce that our STEAM collaborative, "Painting Under Paper Cuts," in the running to win our program $5000 through the Youth Collaborative Award in ArtPrize (VOTE 65259). This opportunity arose in late Spring and the STEM teacher and I worked together to get concepts and students together to make a work that was reflective of our student body and the nature of both of our classes. To put our name in the hat has been a big leap for this upcoming school year.

ArtPrize is in its ninth year; this is the first time my students or I have submitted work to it. It takes some courage to put your work out there, period; some might say it is a leap of faith. To add the element of having others to vote on it in the hopes that you will win both prestige and prize money for your classroom adds another element to the exhibition of the work. 

We almost didn't make it in to the competition, but thanks to Monroe Community Church, we were able to secure this fabulous venue and I look forward to working with parents and students to organize various ways we can promote the piece so people can vote for it. It is a leap I hope opens the door to even more opportunities for my students and myself to participate with these major events.

Now that I have had a chance to really hone in on some ideas using the keep, heap, and leap mantra about how I can make this next year the best one yet, I am getting really excited to start putting plans into action. 

I can't wait to meet my students in a few weeks and share these ideas with them and ask them to make their own lists of what they want to keep, take from the heap, and make a leap with to make their school year the best one ever! 

Do you have your keep, heap, and leap list going? If not, feel free to borrow from mine. If you do, please don't keep it to yourself. Be brave and declare it. 

See you on the Internets,

Mrs. C

I know that we should all still be in the thralls of summertime, laying out by the pool, drinking lemonade, and forgetting what day of the week it is. But, if you are like me, you have already had that first back to school dream (or nightmare) and have started to make strategic goals and plans for making this upcoming school year one the best one yet. Well, I have partnered with Scholastic to get your thinking about your classroom in this post and offer you a giveaway!

When thinking about plans for the fall, one that it a no-brainer for me is the inclusion of Scholastic Art Magazine to my curriculum. For those of you not familiar, it is a resource for your classroom that connects students to artists using a variety of timely themes, genres, and materials through print and online media.

I was lucky that I was first introduced to this resource during my student teaching days back in 2004. My mentor teacher said it was the single most important resource for her classroom because it organized artists and their work in ways that made it both relatable and age-appropriate for students. She had stacks and stacks of magazines that dated from decades before and that we both used them as ways to connect students with content in our lesson plans.

13 years later, I not only have stacks and stacks of my own Scholastic Art Magazines dating back over the last decade-plus that I can use with my students in various ways, I also have access to an online portal that allows students to view the content of current and past issues whenever they want. In addition to the text of the issue, students can access videos, slideshows, and other resources to deepen their understanding of artists, media, and concepts through the online portal. 

Here are a few of ways I use this resource in my classroom:

• Integrate reading and writing strategies in my classroom. 

If your school is like mine, we are always looking for ways to meaningfully weave reading and writing strategies into all of the curriculum. Using Scholastic Art Magazine offers an easy way to do this. Not only can you adjust reading levels on the online portal, you can also print reading comprehension questions at various grade levels to differentiate instruction based on your student population and needs. I use it most often for a writing prompt I call "Artist of Interest" where students use a specific-standards based rubric to write about an artist of their choice from any of the issues offered. 

• Easy substitute teacher plans.

Sometimes it is easier to go to school sick rather than figure out what to have students do when you are gone. As an art teacher, the amount of mess you might come back to when you leave your classroom can make the the idea of going to Professional Development Conferences seem impossible, too. With the amount of grade-level resources included in the subscription to Scholastic Art Magazine, I know that I can be away from my classroom without leaving a basic project behind for kids to do. I can use the worksheets, activity guides, and other resources to engage students in learning that can deepen their understanding of what we are learning in the classroom without the worry of it getting lost through a substitute. ​

• Connect students to Art Careers.

One of the more emerging areas of interest for me is connecting students to a career opportunities. There is a strange false narrative out there that artists can't make a living. I am not sure where it started and why it persists, but it is really not true. All you have to do is turn to the back pages of Scholastic Art Magazine and read the various careers they highlight in their issues. In addition to interviewing various professionals in the field (ranging from Crayon Engineer to Roller Coaster Designer and Wildlife Photographer), Scholastic Art Magazine's online portal showcases these careers in one spot and allows students to learn more about the professions including skills and education needed and even range of salary. I want my students to make art because they enjoy it and I want them to understand that they can also make a living from it.

I have also shared various projects my students have done on this blog using the magazines for research on their Elements and Principle Videos from several years ago as well as their Artist Rooms from just this past year.  I am also obsessed with the student showcase offered in each issue from former Scholastic Art Award winners and use that as a way to show students what their peers are doing in the art world, too.

So, now that you have heard some of the great ways I use Scholastic Art Magazine in my classroom, it is your turn to tell me how you would use it in yours! Thanks to Scholastic, one lucky teacher who comments below about how they would use a Scholastic Art Magazine subscription in their 2017/18 classroom will win a class set! Deadline to participate is July 17th! 

I am excited to read how you would use this great tool for your students, so please share your ideas! Then you can go back to drinking that lemonade, evening out your tan, and wondering what day it is... or more likely start prepping for the school year. 

I tried something new this year to finish up learning in my classroom. In addition to review guides, games, and an active project-based part of the final exam, I also asked students to help me close out my classroom prepare for the fall. 

This is something I have traditionally done myself over the years. As I was thinking about how to end the school year, I started toying with the idea of having students who were earlier finishers to help with many of the tasks that help inventory and organize tools so that the next year begins smoothly.

Some of the important things students helped with involved labeling 3D stations with student numbers, refilling paint, emptying glue bottles, cleaning out student storage, and checking/sorting markers. It was such a good opportunity to teach students care of classroom materials, creating an inventory, as well as the process of how we go about making choices for ordering supplies for next year. 

I cannot remember my classroom being cleaner or more organized at the end of the year and that means instead of focusing on that when we start in the fall, I can get right into the material and means of teaching my students. 

To finish out the year, we worked on part of our exam that piggy-backed on the idea of remixing from the last challenge. Instead of remixing work from our past, we looked to the students from our three elementary schools and intermediate school for inspiration. 

Students in my class went to the Artsonia galleries of Nickels, Marshall, Brown, and Countryside and selected a piece of their choice that they would like to animate. Some picked family members and others picked randomly from the galleries. 

Using Photoshop's tools and functions in the Motion workspace, students used the clone stamp, layers, and other tools to create the pieces below:

In addition to the project above, students finished my class out with a final exam that includes multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching, and ordering questions. I have been giving a test to finish out the course for years.

At first, it was the only test I gave to students and because of that, the results were really hard to track in terms of growth. Then, I did the pre and post test model, but I still felt that it was too difficult to gauge learning with only administering two tests during the term. That is when I decided to start giving smaller quizzes after Challenges and then use questions from those to formulate the exam. The questions range from art identification, material usage, and other art terminology and application.

I am not sure I quite have it right yet, but so far this has been the best way for me to track student understanding and retention of content in addition to using student work and artist statements to document student learning. It is also quite satisfying to both the students and myself when we review the difference in pre and post test scores and see students have made some kind of gain over the school year.

The VERY last thing I do in my classroom is ask my students to give me feedback on the semester with the understanding I will use that feedback to help plan for the next time I teach the class. 

First thing I ask in the survey is why students signed up for Art. Here is a breakdown of responses:

Then I ask them what they learned about in class:

Then I ask about what they wish they could have learned more about:

What is interesting for me to see in these responses is what students hoped to learn, what they think they learned, and what they wish they could learn more about. It offers me a nice recap and understanding of the students I serve and what their goals were for their learning and if they were met by my goals for their learning, too. I think I am happiest with the middle chart and the consistency I see across various aspects of art making that students felt they learned. It is validating to reflect on these responses and teaching practices and see that my goals were met for students (but I am always looking for new things to make it better).

In addition to this kind of data, students are able to give me feedback on what they thought the best part of class was, what could be changed to make it better, and any other final thoughts they had for me. This is probably my favorite part of the end of the term because it allows me to see the good in what we did, the things we can make better, and anything else that is on students' minds. 

Here are some of reflections on what students liked the best this year: 

​"I really loved building rooms with the Stem Class, and getting design and create the spaces using different materials that reflect off of an artists work. ​"

"I loved the group projects with the other class because it let us get together with other people."

"I liked the video making collaboration. It was fun to make the game and fun to learn to work with coding. I also liked that we had the freedom to use whatever material we wanted for our art."

"I really liked being able to collab with the stem students and I loved making the artprize piece. I also enjoyed having the same theme but everyone getting to do each project in their own, creative way."

"I really liked how we got to make stuff that we wanted to. It was nice to not make something that looks exactly like everyone else's work."

"Saying good things at the beginning of class and being able to choose materials."

"The freedom to choose what your art will be and what it will be about."

"I enjoyed the fact that we got to pick our own art work. ​"

"The freedom of what kind of materials you get to use for the projects."

The survey is anonymous and the nice thing about it is that it gives me feedback I can reflect on to improve practice for the future. A few students questioned whether we needed to learn 18 different artists over the term and if they could have more choice on the artists they studied. This is something I think I will revamp for next year.  

I also appreciate the response to "Anything else you think I should know" part of the survey. I have really nice students and many offered thanks for a great year.

My favorite thank-you's are the ones that reflect what I try and offer all of my students and I hope resonate the most once they leave my classroom: 

"Thank you for teaching me so much about art this year and helping me advance in my skills and learn that everybody can be good at art."

"I wanted to thank you so much for everything you have taught me. I honestly feel like I have really improved as an artist. I really enjoyed this art class, and getting to experience and work with so many different materials, that I have not had the chance to work with before. I really hope to continue art in the future, and wanted to say thank you for pushing me to be the best artist that I can be."

"I enjoyed being in art so much. I loved how nice and kind you were and how you gave back feedback to people. I really enjoyed that we had a project challenge to do and I loved that we could come up with some exciting things. I really also enjoyed the field trip, and making art work for Artprize. Learning more about artists I didn't even know about was fun as well. I was so excited to finally figure out I was doing Art and once I did I was never so happy to go to school everyday and starting out my day with my favorite subject, Art. Thank you so much for being my art teacher I enjoyed every second of being your student at Byron Center West Middle School."

"Thank you so much for teaching me about art, and showing me that art is a lot more than people act like. I loved being able to be creative and create my own art this year!"
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Although it was the best year ever (for so many reasons), I know I can use their feedback to improve and help 2017/18 to be even better! 

​Happy Summer!