Recently I received this email from a teacher:
Hi Nancy,
I've been a subscriber since I began teaching in 1993. This, by far, is my most difficult year as an art teacher. I have been blessed to have my own room (although for four I was in a small one, it was still a room) and a kiln. Many art teachers are not as fortunate. I have a wonderful school with supportive staff and parents, as well as some of the best students on the planet.
This year we are in a budget crunch and have class sizes in the 30s in grades 2-4. I didn't see it as a big deal last summer when we got the news. I figured I would do projects on smaller paper, do less 3D, etc. I had no idea how hard it would be. My students come for 50 minutes, and the first 15 minutes are wasted on crowd control, the last 10 to 15 on clean up. Kids are not getting the attention they deserve. We are not learning what the curriculum dictates. I can't even mix paint with my first graders because it's too chaotic. I have resorted to tempera in egg cartons, something I swore I would never do!
I would love to see a series of articles on how to handle large art classes (especially for elementary) and still maintain control and teach art....
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!
I think most of our have struggled with large classes at some point. It's because of that my number one rule is "stay in your seat." I also have assigned seats, but still I am constantly moving kids around trying to find the best placement for each child.
Please share with us any suggestions that have been successful for you in dealing with large classes.
Although I teach grades 6-8, I am in the EXACT predicament as the teacher in the post. Because of the large class sizes this year, I'm not able to have a kinetic class environment. In the past, getting up to sharpen a pencil or to get a different paintbrush without asking permission was fine, as long as it was during individual studio time and not instructional time. This year, NO ONE can get up without asking for ANYTHING. It's difficult because the student who've had me for art the past 2 years need to adapt to a different management style and stricter consequences, all because of the amount of students in the class.
ReplyDeleteLarge classes do affect the kind of projects you can do, and how you manage them. For example, my sixth grade classes increased by 7 students this year. This means that students can no longer be dismissed as tables to wash paintbrushes. As a result, I come to each table with a "Dirty Brush Bucket" which is just a small bucket with a handle halfway filled with soap and water. As I pass the tables, students know to put any dirty paintbrushes in the bucket. I keep the bucket in the sink and clean the brushes either during a quiet moment during studio time my next class or during my plan. It's not ideal, and it's more work for me, but it keeps the students in their seats.
I do the same thing for palettes. I use the reusable white plastic palettes and I have too many students to have them wash the palettes at the sink themselves, so I have a much larger bucket (like 5+ gal ones you get at the hardware store) to temporarily store dirty palettes until I can wash them during my plan or most often, after school.
My room is too small for my students to be up and wandering around, especially to wash hands (and of course they all need to do that at the same time!) I go around with a bucket full of dampened paper towels (cut from a school roll of brown paper towels). I pass them out, the kids wipe their hands, then the table, and then I pick them up. I also have my tables shaped into a U so I can easily circulate in the middle.
ReplyDeleteThe cramped quarters is tough. I have a teeny classroom for the second year after 12 years of teaching K-5. Part of my new management style is using a clothespin or the like, to bundle the projects according to tables. This I do at the end of each class. The clothespins also hold a piece of colored foam that corresponds to the table "color." I always prelabel the youngest classes' papers (K-2) b4 they come to class, with name, teacher code, and TABLE COLOR. If the papers aren't sorted, I never get done passing back work. Cramped space is loony. Principals who read this: would u want a fine dinner prepared in a teeny cramped kitchen? Translate that experience to making art. Elbow room please!
ReplyDeleteFor the past several years, art (enrichment) classes got larger and larger. I taught over 1000 students a week - Pre-K through 5th. Classes were 45 minutes - 30 for Pre-K and K. I had 2 forth grade classes of 44 each. Tips - I had a cup of already sharpened pencils - if they needed a sharp one, they could trade theirs in for a sharp one. I used the tempera blocks for paint - they are so much better than when they first came out and have a great variety of colors. You can leave them on the tables and don't have to constantly run around replacing paint, so you can spend the extra seconds helping students. I did occasionally I use liquid tempera for special colors which I squirted onto paper plates then threw away at the end of class. I had a "leader" dial on the wall. Each seat = 8 at each table was assigned a number and the leader for each table corresponded to the dial, changing weekly. Only the leader could get up except to take their work to the drying rack. Leaders were responsible for getting water and brushes for their table and then cleaning brushes and replacing bowls with clean water at the end of class. While the leaders were at the sink, a sponge was passed around each table for each student to clean their own place. That put only 5 students at the sinks = not the whole class - of course emergencies and accidents were the exception, but they were rare. I never felt the students in the large classes received as much as a smaller class would, but we did our best and organization is the key.
ReplyDeleteI also have super large classes that sometimes cause me panic attacks when I see them all pile into my tiny half portable. My 5th grade classes are HUGE, two classes are in the 40s. I recently had the opportunity to seek the help of other seasoned art teachers in my district. Their advice to me was to stick with drawing. Which, at first I was very disappointed, but then thought it might not be too bad an idea. There's a lot to cover, contour drawing, value, perspective. I introduced ebony pencils today and they were in awe of them. So I'm hoping we can pull it off.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas from everyone so far. My room is the old head start office, not a real classroom so we get pretty cramped especially when the 8th graders of our K-8 come in. I have found keeping the kids out of the sink and in their seats is key. We use the dirty brush and pallet bucket method and "wash" our hands with one baby wipe per person (I buy tons of packs at $1 tree). We use a seating chart and color coded tables, each table has a handheld sharpener so there is no getting up to sharpen pencils. Only one student "representative" per table is allow to get up each class. They change water or pick up supplies. We enter the room one table at a time and leave one table at at time. I have also made it a priority this year to return student art to their classroom as promptly as possible. That frees up a lot of space. Every weeks a different class's art work is the featured class. Last but not least I store almost everything in zip lock baggies now instead of buckets. They are clear, the kids know how to handle them and they take up a lot less space.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this is the appropriate place, but several of you have mentioned budget crunch and large classes. I would like to share with you my book titled: Craft$ For The No Budget Art Teacher. There are several inexpensive low budget crafts that can work with large classes and not a lot of mess! I have written a few articles for School Arts in the past. I primarily teach young adults, but I run an art summer camp that keeps me on the move. I hope the book can help with the budget cuts facing my fellow art teachers.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Craft-No-Budget-Art-Teacher/dp/1453694250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286976096&sr=8-1
peace, ann
www.solesisterart.com
I reached boiling point last term with one of my classes. I looked for support on the www. I found smart classroom management extremely helpful. smartclassroommanagement.com I re focused. At my current school (in Australia we are in the final weeks of the year so keeping the older students focussed is hard work. We have a 5 point system which will result in the best class each fortnite receiving a special extra long recess.It is on trial at present. This is how it is allocated. 1 point for quiet lining up. 1 point for careful and quite listening.1 point for following the 4 basic class rules ( from Smart Classroom Management) 1 point for great artwork and 1 point for cleaning up. What I do like is the some of the above suggestions for keeping the kids in their seats. I think also that one of the other blogs has a good idea of handing out a coloured popstick at the beginning of the lesson-as the kids come in. They sit at their allocated coloured table and then a cleanup job is assigned. Good luck I sympathise with what they do to some of us.
ReplyDeleteI also have large classes. I teach Young 5s through 8th. I have many special needs students mainstreamed into my classes. I go to 4 buildings, and I have about 1,300 students. My class periods are 35 min. long, and there are 9 classes a day. To manage this I am using many of the TAB ideas- teaching for artistic behavior. I set up 6 studios. Only 1 requires much of my assistance at a time. There is a studio for Build, Clay, Paint, Study, Draw, Collage. Studios have "menus" for inspiration. I give a 5 min. lesson to start class. All students have assigned jobs and work in cooperative groups. Each student keeps a portfolio, but they also choose to work on group projects. Classes earn new materials for their studios through excellent behavior, work ethic, production, clean up, etc. I use a digital timer, music, and sounds to signal studio work time and clean up time. It's all working pretty well, but I'm always looking for ideas for improvement!
ReplyDeleteWow, it's nice to finally hear from others that are in similar situations as myself. I teach 6-8 in a title one school. This year is my toughest yet, because of discipline and class size. My largest class is 39 8th graders. I, too would love suggestions on classroom management and engagement. I have problems with students simply not following procedures and not focusing or even caring about their work.
ReplyDeleteWould anyone have suggestions for a classroom activities where:
ReplyDeleteA. There is not sink so paint is a no
B. There are 65 first graders crammed in
C. It's not my classroom, so all materials must be handed out at the start of each class.
With so many students, you do what you can. Instead of paint, use oil pastels. Carry a bucket filled with dampened paper towels to help in clean up. Use trusted students as helpers to distribute and take up items. Start each class reading a book aloud. This will help get their attention and provide motivation for a related project. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteMy students do a daily Doodle as they enter the room. It is a timed 3 minute drawing exercise/ sketch. It gets them focused right away-seated and ready to draw quickly. They enjoy coming in to see what the week's Doodle is and motivates them with something to start on immediately. They keep them in a hand-made book and when they finish other work it gives them something to do. Also buys you an extra 3 minutes to transition between glasses. Love it!
ReplyDeleteTaken so much from these comments. I am also teaching large classes of Year7 and 8 students.
ReplyDeleteIt helps to know I am not alone and that some of the challenges I face are due to the number of students. Thanks for sharing.
还有一个问题，美术教室是共用的，我就要教10个班，班级管理也很难
ReplyDelete