Closing out art class for the semester or year
2 best buddies at my summer art camp program.
The end of the year can be a hectic, if not traumatic experience. Art teachers have the additional “joys” of cleaning and organizing a huge workspace, possibly cataloging supplies for next year’s order, assessing damages as we find paint brushes behind counters and other supplies beyond repair. I marvel at the other teachers who have time to sip coffee quietly in their rooms as they complete grades while I move and scrape furniture and count/reorganize more than 10,000 items.
In my 30+ years of teaching, I have found a way that brings me “peace” of mind and spirit. For the last 2 weeks of class, you may be shocked at this admission, I do not allow students to create art… I assign a research assignment for week 1, and we review for my art history final exam in week 2. Students may come in during lunches where I provide sodas and chips to bribe them into organizing my room. I will also “gift” them used supplies that would otherwise be donated to my local soup kitchen. (Many soup kitchens like used art supplies for the children they serve.)
My research assignment is covered on THIS BLOG POST with samples you can download. Students work on it in class, and I give them 5 full days to work on it with daily benchmarks. I let them know that if they submit it early they can draw or work on other class work, but in class, it MUST be worked on until submitted. Submission lately has been through Google Docs, but whatever works for you will be fine. Just be sure to check for plagiarism.
To be totally honest, I don’t actually read more than 10% of each paper. I run a plagiarism check, scan a few lines to be sure the work is on-topic, and check the formatting. My rubric is mainly about formatting and length, so it takes me less than 1 minute to grade a submission. While students work SILENTLY, I circulate to be sure they are working, not using ChatGPT or some other AI tool, and I get my room ready to close. Often students who finish early actually volunteer to help me clean up.
When those are submitted, we begin my art history review. I go in detail about that on THIS BLOG POST, but essentially, I break my group into 2 teams, if anyone is exempt, I will use them as a score-keeper. We review slide-shows of artwork categorizing them by 13 major art movement from Renaissance through Pop Art. (Sample PDF Below) My advance students focus on Byzantine through Op Art (About 21 major movements). They will need to know 4 or 5 major/influential artworks/artists.
If time allows, we will play “The Antiques Roadshow” game based on a playlist of art appraisals I have compiled on YouTube. You’ll find that on THIS BLOG POST.
However you choose to end your year is based on your needs and your population. For me, including written work is a great way to reinforce literacy skills, and to close out my room with the least amount of personal stress… teaching is hard enough already. If you must do artwork to close out your year, I highly recommend sticking to very basic drawing media so that clean-up is a breeze. But ultimately, you do you!
In my 30+ years of teaching, I have found a way that brings me “peace” of mind and spirit. For the last 2 weeks of class, you may be shocked at this admission, I do not allow students to create art… I assign a research assignment for week 1, and we review for my art history final exam in week 2. Students may come in during lunches where I provide sodas and chips to bribe them into organizing my room. I will also “gift” them used supplies that would otherwise be donated to my local soup kitchen. (Many soup kitchens like used art supplies for the children they serve.)
My research assignment is covered on THIS BLOG POST with samples you can download. Students work on it in class, and I give them 5 full days to work on it with daily benchmarks. I let them know that if they submit it early they can draw or work on other class work, but in class, it MUST be worked on until submitted. Submission lately has been through Google Docs, but whatever works for you will be fine. Just be sure to check for plagiarism.
To be totally honest, I don’t actually read more than 10% of each paper. I run a plagiarism check, scan a few lines to be sure the work is on-topic, and check the formatting. My rubric is mainly about formatting and length, so it takes me less than 1 minute to grade a submission. While students work SILENTLY, I circulate to be sure they are working, not using ChatGPT or some other AI tool, and I get my room ready to close. Often students who finish early actually volunteer to help me clean up.
When those are submitted, we begin my art history review. I go in detail about that on THIS BLOG POST, but essentially, I break my group into 2 teams, if anyone is exempt, I will use them as a score-keeper. We review slide-shows of artwork categorizing them by 13 major art movement from Renaissance through Pop Art. (Sample PDF Below) My advance students focus on Byzantine through Op Art (About 21 major movements). They will need to know 4 or 5 major/influential artworks/artists.
If time allows, we will play “The Antiques Roadshow” game based on a playlist of art appraisals I have compiled on YouTube. You’ll find that on THIS BLOG POST.
However you choose to end your year is based on your needs and your population. For me, including written work is a great way to reinforce literacy skills, and to close out my room with the least amount of personal stress… teaching is hard enough already. If you must do artwork to close out your year, I highly recommend sticking to very basic drawing media so that clean-up is a breeze. But ultimately, you do you!
| Final Exam Art 1 |
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