Let's Talk Art Grades...

As the first projects of the year are being completed, I find that now is a great time to explain the grading scale for the Art room.  So...let's begin with a general breakdown of the art grades, and what each mean.

"O" (Outstanding) - 97-100% - Student works at a superior level based on the expectation; Student goes above and beyond what is expected and demonstrates independent thinking during the creation process of art making; Student shows mastery of materials, skills, and techniques taught and introduced for projects.

"O-" - 94-96% - Student is beginning to work at a superior level and/or beginning to demonstrate independent thinking;  Student shows near-mastery of materials, skills, and/or techniques taught for projects.

"S+" - 90-93% - Student demonstrates an above average understanding and implementation of materials, skills, and techniques taught and introduced during projects; Student shows signs of beginning independent thinking process.

"S" (Satisfactory) - 73-89% - Student demonstrates expected understanding and implementation of materials, skills, and techniques taught and introduced during projects; This is the expected benchmark for students with each project.

"S-" - 70-72% - Student demonstrates below-expected understanding and/or implementation of materials, skills, and/or techniques taught and introduced during projects; Classroom behavior and/or missing work may also play a part in a student earning an S-.

"W" (Weak) - 63-69% - Student demonstrates little understanding and/or implementation of materials, skills, and/or techniques taught and introduced during projects; Classroom behavior and/or missing homework may also play a part in a student earning a W.

"U" (Unsatisfactory) - 0-62% - Student demonstrates little to no understanding and implementation of materials, skills and techniques taught and introduced during projects; Classroom behavior and/or missing homework may also play a part in a student earning a U.

I think the biggest misconception is that, based on this scale, an "S" is equivalent to a "C" on the core subject grading scale, and this is simply not true.  You cannot assign 'core grades' to this type of scale, because art is very objective and open to interpretation.  The benchmark for ALL of my students is to earn a Satisfactory mark for each of the projects taught.  Some students will certainly earn above that, while a few others will dip below it from time to time, but again...that "S" is their learning target.  I mention this because if your student is receives a 74% on a project, for example, that's okay!!!  That is a satisfactory, and is the benchmark to what I'm teaching.

So...I know that the art scale can seem a little 'tricky', but please try to focus on the actual letter grade rather than the percentages.  And...as always...if you see something that seems out of place, please just let me know, and I'll try to contact you as soon as I can.  Grades for this first project will be added into Power School shortly...so I just want you all to be aware of how the grades work.

Happy Thursday!

PRIDE FRIDAY!

COMMUNICATION IS KEY!!!

Students communicate and work together, trying to recreate an artwork through descriptive communication!

In today's Pride Friday Art Challenge, all of my classes were broken down into small teams of three with the task of recreating an artwork utilizing communication.  The drawing (we did one spaceship and one creature) was located on the white board in the Art Lab, where "The Viewers" looked at and examined the artwork.  The Viewers then communicated information about the artwork to "The Messengers".  The Messengers then took this information to "The Artists" who were to redraw the artwork based on this communication.  You'd be amazed at how close some of the teams came to matching the original artwork...and get a chuckle as to how far others were.  It was a great art activity focused on teamwork and collaboration; and that's what Pride Friday is all about!!!

Everyone have a great week!!!  I know I promised a sneak peak at the fifth grade projects nearing completion...but I'll have to hold that off until next week.  The fifth grade classes need a little extra time to get their projects finished.

"I'm a Keith Haring!"

"Dancing Figures" by Keith Haring

For our first art project of the year, the sixth graders created self-portraits in the style of Pop Artist Keith Haring!  Haring was a remarkable artist, best known for his animated graffiti-like cartoon images.  He has painted murals in a number of locations worldwide, and remains one of art history's most beloved art figures!

You might wonder how we can take something so simple and turn them into 'self-portraits'.  While Haring was our primary inspiration for this project, the students were asked to make some slight modifications to represent themselves in their work.  These modifications include uniforms, hairstyles, and having the figure actually in action, doing something that the kids would actually do.  It's a great project and we're nearing completion.  Most of the kids are finishing this week, but some students just need another half of an art class to finish up.

"I'm a Keith Haring artworks created by Lauren B., Skyler L., Sparsh K., and Karleigh S.

These projects are also the sixth graders' "Art to Remember" projects, so in just a few weeks you'll get the chance to order your child's artwork on a wide selection of 'stuff'.  :)  Be on the lookout for Art to Remember envelopes coming home soon... beginning with our next "A" day in the Unified Arts rotation, which will be next Wednesday.

Once ALL fifth and sixth grade envelopes are sent home, I'll post something on the blog about how to order, when orders are due, etc...so be on the lookout for those!

Everyone have a great Thursday!!!  I'll be back again tomorrow with a sneak peek at the fifth graders Art to Remember projects; "Identity Shields"!!!

Unfortunately...it begins again...

Last year, I unfortunately had a VERY bad problem in my room...stealing.  If you've ever stepped foot in my classroom, you know that my room is just filled with 'stuff', all of which fits the thematic focus of my art room, which is the inclusion of visual culture into the art world.  Toys, books, lunch boxes, posters, Legos, art works...all of these things adorn my classroom, and I'd like to think that it's one of the most colorful classrooms maybe anywhere.  It's probably the ONLY classroom with a golden toilet.  But...unfortunately, there are those that take advantage of the 'coolness' of my classroom and take things from it.  As I said, it was a huge problem last year, and despite talking to all of my classes at the beginning of the year, it's unfortunately begun again.

The Blue Beetle, one of my personal all time favorite super heroes, has gone missing.  He sits, or rather he sat, right on my desk with his partner in crime, Booster Gold.  They were gifts to me from my daughters, and being kind of small, they were great 'desk decoration' for my art room, and have been so for a number of years.  But alas...no more.

Now, I'm not looking to hire out anyone as detectives to search any book bags or lockers, nor am I looking for sympathy.  However, given that there were a large number of items stolen from my room last year, I just wanted to bring it to your attention.  It's extremely disheartening that it's happening again this year.  I'm going to be talking to all of my classes AGAIN about how we should be respectful of items in the art room, and hope that it stops any further stealing.  I'd hate to take my art room apart and have a boring old white walled classroom...but I've decided to do that to prove my point if needed.  Personally, while I don't think I'll ever see the 'ol Blue Beetle again, I just want the stealing to stop and for the kids to understand that it's just not right.  So, hopefully this is the first and last time you have to hear about the art room stealing saga.  I certainly hope it's the last time I have to discuss it...it's becoming highly frustrating to discuss.  I hope everyone is having a great week!

MAGIC AND MUSIC AUDITIONS THIS WEEK!!!

In addition to teaching art here at Creekview, I also co-direct the CIS musical with Mrs. DelaHostria, one of our sixth grade math teachers.  Together we have done a number of fantastic musicals such as The Jungle Book, Aladdin and Winnie the Pooh...just to name a few.  Three years ago, we put together a show called "Magic and Music" which was more of a 'show choir' type production, with sixty cast members singing and dancing to a number of Disney classics.  And...we decided to revisit this concept for this year's show with a new selection of Disney songs; so in essence this is really "Magic and Music 2"!!!

We've taken a new approach to this year's show, selecting songs from Disney on Broadway, some recent Disney/Pixar songs, and a rather lengthy mash-up Medley of some Disney classics.  So, this year's show is heavy on the singing and dancing.  Last year's show, Winnie the Pooh, was very heavy on the acting (with a lot of singing still, of course), so we felt it would be nice to change it up this year, hence "M&M2"!  

So...with that...auditions for this year's show are THIS WEEK!!!  Fifth graders can audition after school on Wednesday, September 11th, and sixth graders can audition after school on Thursday, September 12th.  However...ALL students who audition MUST have a parent-signed audition form that can be picked up from the front office OR from my art room.  Any student without this form...will not be able to audition.  

If you have any questions regarding this year's show you can contact either myself or Mrs. DelaHostria at your convenience.  We are really looking forward to auditions and to getting the show up and running.  It's going to be a great experience for the kids!!!  

You can contact me at: drweller@marysville.k12.oh.us

You can contact Mrs. DelaHostria at: jldelaho@marysville.k12.oh.us