I'm working on my 6th grade pre- and post-assessment test right now and I'm really hoping that I'm not making a test that is too difficult! My art history major is kicking in right now...When I did my student teaching, I had no problem making tests for the high school level art students, but I haven't ever really had to make a test for my Elementary students before this.
I think my test is pretty simple...like I've said before though, I only worry that I won't have enough time to cover everything that is in it. The seven cultures I plan on trying to cover with my 6th graders are the following: Prehistoric, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Asian Art, Mexican Art, Aboriginal Art, and Native American Art. I'm confident that these students have covered Aboriginal art and Native American art because I know they learn about them in previous grades in the classroom. I've also covered Day of the Dead with them last year so maybe I'll be good!
Anyways, I have two sections to my test. In the first section, I will put up a power point that shows a single artwork for three minutes. In that time, they must tell me what culture it comes from and 1-2 sentences explaining why they know that. I did give them a word bank at the top of the seven cultures. I will make sure to use a picture of an artwork that students will see from the power points later in the year for each culture.
The second section of my test is a series of vocabulary words that we will cover over the course of the year from each culture. They need to write 2-3 sentences explaining what the vocab word is and if it has an asterisks beside it, they need to draw a picture of it as well in their definition:
Porcelain, Altar, Cartouche*, Hieroglyphics, Capital*, Pictograph, Dreamtime, Candy skull*, animal spirit, Ionic Order*, Nomad.
Students will be required to take this test in the beginning of the year and then again at the end of the year as per my SLO's. For each unit, students will have a packet to fill in as we go through and learn about the culture. They will be required to keep the packets until the end of the year to study from. If anything, I will definitely be preparing them for 7th grade art!
I've been perusing your blog with interest because of all the work you've done toward meeting the new requirements here in NY. I notice you are from northern NY and I'm curious as to where - I just retired from teaching in Chestertown but also taught many years ago in Peru (near Plattsburgh). Do you/will you attend the NYSATA conference this November? (I think it's in Rochester this year.).
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, in the next day or two I plan to do a little work on my blog and will do a post highlighting newer blogs that I'll add to my blog roll. Hopefully this will get you some new followers and readers, which would be great because the info you are posting is so current and helpful. I think everyone, at least here in NY, is struggling with how to meet the requirements especially since administrators don't have a clue about how to deal with art. While the info is no longer essential to me, I think people like my replacements will appreciate ny help they an get.
Thank you so much! I very much so appreciate the help in getting my blog out there! I currently teach at Edwards-Knox school district, between Potsdam and Watertown. As of right now, I haven't attended a NYSATA conference and I'm not sure if I have it in the plans right now or not for this year. Last year our school was on a contingency budget and I couldn't afford to send myself, but I've been thinking about it!
DeleteOur school district is actually ahead of the game for A.P.P.R. in St. Lawrence county, thanks to our awesome superintendent. Even though she's stressing too because things are still unclear, we're trying to self-teach ourselves the best we can. I was on our Network Team this last year so I did a lot of presentations to the faculty about the Common Core Shifts, SLO's, and Marzano (our school's chosen format for observations).
Thanks again for following me! :)
That comment above should say "appreciate any help they can get". IPad auto-corrections can make me crazy sometimes!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I totally understand! I did a post on here from my iPhone and I gave up on trying to fix the auto-corrections. I had to sign onto my computer to fix everything!
DeleteToo late now, but in the future you should offer to teach a workshop at NYSATA (the common core etc would have been a valuable topic for one this year). My school district felt like they couldn't refuse my request to attend since I was teaching at the conference and reflected back positively on the district. As a matter of act, the young HS teacher who attended with me last year has already been told that that was the ONLY reason they let me attend every year and that it would NOT be approved for her if she requested. By the way, as a listener of North Country Public Radio, I hear snow day closings for your school district in the mornings as I would get ready for school/work.
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