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My first couple years of teaching I had to be observed by my SELPA director as all SPED teachers I am sure have to do. On one of my observations I decided to do an art lesson. To this day I can still hear that SELPA director as he tore me down and told me that I was wasting the kids' time. He told me to never do another art lesson in my class. He said the kids are in my class because they are behind, so anything other than "academics" is wasting their time. The next day I looked at my students' art as I hung it on the bulletin board outside my class. Because of that man, I felt shame for having "wasted my kids' time".  That is when Ashley came up next to me in her wheelchair.  She pointed to her art, smiled her hugest smile & said, "mine".  She in that moment reminded me of what is most important.  That is the whole child.  She was proud of herself - as she should be. Art goes to the heart of the whole child. Because of Ashley, I decided to always incorporate art into my classroom. I am not going to let anybody tell me that art doesn't belong in my classroom.

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I thought that the peer assessments mirrored what we see in our common core state standards for writing. I liked that the peer's had structured given to them by the rubrics for assessing their peers' work. I also think that the way the teacher repeatedly referred back to the rubrics was critical. To assess their peers they needed a base of knowledge, and some vocabulary to use so that suggestions had substance and weren't just comments like, "I like your bird". My art project actually involves some peer assessing. I think I will have to find a way to have the kids help make a rubric.

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I am going to use rubrics, peer, and self assessment strategies. I would prefer to go with the peer and self because in that way the students are learning as they assess. After watching the bird thing, I have decided t add a rubric because then the kids will have more of a base of knowledge and a framework.

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We are currently in our animal unit and students have learned how to make a 3d model  of their animal.  One success I had was the students are very engaged and loving this unit. I would say this is an overall favorite by far this year.  This is my success.  I find that when students finish their work throughout the day, the first thing they want to do is go to Youtube and create another drawing of their animal or watch a video and create another model of their animal using clay. Some of my students have become very passionate about art now and I love to see them so engaged and wanting to learn more on their own.

One challenge I've had is finding the time to work with these students one on one while still teaching all the other subjects daily.  My students don't have a lot of parent support at home so buying the materials and creating this artwork has been completely on my shoulders.

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I really liked the use of peer assessments and creating a rubric with student work that was used to guide the students in the right direction.  After seeing this I think I want to change the way my assessment is for my animal report project.  I like the way the students used sticky notes to write comments after creating the rubric.  This also gave the students ownership in the art project because they were helping decide what each level looked like for the rubric.  I am going to use this strategy for my animal artwork by looking at a previous years work and having the students vote on finding a representation for each number on the rubric scale so they have a visual representation before they build their own model. 

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I really liked the use of peer assessments and creating a rubric with student work that was used to guide the students in the right direction.  After seeing this I think I want to change the way my assessment is for my animal report project.  I like the way the students used sticky notes to write comments after creating the rubric.  This also gave the students ownership in the art project because they were helping decide what each level looked like for the rubric.  I am going to use this strategy for my animal artwork by looking at a previous years work and having the students vote on finding a representation for each number on the rubric scale so they have a visual representation before they build their own model. 

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As I stated previously, I think a rubric is a wonderful idea because it helps guide the kids on what their end product should look like but it also makes the class feel like they are a part of the grading process. This creates a sense of ownership amongst the class and I think the students will want to produce a better product this way.  I also feel like this will make grading the final assessment a lot easier for me as well because i will have a visual of each number on the scale.

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Roses & Thorns
A. Haltom
My students are challenging me this year because they can’t seem to focus and get work done in the time I give them. I have extended the time they have. I have asked them to work silently but nothing has seemed to help. It’s frustrating during our core curriculum but flat out confusing during art. They can’t seem to finish any art projects we do together.

My rose to this is that they are so invested in their art that they just can’t be rushed. And I’m glad they are producing artwork they are proud of. Well just get to a few less projects but I think our return will be greater.

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Rubric
A. Haltom

I have used peer assessment and rubrics on a number of projects where students have created posters after a unit. I rally like how she stopped the students during their project and had them check their progress. And since they continued to improve on their projects it really was a learning process. I think there is a lot of value in this type of assessment for all the students. Inevitably there are always students who are too harsh or do not put the effort in to really evaluate. But that’s where I have to remind myself that they are the students and still learning and ultimately I’m the teacher with the grade book. I have gotten away from this kind of assessment this year but I will definitely be returning to it for a few projects I have coming up.

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I have used some of these assessments across a lot of my curriculum but not much assessment has been brought into my art. I like the idea of having the write about what they’ve learned. A huge part of our new math curriculum is getting students to explain their thinking. I am always telling my students how important this is because if you can explain your thinking to someone else or understand someone else’s thinking, then you truly understand. I don’t have a lot of time for art and as I said my students have trouble getting to the end of project with a finished project. If I add in an assessment “gallery” where student can evaluate themselves and their peers then extending some lessons to two art blocks would be very valuable. At the same time their written evaluations of their own work would be fantastic to include with their art when their parents come for open house.

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by Donnie Driscoll

I teach in a SDC room. I wanted to see what my students could draw. I knew that they all know the basics shapes. I picked a simple drawing and asked them what shapes they could see in the drawing. This surprised me. How could they not know the shapes? They all passed the math test on shapes. They could not see them in the drawing. Where did I go wrong? How could they not see them. So we started at the beginning. I was disappointed that they couldn't name but one of the shapes in the drawing. I kept the lesson going though. They followed the directions. They first direction was to draw a circle. Surprise again! They couldn't draw a circle. We got through that. They saw that my circle wasn't perfect at first and we all continued on. We made it through the lesson which resulted in a variety of unique shaped cats. The surprise at the end was that they all were late for lunch because I couldn't get them to leave. They all insisted on staying until they finished even though I told them we would finish after lunch. When they came back for lunch they asked if they could do more drawings. Of course I told them we could try another next week. They all said 'yeah". I guess we will all learn to draw togeher.

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By Donnie Driscoll
I like the use of peer assessment. I have used this method before but not with a review while work in progress. I really liked that she had them review before they finished the final product. I also like that there was a visual rubric. I really think that for my current student population they will be much better critics for their peers with visual support rubric. I'm not sure how I am going to create this. She used the rubric vocabulary during the lesson which helped the students use the same vocabulary. My students will need a lot of practice. They tend to be very kind to their peers when they share work. When I think about it, I don't think I have ever heard them truely say anything negative about peers work.

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I am going to use the rubric as well as self and peer review. I feel like they will be able to help each other and build their own skills with a visual rubric. I am hoping they will take a little more time with their work and not rush through. If need be I hope they will revise their own work based on their self and peer reviews. The visual rubric should help them see what is needed. The test will be to develop the rubric.

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The thorns seem to be outweighing the roses lately.  The students don't see to be able to focus on anything. They aren't creative at all, but more  concerning is that they can't problem solve to save their lives.  If it's not handed to them on a silver platter, they can't seem to figure out how to even start.
One success we've recently had was with a hands-on lesson where we used straws and clay to build 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. They used these to calculate area and volume. They were able to use spatial relationships and to build rectangular prisms and use them to see the relationship between area of a side and volume.

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I thought the use of peer assessments was very effective. The students were able to give each other feedback based on the guidelines. The teacher did a good job of reinforcing what the students should be looking for in their artwork. I like that the peer review was used for students to be able to modify or improve their work. There was no grade involved, which can inherently cause problems when peers are grading each other, but instead it afforded the students the opportunity to see their art from another persons perspective. We use this strategy often with the NGSS standards using modeling. I hadn't really thought about applying it to art before..

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I want to use the peer rubric and a rubric for self assessment throughout this project.  The peer assessment will be used in the pre-process when we are working with blending watercolors and borders. I think the self-reflection rubric will work well with the final product. Especially if we have them address the comments made during the peer review. We want the students to have ownership of their art and be able to justify why /howthey incorporated suggestion s or why they chose not to.

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Over the last 2 weeks, my fifth graders put on a 25-minute musical on the 13 colonies produced by Bad Wolf Press (3 shows total)
THORNS:
1.  No enough help.  I could not get parents to help me gather costumes and such, so I was on my own.  I do have a small collection, but I spent quite a bit of  time going to thrift stores, borrowing some from our local theater troop .  I wish another adult or two could have helped me.  I have taught 26 years, and I do find it harder and harder to rally parent volunteers.
2.  Very few students had the home support to memorize their lines at home, so we spent more time than expected practicing in class.  I had to postpone a science research project as part of the needed adjustment.
3.  Currently, all K-6 is crammed on one campus while the other is being remodeled, so band is offered on stage.  For the last rehearsals and the 3 shows, we had to move the band setup twice every time we used the stage.  Since I had to supervise the students, we did it during my lunch.  That was a pain!
ROSES
1.  Most of my students had never been in a play and performed on stage.  They were very hesitant at first.  This show really boosted their confidence.  Now they are asking me when we are doing the next one!
2. Two of my most challenging students behavior-wise had bigger roles and got a lot of positive affirmation for their splendid performances.  That was part of their behavior plan and it worked well.
3.  They learned a lot about the 13 colonies while having fun, learning a few basic elements of theater and singing their hearts out.  They also learned valuable lessons on collaboration.  Great cross-curriculum integration.
4.  For lack of parent help, my students learned to be quite independent and help each other with hair and costumes.  One of our custodians effectively mentored my student who was on sound.  That dear custodian really got into our play and made some great suggestions.  For the shows, I personally asked my more disfranchised parents to help me with supervision and small details, and they did rise to the occasion.  So, great lessons in independence and "village collaboration."

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I have had some beautiful roses moments regarding art this year.  I have one extremely talented artist in my sixth grade class, and she has been inspiring so many of her classmates to be creative and want to practice art.  The last 30 minutes on Friday, students are able to have some free time.  The last few Fridays, about 12 students have wanted to water color!  We have created beautiful "tiny art" water color designs.  It has been such a blast, and it is totally their choice!  Another rose is that I have decided to start a sewing club during recess three days a week.  There were 57 sixth grader interested in joining!!  Some students have decided that maybe sewing isn't for them, which is totally fine, but there are still about 25 sixth grade boys and girls who are giving up their recess to be creative!  It is magical!

I am having trouble coming up with many thorns, but I suppose one area that I have seen as difficult is when students don't like the art they create. I think it is important to show students that they may not love all of the art that they create though. Choosing a medium that they prefer can help them feel more successful in their art. I have attached some pictures of some of the art that the very talented student in my class created. These are water color designs.

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I thought that the peer assessment was wonderfully executed in the video. I think it is helpful for peers to give suggestions to each other, so that it isn't always coming from the teacher. I think one challenge could be students constructively critiquing the work. I think it would be important to teach some sentence structures at a younger grade on how to positively give feedback. I am going to try this during my next art lesson.

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I thought that Donnor's use of peer assessment was very effective because her students were clearly trained to give and accept suggestions respectfully.
Teachers could face challenges using peer assessments if they do not prepare the class with a common, domain-specific vocabulary used in the rubrics, and if they do not take the time to prep the students on how to give feedback respectfully and constructively.
One modification I would make is for my students to practice using the rubric and feedback on work that is not theirs, so that the emerging artists do not feel threatened by the process.

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I would like to incorporate the use of a rubric into my art lessons.  I would like to show students the rubric before we begin the project so that they know the expectations.  I also liked the form that allowed the students to self-critique their work.  I also think that using the peer assessment is a valuable tool. This allows students to hear from their peers in a safe and helpful environment.