Poetry as Embodied Self-Assessment for Visual Art Learning. Assessment White Papers for Art Education. Section V: Visual Arts Assessments--Case Studies from the Classroom and Beyond. Assessment White Papers for Art Education

Self-assessment is crucial to visual art learning. Firstly, because the art experience is personalized, any external assessment is insufficient and deficient; secondly, because an individual's creativity is inexhaustible, any acquired criteria of assessment are too static for an open-ended process that is multidirectional and with infinite possibilities. During a recent curriculum reform, Jun Hu applied poetry as a means of self-assessment and realized that it activates embodied aesthetics through metaphors. Proposing that poetry can make complex thinking sensible and holistic, Hu uses six Chinese couplets for assessment purposes and indicates six steps for art learning that were developed during a field trip course that is part of the art teacher training program with undergraduate students at Hangzhou Normal University (HNU), China. Assessment White Papers for Art Education is a collection of essays that teach about current and established assessment practices and theories, and how they are relevant to all of the National Art Education Association's (NAEA) membership. This series offers a starting point for NAEA members--across all levels--as well as parents, administrators, and the general public to understand assessments' applications to art education.