January 27: Assessing Learning in Art

Why do we assess learning in art? How can learning to self-assess in art transfer to other subject areas? Life endeavours?

We assess learning in art for much the same reason we assess students in other subject areas, it provides a way of informing students and their parents of the curricular expectations in regards to the work assigned. Assessment is also necessary to meet provincial standards and requirements. On a positive note, assessment provides teachers, students and parents a regular and consistent measurement of student growth as they progress through the art program.

Self-assessment is the application of metacognition to your work. And in art is a very valuable skill. Knowledge of your own thoughts and factors that influence your thinking and ultimately your actions as a result of your thinking and learning is something all humans do, but as teachers we can help students develop and expand. At a young age we can model for children. We can do think-alouds and then graphic organizers and soon it becomes second nature. Self-assessment in art is a very valuable skill. When self-assessing in art we look for technique, style, symbolism, and meaning. Similar attributes can also be sought it literature and cinema, as well as the other school based subjects science and math (technique), and English, history and social studies (all of the above). In each subject are we teach a different vocabulary to characterize the assessment.

Self-assessment brings awareness to a student’s work, it forces thought about both the final product and the creation process that will serve the child well when participating in other processes. Students can remember to look at both details and the bigger picture something that is helpful not only in assessing their artwork, but in solving math problems and writing papers.