Hello and welcome back to the Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinic podcast.  I am your host, Eric Sanford.  

This episode will be a short guide in crafting quick assessment questions, something you could use as an exit ticket to gather the data I discussed in episode 2.  We’ll call this episode 2.1, a side-quest mini episode.

If you listened to the Fine Arts Data Episode, then you were probably left with a few concerns. Time - that is a high priority concern for every teacher.  There just isn’t enough.  

Curriculum - there are resources and lesson plans out there, but we don’t generally get something handed to us that matches an ELA, Science, or other class curriculum.

So how do we create questions with little to no curriculum and without time to craft them?

In this mini episode, I’ll discuss an example from each of the fine arts - dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.  I am no expert in all these, but I did research the information for accuracy and to not sound like a complete bumbling idiot.  

The common factor for all questions begins with the lesson objective.  There are different ways to plan out your lesson, but the overall learning goal should be clear and measurable. In this instance, that means how can the students prove they know the material?

Let’s take a look at a dance example.  

I looked up “Elements of Dance” on Google, visited the Kennedy-Center.org website, and found this example in the “Action” section that seemed relevant. 

The Lesson Objective - students will be able to identify Axial Movement (also known as non-locomotor movement) and Locomotor Movement.

Knowing those definitions would be the key factor to identify each one. I would start with pencil and paper, chromebooks, whatever I have for my class, and we would define each of those terms, write them down, and explore what they mean.  

We could further explore ways to make the definitions meaningful and memorable in the lesson, but let’s keep the purpose of this episode clear - creating questions.

The lesson objective states students will be able to identify these two terms.  So let’s make a couple questions based on that objective.

Creating these questions in Google Forms allows a quick response and easy data collection.

My first question is multiple choice, written directly from the notes for the day - “Which of the following choices is NOT an example of Axial Movement?”  

1. Slide

2. Turn

3. Fall

4. Stretch 

My second question could be true or false - “Locomotor movement is any movement that travels through space.”

And there you go - a two question exit ticket that you can gather data from students on the lesson effectiveness.  Did students learn to identify Axial and Locomotor movement, or not?  It’s really quick to put in a google form, and aligns to the criteria I previously stated by measuring what each student knows about the two terms.  

For a music example.  

The lesson objective - Students will be able to identify and count dotted half note rhythms.

Just like the dance example, I would probably start this music lesson with a definition.  Because I know some students learn best by writing, we will all start with writing to define a dotted half note.  In those notes, students will write that a dotted half note value is 3 beats, what it looks like on the music staff, and how to annotate the note with the beats.  I would use several examples of how this would look in music, starting on count 1, then starting on count 2.  

We would go on with the lesson, applying the new rhythm in several different demonstrations - but let’s get to the questions at the end.

Question one - “Which of the following rhythms is a dotted half note?”

In Google forms, you can add images as question answers.  Use the multiple choice question option, look at option 1 for the answer, and click on the “add image” square next to the X button.  If you don’t have the images on your computer, you can search in Google images for dotted half note, and choose the image you prefer.  

Do the same process for the other answer choices, using whole note, half note, and quarter note as searches.  When you click on the Insert button, it will add the image as an answer choice.

Question two - “What is the beat value of a dotted half note?”

1. 1

2. 2

3. 3

4. 4

Two simple questions to determine if students understand the concept of the dotted half note.  The rest of the lesson could be spent demonstrating, counting and clapping out loud, whatever methods you prefer to link the knowing and the doing.

Our Theatre example is about learning stage directions.

The lesson objective - Students will be able to identify stage directions.

Again, I am referencing the Kennedy-center.org website for accuracy and information.

And just like the previously mentioned Dance and Music lessons, I want students to write the definitions to identify stage directions.  I might include why it is called upstage and downstage. I could even get a free worksheet that has the stage and audience drawn out, or do it myself, and have students label the parts of the stage.  Then we go into activities to make it meaningful and relevant.  

Now the questions - 

You could easily make multiple choice or true/false questions for this.  For this I will make a matching test in google forms.  

To prepare, I would use that lesson worksheet to label the parts of the stage, except this time just use numbers for each zone.  Then I scan or take a picture of the sheet, upload it to my google drive, and it’s ready to insert a picture on the google form to use as a reference for the questions.  

Question 1 - “What part of the stage is zone 1?”  And for the answer choices, you could make that multiple choice or use a drop down answer choice for matching.  

Question 2 - Copy Question 1, change the zone number and modify the correct answer, and it’s done!

You could use this several days for Exit Tickets, just change the zone number on the question.  Also remember that Exit tickets don’t need to be a full quiz, just 5 or less questions to assess if students can identify the concepts. 

For visual art, I researched teaching one point perspective.  I found useful information at studentartguide.com in an article titled “One Point Perspective Drawing: The Ultimate Guide”, from May 27 of 2021.  

The lesson objective - students will be able to identify the components of a one point perspective drawing.

As with all the previous fine art lesson objectives, this one will also require defining terms to identify what makes it a one point perspective.  Vanishing point, horizon line, true shape or facing surface, horizontal line, vertical line, and converging line - define each one with the students, label them on an example, and move towards the demonstration skills.  

At the end of the lesson, a quick exit ticket can be made to assess what the students learned about the terminology.  

Question 1 - “What is the term used to describe the place on the horizon line where the lines converge?”

1. Facing surface

2. Vanishing point

3. Vertical line

4. Horizontal line

Or, alternatively, you could upload an example artwork with the labels marked as numbers or letters, and ask the question - “What is the term for Letter A?”.  You could use a dropdown menu for matching, copy the question several times and modify to create 5 or less exit ticket questions.  

I want to wrap up this mini episode by asking the question - how will teaching and assessing these skills impact future lessons, performances, and practice?  

I tried to offer content that is transferable to more than one lesson unit, something that may come up often.  Now consider this - if a student does not learn the information in the lesson, when will they, and how will you know?

If you consistently use academic language for your fine art content, how do the students know what you are referring to, and how do you introduce those concepts?  At what point are both you and the students speaking the same academic language?

I do hope this mini episode has been helpful.  You are always welcome to contact me through the faecc.org website, where you can find links to email and socials.  

Until next time!  This is your host Eric Sanford with the Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinic Podcast. 

Peace and Blessings!