Assessing learning

A minimalist piece. tempera paint on cardboard

As we near completion of our sixth grade ziggurats and minimalism study students will be asked to demonstrate their learning. Their finished works will be hung in the M.U.R. on a three-dimensional faux-ziggurat and a written assessment will be given.

Reflecting on your work and whether you were successful as an artist in communicating your ideas is a great challenge. It is a challenge which parallels most of the great challenges in life. We synthesize information, make value judgements, draw conclusions, and plan our responses into the future. As our oldest students move out of young childhood and into a place of growing independence it is important to ask them to go through this process so that they might become strong decision makers and effective working communicators.

It's also been very interesting to note the change in tone between the start of this project and the conclusion. The earnest and predictable statements of, "It's so easy." and "I could do that." have given way to the erosion of actually conceiving of and executing the work. Now Students understand the careful work required to do something so seemingly simple. A new appreciation of both the concepts behind the works and the works themselves has developed.

For the curious, here is the assessment:

Minimalism and the Ziggurat: power and purpose in line, color, and form

Name:_____________________________    Teacher________________________________

1. Describe a ziggurat. What are the feelings that are evoked from its design?

2. Think back to the minimalist artists we studied. What parts of your painting demonstrate minimalism as a style or movement?

3. What choices did you make in your painting to create a minimalist work that reflects the power, ancient or mysterious feel, and feeling of elevation found in the ziggurat?