2019 End-of-the-Year Reflections

At the end of every school year I find myself completely rethinking my entire curriculum and all of my teaching methods. It can get frustrating seeing as this is the end of my seventh year teaching, and I would hope to have a few more things figured out by now. Yet, I feel that I am continuously growing as an educator, constantly responding to my students, reflecting on what is working and what is not. I absorb new ideas and theories in choice based art education and meld them to produce new processes of teaching and learning for the following year. This year is no different, and as artwork is leaving the classroom, counters are getting cleaned for a final time, and everyone is headed home for the summer, I thought I would take some time to write down my thoughts and reflections on the year past - as well as some ideas for the year ahead.

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Room Design

• The changes that I made in the room at the beginning of the year were instrumental in the increase of independence in students this year. Opening the Drawing, Collage, and Painting areas allowed for students to see different materials and make artistic choices based on these various options.
• For next year I would like to work on pushing this even further. The recycled materials, fibers, and sculpture supplies need a more permanent place with better student access. Other drawers and cupboards can be cleaned out and reorganized for quicker and easier access.
• The paper needs some consideration. Although the organization has been attempted, it continuously gets disoriented. Coming up with a better system and introducing it to the students will help with the flow of the class.

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Curriculum Units

• This year I focused on developing two parts to most of my units, the “exploration” part with skill building, content learning, and experimenting. The second part was independent studio work time creating a final, advanced artwork. I think this format worked really well, allowing for experimentation while also working towards a finished result. Units I organized like this included Inspiration Around the Room, Abstract Art, Identity, Artist Remix, Stop-Motion Animation, Sculpture Around the Room, and Collage.
• Although the level of scaffolding felt right for most students, I would still like to invite more play into the creative process. More sketchbook use and art journaling as well. The challenge is how to open the curriculum to student choice and ownership while providing them with guidance so they are not overwhelmed.
• One unit I think I will ditch is the Drawing Around the Room. We didn’t have enough time after the exploration to do the second part of the unit so the learning that had happened didn’t get used and wasn’t fully absorbed. Maybe a shorter, one-day activity instead.

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Pacing 

• I felt better about the timing throughout the year this school year (as compared to last). I was much better prepared for the winter art show and was able to pace the units fairly comfortably.
  
• Overall, I still feel that I try to cram too much into the year for all of the grades. I’m thinking of seriously dialing it back. Perhaps have only one unit per semester (compared to two) with two pieces due at the end of the semester - one connected to the unit and one independent. This way we have more time for play and artwork that doesn’t connect with the content we are currently working with. ​
  

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Digital Portfolios

• This year I implemented SeeSaw as digital portfolios of the student process. There are so many things I liked about this. When checking on a student’s work for my own use or when meeting with a parent, it was easy to pull up their portfolios to see their progress. It helped the students stay engaged in their own process, reminding them where they left off the week before and as a record that they could use for assessments.
  
• However, it was a challenge at times to get students to complete this. Sometimes we would be rushing at the end of class and I would forget to remind them. Other times they wouldn’t have their ipad and would forget to post even if someone else took the photo for them. During the second semester, admin took notice of many zeros in the gradebook, resulting in students coming to study lab to complete make-up work.
  
• I’m not sure what adjustments to make for next year on this front. Perhaps I keep the expectations the same and get better at carving out time at the end of class for students to make their posts, while checking that it was done before they leave. Or maybe I don’t grade them. Or have a set number of them due at the end of the month and put in just one grade for that. I’ll need to give more thought to this. ​
  

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Art Kits

• The Art Kits were a great addition this year! Once introduced, students accessed them independently and easily. They had the supplies they needed while being responsible for their care. Students took the job of keeping track of their supplies seriously, alerting me if there was a problem with anything.
• There certainly have been some supplies that have gone missing and I’m sure a good number of things will need to be replaced. However, I think this number will be significantly less than if the supplies had just been out for open access.
• I’m hoping to get in paintbrush sets that I ordered for next year so I can add these to the kits. Also, sharpeners.
• The tape that I used to number the erasers came off of them and I think most erasers got separated from their kits because of this. I’ll have to find another way to mark them. ​

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Assessments

• Easily my biggest challenge this year was with assessments. We have it required to put in 4 Exam grades a year that are worth 50% of the student’s grade. Last year I use a studio habits of mind rubric to grade a final artwork each unit. This year I wanted the Exams to be more reflective of student learning and the creative process so I had them share evidence and reflections of their learning at the end of each unit. Although I think it showed more authentic results, the expectations may have been too high and caused many students to get low scores for lack of organization.
• I have gotten the permission next year to put in both of my Exam grades at the end of each semester. This opens up a whole wide possibility of options for my assessments now that we have less of a time constraint. My current thoughts are to use one Exam grade for what they present in the art show (we have one in the winter and one in the spring). I want to open up the options for the show so it is more student-directed, allowing them to choose however many artworks they want to exhibit and have more ownership in how they exhibit them.
• For the second Exam grade I would like to make it a portfolio grade, where I can assess them on all work they have created throughout the semester. Now, I’m not sure exactly how this will work. I will obviously have to create some clear expectations for what should be included (number range of final pieces, number range of experimental pieces, number range of sketchbook work, reflections, etc) but overall I am excited about transitioning to this format. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. ​

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Studio Thinking

• One great addition to my classroom this year has been Melissa Purtee’s Artist Thinking Process. It really helped us dial in on the different stages of creation. I used this the most when students were working independently on art exhibition pieces to encourage them along the way.
• Next year I would like to think more about how I can incorporate the Studio Habits of Mind as well as the Artistic Behaviors (that is what TAB stands for after all) in my lessons, curriculum, and assessments. Kristina Smethers recently shared her version of Melissa’s Artist Thinking Process that includes the studio habits within it which I really like. I’ve also been reading through my copy of Studio Thinking (Hetland, Winner, Veenema, Sheridan) and The Open Art Room (Purtee, Sands) again. Hopefully some new beautiful connections will emerge. ​

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Overall

Overall I’m inspired by the constant growth and creativity of my students and how it continuously feeds me to become a better teacher for them. Perhaps it is the end-of-the-year whirlwind that happens, but I’m feeling lost for time right now. My main goals for next year are to slow down, open up, and be responsive to the possibilities that emerge in the studio. I want my classes to be more joyful. I hope to stop fighting with the assessment and grading expectations of my school and manipulate it to start working for me and the students. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll be able to do all of this but I’m excited about the potential. Plus, when in doubt, go back to the basics - I’ll be revisiting the foundational concepts of TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behaviors) and building from there. Until next year, have a creative and restful summer!