"Developing Critera Rubrics in the Art Classroom"

I often hear art teachers say, you will be graded on how much effort you put into something. What exactly does that mean? How do you know how much effort a student puts into a piece of art work?

I found this article by Sandra McCollister to be extremely informative for teachers. Rubrics are seen as a guide or a scoring device for many classrooms. It is a set of criteria which is linked to the learning objectives in order to assess a student's performance. Rubrics inform students about the expectations that are to be met. It is a way for students to improve their learning and for teachers to improve their teaching.

The part of the article that stood out the most to me, was the importance of putting student's input into the rubric. After a lesson introduction, simply ask "What qualities and characteristics should be present in the finished work? or "What qualities would the work have if it were the best work you have ever done?" (McCollister 3). Teachers can brainstorm ideas with the students using visuals. Teachers can show previous student's work, drawings, or teacher prepared examples in order to give students a better idea of what is to be expected.

The article titled "Words and Phrases for Rubric Design" is very helpful in designing a rubric. It is necessary to distinguish the different between a weaker performance level and a stronger performance level through the use of phrases.

The nutritional label rubric was a very clever way to create a rubric for a class. This is proof that there are so many different ways to write a rubric for your students. I like how the rubric is in the form of a nutrition label. Students are more familiar with this rubric and will be more engaged with it.