Arts assessment 3000 words all together
Assessment overview
This assessment task requires you to create a unit of work that demonstrates your ability to understand and plan relevant activities for the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. The purpose of the folio task is to enable you to demonstrate your knowledge and skills of Arts education across the range of activities involved in teaching and learning in the primary classroom. The task also enables you to demonstrate your ability to both plan and assess across a unit of work, to support students’ learning and their creative and emotional development. This task should support you in further developing your skills in designing teaching strategies that take an inclusive and integrated approach to Arts education while also aligning with the Australian Curriculum.
Assessment details
This assessment task requires you to create a unit of work that provides opportunity for students to learn skills and art forms or techniques in at least 2 of the five Arts strands (Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Art and Media Arts) across a series of related lessons. Your unit must be designed for students in Grades 3 – 6. ( note choose 1 year group )
As part of the folio task you will need to compare and evaluate strategies and resources designed for Arts teaching, as well as generate evidence of your capacity to plan and assess units and lessons based on sound pedagogical principles that demonstrate your understanding of the Australian Curriculum: Arts (ACARA, 2015).
In determining a focus for your unit, you should choose a topic, theme, or pretext through which the learning experiences in the two or more Arts areas will connect and you can structure the unit and relevant assessment task. You should also look for ways to incorporate inclusive, integrated and/or holistic approaches into your teaching and assessment design. Refer to the holistic rubric for further information regarding the expected levels of integration of these concepts.
Your folio must include:
• Unit plan with unit overview, noting the objectives and aims of the unit, the background context – including year level and prior knowledge of students, the strands and elements from the Australian Curriculum: Arts that you are addressing, and a plan noting the lessons and topic breakdowns (e.g. a timeline overview of the unit). The unit plan should demonstrate how the lessons fit together as a whole and contribute to a students’ knowledge of a topic and meeting the overall objectives. The length of the unit should be 3 – 6 lessons,( I want 4 or 5 lesson) and demonstrate learning objectives and some form of assessment that students would be able to complete by the end of the unit. You may also wish to highlight any other descriptors and strands you are meeting (e.g. from other curriculum areas or cross-discipline objectives as relevant). The aims of the unit should highlight your beliefs regarding creative arts education, including pedagogical theories and cultural considerations.
• Lesson plans for each lesson, outlining the key aims, activities and resources for the lesson (this will make up the bulk of your plan). These should more specifically outline what activities students will be undertaking and how their skills and knowledge is built and scaffolded over each lesson. The lesson plans should also highlight any strategies you could use to cater for diversity or inclusive approaches.
• A list of resources (including stimuli, texts, tools, ICT). Be aware that your list must be specific. For instance, rather than listing ‘a picture book’ or ‘a Surrealist painting’ you must name the specific picture book or the title/artist of the painting you intend to use. All references should be appropriately cited using APA style. You can include this either as part of your lesson plans, your unit plan, or as a separate document, as long as this is captured and referenced correctly. For example, you may refer to these in your lesson plans for context, but direct to a separate list that is more specific with references.
• A sample assessment document – e.g. at least one supporting example of how you intend to assess students work during or at the end of the unit – this could be an assessment rubric or marking criteria, or a handout you would provide to students noting the requirements for the task and how they will be assessed. This should align with the unit objectives you have stated in the unit plan. You may include more than one assessment document to support your work as needed.
• Additional support materials – you can attach additional resources you intend to use to support students’ learning within the unit, to demonstrate the level of resources you would use. These would be counted as appendices/support examples so will not contribute to your word count. (I want at least 2 additional support material) Note: You may use any aspects from Assessment Task 2 as part of your unit of work if suitable to the unit of work you are designing.
As this is a folio designed to highlight lesson planning and how you would design and teach a unit of work in practice, the writing style does not need to be formal and can include dot points and other concise text, but it must be clear enough to be a practical and useful set of documents that another teacher could utilise. Supporting resources and other relevant work by others also needs to be cited and referenced according to APA standard.
Assessment criteria
1. Knowledge of the distinct Arts strands to support creative expression and inclusive approaches
2. Understanding of the practice of planning, teaching and assessing in primary Arts education
3. Capacity to evaluate and integrate theories, strategies, resources and tools designed for Arts teaching
4. Academic writing conventions including APA referencing, punctuation, grammar, spelling.
Your work will be assessed using the following holistic rubric. Please note, if the assignment does not reach a satisfactory standard on any criterion it must be awarded a fail.
Pass (50-59%) – In order to be awarded a pass for this assessment task, all components of the task must be completed, the unit plan is your own original work except where the works have others have been used and cited according to APA referencing conventions, and the requirements of all criteria met at a satisfactory level. At this level, that means:
• Your unit plan demonstrates a developing understanding of the practice of planning, teaching and assessing in at least two of the five Art forms, and shows a clear understanding of the ways students learn through the Arts.
• All components of the plan are included, and descriptions provided are sufficient to enable the reader to understand how most aspects of the unit would be implemented, and the specific resources required to support student learning.
• Teaching and assessment practices link to the topic and to the learning goals, are generally appropriate for the nominated year level and curriculum context and clearly support creative expression and student learning and development.
• Unit of work as a whole demonstrates a developing understanding or proficiency towards designing teaching strategies for inclusive approaches to Arts education.
• The learning objectives are relevant to the Arts curriculum and are written with an understanding of what would be achievable, measurable or demonstrable.
• Use of relevant and current scholarly and non-scholarly literature to justify decisions made. While there may be some minor errors in your APA referencing, you do provide clear evidence to support your ideas. There is correct citation where work is not the authors’ original work.
• Conventions of written English are generally adhered to, with minimal spelling errors
Credit (60-69%) – To be awarded a credit, students must fulfil all the requirements of the pass level but with more insight and maturity. Specifically, this means:
• Your unit plan demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the practice of planning, teaching and assessing in a minimum of two of the five Art forms and a clear understanding of the ways students learn through the Arts.
• In describing each component of the unit, sufficient detail is provided to enable the reader to understand all aspects of the unit. Teaching and assessment practices described within the unit are relevant to the year level and curriculum context.
• The unit and lesson plans demonstrate a developing capacity to critically analyse and justify choices of strategies and resources. There is evidence of a reasoned choice for the topic and 5 EDU80007 Arts Education in the Primary Classroom unit of work designed, with reference to relevant theories and resources demonstrating a well-developed understanding of the theories that underpin contemporary Arts teaching.
• Unit of work as a whole demonstrates a more developed understanding or proficiency towards designing teaching strategies for inclusive approaches to Arts education.
• Writing is concise and word choice is deliberate. Meaning is effectively communicated without the need for superfluous words, phrases, and/or sentences.
• Apart from minor issues in text and/or in the reference list, you adhere to APA referencing conventions.
• There is generally a consistent style and format to the lesson plans and structure to make the unit of work readable and usable for teaching purposes.
Distinction (70-79%) – To be awarded a distinction for this task students must meet all the requirements of the credit level, but with a higher degree of insight into planning for and assessing teaching in the Arts, and competence in written communication. Specifically, this means:
• Your unit plan demonstrates deep knowledge of the practice of planning, teaching and assessing in two or more of the five Art forms. The descriptions of each component are concrete, specific and concise. The teaching and assessment practices described within the unit are appropriate to the year level and highly relevant to the curriculum context. Objectives and strategies clearly support creative expression and student learning and development, including highlighting inclusive approaches.
• The lesson plans and resources demonstrate confidence in the justification and evaluation of strategies and resources to support both teaching in and across the Arts.
• Unit of work as a whole demonstrates a developed understanding or proficiency in regards to designing teaching strategies for inclusive approaches to Arts education.
• Arguments in support of choices made in regard to all components of the unit plan demonstrate insight and clarity into theories that underpin Arts teaching, and draw on wide reading and evidence from scholarly and other relevant literature.
• Any errors in spelling, referencing, and grammatical construction that remain after careful proofreading do not detract from the quality of the submission.
• There is a clarity and consideration to word choice to support effective communication of ideas and ability to use the unit plan as a working document in practice. Consistent style and format to the lesson plans and structure makes the unit of work easily readable and usable for teaching purposes.
High Distinction (80-100%) – To be awarded an HD for this assignment students must meet all the requirements of the distinction standard, outlined above, and then they must go beyond that. Specifically, this means:
• Your unit plan is presented in such a way that another teacher could implement all aspects of the work without seeking additional clarification. This means that all components are described with clarity and precision. The teaching and assessment practices demonstrate creativity, innovation, and insight into the year level, curriculum context, and Arts pedagogy more broadly.
• A wide range of aspects demonstrate highly-developed critical thinking and analytical skills. There is clear justification and integration of ideas demonstrating that the unit has been carefully planned as a whole, with attention to how students will be adequately supported and assessed.
• Support resources as well as lessons and assessment design have been carefully considered to support teaching and learning both in the Arts and across the primary curriculum more broadly.
• Your choices of lesson, resources, objectives, topic and year level demonstrate a strong understanding of holistic unit planning and how to develop lessons and units that cleverly consider various student needs and opportunities for inclusive education, including catering for diversity, ethical and cultural considerations, alternative and contingency plans and approaches, and the logistics and issues of implementation in practice.
• All choices are supported with relevant and current literature, showing evidence of extensive reading and in-depth knowledge and understanding of the theories that underpin contemporary Arts teaching.
• All aspects of the assessment task have been addressed explicitly, showing attention to detail and care for the work you submit.
