NCAS.A.3National Core Arts StandardsArtsCreatingGrades 6-12
NCAS.A.3: Refining and Completing Artistic Work
In plain English: NCAS.A.3 is National Core Arts Standards anchor standard 3, in the Creating process, which asks students to refine and complete artistic work in any art form. Students test a work in progress against criteria and feedback, decide what to keep, change or cut, and judge when the work is finished and ready to share. In grades 6-12 it applies to dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts.
NCAS.A.3 is the third of three anchor standards in the Creating process, which the National Core Arts Standards define as "Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work." After an idea has been found (NCAS.A.1) and organized and developed (NCAS.A.2), Anchor 3 asks students to refine the work (improve it on purpose, using criteria and feedback) and to complete it (decide that it is finished and make it ready for others). Selecting and preparing work for an audience comes next, in the Performing/Presenting/Producing anchors.
Students read the painter James McNeill Whistler's short "Propositions, No. 2" on when a picture is finished, and part of his own record of a famous 1878 trial in which he was asked how long a painting took. They follow an invented grade 9 student, Mei, through feedback, revision decisions and a finish check on a charcoal drawing, then refine a work of their own. Each activity has an option for dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts, and a grades 6-8 and a grades 9-12 version, using paper and everyday materials.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Explain the difference between refining a work and starting a new one, and between refining and completing
Give and use specific feedback tied to criteria, and decide for each suggestion whether to keep, change, cut or not take it, with a reason
Make at least two deliberate revisions to a work in progress and explain which criterion each addresses
Decide when a work is complete using criteria, intent and limits such as time, and carry out completing steps such as a title and an artist statement
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Organizing and developing a work in progress NCAS.A.2
Describing what they see or hear in an artwork NCAS.A.7
"A student has revised the same 30-second dance phrase eleven times. Another handed in a first draft without changing anything. Write one sentence of advice for each."
Take a few answers. Draw out two problems: revising without a target, and stopping before testing. Tell students that NCAS.A.3 asks for both halves: refine the work on purpose, and complete it, which means knowing when to stop.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Terms for the whole period.
Refine: improve a work on purpose by testing it, deciding what to change and making the change. Refining keeps the work's core; starting over is a new work.
Criteria: the qualities a finished work should have, set by the assignment, the artist or both, for example "the words can be understood."
Specific feedback: a response that names a part of the work and its effect ("from the door, the wall grabs my eye"), not only a verdict ("it is good").
Keep, change, cut: the three decisions an artist can make about each part. An artist may also decide not to take a suggestion, with a reason.
Complete: decide the work is finished, then make it ready for others: a final check, a title and an artist statement (two to four sentences on what the work is and what the artist wanted).
A painter on finishing. James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American painter who worked mostly in London. In 1877 the critic John Ruskin attacked one of his night paintings, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, in print, and Whistler sued him for libel. At the trial in November 1878 the jury found for Whistler but awarded damages of one farthing, the smallest British coin. In 1890 Whistler published his own record of the trial in a book, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, which also contains his short "Propositions." Read Text 1 aloud. Then read Text 2 in two voices: the Attorney-General, Ruskin's lawyer, asks the questions in paragraphs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11, and Whistler answers in the even-numbered paragraphs. The "two hundred guineas" in paragraph 11 was the price Whistler had asked for the painting.
1A picture is finished when all trace of the means used to bring about the end has disappeared.
2To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.
3Industry in Art is a necessity--not a virtue--and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will efface the footsteps of work.
4The work of the master reeks not of the sweat of the brow--suggests no effort--and is finished from its beginning.
5The completed task of perseverance only, has never been begun, and will remain unfinished to eternity--a monument of goodwill and foolishness.
6"There is one that laboureth, and taketh pains, and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind."
7The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter--perfect in its bud as in its bloom--with no reason to explain its presence--no mission to fulfil--a joy to the artist--a delusion to the philanthropist--a puzzle to the botanist--an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man.
James McNeill Whistler, Text 1: James McNeill Whistler, "Propositions, No. 2" (the complete piece) (1890; this edition 1892). Public domain (published 1892). Source text.
1"Is not that what we, who are not artists, would call a stiffish price?"
2"I think it very likely that that may be so."
3"But artists always give good value for their money, don't they?"
4"I am glad to hear that so well established. (A laugh.) I do not know Mr. Ruskin, or that he holds the view that a picture should only be exhibited when it is finished, when nothing can be done to improve it, but that is a correct view; the arrangement in black and gold was a finished picture, I did not intend to do anything more to it."
5"Now, Mr. Whistler. Can you tell me how long it took you to knock off that nocturne?"
6... "I beg your pardon?" (Laughter.)
7"Oh! I am afraid that I am using a term that applies rather perhaps to my own work. I should have said, How long did you take to paint that picture?"
8"Oh, no! permit me, I am too greatly flattered to think that you apply, to work of mine, any term that you are in the habit of using with reference to your own. Let us say then how long did I take to--'knock off,' I think that is it--to knock off that nocturne; well, as well as I remember, about a day."
9"Only a day?"
10"Well, I won't be quite positive; I may have still put a few more touches to it the next day if the painting were not dry. I had better say then, that I was two days at work on it."
11"Oh, two days! The labour of two days, then, is that for which you ask two hundred guineas!"
12"No;--I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime." (Applause.)
James McNeill Whistler (his printed record of the trial), Text 2: Whistler questioned in court about his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold (from Whistler v. Ruskin, 1878, as printed in Whistler's book) (1890; this edition 1892). Public domain (published 1892). Source text.
Refine with a criterion, in dance
A dance trio's criterion is "the three dancers land the final jump together." In rehearsal, a classmate says the landings sound like three separate thuds.
Result: Keep: the jump and its place at the end. Change: they count the jump aloud ("and-five") for two run-throughs, then silently, and add a shared breath before it. Test: a classmate listens with eyes closed and hears one landing. The phrase is the same phrase, now closer to the criterion. That is refining, not starting over.
Sort feedback, in theatre
After a run of a two-minute scene, three notes arrive: "I could not hear the last line." "Make it a musical." "When you turned your back, I lost your face for the big reaction."
Result: Two notes are specific and tied to a criterion the actors share (the audience must hear and see the key moments): take them. Speak the last line louder and toward the audience, and play the reaction facing out. The musical note would make a new work, so the actors decide not to take it and write down why.
Decide when it is complete, in media arts
A student has a 40-second video due tomorrow. His criteria are that the story is clear without words and that the sound matches each cut. Both are met. He wants to add slow-motion effects to three shots.
Result: Test the idea against the criteria: slow motion does not make the story clearer and would push the video past 40 seconds. He completes the work instead: one final full viewing, a title card, an export of the file and a two-sentence statement. Knowing when to stop is part of the standard.
Refine under a time limit, in music
A 4-minute piano piece must fit a 3-minute 30-second slot. It has an introduction of 40 seconds and a middle section played twice, 60 seconds each time.
Result: Options: cut the introduction to 10 seconds (saves 30) or play the middle section once (saves 60). Playing it once saves enough, 240 - 60 = 180 seconds, but loses the build. Cutting the introduction to 10 seconds gives 240 - 30 = 210 seconds, exactly 3 minutes 30 seconds, and keeps the build. The pianist chooses the change that meets the limit and costs least.
Ask: which examples were refining, which were completing, and where did the artist decide not to change something? Show Diagram 1.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Follow one artist's refining. Text 3 was written for this lesson. Mei is an invented grade 9 student making a charcoal drawing for an exhibit. Read it once silently, then work through the steps as a class. The quiz also uses Text 3.
1Assignment: a charcoal drawing, 45 by 60 cm, of an ordinary object at night, for the spring exhibit. Our class criteria: (1) the light source is clear; (2) the main object can be read from 3 meters away; (3) the background supports the object and does not compete with it.
2Draft 1: a bicycle leaning on a lamppost, with a brick wall behind it. I drew every brick. In the corner I added a second bicycle.
3Feedback. Jae: "From the door, the wall grabs my eye before the bike does." Ms. Ortiz: "Where is the light coming from? The bike and the wall are the same gray." Sam: "Add a person riding past."
4What I decided. Keep: the bicycle and the lamppost, because their shapes are strong. Change: I darkened the wall and blended most of the bricks into one shadow, leaving only the few near the lamp. I erased a pool of light on the ground under the lamp, so the light has a clear source. Cut: the second bicycle, which pulled the eye into the corner. Not taken: Sam's idea of a rider. A person would become the main object, and the assignment is about an ordinary object.
5How I knew it was finished. I stood at the door, about 3 meters away, and checked each criterion. The light is clear, the bike reads first, and the wall stays back. I wanted to add more detail to the wheels, but each mark made the spokes look busier, so I stopped. I signed it and wrote my title and statement.
6Title: Parked, 9:40 p.m. Artist statement: "This drawing shows a bicycle waiting under a streetlight. I darkened the wall so the light would make the bicycle the first thing you see. I wanted the empty street to feel quiet, not scary."
SVHS (original model text; the people are invented), Text 3: Mei's refining log for a charcoal drawing (written for this page; Mei, a grade 9 student, her classmates and teacher are invented). Original passage written for this page.
Find the criteria (2 minutes). Students underline the three class criteria in paragraph 1. Ask: who set them? (The class.) Why does it help to have them before feedback arrives?
Make a decision table (6 minutes). In pairs, students draw a table with four columns, Keep, Change, Cut and Not taken, and place each of Mei's decisions in paragraph 4 in a column. Then they add, for each, the criterion number it serves.
Compare with Whistler (4 minutes). Ask: Mei stopped adding detail to the wheels. Which sentence of Text 1 would Whistler use to agree with her? Take two or three candidates and the reasons, without settling on one.
Check the finish (3 minutes). Ask: what in paragraph 5 shows that Mei tested the work before calling it done, and what in paragraph 6 shows the completing steps?
Independent Practice15 minutes
Refine your own work. Each student takes a work in progress from an earlier lesson (a sketch, a dance phrase, a scene, a song section or a storyboard), or starts from this invented one: "A 30-second scene in which two people try to share one umbrella in the wind."
Write two or three criteria for the finished work.
Get one piece of specific feedback from a partner, tied to a criterion.
Make two revisions and label each Keep, Change or Cut, with the criterion it serves.
Decide: is it complete? If yes, give it a title and a two-sentence artist statement. If no, write the next change and why.
Grades 6-8: use the class criteria from Text 3 adapted to your art form, and the frame "I changed ___ because ___ (criterion ___)." Grades 9-12: write your own criteria, and include one suggestion you decided not to take, with a reason.
Closure5 minutes
Exit ticket: "Name one change you made today and the criterion it served. Then name one thing you decided not to change, and why."
For homework: students use Text 4, written for this lesson. Kofi is an invented grade 12 student who has five days to finish a song for a showcase.
Song: "Northbound," for voice and guitar, for the senior showcase. Showcase rule: no song longer than 3 minutes. My criteria: (1) the chorus is the part people remember; (2) the words can be understood; (3) the song fits the time limit.
Current version: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, chorus. At my tempo each verse and each chorus lasts 30 seconds, and the bridge lasts 50 seconds.
Feedback from a recording session with two classmates. Ayo: "The chorus melody is almost the same as the verse melody, so I did not notice when the chorus started." Lin: "In verse 2 the guitar is so loud I lost the words." Ayo: "The bridge is my favorite part." Lin: "Maybe add a guitar solo?"
The showcase is in five days.
SVHS (original model text; the people are invented), Text 4: Kofi's song notes, for homework (written for this page; Kofi, a grade 12 student, and his classmates are invented). Original passage written for this page.
Teacher note: Texts 1 and 2 keep Whistler's 1890s wording exactly, including the double hyphens he uses as dashes. Text 2 is Whistler's own printed version of the trial; newspaper reports of the trial give some answers in slightly different words. Ruskin's original attack is not reproduced here; students only need to know that it criticized the painting and its price.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give the Keep, Change, Cut, Not taken table already drawn, with Mei's first decision filled in
Provide feedback stems tied to criteria: "When ___ happens, I notice ___ before ___"
Limit Independent Practice to one revision and one completing step (a title)
For Advanced Students
Ask students to write a response to Whistler's claim that a finished work "suggests no effort," with an example from a performing art
Have students refine one work under two different sets of criteria and compare the two results
Ask students to write the criteria for a classmate's work before seeing it, then use them in feedback
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong work shows decisions, not just changes. For refining, look for criteria stated before revising, specific feedback, and revisions that each name the criterion they serve, including a reasoned choice not to change something. For completing, look for a test against the criteria before stopping, and completing steps (a final check, a title, an artist statement). Grade the process and reasons, not talent or polish.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Feedback That Helps
15 minGroups of 3
Each group sorts 8 feedback cards, written for this page, into "specific and tied to a criterion" and "not yet useful," then rewrites the weak ones. Groups then give each other criterion-based feedback on a work in progress.
The 8 Feedback Cards
"It's good."
"In the last 10 seconds the music gets louder, but the dancers get smaller, and I wasn't sure which to watch."
"I don't like the color."
"The red in the corner pulls my eye away from the face in the middle."
"Make it longer."
"I couldn't hear the words in the second verse over the drum."
"The camera shakes in shot 3, so I noticed the shaking instead of the dog."
"It needs more energy."
Choose Your Art Form
After the sort, each student shows a work in progress: dance (a phrase), media arts (a storyboard or clip plan), music (a hummed or clapped section), theatre (a read-through of a short scene) or visual arts (a sketch). The artist names one criterion first; the group gives feedback only on that criterion.
Grades 6-8 Version
Sort all 8 cards, then rewrite two weak cards so they name a part and an effect
Use the stem "When ___, I notice ___" for feedback
Grades 9-12 Version
Rewrite every weak card
For each strong card, write the criterion it seems to test
The artist answers each piece of feedback with Keep, Change, Cut or Not taken, and a reason
2
Three Revisions, One Work
15-20 minIndividual, with a partner check
Students make three deliberate revisions to one work in progress, each labeled with the criterion it serves, and keep a before-and-after record so the changes can be compared.
What a Before-and-After Record Looks Like
Dance or theatre: a partner writes down what they saw in run 1 and in run 2.
Media arts: storyboard frames, before and after, side by side.
Music: a section map with the changed bars or seconds circled.
Visual arts: a tracing-paper overlay, or a photocopy marked in a second pen color.
Grades 6-8 Version
Three revisions: one keep, one change and one cut
The partner says which revision made the biggest difference, and why
Grades 9-12 Version
Three revisions, plus one change tried and then undone, with a note on why it was undone
A short paragraph on which criterion is hardest to meet in this work
3
Is It Done? Finish Check and Statement
15 minPairs, then individual
Pairs build a "done checklist" for each other's work, use it to decide whether the work is complete, and, if it is, carry out the completing steps.
The Done Checklist
Each criterion is met, tested from where an audience would be (3 meters away, the back row, a phone screen).
The most recent change made the work better, not just different.
Any limit is met: time, size, number of performers.
The artist can say what the work is meant to do in one sentence.
Completing Steps
On an index card: a title, a two- to four-sentence artist statement, and one note on how the work should be shown or performed (for example "play at full volume" or "hang at eye level").
Grades 6-8 Version
Use the checklist as written
The statement says what the work shows and one choice the artist made
Grades 9-12 Version
Add one criterion of the student's own to the checklist
The statement also names one revision and what it changed for the audience
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
1 diagrams
Diagram 1: The Refining Loop and the Finish Line
Refining (R1) is a loop: test the work against the criteria and the feedback, decide for each part whether to keep, change or cut it, make the change and test again. Completing (R2) starts when the criteria are met: the artist stops changing, makes a final check, gives the work a title, writes an artist statement and gets it ready to share. A deadline can also end the loop, which makes choosing the most important change part of the skill.
Directions: Read Text 4 (in Closure), Kofi's notes on his song, his three criteria and four comments from classmates. Kofi and his classmates are invented. Part 1 asks you to refine the song with him; Part 2 asks you to decide how it gets completed, and to try the same thinking in another art form.
Part 1: Refine (Problems 1-3)
For each of the four comments in Text 4, say which of Kofi's three criteria it addresses, or "none." Quote the words that show it.
Work out how long the current version of "Northbound" lasts, using the lengths in Text 4. Then propose one cut or change that brings it within the showcase rule, and show the new total.
Ayo cannot tell when the chorus starts. Describe, in words, one change to the chorus melody or its accompaniment that could fix this, and explain how Kofi could test whether it worked before the showcase.
Part 2: Complete (Problems 4-6)
Should Kofi take Lin's suggestion of a guitar solo? Decide, and give two reasons based on his criteria and the time he has.
Write a done checklist of three or four items for "Northbound": what must be true before Kofi stops revising. Then list the completing steps he should take before the showcase.
Choose another art form. Invent a short work in progress, give it two or three criteria and one piece of specific feedback, and explain how the artist would decide that the work is complete.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Using criteria (1, 4)
Each comment and decision is tied to the right criterion, with quotations
Most are tied to criteria, without evidence
Criteria not used
Refining (2, 3)
A correct total, a change that meets the limit with the new total shown, and a testable melody change
A correct total or a workable change, not both; or a change with no test
Incorrect total and no workable change
Completing (5)
A checklist that tests the criteria and the limit, plus completing steps (final run, title, statement)
A checklist or completing steps, not both
Neither
Transfer (6)
Criteria, specific feedback and a finish decision that fit the chosen art form
Some parts missing or vague
No second art form
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-8, 15 and 16 use Texts 1 and 2 (Direct Instruction). Questions 9-11 and 17 use Text 3 (Guided Practice). The other questions describe invented situations. Choose the best answer, or write a short answer, then check your work.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Text 1, paragraph 1, when is a picture finished?
Answer: B
Whistler writes: "A picture is finished when all trace of the means used to bring about the end has disappeared." Choice C is the opposite: visible marks of the work are what must disappear. Choices A and D are not in the text.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 1, paragraph 2, what does Whistler say it means to praise a picture for showing "great and earnest labour"?
Answer: D
He says such praise "is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view." Choice A brings in price, which paragraph 2 does not mention. Choice B reverses his point, and choice C confuses visible effort with mastery, which paragraph 4 says "suggests no effort."
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Whistler writes that "work alone will efface the footsteps of work" (Text 1, paragraph 3). What does he mean?
Answer: A
To "efface" is to wipe away: only more work removes the "footsteps" (traces) of earlier work. Choice D contradicts the same paragraph, which calls industry "a necessity--not a virtue." Choice C reads "footsteps" literally. Choice B turns the point upside down: he says more work is needed, not less.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which statement would Whistler most likely reject, based on Text 1?
Answer: C
Paragraph 2 says showing "great and earnest labour" means a work is "incomplete," so Whistler would reject choice C. Choices A, B and D restate his own claims from paragraphs 1, 4 and 3.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 2, paragraph 4, Whistler calls one view about exhibiting "a correct view." According to that view, when should a picture be exhibited?
Answer: A
He calls it "a correct view" that "a picture should only be exhibited when it is finished, when nothing can be done to improve it." Choice B mixes in his later remark about the paint being dry. Choices C and D are not in the passage.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
How long does Whistler finally say he worked on the nocturne (Text 2)?
Answer: C
After first saying "about a day," he adds that he may have put "a few more touches" the next day and says: "I had better say then, that I was two days at work on it." Choices A and B are not lengths he gives, and choice D is not a length of time at work on this picture.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Text 2, paragraph 12, what does Whistler say he asks the price for?
Answer: B
He answers: "No;--I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime." Choice A is the lawyer's claim in paragraph 11, that the price pays for the labour, which Whistler rejects with "No." Choices C and D are not mentioned.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
How does Whistler's answer in Text 2, paragraph 12, connect to Text 1?
Answer: D
In Text 1 a finished picture hides its labor; in Text 2 the price is for "the knowledge of a lifetime," not for "the labour of two days." Neither text says an artist should rush (B), and neither gives a critic the final word (C).
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which suggestion did Mei decide not to take, and why (Text 3)?
Answer: A
Paragraph 4 says: "Not taken: Sam's idea of a rider. A person would become the main object." Mei did darken the wall and cut the second bicycle, so B and D reverse her decisions, and she added a pool of light, so C is wrong too.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Jae says, "From the door, the wall grabs my eye before the bike does" (Text 3). Which of the class criteria does this comment point to most directly?
Answer: C
A wall that grabs the eye first is a background competing with the main object, which is criterion 3. Choice B overlooks that a competing background is exactly what criterion 3 rules out. Choice A is Ms. Ortiz's point about the light, not Jae's, and choice D is a size rule, not one of the criteria.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
How did Mei decide that her drawing was complete (Text 3)?
Answer: B
Paragraph 5 says she stood at the door, "about 3 meters away, and checked each criterion," and stopped because each mark "made the spokes look busier." She stopped when more detail made the drawing worse. Choice C is the opposite of what she did; A and D are not in the text.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
After feedback, a dancer moves one turn half a count later so it lands on the accent in the music. What is the dancer doing?
Answer: D
A small, deliberate change to an existing phrase, made to meet a goal, is refining. The dance is not new (A), not yet being shown (B), and its sections are unchanged (C).
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is a completing step rather than a refining step?
Answer: A
Once a work is judged finished, completing steps prepare it for others: a title, a statement, a final export or run. Choices B, C and D all change the work itself, which is refining.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which piece of feedback is most useful for refining a song?
Answer: C
Choice C names a part (bars 9-12) and an effect (the words are lost), so the artist knows what to test. Choice A is praise without detail, B gives no part or reason, and D is a personal taste, not a response to this song.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Explain in your own words what Whistler means by "finished" in Text 1, paragraph 1. Then say whether the idea fits a work in an art form other than painting, with an example.
Model answer: Whistler says a picture is finished "when all trace of the means used to bring about the end has disappeared": the viewer sees the result, not the struggle. It fits dance well: a turn that has been rehearsed many times looks easy, and the audience does not see the counting. It fits less well for a work that shows its process on purpose, like a sketchbook page. Rubric: full credit explains the quotation and tests it with a specific example in another art form; partial credit does one.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Whistler agrees with the "correct view" about when a picture should be exhibited (Text 2, paragraph 4). Is this a practical rule for a student with a deadline? Take a position and give two reasons.
Model answer (one position): Not as written. Almost any work could be improved a little more, so a student following the rule would never finish; and Mei's wheels show that more work can make a piece worse. A practical version is "exhibit when the criteria are met and the last change made it better." Model answer (other position): Yes, as a goal: it pushes a student to test the work instead of handing in a first draft. Rubric: either position earns full credit with two reasons and the quotation; partial credit gives one reason.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Choose one of Mei's revisions in Text 3, paragraph 4. Explain which criterion it serves and how it changes what a viewer sees.
Model answer: Mei "darkened the wall and blended most of the bricks into one shadow." This serves criterion 3, the background does not compete: with fewer bricks, the wall stops pulling the eye, so the bicycle is now "the first thing you see." Another good choice: erasing "a pool of light on the ground under the lamp" serves criterion 1, because the light now has a clear source. Rubric: full credit quotes a revision, names the right criterion and explains the effect; partial credit does two of the three.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
An invented two-minute theatre scene has two problems: the actors face upstage during the key argument, and the scene runs 2 minutes 40 seconds. Write two pieces of specific feedback, each tied to a criterion you name.
Model answer: Criterion "the audience can see key moments": "During the argument you both face upstage, so I can hear the words but not your reactions; try turning out on the line about the money." Criterion "fits the two-minute limit": "The scene is 40 seconds over; the long pause before the exit could shrink, and the second phone call repeats the first." Rubric: full credit names two criteria and gives feedback that points to a part and an effect; partial credit gives one.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Write a done checklist of three or four items for a 30-second media arts video, and explain how an artist would use it.
Model answer: 1. The story is clear without words when watched once. 2. Every cut matches the sound. 3. The video is no longer than 30 seconds. 4. The last change made it better, not just different. The artist watches the full video as a viewer would, on the screen it will be shown on, and checks each item; if all are met, the artist stops revising, adds the title card and exports the file. Rubric: full credit gives criteria that can be tested plus how and when they are used; partial credit gives a list only.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
An invented student keeps reworking a pencil drawing until the paper starts to tear. Give advice that uses the ideas of refining and completing from this lesson.
Model answer: "Write down two or three criteria for the drawing and test it against them before changing anything else. Ask one specific question of a friend. Make only changes that serve a criterion, and if the last change made it worse, stop. If the paper is tearing, the drawing may be finished, or it may be time to copy the strongest parts onto a new sheet and finish that one." Rubric: full credit uses criteria and a stopping rule; partial credit gives general encouragement with one of the two.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does NCAS.A.3 mean?
It means students should be able to improve a work on purpose and decide when it is finished. "Refine" covers testing the work against criteria and feedback and making deliberate changes; "complete" covers judging that the work is done and preparing it for others, for example with a title and an artist statement.
What is the difference between refining and starting over?
Refining keeps the core of the work and improves it; starting over makes a new work. Rewriting one unclear line refines a scene; turning a scene into a musical replaces it. Both can be good choices, but only the first is refining.
How do students know when a work is complete under NCAS.A.3?
They test it against criteria set in advance, from where an audience would experience it, and stop when the criteria are met and the last change made the work better. Limits such as a deadline or a time slot also count. The done checklist in Activity 3 turns this into steps.
Is NCAS.A.3 the same in every art form?
Yes, at the anchor level. NCAS.A.3 is one of 11 anchor standards that apply to dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts. What changes is how the work is tested: a run-through for dance and theatre, a playback for music and media arts, a look from across the room for visual art.
How is NCAS.A.3 different from NCAS.A.5?
NCAS.A.3 is in the Creating process: refining and completing the work itself. NCAS.A.5 is in the Performing/Presenting/Producing process and asks students to develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation, for example rehearsing a piece for an audience.
What grade is NCAS.A.3 for?
The anchor standards run from prekindergarten through grade 12; this page treats NCAS.A.3 for grades 6-12, with a grades 6-8 and a grades 9-12 version of each activity. The full standards also contain grade-by-grade performance standards for each art form, which this page does not reproduce.
What makes feedback useful for refining?
Useful feedback names a part of the work and its effect, and connects to a criterion: "the three landings sound like separate thuds." Praise or taste alone ("Nice job," "not my style") does not tell the artist what to test. Activity 1 practices the difference.
Does an artist have to follow all feedback?
No. Part of refining is deciding what not to take. An artist can thank the person and set a suggestion aside. What matters is a reason tied to the criteria or the artist's intent.
Why does this lesson use Whistler and the Whistler v. Ruskin trial?
Because Whistler wrote directly about when a picture is finished, and in court he was questioned about the time a painting took and its price. His printed words are in the public domain, and they give students a clear claim to test against their own work.
How does NCAS.A.3 connect to writing class?
Revising and editing a draft (CCRA.W.5) works much like refining an artwork: test the draft against its purpose, use feedback, and decide what to keep, change or cut. The connection is an SVHS teaching link, not part of either standard.
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Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to NCAS.A.3: the Creating anchors before it, the next step toward an audience, a related anchor on evaluating work, and a writing anchor with a similar skill. SVHS chose these links for teaching.
