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Albert Bierstadt |
Language Arts Lesson
Teacher Reflections by Lois Allen
Reflection 1
One thing I learned as a result of Artful Assessment was that the Portland Museum of Art has wonderful artwork that can be a stimulus for my curriculum. I probably would not have given Royal Arches a second look until I learned more about it from the Looking to Learn book. I’m sure that there are many more pieces in the Museum’s collection that can be used to teach the Maine Learning Results in an integrated way. I know I will be using the Museum much more than I have in the past. Usually when I take my class to the Museum on a field trip, it’s just a quick look around to see as many pieces of art as we can in a small amount of time. Although the students like to do this, I think in the future I will pick one piece of art and study it more in depth as we did with Royal Arches. I know that this experience was successful for my students because they became immersed in the idea of a utopia, knew why Bierstadt painted it, and know what a utopia would be to them. They are using more descriptive words in their writing and have asked me, “When are we going back to the Museum? What painting will we look at next?”
Reflection 2
I was amazed at how many ways I was assessing students’ understanding of what a utopia is and their written descriptions of their own utopias. I was able to quickly see if a student, or group, didn’t understand or was having difficulty with an idea, which enabled me to re-teach or work with just that student or group. I like the idea that the real learning is in the process, not just in the final project. Formative assessment is still hard for kids to understand. They don’t always see that its purpose is to help them move forward as learners, and that they can fix something. Some student still think that they can only do something once and that it is “against the rules” to reread something or change an answer. I want to make sure that students leave my classroom knowing that the process of their work is as important as the work itself.
Reflection 3
The Self-assessment of group work really helped my kids focus on their own part of a group. One group had a lot of difficulty deciding on whether or not there was any use of technology in a particular utopia. They had a lively discussion going, with the group equally divided on both sides of the issue. Reading their comments after the activity was interesting because most felt that they showed respect, were polite, and used kind words, but that their group didn’t perform well because they couldn’t agree on one answer. This was a perfect teaching moment because we were able to talk about how having differing opinions didn’t impact how the group performed overall. They thought they all needed to agree on an idea to be able to say that their group was successful.
Reflection 4
The Utopia Planning Worksheet was a form developed in class with the students. They could write or draw ideas for their utopias they would make in the art classroom. Looking at their planning worksheets helped me assess who understood the concept of a utopia as being a perfect place. Then they were able to take these sheets to the art classroom to use as a guide for their utopia paintings. The planning sheet allowed me to see what students were thinking, to ask questions, offer suggestions, and clarify expectations.
Reflection 5
Students first used the Utopia Essay Checklist to self-assess their writing, which wasn’t that successful because many of them just checked “yes” without even reading their piece. Next, they used the Utopia Essay Checklist to assess with a peer. This was slightly more successful because they were very eager to see if their partner had done the required work. Using peer review is still difficult for fourth graders. If they are with a friend, everything is fine. They take their time and listen to each other, so they are able to improve their work or further their understanding of an idea. If they are not with someone they are comfortable with, there is little interaction and the discussion/assessment is over quickly with little change in their work. Next time, I will spend more time on direct instruction of the peer review process. Giving and taking advice and help from another student is often more positive than when the feedback comes from a teacher or adult. After the success of the peer review, the students returned to the self-assessment, this time using colored markers to code their writing for specific criteria. They were required to use a certain number of sensory details and adjectives in their writing, and color-coding those elements allowed them to see exactly how many they had used. This is something I wish I had done before they wrote their final drafts because it was a very effective technique. They could see the number and variety of colors easily, and what more they needed to include. This technique was a last minute idea because they weren’t doing very well on their self-assessments. It worked so well that I have used it on other writing projects.