extra credit

I went to the Noble Room in Hendricks Chapel to look at the displayed artwork. My favorite piece of artwork was “Whisper” and “Flirt” by Jamie Sedal. I would love to have it hanging on my bedroom or bathroom walls. The concept and colors were amazing. I also enjoyed Kathie Maniaci’s transparencies. They were really pretty and sentimental. I like the color choice in the “Figure study” with acrylic on canvas by Renee Parisi. The acrylic sketch looked amazing on the canvas. Out of all the wall art, the one that caught my eye was the newspaper charcoal “Worries” by Amber Brown. I liked the fact it was done on newspaper because it can be an earth friendly project and perfect for the low budget classroom. I also liked that it wasn’t just one piece of paper but layered pieces of newspaper. I enjoyed looking at art teacher’s artwork. A lot of times in schools the students don’t see what the art teacher can personally do and instead, usually just tells the students what to do. I think it is important that art teachers also have their work displayed.

Rubrics

Rubrics are an important aspect to classrooms. They are essential to art classrooms: both for the student and the teacher. When I thought of rubrics in the past, I only thought of them via eyes of the student and how they pertained to the student. After reading these articles, I realize that the rubrics are just as important to the teachers. Rubrics assess the student's work and also asses the teacher. Rubrics are used for the teachers to express exactly what they want from the student and shows upfront what the student will be graded on and how the student will be graded. The rubrics talked about in the articles had different levels: novice, intermediate, and advanced. Perhaps I don't clearly understand this, but to me this doesn't seem fair. Some students are just blessed with excelling in art while others are not. I think it is the amount of effort put in and how much the student truly tries that matters and should be the basis of the grade.


As a speech pathologist I'm not sure if I would be able to implement rubrics. In each of our lesson plans we have long term objectives and session objectives which are sort of like rubrics. However, we don't grade our client on these objectives we just note if they are met or not and sometimes there is need for adjustment. We can't really make a rubric to say what we want our client to do in the session because everyone is different. It may take one client six months to master something that another client did in a week. We can not give an exact prognosis on when something will be met, we can only make an estimated guess. What I can use is the Words and Phrases for Prompt and Rubric Design. Knowledge/comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are all a part of the lesson plan and SOAP note I would write up for sessions. I would also use the phrases under Difference in Degree, and the descriptors for weaker and stronger performances. It is important to use accurate words.

"It was always the pictures.."

I liked this article because at first glance the reader would think it was just about graphics in education helping students with disabilities. This is also the thinking of many teachers: that they are using graphics to help students in their classroom with disabilities. However, students without disabilities also benefit from these graphics too. The article talks about different types of graphics: graphic organizers, picture books, fascination focused materials, graphic notes and story kits. I have used a couple of these: graphic organizers, picture books, and graphic notes. I had never heard of fascination focused materials and story kits until reading this article, but they make so much since. If a student with Autism has an "obsession" with trains why try to make their obsession go away, instead as teachers we should feed into it. They are already interested in the topic, so why not use it to help them learn? Story kits are a great idea not only for individuals with disabilities such as visual problems but also for reviewing the story as a whole classroom. These techniques can work for every one. It's not just the kids with disabilities that will benefit from these. However, when 'typical" kids can succeed with out these aids, it is important to remember that some students may truly need these aids to get a grasp on ideas so they are able to learn as well.