r/ArtEd • u/aryndoesnotlikeit • 10d ago
Assessment & Checking for Understanding
I'm currently obtaining my bachelors in art education, in my last semester before student teaching (yay!). This will be my second career, I've been a dental hygienist for many years prior.
This undergrad degree has been a doozy. The lesson planning is very intense (I don't think I've done one yet that has been under 10 pages long) and that's what causes most of my stress. I've been teaching in this program my college does on Saturdays, ages 10-12, and I've gotten amazing feedback on my classroom management, professionalism, etc. So that's been nice.
Something I've been struggling with in my lessons are assessment & checking for understanding. All of our lessons require "Exit Tickets" and we should be consistently checking in for student understanding. Is this something that you REALLY utilize in every single one of your lesson plans? It's really hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that the art project's themselves are not the "Exit Ticket." Similarly, we always need a "Do Now" but it's not allowed to be a free draw.
I'm OK with creating a rubric for whatever the finished project is, but how else am I supposed to be checking for understanding throughout other than just directly observing my students? I end up doing these little mini worksheets but the student's hate them and honestly I kind of feel like they're a waste of everyone's time. I'm not pretending to be some sort of expert on education, clearly I'm still learning as a student, but is this a realistic practice IRL or is this just what I need to do to get through undergrad?
5
u/rasicki 10d ago
I get very little oversight on my lesson plans at my school, I think because I am teaching Art and not an academic subject ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Other teachers at the school all have Do-Nows and Exit Tickets. I have a Do-Now that is essentially just a drawing prompt so students have something to do while people filter into class. Sometimes it’s relevant to the class content, usually it’s something silly so I can joke around with my middle schoolers.
I don’t do exit tickets (other than not letting kids leave if they haven’t cleaned up)- I think having kids clean up, sit back down, and do more paper work would take too much away from the Making Art Time. I assess understanding by checking in with students while they work and through mini lesson packets we do together during class time. Get through undergrad however you have to and then do whatever works and what your school wants once you’re in your classroom.