Documenting Student Work

As art teachers, one thing that we are responsible for is documenting our students work. With a digital camera, dry erase board and an afternoon, art teachers (even homeroom teachers) can now document students work to help the grading process go smoother and show off the students progress online. 

Step One: 

Set up the digital camera on a tripod and manipulate the lighting to compliment the student's work. 

Step Two: 

Measure and draw corners on a magnetic dry erase board to help yourself know where the piece should be placed to be within the frame of the camera. This will make the process go a lot faster because you won't have to adjust the camera every time you photograph a new students work. 

Step Three: 

Allow a several inch margin on the bottom of the camera frame area to write the class's homeroom teacher's name and grade. Below that, you can write the student's name using a dry erase marker. This will help you identify what student's work you are viewing and will have an automatic caption if you decide to post the pictures in a google presentation saving you time and energy. 

Step Four: 

When you go from student to student, use your corners to know where to put the piece and make sure you change the student's name on the dry erase board. 

Step Five: 

Upload the pictures to your computer. You can organize them by a file for each homeroom teacher and have subfiles for each project the students complete. Now that the pictures are on your computer and in a file, you can use them to create a google presentation. You can post the presentation on your classroom blog to show the parents what the students have been up to in your classroom. 

Happy Documenting!