Fin

Finishing Up

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. 

GIFs

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:

Final Exams

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.

Final Reflections

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: 

STEAM Collaborations

​"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."

Student Choice

"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."

"Getting to choose what we wanted to do for each project instead of the teacher telling us what we had to make."

Love of Learning

"Trying all the materials."

"I like this class because you learn a lot new stuff."

"Getting to learn something new every day."

"I enjoyed the trip to Fredrick Meijer Garden. That was really fun, I enjoyed that very much and learned more about my favorite artist Ai Wei Wei."

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!"
​
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!