Differentiating Assessments for Art Class

I create simple rubrics for weekly student art projects, usually with about four components including originality and craftsmanship. But there's a huge range in what my students can physically accomplish so I like to add other assessments to balance out grades.

A Venn Diagram is a good way to determine if a student understands concepts well enough to compare and contrast, two art movements, for example.  It helps if students are given questions such as, "What is the main idea behind this movement? What kind of subject matter did those artists address? What were the aesthetics? Was there something unique about how those artists made art? What time period was this movement? Where did it take place?" A student or small group of students may have to answer questions about several movements or specific artists before they're ready to make a diagram, but it's important to be able to articulate similarities and differences for real world application.

I made timeline flash cards for students to match artists, years, and movements. The cards were made in Braille so that every student could take turns reading and matching. We created a chant to help them remember an order: Monet, Degas Cassatt! VanGogh, Cezanne, Seraut! Matisse, Picasso, Braque! They sure did paint a lot!"  We petered out by the time we discussed Dada, Surrealism, and Expressionism, but some of my students will take those first names to the grave.

Student presentations were also part of the unit. Every student picked an artist from one of the movements we studied and one that was different from their classmates. They shared facts, stories and a couple of famous works during their brief.  Although I'm always trying to incorporate literacy, we don't use technology enough in my classroom. They did a great job, even though a couple needed me to help them find and describe images because of their visual impairment.

Class participation can be graded for discussions when I start the week with a slide presentation or article to review but I generally save participation grades just for for setting up exhibits and group critiques.

Study games led up to the Unit Test so that there was plenty of chance to review the things we learned months ago. Art class is more than just a hobby craft class. I want my students to have cultured minds and understand humanity a little more than when they first entered my classroom.