Evidence of Growth: Observational Hand Drawings

For one of my growth measures this year, I decided to focus on observational drawing skills with my 8th graders. First, I asked the students to draw their hand without any other instruction. This served as the pre-assessment. The next couple of class periods were spent on drawing skill builders like continuous line drawings, blind contour drawings, and even drawing with the non-dominant hand to try to get students to slow down and look closely.

After the practice and a few pep talks given to my class about how art is a skill that CAN be learned, I demonstrated drawing my own hand from observation, sharing some tips on measuring and comparing proportions, and later demonstrated shading, before the students started the post-assessment of drawing their hand from observation applying what they'd learned.

I used a simple rubric to score the pre and post assessment drawings so that I could give numerical evidence of growth. It's so easy for us to see improvement but administrators tend to like numbers. The document I turned in had a section about why observational drawing is important, and explained the process from pre-assessment, instruction, post-assessment, and then the evidence. I included a graph and a chart with scores before and after as well as percentage of growth. Even though numbers proved the growth, I still included some side by side photographs at the bottom of the document, which my principal said he appreciates seeing.

Here is a copy of the document I turned in, except with student names covered and replaced.

Importance: Observational drawing is a foundational skill for many art media and processes and the benefits from the studio habit of “observation” carry over into many non-art activities and vocations. Hands are one of the parts of the figure that students tend to avoid or struggle to draw so instruction in it now will help students feel more comfortable with the task in their future work.

Pre-Assessment: The students were asked to observe and draw their own hand without any prior instruction. The work was assessed with the following rubric.

Below Standard- 1 Approaching Standard- 2 Meets Standard- 3 Exceeds Standard- 4

Student:	Pre-Assessment	Post-Assessment
Scale: The proportions are correct- the sizes of parts of the hand are correct when compared to other parts.
Observation: The hand is drawn accurately and attention was paid to details.
Craftsmanship: It is evident the student put care into the work to make it as good as it can be.
	Growth:

Teaching: After the pre-assessment, the students practiced drawing hands with a continuous line drawing, a blind contour drawing, and drawing with their non-dominant hand, all activities which are supposed to help the artist slow down and look carefully. Next, the teacher demonstrated drawing her hand, shared tips for dealing with parts of the hand, and talked about proportions and measurement tools.

Post-Assessment: The students were asked to again observe and draw their own hand applying what was demonstrated. The work was assessed with the same rubric.

Student	Pre-Assessment	Post-Assessment	Growth	Growth %
a	4	8	4	200.00%
b	4	11	7	275.00%
c	6	10	4	166.67%
d	6	11	5	183.33%
e	3	11	8	366.67%
f	7	11	4	157.14%
g	6	10	4	166.67%
h	6	10	4	166.67%
i	6	12	6	200.00%
j	7	11	4	157.14%
k	6	9	3	150.00%
l	4	7	3	175.00%
m	5	8	3	160.00%
n	6	9	3	150.00%
o	7	12	5	171.43%
p	4	9	5	225.00%

Photos of Pre and Post-Assessment Comparisons

(Pre-Assessment Drawings are on the Left)

Kindergarten Portrait Assessment

Last fall the K-6 art PLC was given a morning to come up with a common assessment. We decided to start with Kindergarten and chose portraits as a focus. We thought it would be best to do a portrait at the beginning and end of the school year and use a rubric to assess them. I wanted to be able to display them side by side as a keepsake so that became the plan.

 At first, I gave students a sheet of computer paper, had them fold it in half hamburger style, and tried to get them to write their name and draw a self-portrait on one half, while I added "September". Next year, I will just give the students a half sheet because many drew over the crease or switched sides of the paper after I'd written the month. For the May drawing, I gave the students a half sheet and later glued it onto the "empty" half of the paper from September. Of course, in between the pre and post assessments, there were multiple opportunities to talk about portraits and observation. I know that observation is a difficult task for young students, but we meant it more as awareness- all body parts and facial features present- than photorealism. 

I would like to revamp the rubric. The items we looked for were if body parts were present, if body parts were in the right place (ex: legs connected to the torso instead of the head), if facial features were present, and if colors were selected thoughtfully. Other than the color item, there was no consideration given to aesthetics, emotive qualities, etc. I know those are harder to measure, but they're important enough to try. I would also like to add an "advanced" category instead of just going to "proficient".

Here's what we used this year. I have not yet revised the rubric.

Beginning of Year

Description of Assessment/Key Traits	Beginning	Developing	Proficient
Body Parts Present	Missing several parts	Head, torso, arms, legs, hands, feet	Head, neck, torso, arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers
Body Parts Positioning	Many body parts in wrong position Ex: Legs attach to head	Some body parts in correct position	All body parts in correct position
Facial Features Present	Only eyes and mouth	Most facial features present	All features: eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc.
Color Choices	Only uses one color	Little thought given to color choices	Student thoughtfully selected colors

 I will also do my post-assessment in April next year instead of May. Some of the students' drawings scored lower on the post-assessment because they were wound up and just didn't want to work on their drawings more than a couple minutes. It was a rough May around here!

Despite a little backsliding, the majority of students showed a lot of growth. Some showed huge improvements! Now, I know that kids would naturally develop their drawing skills and awareness of self as they grow but I see growth beyond that and beyond what these rubrics show. I'm glad to have a starting point for next year's assessment anyway.