Assessment | Cindy's Teaching Portfolio

Art assessment was one of the most challenging aspects of my practicum. I was well prepared with rubrics but I did not encounter all the difficulties I would face during marking. I wrote a post about this you can read here about my thoughts and what I learned about art assessment: https://blogs.ubc.ca/cindyyyap/?p=339

I realize after my practicum experience that I am still concerned with fair assessment. The best advice I was given about assessment was to be as consistent as much as possible. As easy as it is to be caught up in personal biases, I must look objectively at the work I am marking and not at the student’s idiosyncrasies. Apart from approved extensions, I believe I managed to be as consistent and as fair as possible given the circumstances I was under. There were many students who had extenuating reasons to hand work in late in addition to those who struggled with the project due to language barriers. I could not grade them differently because of their differences. I must always look at the work that he or she produced and mark according to my rubric. I believe in creating the most valid and reliable rubrics as possible but I know for a fact that a “perfect” rubric does not exist. In situations where I feel that a student’s work does fit neatly into a prescribed category in my rubric, I must use my best professional judgement to gauge what score the student should receive. I will look at their participation, work ethic, project completion, and overall success of the project before committing to a final grade.

I try my best to be as transparent with my marking system as possible. I make an effort to hand out my rubric to the class with a clear explanation of what I am looking for. I will also notify them of any changes that I make to the marking system in addition to any late penalty deductions. I make deadlines clear and repeat them as often as I can. In addition to the summative assessment portion, I also regularly check in with each of my students during their process of art making. I meet with each student one-on-one to discuss their ideas and provide formative feedback. I will give suggestions and answer any questions or concerns they have. I believe in the importance of the process in art making (research, concept formation, development of creative stance) over the final end product. I try my best to give all my students an equal opportunity to succeed in this area before ever settling on a final mark. This to me is responsible art assessment.

Assessment is also not just for me to judge their work. I believe that when students assess their peer’s work, they not only learn how to think critically about art work and learn important terminology, they also foster a stronger sense of comradery in the classroom that may or may have not existed before. (Half of all my classes did not know the other half’s names!). In addition to peer assessment, they will also complete a self assessment sheet that will give me a truer reflection of what my students are succeeding and struggling with. These reflections will then be communicated by me to the class as a whole and suggestions will be given for further improvement.

Assessment Sheets

Peer Assessment Worksheet

Self Assessment Worksheet

Rubrics

Brushwork Technique Checklist

Ceramics Rubric

Ceramics Label Rubric

Impressionism & Post Impressionism Rubric

Photo Locations Rubric

Social Justice Comic Storyboard Rubric

Special Needs Rubric

Tattoos Rubric