Assessment in the Elementary Art Classroom

Keeping in mind that kids love coming to art, assessing can be tricky.  As an art teacher, the moments of creativity and exploration that kids experience is vital. The success they feel is vital as well. Natural assessments occur as I visit with each child while hands on work takes place.  This allows conversation to take place with ease...most of the time gaining insight of that particular student's knowledge base as well as the thinking strategies used, the thought process the student went through, the real world experiences related to what is being created, and the transfer of art vocabulary to everyday conversation.  This is the assessing I love! When this type of assessment can be combined with written assessment, whether it be reflective, short answer, exit slip, peer and/or self evaluation, a true evaluation of the student can occur! Of course the "tricky" part to all of this is finding that healthy combination.  I am currently working through this!!