5th Graders always do a Peer Evaluation at the end of the year. We go out into the hallway and look at all of the art in our school-wide art show. Students have to pick a different grade level to write and evaluate; they cannot pick their own fifth grade art. Students answer six questions about the artwork they chose.
One of the questions asks why they chose the artwork out of all the others on display, and another asks if they could change anything, what would they change in the artwork. This gets at higher level thinking skills and makes students look very carefully at other students' artworks. This is an excellent way to get students to look at the school-wide art show and also evaluate, write and use art vocabulary, all at once!
Writing...in Art Class? Yes, we do it. Not as often as I want, because I only see my students every three days for one 45 minute class, and most students are eager and excited to be painting, cutting, drawing, and otherwise engaging in the making of art - especially my students who struggle in academic classes. When I tell them we are writing, they get much less excited, but I feel it is an extremely important part of learning about art.
As you can see from the Bloom's Taxonomy chart above, when students are creating their artworks, they are working at the highest level of thinking. Right below "Create" is "Evaluate." Evaluating their finished pieces of art is essential so they can reflect back on the concepts we learned during the project, as well as articulate through words how they feel about their finished works.
Here are some actual student exit tickets from different grade levels. I really enjoy reading what their favorite part of their artwork is, and seeing how they feel about their finished works.
These are also a great summary of what they learned, so when students bring home their artwork, and their exit ticket is attached to the back, parents or other family members can see some of the concept or big ideas we were learning about in class as well as enjoy the finished art work. Look for exit tickets coming home with some of your child's artwork!
