Evergreen the
Exhibit
Everything Greenhill
Sera Tuz
Joseph Weinberg Staff Writer
The series of classes introducing Upper School students to the fine arts now culminate in a letter grade in contrast with previous years. Beginning fine arts classes are about the learning process and fundamentals. Students are graded on their ability to learn the basic principles of an art. The focus is not on raw skill or final product, but rather on process. The letter grade has been added to make students more accountable in their classes. Frank Lopez, who teaches photography, spearheaded the official proposal to the administration last fall, though it had been a conversation in the Fine Arts Department for years. Laura Ross, Head of Upper School, finalized the change this past January. The previous system of pass/fail for beginning fine arts classes was intended to make signing up risk-free. But not all students took the classes seriously. “Students would spend more time on their history homework than fine arts work, because they [got] a grade in history but not fine arts,” said Aaron Timmons, who coaches speech and debate. Corbin Doyle, who teaches video production and digital art, agreed. “[Some students] would do the absolute least they could do to pass a class,” Mr. Doyle said. “In any other class, they would get a D or a D-. I would write comments about how they would do so little and care so little and suck the life out of the room and make me want to jump off buildings. But they don’t care. Now they care.” Certain hard-working students also said they found it frustrating to see their own work and that of less dedicated students get rewarded with the same “pass.” “A passing grade could be a Dor an A+,” said f re s h m a n Mat t h e w To u d ouze, who plays in band. “It did not accurately portray the difference in work ethic.” Grading all arts classes reinforces the Greenhill triangle, equilaterally representing academics, arts and athletics. Fine arts teachers have always equated arts classes the same way as an academic. The letter grade ensures that the rest of the community feels the same way. “I think people have the misperception that art is not academic, and I think there is nothing farther from the truth,” Mr. Timmons said. Fine arts classes and academic classes still meet the same number of times and contribute equally to a students’ grade point average. “There is some perception that if you don’t get a grade, it’s not a ‘real class.’ The sides of our triangle [in our seal] are equal, visually. Each department tries to make sure they are equal in practice as well,” said Rebecca Shuman, Assistant Head of Upper School.
For some students, a good grade in beginning drawing might balance out a bad grade in chemistry. “With a beginning class getting graded, that gives the student artists a little more of a level playing field when it comes to [their] GPA,” said Tony Schraufnagel, who teaches sculpture and glassmaking. “If you’re a strong art student, your effort should be recognized on the same level.” Grades are based on an objective grading rubric, created by each fine art teacher to be specific to their course. Vonda Bowling and Michael Manes, Singers directors, use a system based purely on numbers. Students obtain points based on participation in and outside of school, and their overall grade is determined by dividing the number of points they accumulated by the total number possible. Nick Paraskevas, orchestra director, assesses his students on three things: preparation, participation, and commitment to daily improvement. An “A” student is prepared, shows signs of daily practice, and regularly seeks out one-on-one instruction. Mr. Schraufnagel uses various principles for each project. A project based on volume, for example, has three main criteria: concept, balance and unity. Grading is not the same process as assigning chairs in an orchestra. A first-chair violinist in the orchestra has earned that chair by playing the violin better than the second chair, but the two might receive the same grade. They are assessed based on mastery of artistic principles and techniques. Grading a beginning art class cannot solely be based on the final product or individual skills. “[Grading] is not a black and white kind of thing,” Mr. Schraufnagel said. “We may look at something and say, yes, that’s messy, or, yes, that paint job is terrible. That’s what we can grade on. [But] there is a realm that is subjective.” According to Mr. Paraskevas, grading based solely on skill would be unfair because students have all been playing their instruments for different amounts of time. So, fine arts teachers are rewarding their students for progress and daily improvement. Similar to an academic class, students are expected to put in time outside of the allotted 55-minutes a day in order to master techniques. “If a student is struggling, I ask her [or] him to come meet with me individually,” Mr. Paraskevas said. “If he or she does that, most certainly it finds a way into a comment and enhances the student’s grade. If, however, a student does not come by for help, that too will make its way into the comment and affect the overall grade.” Freshman Matthew Zweig, who is taking sculpture, said he came in a lot outside of class in order to reassess his work and obtain a better grade. “Sometimes I spend my whole break working on a sculpture,” Matthew Z. said. It may take time for students to adjust to the change. While they may not be used to spending so much extra time on their art projects, it’s no different than putting in time to excel in an academic
Views News Feat. Serving Greenhill since 1966
volume 50, issue 2
: Grading the Arts
Editor-in-Chief
Should athletics be graded? p. 3
november 12, 2014
The “No Joke” Zone. p. 4
The Road to College. p. 7
class. “I would rather have my core classes take priority, but sometimes they don’t,” Matthew Z. said. It is important that students understand what they are being graded on and make choices accordingly. “As a freshman, my abilities are not the same as a seniors’, but I am still expected to practice and participate as much as [them],” Matthew T. said. “The playing assignments will get harder as I work my way up, but I will always be expected to work hard.” For some students, though, the fact that beginning fine arts classes are graded has not clicked yet. Although rubrics are available for fine arts classes,
students may not be study- ing them the same way they would for an academic class. Jack Oros, Dean of Students, said he had freshmen and seniors approach him with concerns about their grades in beginning classes last timester. “I don’t think [not understanding the grading process] is any fault of the teachers. I think it is a matter of the students not reading or listening to what was being told to them,” Mr. Oros said. In many fine arts classes, students can reassess their work if they wish to receive a better grade. “It’s not a one-time opportunity,” Mr. Schraufnagel said. “If somebody makes a sculpture and they have a critique and flaws are pointed out, then they have the opportunity to make those improvements and resubmit it. Grades are an opportunity for students to improve what they’ve done.” Some students said they are focusing so much on doing well in an academic class that they do not realize their arts class grades are falling behind, thus resulting in their fine art actually lowering their overall GPA. “I don’t want a D in an [art] class,” said senior Cole Cramer. Ultimately, grading beginning fine arts classes is still a work in progress, as they system has only been in place for one trimester. Academic faculty said they do not want students to get so caught up in the resulting letter grade that they forget why they are taking the course. Berkeley Gillentine, Freshman Class Dean, said she hopes students continue to select fine arts classes based on their passions, not the potential grade. The fine arts faculty agreed. “If the only focus of a class is a grade, we have failed,” Mr. Timmons said.
Arts
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Sports
graphic by Ariana Zhang
A Whole New Stage. p. 13
Basketball Preview. p. 18
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