More Comments on Managing Large Classes

Another Email about Large Classes

Dear Nancy,

This is in response to larger class size and managing the room. I teach grade 6-8, my classes have increased slightly with some classes with as much as 28 students, many with special needs. I have a large room so students can move around, but I have one teeny tiny sink. For hand washing it is after cleanup and students wait in line. For clean up for painting or printmaking.....hand washing is last! Printmaking is the worst. Lots of brayers and trays. I have students share colors and there is always someone who is quick and efficient at cleaning.

For painting I use palette paper if I can and have students write their name on it and reuse it. Tempera peels off and if they like the mixed colors they can add water and reuse. If I use plastic palettes there is never enough time to wash them and it takes too long and I found myself cleaning palettes. Now I use disposable cups with lids 

and fill them with paint that everyone shares and students mix colors on the palette paper.

I have students do different jobs at the tables so that not everyone is at the sink at the same time. Students at each table work out who does what. Someone puts the art on the drying rack, someone puts away the folders, someone washes the brushes, someone washes the tables, and everyone puts the supplies away. It does require coordination and planning, but we are teachers and masters at that. When done regularly it becomes routine and I don't have to cut down art time for clean up, students know what to do. I never clean up for the students. They are more careful about what they do when they know they must do the cleaning. I need my prep time for getting ready, not for cleaning.

At the elementary level it requires telling which students to do what or having a list with every student on it and thier job. When I did my graduate work I had a co-op teacher who was a master at organization. Thank you Julie. She taught me well. Each table and each person has a job. It requires a lot of planning in the beginning but definitely worth it. Students who go to the sink to clean brushes or dump water, wash their hands after they finish their 

job. The rest are called up 2 or 3 at a time and she would time them. Next. ....They get used to the routine quickly and know what is expected of them.

Rose Flanagan

The Continuing Saga of Too-Large Classes

An email from a reader:

Nancy, 

I just received my issue of SchoolArts and I was reading the article “How Many Students Did You Say I was Going to Have?”  Although I work in a smaller private school, I do have a few larger classes and I believe I have some ideas that I incorporate into my procedures that would work for large classes.  One of the dilemmas was not having the students all up and moving around the room. 

I have 6 students at most assigned to a studio table.  Each of them have a specific job for their table such as distribution manager, supply manager, teachers assistant, sink monitor, maintenance manager, and table leader. Each studio table has its own corresponding wire bakers rack.  All student supplies are on this rack.  Elementary are in bins by grade level and in bags by student.  Community supplies are also kept on the racks as well as a sketchbook bin housing sketchbooks for lower grades and “inspiration envelopes” with drawing ideas and examples. Each rack also has a book basket with a few textbooks for reference, picture books with great illustrations, and various art books.  

At any given time there should only be one person up from their table at a time.  Students come in at the beginning of class and pull their job tag, clip it on, and then go to their seat.  The supply manager gets the supply bin, the distribution manager gets the work in progress portfolio, and they begin working.  I will break in after they have gotten situated and are working to do my mini lesson or give instruction.

When it comes to clean up, there is only one person from each table at the sink, the sink monitor.  I have a baking sheet for each table that is set up with a layer of paper towels, a water container, brushes, and paints.  When it is time to clean up, students place their brushes in the water containers. The sink monitor brings the whole baking sheet to the sink and cleans the brushes and paint trays and then resets the baking sheet and returns it to its place.

These are some of the procedures I implemented this year.  My first year teaching art was very rewarding but frustrating when it came to having too many students up at one time or moving across the room to get supplies, passing out papers, storing works in progress neatly, and cleaning up.  I felt like I did not have enough time to instruct and then for them to work.  I discerned over this past summer and researched the web to see what might work so that art students would have more time to actually do their art. 

Melinda Dunn

Art Teacher, Saint Mary’s Catholic School, Longview Texas

Rodrigo's Story

Don't you love the magic moments in the art room when everything just comes together? Yesterday a second grader made my day. I had an art teacher and supervisor from another district observing my class, along with a student teacher. This was one of my largest classes so space was tight.

The students were completing the cardinal lesson you see here (this is Rodrigo's). Last week they printed the green lines for the branches; this day they were adding the birds and painting snow.

Rodrigo is this very quiet little boy who was completely absorbed in so carefully and slowly painting the lines of white between the green. We were all drawn to him because of his focus and effort. At the end of class he wasn't quite finished so I let him stay behind his class and finish, knowing his teacher would understand. (He also offered to put his work on the drying rack and clean up his table when he finished.)

When I had a free moment I took his work down to show his teacher and to tell her how proud I was of him. She looked at his work and was moved almost to tears, pointing out that he had written his name in cursive (he is in a second grade bilingual class). We were both so proud of him! And the next day he brought in a pencil drawing he made at home of the same scene.

Rodrigo's story is a reminder to me that we must look for and pay attention to the quiet children so easy to overlook when we are distracted by other, more noticeable students (I must admit another boy in the same class painted his hand and pressed it on the wall behind him, but that's another story!). I hope we made Rodrigo's day; he certainly made mine.

Where in the World Would You Like to Go?

SchoolArts still has space in both of our 2011 summer offerings, a week in Venice and the Folk Art Extravaganza in Santa Fe, but our thoughts must jump ahead to summer 2012.

Where would you like to go with a group of like-minded, traveling art teachers? We're thinking of Barcelona and northern Spain (would include Montserrat, Santiago de Compostela, and end up in Madrid) but are open to other destinations. In Spain, a visit to the Guggenheim Museum of Contemporary Art in Bilbao would be included, as well as the Altamira National Museum. Gaudi's fantastic architecture in Barcelona would definitely be a highlight!

If you have some other destinations in mind, please let us know!

More Thoughts on Art Room Management

Just received this from Brenda Kane, a reader who offered to share her thoughts on managing large classes:

Hello!

 

I am a bit too busy to write formally right now, sorry.  Yet I did not want to forget to do this - cause I have been there, dun that!

 

Just a few quick time savers / large class size ideas for art teachers and perhaps a few money saving ideas too...

 

For palettes use old magazines - one per table.  You can still have the paint all ready to go when students arrive in class - you can still walk around with a garbage can at the end of class - just have students rip off the top page then fold it and place in the garbage.  NO CLEANING THE PAINT TRAYS!!!!  YAY!

 

RULERS - have students EARN the use of them.  Use cut scrap edges of mat board collected from local framing shops until they prove that they can use them for the intended purpose not as to be bent, or used as a weapon, drum stick, or a way to etch into class table tops. 

 

Mat board leftovers that are too small for framing... cardboard etc. can also be used as templates for thumbnails sketches, to spread glue around a surface, or as a squeegee to flatten the paper that has been glued down -it removes air bubbles, they are also good for using as the "brush" for ink, or to create textures etc.

 

I have also used supply containers for the basic things that each table will need to use ready and numbered by table - then I send delegates to retrieve and replace them in a designated area each day.

 

I also have students do a "brush check" to see if they are clean after they have washed and dried them by wiping them on my arm - if the brush gets my skin dirty there are penalties!  ;-)  LESS WORK FOR ME!

 

 

I have to run - Wish I could write more for you.

 

God Bless!

Brenda Kane

I especially liked the brush check! Nancy

 

 

 

 

 

 

February SchoolArts: The Issue of Time

Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.  ~ John Archibald Wheeler


February SchoolArts

Is there anyone whose day is more regimented by time than teachers? Especially art teachers? My day is certainly run with a constant eye on the clock, beginning from the moment I reach school, when I have to open my room, be sure I have everything out and handy for my morning classes (even though I try to leave it all ready for the next day when I leave school), check my mailbox in the workroom, and quickly look at my email for urgent messages (I don’t always manage to do that). If I have an extra minute or two, I’ll put out the ongoing artwork for the first class based on their seating chart.

Once classes start, I frequently check the clock, judging if I need to adjust or expand a lesson to keep students busy during class, and deciding when we have to stop working, have closure, clean up (depending on media used), and line up.

I find that student teachers often have the most trouble with adjusting for time, especially in embellishing or extending a lesson when students finish more quickly that anticipated. Getting students cleaned up and ready to go on time is also challenging for student teachers. If they can master these skills, they are more likely to be successful.

As far as the concept of time goes for my elementary students, their understanding seems to rely on the concepts of old, older, and oldest, though they can make timelines of their own lives. For example, my fifth graders have created stories and drawings of their favorite memories and recorded them for a VoiceThread presentation. On a smaller scale, my students have also used sets of art postcards to work together in teams to sequence them by time.

Posting and adding to an ongoing timeline in the art room is an effective approach to help students understand concepts of time and how art and artists have influenced each other over time. One of the best timelines I’ve seen in from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Theresa McGee expands on this and other online timelines in Tech4ArtEd this month.

No matter your approach to time, SchoolArts hopes this issue can help you use time to your advantage in the art room. 

Update on Substitute Lesson

Here's a photo of the template I use for my cube substitute lesson mentioned in my last post. It is based on four-inch squares and fits on 12" x 18" paper. The notched side folds up to make the bottom of the cube.

I have students draw and color their designs before they cut out the cubes. It is easier to work on that way. We usually use Sharpie markers over the pencil lines and color with colored pencils.

Substitute Art Lessons

Does the idea of having a substitute strike fear in your heart? Only with the most trusted art sub will I expect her/him to continue my on-going lessons, and then only with greatly detailed instructions left behind. For non-art subs, I tell them not try to continue my lessons, no matter how hard my students try to convince them otherwise.

This is one of my most successful substitute plans, based on a template that I leave, one per table to share. The template (drawn by me) fits on 12" x 18" white drawing paper. Students trace the pattern, draw a design in pencil first, then outline with marker, and finally color with colored pencils before cutting it out and assembling the cube. My directions ask that students come up with a detailed design that flows from one panel to another, realistic or abstract. Careful work means the activity will take more than one period, so students begin the project with the sub but finish it with me. I have used this lesson with grades 3-5 but it is certainly adaptable for higher grade levels.

If you have a favorite substitute lesson, please share it with us!