Rubrics as Forms of Assessment

Rubrics in the art classroom or in the classroom in general is a great form of assessment. It allows the students, teachers, and parents to see the student's grades in a broken down format. I really liked the picture example of a rubric in the article, "Developing Criteria Rubrics in the Art Classroom." It had different ability levels for the students therefore, the teacher could correctly assess each of the students. It is important for us to recognize as teachers that one assessment does not work for all our students in our classroom. We have to adapt our assessments so it is fair and includes all students. By having different ability levels, especially in art, is very important. A student could work diligently on a project and do the best of his ability but it may not be perfect. You cannot give him a poor grade because it is imperfect. You have to base your grades on how much effort he put forth.

As a person who admits that I am not very talented when it comes to art projects and always received poor grades in art class, I must say that I am very impressed by the rubrics. I wish my teachers implemented such a thing into my classes. I always took the time and did my best work on my art projects. I never thought it was fair that I received such low grades on something I worked so hard on. With rubrics, there is a fair chance given to all students.

"It Was Always the Pictures"

I thought this article was extremely enlightening especially for future teachers. We may have students with various disabilities in our classrooms, therefore we have to be prepared to teach those students. This article gives many examples of techniques to use for students with different disabilities.

I really like the idea of the story kits. It definitely helps those students who learn better through pictures. Graphic notes are also very interesting. It assists those students who have difficulty organizing their notes do so by incorporating pictures.

There was one part in the article in particular that I really thought was important. It was the line, "Knowing student interests can help teachers develop curriculum, instruction, and even better support strategies (Kluth, 178). I definitely think this quote is so true and important. It is even more important when you have students with learning disabilities in your class. You have to learn about students as individuals in order to teach them to where they are going to learn the maximum possible. For some students, using pictures is the best for their learning. Therefore, these examples are worthwhile.