Visual Arts Assessments

When Grace was asked comprehension questions during our first tutoring sessions, she was able to correctly answer comprehension questions by looking back at the pictures, but not based on what she had read. To improve her comprehension, tutoring sessions were used to help Grace become a purposeful and active reader. Before reading any books, she was asked to look at the cover of the book and to make connections with the book to things in her own life. She was then asked questions about the book and asked to make predictions on what she thought would happen in the book. After reading the book, Grace was asked to confirm or refute her predictions. Through working together to understand the books, making connections to the books, and looking for predictions, Grace is now able read a book with few pictures and correctly answer comprehension questions correctly more than 80% of the

After completing all the assessments and the parent interview, reading and writing activities were differentiated and conducted during whole group and small group instruction. Bear (Laureate Education, Inc, 2009c) discusses using the RRWWT Framework for guiding instruction for students. During the Read To activity, the Emperor’s Egg (Jenkins,) is read whole group to the students. This is an information text which uses labeled diagrams and captioned pictures throughout to provide additional information about the topic. During the Read To, students are following along in their basal as I read, and I have students discuss the diagrams of the Emperor Penguin. Drawing attention to the diagrams and teaching the students how illustrations and diagrams within text can aid in their understanding of what is being read seems to help the struggling reader. Using the visuals such as the diagrams helps this

Literacy art, visual arts, and music are all very different ways of expressing oneself. Literacy art is way to express yourself through words and put in the emotion that one is feeling when writing literature. When one is writing literature you are able to express not only your emotion, but also the emotions that the other characters are feeling in the story. When you are able to read about every characters emotion, you are able to understand the situation from another person's point of view and how they reacted.

Comprehension is understanding the meaning and purpose of a text. There are several strategies that can help students improve their understanding of complex texts. According to Vukelich, Christie, and Enz (2008), one of the strategies is a literacy journal where “children can record observations, questions, and insight to make important links between what they already know and what they are learning” (p. 179). This article talks about a strategy similar to a literacy journal, called a SQUINK chart. This article explains how SQUINK was developed and how it helps children comprehend different texts.

The existing literature on visual art education proven that there is little evidence of how teaching practice happens in the classroom (Mitchell, 2016). Mitchell (2016) also argues that although there are several types of research that provide the important information on the foundation of art educations, there is barely any information that proves how learning effectively occurs in the art education. This approach might include building a positive relationship (Keeffe, Lovejoy, Spenser-Jones, & Prain, 2013), the usage of technology in the classroom (Patton & Buffington, 2016), applying student-centered learning (Andrews, 2010).

The artifact was created for future educators who are researching the topic of reading comprehension and ways to improve the literacy area. The artifact focuses on two students in 11th grade from ages of 16 to 17 who need improvement in reading comprehension. The main subject of the artifact is reading and its components are graphic organizers and comprehension. The setting was in the library where one worked one on one with the student in a quiet environment where the students could concentrate on the interventions. Both students are diagnosed with learning disabilities.

Creativity comes naturally to me and I believe I am an innovative thinker as I think differently than most of my peers.  When I was younger my parents used to tell me to try to become a doctor and I would always reply that I wanted to own a hospital instead.  I would imagine owning a hospital with an attached shopping mall where people waiting to see their loved ones could spend some time.  Now when I think about it, I have a good laugh as to what was I thinking?  I remember clearly when I started thinking about Architecture, one day while having mac and cheese, I looked at the pasta and thought it would be unique if I could build an apartment building in that shape.  I even thought about a dome shape elevator that could maneuver easily within the building.  I discussed the idea with my parents and they supported my decision and promised to help me through this path.  For secondary education, I selected Mayfield Secondary School for their well known Visual Arts Program.  I am very pleased with my decision because this program helped me to enhance my artistic skills.  I learned how to develop new ideas, tools, and techniques I could use and much more.   Now I am ready to move to the next phase and would like to refine my skills further.

This study collected data in a quarterly period (9 weeks) from students enrolled in a visual arts classroom in 5th, 7th or 8th grade. The experimental group received the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) curriculum whereas the control group received typical art curriculum programming. The two groups were compared on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test by their Fall and Winter MAP reading scores. The groups were also compared by their responses to the pre/post VTS writing assessments as coded to the aesthetic development rubric.

Like traditional literacy, visual literacy encompasses more than one level of skill. The first level in reading is simply decoding words and sentence. Our lecture in the hall helped us to work not only to decode words but also to make sense of what they read. That understanding requires broad vocabulary, experience in a particular content area, and critical thought, and used strategies to help students build contextual understanding of what they read.

It is a truism that students need to improve their literacy skills. Through the use of graphic novels, students can develop higher cognitive thinking levels, analyze and interpret various media and see an overall reinforcement of 21st century literacy skills. However, what is still questioned at this point in the research process is whether to use a quantitative approach, a qualitative approach, or a mixture of both approaches. Like the research problem and purpose statement, determining which method would be more productive as literacy tools are reassessed is highly important. A strong research study, using the right method, would be beneficial in increasing comprehension of the topic therefore leading to a more effective way to teach secondary English language learners and struggling readers.

Because of recent emphasis on standardized evaluation and testing, the learning environment created within public schools has shifted its focus toward “the test” and away from the student. This focus on “the test” has also caused the arts to become a marginalized subject within the public school system, because of the belief, that the arts, offer the students nothing more than ‘play time’ and cannot directly improve the student’s academic performance. Although what I have stated is only my opinion, I have found that my interest lies with developing a creative classroom which places the student at the center of learning, combats the creation of a pressured learning environment, and provides the student with opportunities of social and

In the recent years, schools have been focusing on the idea called Common Core which normally includes; math, science, history, and English. Because of these different types of classes results in a reduction in fine arts classes. But many students learn different types of real life skills which they need in the “adult world”. With the usage of visual and performing arts, students can begin to improve their personal growth. When producing original works, the students tend to enjoy the time spent on the piece of art, and draw in a sense of pride

Students having hard times in comprehending the thought of the text and what the author implies. It seems to be reading by words but not reading between the lines. It is important to know how comprehension plays an integral part in a manner of thinking and conceptualizing facts and ideas from the

In the technological visual age, students are exposed to visual stimuli more now than in any time in history. According to Topiel (2015), “students move away from strict print reading, and journey into a world of literacy that is predominantly visual, sensory and technologically loaded in other ways, visual literacy instruction is becoming paramount for [learners]” (para. 2). Visual literacy is the ability to “read” images portrayed through a visual medium. Much of the literature agrees that reading the images equates to understanding the messages communicated through the visual mediums within an image and selectively convey information from visual mediums into the teaching or presentation material (Jones-Kavalier & Flannigan, 2006; Schaffhauser, 2012; Topiel, 2015). Knowledge of visual literacy impacts learning by providing learners opportunities for better recall, understanding, and connections to the material presented because the message within the images which, when purposefully chosen will add to the meaning (American Library Association, 2011; Murphy, 2016). Therefore, understanding the reasons and how to apply visual literacy in educational formats to convey the intended message within the curriculum is imperative to the curriculum developer and educator.

Reading comprehension at a knowledge level is a complex task. Reading comprehension instruction that attempts to move students beyond the knowledge level to a place of true understanding is daunting at best and not something that can be left to guess work. A review of current literature in