Narrative:

For our data analysis we decided to give a survey to the students in our classroom. This
class consists of students enrolled in AP photography and photography three and all of the
students are in their senior this year of high school. We decided to survey these students because
we have been working with them all semester and we were interested in seeing how their pursuit
of taking the higher level photography classes would correlate to their answers.
For our survey we asked students about how often they photographed, if they planned to
pursue photography after high school, how they thought they were doing in the class, and if they
were making artwork they were proud of. We asked these questions because we were interested
in seeing if students who arent doing so well in class are also not photographing as much. We
were also interested in learning about if the students who are doing well in the class are actually
making work they are proud of. It was also important to us to ask these questions because we felt
that we would be able to find connections between their answers. We gathered this data by
asking the students to answer the questions on a piece of paper. We also had to ask Jennifer
Martin, our match up teacher, to update the grade book and then let us know the grades of the
students at this time. Once we had all this information we compiled it into a table so that we
could compare and contrast their answers. Using a table also allowed us to see things like how
their answer to how often they photograph and their grade in the classroom correlated.
We had predicted that a majority of students would be photographing only once a week
or less because while being in the classroom during the semester it seems like most students are
behind on turning in assignments and this could be because they arent photographing much.
Also a lot of students are balancing other classes as well so they dont seem to have much open
time in the week to photograph. We also predicted that most students would be planning to

pursue photography after high school. We thought this because they all chose to pursue the
higher levels of photography and we thought that this meant they were planning to pursue it after
high school as well. Another big prediction we had was we thought the most students would
know how they are doing in the class. This is because since the students are seniors in high
school we assumed that by this point a lot of the students would be concerned about their grades
and constantly be checking them as to make sure they are completing what they need to. We also
felt that since the students are in higher level classes that they are high achieving students so they
would be monitoring their grades of their classes.
Gender

PhotoClass

How often
do they
photograph?

Pursuing
after high
school?

Student
One

AP

1 or 2/week

Maybe in
college

Students
Two

AP

4-5 /week

Just a
hobby

Student
Three

Yes in
college

Student
Four

AP

Not as often
as she
would like
As often as
she can

Student
Five

AP

1/ 2 weeks

Nope

Student
Six
Student
Seven

AP

1/ week

Hell yes

AP

3/ week
(ish)

As a minor Doing well

in college
getting
assignments

Yes in
college

How they
think they
are doing?

Well better
than she
expected
Well,
learning a
lot
Well for the
most part

How they
are
actually
doing in
the class.
C

Are they
proud of
their work?

Some but
not much

Yes!

Yes, has
improved

Not good,
having to
balance w/
FRCC
Is getting
caught up

She likes
most but
not all

Terrible

Most of it,
tries to do
best w/
time
crunch
Yes

Lots of
work he is
proud of

Student
Eight

Every
weekend

Student
Nine

Every day/
other day

Not after
high
school
As a
hobby

in on time
Doing well
Well just
behind on
projects

A
C

Is making
work she is
proud of
Yes

Data/Outcomes:
For our data we chose to focus on two specific visual arts standards and three GLEs that
have aligned with both lessons we have taught as well as being a common thread for the class as
a whole. These standards are:
Standard: Reflect / GLE: 1. Reflective strategies are used to understand the creative process
Standard: Reflect/ GLE 2. A personal philosophy of art is accomplished through use of
sophisticated language and studio art processes
Standard: Create / GLE: 2. Assess and produce art with various materials and methods
There are a few things that are noticeable when you look at the data table as a whole. As
you can see in the data chart- most of the students are aware of where they are in the class and
how they are doing. The only real issue for most of the students is falling behind on assignments.
It is an extremely fast paced college level course so this is quite typical. Student Five had stated
that she is doing the best she can with the time crunch which is something that could be
expected from more of the students in the AP section. You can also see in the data table that
students that photograph more often are doing well over all and creating work that they are proud
of. Based on classroom observations this is also true. Students use their reflective strategies to
assess their own progress in their class as well as reflecting on the artwork that they make. Many

of the students resubmit their projects as the semester goes on in order to form a portfolio of
work that they are proud of. It is interesting that there is no clear correlation between students in
these classes and how far they are going to go with photography after high school. 78% of the
students in these upper level classes will pursue it in some way even if its just a hobby after high
school. 100% of the students are making work-or at least some work- that they are proud of.
When looking at the subgroups of AP and Photo III is it clear that students in Photo III
students are making more work that they are proud of. Based on observations in the class and
conversations with students individually I think that the struggle in AP is more based on the
projects they are given for the Breadth section. For some of the students the Breadth is difficult
because they are working on many very different things at once and there is a quick turn around
to complete these assignments- for some of them it is hard to focus on a lot of different
assignments at once but it is the nature of the AP class.
The other subgroup that we can look at is male versus female. It seems like the females in
the class overall are more on top of staying caught up. It is unclear from the data why this is
however. The females, however, seem to not photograph as much. The males in the class
photograph a lot but they do not photograph to meet the assignments. For example, Student Nine
and Student Six both have stated that they photograph a lot but it does not have to do with the
assignment but it is instead for the joy of photographing. There is no direct correlation between if
they will be pursuing it after high school or not.
Teaching Strategies:

Based on the data the three areas that would need improvement would be: the amount
students are photographing, the amount of work they are proud of, and their overall grades. In
the perfect world improvement of the first two areas would lead to improvement in the last area.
To improve the amount students are photographing works in progress would be helpful.
By asking students to have works in progress even if they are unedited images students would be
pushed to photograph before the work in progress is due. Students could get feedback on their
work from the rest of the class and then go back and photograph. Another strategy to improve
this area would be to ask students to keep a log of time that they photograph. They could then see
a correlation between the quality and amount of work they produce and how much they
photograph.
To improve the amount of work they are proud of more ideation strategies could be
implemented. The sketchbooks they keep in class are utilized but they are not always relevant for
the projects they are working on nor are students utilizing them to their full potential. In order to
get students to use them in the best way possible it may be critical to give them required
sketchbooks assignments specific to current projects. Photographing more could also lead to
students being able to make work they are proud of. It may also be helpful to ask students as a
warm up what skills they feel like they need to create work they are proud of and the work they
would like to make. Adjusting curriculum based on students needs is necessary for them to
succeed.
To improve grades students need incentive to turn work in. It is important for students to
turn work in in order to get feedback during critiques. Feedback from fellow classmates to give
them ideas to improve their work could lead to a more solid portfolio of work.

Each of these areas of improvement are dependent on each other and with one area
improving the rest are sure to follow. In order to check growth and improvement a month after
these strategies are implemented you could have students complete the same survey and look at
their artwork to see how you think their work has improved.