Yesterday I talked about Parent Teacher Conferences. Sometimes I have parents stop in during conferences. They may have a concern about a grade or simply want to see what their student is working on in art class. This really puts me on the spot with over 500 students. Here are two solutions I have found to make sure the art for each student is easy to find and easy to grab if a parent wants to take a look. Again- organization eases stress and saves the day!
1. Portfolios
As the year progresses I try to stuff student art into folders. Sometimes the students help me stuff portfolios, sometimes I do it myself. Either way, if the student art is already stashed in the portfolio, I can simply go to my drawers labeled by class and pull that student’s portfolio of art. I will talk more about my portfolio system soon! 🙂
2. Piles
If the artwork is not yet filed into the portfolio I have very strategic piles that I keep within the drawer. I organize the artwork by putting the art with the lower grades on top. Usually the parents who come to talk with you want to talk because they have a concern about a grade on the report card. By putting the lower grades on top, I can easily grab them when parents pop in.
Here is what my spread looked like as I sat and enjoyed some Lemon Ice and poured over hundreds of pieces of art as I graded. So productive.
Luckily we have a computer based program that can be entered. Student photos show up so we can see the kids and enter their grades right there. This is pretty handy. I usually record on my clipboard during class or after class the day a project is finished, or when I have assessed the particular skill at hand. Then, I transfer the clipboard grades to the computer.
So, I guess that is my simple little system, but it does give me piece of mind. Grading is such a daunting task! I will share more common rubrics our department uses and more on HOW I assess the art soon, until then, celebrate that my thousands of “clicks” are done and I can now share and communicate with parents the progress their students have made in art class!
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