December 26, 2011

It is the day after Christmas 2011. Teaching resumes in our Knox County, Tennessee schools on Monday, January 9. Almost four months after that, my art students will be tested on their knowledge of Social Studies via the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). The test date for our school, Lonsdale, will probably be Thursday, April 26 (which coincidentally happens to be my 55th birthday). The TCAP is a monster test, administered by the state education department. It is given to our students over the course of four days or so, and it lasts for a total of nearly eight hours.

We work hard, no, we toil, at Lonsdale to produce proficient readers and mathematicians, and consequently, little time is left for social studies instruction. To meet the students' need for social studies learning, I made a decision three years ago, in collaboration with my supervisor and principal, to teach Social Studies through Art. I am the Art teacher for the entire school, and I am the Social Studies teacher for the entire school.

My skills as an Art teacher will not be assessed by my students' performance on the TCAP. However, my skills as an Art teacher who systemically integrates social studies content into her Art classes will be assessed.

It is mid-school year. It is time for me to grade myself, to ask, what have I taught well up to this point? what parts of the social studies curriculum have I not yet covered? what needs to be re-taught? what content must I put aside, untouched, because time does not allow me to teach all the social studies content?  These next two weeks will provide a perfect opportunity for me to take stock of our progress thus far, to adjust my direction as needed, and to plan for spring semester.

We must allow student performance to inform our day-to-day instructional decisions.