Yesterday I received news that my super fantastic nephew earned a very esteemed position in the regional district student orchestra. He had the top score of all his peers, and it is a very high honor. He also has recently received a good part in his school's musical production. While the recognition is nice, it makes me happier to see how hard he works at making his instrumental playing better -- hours of practice and participation in multiple orchestras. He loves it, and it shows. He loves making things with his hands, too -- drawing, painting, and even fibers are things he enjoys doing. He is a truly good-natured person that, even at this young age, knows how to get immersed in the creative act -- be it music or physical objects. What a gift for an 8th grader to already possess!
I wish this for all my students -- to bring them to a place where they love to create, and make things that reward their inner selves, not just meet the expectations and standards I put on a project rubric (or the report card, for that matter.) Students learn better in an atmosphere of love and support where they can take creative chances and know that they will be okay even if their efforts don't always work out the way they planned. Criticism is part of the process, from me, from peers, and from the student themselves, but it can be done in a way that fosters artistic strength, not a sense of failure and ineptitude. If students are encouraged to do their best for themselves, and truly love what they do, art happens. I can't say this always happens when kids are told what to do and how to do it, in a pass/fail or heavily graded situation.
The current trend of standards-based assessment is a tough one for art teachers. Does an art teacher decide to evaluate first grade Johnny as an artist based on developmental stages such as whether he can overlap shapes yet? Or knowledge of specific concepts and vocabulary of whether he knows what line quality is? Whether he can identify primary colors? Maybe, sometimes. I see students in middle school who still have not grasped such concepts as elementary students. Have they failed for the previous five years? I also meet middle school students who say they "hate art," "fail at art," and "can't do art." Really? At 12 years old they know this to be true? Heartbreaking. How is a student going to develop a life-long love of learning about art and creating this way? I just don't see it.
If it is helpful in developing him as a happy creator, I provide such mini-evaluations about student knowledge, but it does not end up on a report card. I propose art teaching standards such as "Does the child see value in what they are creating?" "Does the child come to class with a positive attitude and good effort?" "Does the child find an art medium or an appreciation of art history that they will take with them after they leave my classroom?" These are important standards I'd like to meet. Learning about art is a lifelong process tied into physical development (ever try teaching linear perspective to a third grader? Most likely not going to happen. Some 6th graders are still there!), the self-esteem, and the mental outlook and personal needs of the child involved. It is not about rather arbitrary standards that I develop for my projects and and even those set forth in Important Documents by Important People in the field of Art Education.
Let art be art, everyone, in school and at home, and let accomplishments, personal and public, arise out of true love and passion for the subject. Learning comes out of a love and respect for the subject matter, which is fostered in a caring, supportive, and creative environment by people who see beyond ever changing external "standards." I'll get off my soap box now, and hopefully will be doing a little art myself today. What will you make today, too?