Showing posts with label podcast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label podcast. Show all posts

Friday, August 25, 2017

Everyday Art Room, Episode 3

Hey there, friends! Today I'm linking you to the third installment of Everyday Art Room, my podcast. You can subscribe wherever you listen to your fave 'casts or simply take a listen right here. I LOVE sharing with y'all in these podcasts...but I also love to hear from you! We have a special feature called Mail Bag where you can send me your questions and I'll answer them in the podcast. You can message me at everydayartroom@theartofed.com. Looking forward to chatting with you. Now, here's the transcript:
A lot of times when I am thinking about my art room and myself as an art teacher, I often think of myself as a student and I go back in time and I just remember what really stood out to me. Either my favorite classroom experiences or my least, my favorite teachers, and how I interacted with them or, better yet, how they interacted with me. Then I also think of my least favorite teachers, because I think there’s a lot of learning that we can as teachers by thinking of those non-example, those teachers who we don’t want to follow in their footsteps. I think it’s important to think of things that maybe we feel they did wrong, how that made us feel, so that we can ensure we don’t have that same experience with the students we teach today.
Today we’re going to talk about consequences and I immediately thought of my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Kelly. Now, Mrs. Kelly was a nice teacher, I guess, but all I remember really about Mrs. Kelly is that I tormented this poor woman. You have to understand that prior to sixth grade, I was a pretty good student. I did what I was told, I did pretty well in school, I was, I guess what you say, your average kind of kid. I never spoke back, wouldn’t even dream of it. Never took a trip to the office, I would have been flabbergasted. But all of that changed in sixth grade.
I have a teacher friend. She likes to refer to it as kids smelling themselves, meaning they’re getting a little bit full of themselves, feeling a little bit more confident, and testing the waters. Boy, was I smelling myself in Ms. Kelly’s class in sixth grade.
Here’s why. I sensed a weak teacher. When she would come in, she was very scattered, her lessons were all over the place, and she just looked like she was just one step away from completely falling apart. I was like this little animal that sniffed out her weakness and I took complete advantage. It was in sixth grade that I decided to become a standup comedian and I took the stage the moment that she walked in the door, hamming it up for my classmates.
Now, she didn’t have established consequences. Not that I recall. So, her knee-jerk go-to reaction was to put me in timeout. Now, if you teach sixth graders, which I never have, and I don’t plan on it anytime soon, I can only imagine that putting a sixth grader in timeout is just going to backfire in your face. Those middle schoolers are a little bit too wise for that kind of behavior. Now, her idea of a perfect timeout spot was a really bad choice. I was to stand just out of her eyesight behind her in a corner, which meant that when she taught, she couldn’t see me standing in timeout, and you better believe that was the perfect stage for my antics.
I feel really bad for my behavior, but I also know that establishing consequences that, A, fit the crime, B, fit the students and their age and mentality and, C, make sense, meaning don’t put the kids in timeout behind you, I mean, come on, those are some of the things you really have to consider when you’re establishing your consequences.
We chatted about rules last week, today let’s cover those consequences. This is Everyday Art Room and I’m Cassie Stephens.
Today we’re going to talk about the three consequences that I would encourage you to use to enforce your rules in the art room. But, like always with my podcast, before we can address that, we have a couple of other things we’re going to talk about.
The first thing is this. If you have students misbehaving, you have to ask yourself why. To answer that, you need to reflect on your own experiences as a student, just like I did. If you were a cut up, if you misbehaved, you know there were certain teachers that you misbehaved for, whereas there were others who you wouldn’t even dare. Why was that? I think it’s important to think on your experiences as a student because that helps you get into the shoes of your students today.
Before we can talk about those top three consequences that I would recommend that you use in the art room, let’s address some other things first. For example, why do students misbehave? You teach the most exciting class in the school. I mean, come on. It’s art. Everybody loves art. But sometimes every one of us has had to ask these questions. Why are they not following my rules? Why are the students not responding to my directions? And why are they mistreating my art supplies? [Y’all 00:05:55], what did that poor paintbrush ever do to be ground into that painting like that?
I’ve come up with what I believe to be the four main reasons that students misbehave and I think that once you understand why your students are misbehaving, you’ll better be able to craft consequences for your art room. The first thing is this. This is one reason your students might be misbehaving. There’s a lack of a connection with you. Another one is there’s a lack of engagement with the lessons that you’re presenting. Here’s another, and I’m using the word lack again. A lack of having a voice in your art room. Not you, your students. And, last one, there might be a lack of boundaries.
Let’s focus on this before we think about the rules and consequences. Let’s go back to that lack of a connection with you. Your goal in your art room is to build strong relationships with your students. But that’s such a tall order. I mean, some of us are teaching up to 800 kids. We might only see our students on a six-day rotation. It’s hard for us to even learn their names, let alone find out their interests and build a relationship with them. It’s so much easier for a classroom teacher to do this because they see their students every day. So, how can we, as art teachers, build a strong and relasting – Relasting. Listen to me. Lasting relationship. There we go. It’s a relasting relationship with our students.
Here’s what I would recommend in the short amount of time that we have, and in the large amount of students that we also have. Number one, learn their names. I know. I know. You might have a ton of students. But trust me. Knowing your students’ names is the first step in building a relationship and a connection between you and your students. Another one is this. Give your students that positive, happy feeling. It can be any way that makes you and your students comfortable. I’m not really a high five giver. It feels awkward to me, even though I am extraordinarily awkward. But I am a big-time smiler and a winker, and I also love a good old pat on the back. We also do a little sign language of I love you, which also builds a connection between me and my students, but that’s what works for, I always go back to those three S’s, my situation, my students, and my setup. Find what works for you. Lastly, it’s important to really put value in your student’s effort and not value in the talent that they had when they came to your room. That’s really going to help you build a strong connection with your students.
What I mean is this. When you see a student doing a really great job on their piece of art, it’s important for you to praise their progress, praise what they are working on, but don’t let that praise be confused with them as a person. Meaning, “Oh, you’re such a good artist,” can be a little bit damaging, not just to the student you’re saying it to, but also to all the other ears who happen to hear that comment. However, something like, “Wow, you’re really putting so much effort into developing that line for that drawing,” is a lot more specific and encouraging to other students, and this is going to help you build that connection and relationship with your students.
Another thing that might spike misbehavior is a lack of engagement in your lessons. Oh man. We spend so much time coming up with what we believe to be fabulous lessons, or at least we should be spending time to do that. But you have to stop and think when you’re presenting your lessons or when you’re creating them, is this something that’s going to be engaging for my students? Are my lessons exciting and out of the normal routine of my students’ day? For me, for example, I’m just going to say it, I’m not a big fan of crayons and markers in my art room. It is a rare occasion that we use those two supplies, and here’s why. They can use those supplies in their classroom. They can use those art supplies at home. I know you’re thinking, “But Cassie, you need to each them how to use these supplies properly.” Okay. But that doesn’t mean every project needs to based with those same supplies. It needs to be an out of the ordinary and unusual experience when your students come to the art room. Not every time, that’s exhausting, let’s be honest, but keep those lessons exciting, and that will keep your students engaged.
The other one that I was chatting about earlier was a lack of voice in the art room. I often feel like with projects that we sometimes dream up or pin on Pinterest, they look so beautiful, so we have in our mind what we expect the end result to look like, knowing what that end result is going to look like and providing teacher examples that are hung up on the board, which, hey, I’m guilty of. I use those to build excitement for lessons. But keeping up all of the time and having them on display deletes the voice that your students might have when approaching that project. Because what they see is, “Oh, this is my end goal,” not, “Oh, I have a choice with this project.”
The last one is a lack of boundaries. This is the flip side of what I just said. Sometimes if you build up too many boundaries and make a lesson too constraining, you’re not offering choice. Then on the flip side of that, if it’s too wide open, then there are no boundaries. Not having boundaries established in your art room, and in your lessons, and in your day-to-day routines can really set you up for art room disaster.
Now that we’ve established why students might misbehave, a lack of boundaries, a lack of choice and voice in the art room, a lack of engagement and a connection with you, now let’s address consequences. Consequences are the result of a rule being broken. That’s what a consequence is and that’s what you need to tell your students. Keep it short, simple, and sweet. Guys, consequences are the result of a rule being broken.
Now, last time we chatted about the rules for the art room and I explained that my rules for my art room are based on the word art. Just to review, the A in art stands for aim, the R stands for respect, and the T is for trust. In aim, I want my students to aim to do their best and aim to do the right thing. The R, respect, is respect yourself, respect your classmates, respect the art room. Then the T for trust is trust in yourself and, here’s another one that’s really important to me, trust in your ability to learn. Now, these rules of mine are very broad. They’re also a little conceptual, which can be tough for students to comprehend. Because they are vague and because they might be difficult for students to understand, it’s so important to review the rules a lot that first month and more of school, and to explain, offer role playing. What I plan to do is craft videos that will better help my students understand my rules. But they also have to know that when a rule is broken, there are consequences.
What do my three consequences look and sound like? Let’s talk about it. Let’s start with the warning. What’s a warning? A warning for me in my art room is a gentle reminder to my students that a rule or a routine has been broken. What does that sound like in my art room? I try really, really hard to use the same tone of voice, the same phrase, and the same approach every time I deliver a warning, and here’s why. I’m trying very hard not to waste my students’ time and I’m trying very hard to be consistent, which I struggle with, so I try very hard to use that same tone and verbiage when I’m delivering my warning. It sounds like this, “You have a warning because” and then I tell them what rule or routine they have broken. I leave it just like that. I deliver the message, I look them in the eye, I offer my “You have a warning because”, and I leave it at that.
Now, like I said, the beginning of the school year and with my younger students, I usually will deliver two warnings before I move on to timeout. I don’t tell them that. I just deliver that warning. It’s not a conversation. It ends when I stop talking, meaning I do not expect a response from my students. If they give me a response, then I will issue that very same sentence again. If an argument on their end starts to develop, then we will move on to the second consequence. One thing you need to make sure to do when you’re delivering your consequences is never lose your cool. Remember that ’80s commercial, never let them see you sweat. Never lose your cool. Be completely consistent delivering the same sentence in the same tone of voice, in the same calm manner every single time. After a while, they’re going to realize, “Oh my gosh, she is just going to keep repeating this same sentence over and over again in the same manner and in that same creepy, calm voice, so I might as well get my act together.” That’s consequence number one, the warning.
Let’s talk about consequence number two, timeout. I have used timeout in my room since the beginning of art teachering time, and it’s changed over the course of my teaching. Here’s why. I used to have my students move to a different spot in the room. Remove them from where the activity is. I will be honest, usually my students need to take a timeout break during our beginning of the art class circle time. It usually happens because I have a student who’s very excited or distracted by their neighbor and cannot seem to focus, so I need to remove them from the group. And I used to do that. I used to have a small desk and it was on the other side of the room. I could see this child clearly but they were removed from the situation. I have long since stopped doing that and here’s the number one reason why. When that student would come back and join the group, they often had missed a large part of an instructional time, which meant that I then had to go back and reteach them, neglecting the other kids in the room.
I no longer have a timeout place that’s far away from instruction. Instead, here’s where my timeout is. Imagine this in your mind. My students, when they come to art, they join me on the floor. Like I said, if I have to put a student in timeout, it usually happens during this time, this instructional time, which really isn’t saying much about my instruction by the way. Maybe that’s something I need to think about. Regardless, I have two little taped X’s on the floor in my art room, right behind where my students are seated to listen. If I have a student that needs to take a timeout break, I simply say, “You need to take a timeout because,” I tell them the routine or rule they broke, they know to go and stand on that X.
Here’s why I do this. Number one, they stand because I do not want them to be comfortable. You’re not in timeout because I’m really thrilled with what you’ve been doing. You are in timeout to stand up properly, give me your full attention, and show me you want to come back to the group. All of that is explained and demonstrated on those first couple of days of school.
Another reason I keep my students close when they are in timeout is so they can continue to get all of the information that their students … I’m sorry. That their peers are also getting. That way, they don’t miss out on any instructional time.
I don’t have a set time. I don’t set a timer. I don’t say to my students, “You’re going to be in timeout for five minutes.” I simply tell them to go to timeout. When I’m establishing my rules and routine, I let them know that in order for them to come out of timeout, they need to demonstrate with their body and their listening skills that they are ready to join the group. Usually, so that I don’t call attention to them, I can tell by their body language and the fact that their eyes are on me, that they’re ready to join us, and I simply wiggle my fingers a little bit to let them know it’s okay for them to return to the floor. They almost always do so very quietly. That’s how I operate timeout.
Now, let’s talk about the third one. You’ve gone through warning after warning, you’ve sent your sweet friend to timeout numerous times, and now it’s time to really go to number three. For me, the third consequence, to send students to the office, is what works best for me, my situation, my setup, and my students. I have a very supportive principal and administration and I know that if I send a child to the office, which happens once a year maybe, so this is a very rare occurrence, I know that if I send a student to the office, they’re going to take it very seriously. That might be different for your situation. It might be better for you to reach out to a parent or to talk to the child’s teacher. So really think hard about what will give you the best results when you have a student that’s very difficult to manage their behavior in your art room. Again, think about your setup, situation, and students. We all are different art teachers, so we really need to think about what’s going to work best for us.
That’s how I handle consequences in my art room. Like I said, that’s something that I start teaching about from day one, demonstrating what I’m expecting, and what can happen if my students don’t give me what I’m expecting in my art room. If a rule is broken, there are consequences. Remember to always deliver them calmly and consistently, and you’ll be extremely happy with the results.
Tim Bogatz: Tim Bogatz here from Art Ed Radio. A quick reminder that you can find resources, links, and a full transcript of each show on the AOE website. Just click on the podcasts tab and select Everyday Art Room. If you’re loving Cassie’s podcast, please submit a rating and a review on iTunes. This helps other art teachers discover this amazing show. I also want to tell you about Art Ed PRO, the essential subscription for professional art teachers. It is on demand professional development with video tutorials, downloadable handouts, and all kinds of other resources that will help take your teaching to the next level. The PRO library has over 40 topics, with three new topics released every month, from assessment and curriculum, down to teaching your teens, and firing your kiln. It is the professional development you need, when you need it. Make sure you check it out at the ArtOfEd.com/Pro. Now let’s get back to the show.
Cassie: Now it’s time to take a little dip into the mailbag. This question I know lots of you guys can relate to. “Cassie, what do I say or do when all these classroom teachers come to me for art supplies?”
Oh, that’s a big one because I know all of us have been in that kind of situation. Let me tell you how to kind of think about it before you answer that question. First of all, think about it this way. Your art supplies are for the art education of your students. Your art supplies are not for the general education of your students. When you think about it that way, it might better help you say no to those requests for paint, or glue, or paintbrushes, or scissors. When you start donating those things out as if your art room were a craft supply store, you are neglecting the art education of your students.
When you have a teacher asking for, oh, just a little bit of paint, and you know it’s always like two minutes before they need it, right when you’re in the middle of teaching a lesson, I mean, let’s be honest, it’s okay for you to say no. “I am so sorry. I would love to help you with that, but these art supplies have been purchased for the art education of my students. And with my budget, I don’t have any to spare.” It’s okay for you to say no. You are the voice for your students’ art education. Perhaps thinking about it that way will help you better say no.
If you guys have any questions for the mailbag, please feel free to send them our way at everydayartroom@theartofed.com.
Wow. This episode on consequences really was a meaty one, but you can tell that consequences are just as important as the rules you establish for your art room. Remember, before you think of the consequences for your art room, remember to think about your situation, your setup, and your students. Also, think about why your students might be misbehaving and that might inspire you to do some reflection of yourself as a student. Put yourself in their shoes. Remember, it might be because there’s a lack of a connection with you, which your students crave, a lack of engagement or excitement in your lessons, perhaps there’s a lack of voice on your students’ behalf in your art room, or, on the flip side, maybe there’s a lack of boundaries.
Once you’ve kind of sifted through those thoughts, then you can establish your consequences. They might be different than mine but mine are as simple as this. Number one, a warning. Two, timeout. Three, a visit to the office, which, like I said, is an extraordinarily rare occurrence. Remember, when you are delivering your consequences, do so in a consistent, using the same phrase and sentence every time, and in a very calm manner. Consistency and calmness are key to establishing those consequences in your art room.

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Thursday, August 17, 2017

Everyday Art Room: Episode 2

Today is the second installment of my podcast Everyday Art Room and I'm super excited. I'll be talking about my experience teaching art on the very first day some 19 years ago...it was a trip, lemme tell ya. I'll also be sharing the only three rules I have in my art room. Feel free to use the rules in yours! I created these rules images just for you. In my last podcast, I chatted about my 8 routines which you can check out here in case you missed. What rules do you have in your art room?

I thought I'd share the transcript of today's podcast in case you are interested. Before I get to that, I want to share the WINNER of our GIVEAWAY! BIG HUGS AND HIGH FIVES TO ASHLEY H.! You've won Barney Saltzberg's latest book, My Book of Beautiful Oops!
I have been teaching art for close to 20 years and what that means is that I have had close to 20 first days of school. Let me just tell you, they never get any easier. Now, there is one first day of school that I remember like it was yesterday and I bet you can guess which one that is. That’s right, the very first, first day of school. Let me paint a little picture for you. I was hired to teach kindergarten through second grade children in Nashville, Tennessee. I moved from Indiana. I moved not knowing a single soul and never having taught children under the age of 10. Something I may have failed to mention in the interview.
Oh, but speaking of the interview. When I was sitting in that interview the vice principal kept painting this glorious picture of this amazing space that I was going to have to teach in. He kept referring to it as something called a portable. I didn’t know what a portable was, but he acted like it was the best thing ever. A word to the wise, newbies or people going out for an interview, always make sure that you ask to see that teaching space before accepting the job unlike yours truly.
When I saw my space, I was like, “Y’all call that a portable, because where I’m from that’s a straight up trailer.” Now, I will say this it was a very nice trailer and, excuse me, portable. When I saw the inside of the space it was clean. It was nice, but it was very institutional. I thought, “In less than 24 hours before my students get here, I need to transform this space into an exciting place where they will want to come and create.”
Taking a little break from that, I decided to walk up and down the halls of the school and just casually pop my head in the classrooms to see, what does an elementary classroom look like. Here’s what I saw. I saw rooms filled with big bold posters that had words on them like, rules and consequences. On the rules’ poster there were these big happy faced children doing the right thing, raising their hand and being kind to one another. On the consequences’ poster, well I think you can imagine the things that I saw. Those faces on the children, they were not happy. I thought, “That’s what I need. I need rules and consequences posters.”
I immediately went back to my apartment and that night I stayed up until 3:00 AM drawing Vincent Van Gogh’s art room rules, poster after poster after poster. The next day, I shared those rules and consequences with my students and let me just tell you, it did not go over well. They weren’t receptive, because they didn’t understand what it was that I was talking about. The thing is, I didn’t understand what I was talking about either. Here’s what your students need from you on those first days of school. They need you. They need you and your actions and your excitement and love for teaching art to set the tone, which will then help establish the rules in your art room. This is Everyday Art Room and I’m Cassie Stephens.
In the last episode of Everyday Art Room, we were chatting about the eight art room routines that will help you establish a really successful school year. Now, I did mention that when you’re coming up with your own eight art room routines, you need to think of the three S’s. Consider your setup, your situation, and your students. Simply because it works well in my art room with my setup and situation and students, doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. Now, that being said, during that episode, I bet some of you were wondering, “Wait a minute. On the first day of school, she goes over her routines, but what about rules? You’re supposed to cover that on the first day of school.” I have a feeling might, myself included, accidentally confuse rules and routines. They’re two totally different things. Let’s talk about that difference.
Think of your art room as a masterpiece, a big beautiful painting. When an artist approaches a painting he/she first lays down big broad brushstrokes. I like to think of those big broad brushstrokes as the rules in my art room. The routines, well those are the finer details in a painting and depending on your situation, your setup, and your students you might have a finally detailed masterpiece that’s your art room. If you’re anything like me, a little bit loosey goosey/hot mess express, well then your painting and the routine/finer details might cause it to look a little bit more impressionistic/occasionally attacked by Jackson Pollock. Each one of those is different and unique. Just like the art teacher that each one of us are.
Today, we are going to talk about those rules and we’re going to talk about the top three rules, the only ones that you’ll ever need for your setup, your situation, and your students. Before diving in, let’s really dig deep about what rules do. What do rules do? They set the tone. They set the tone for your art room and your students creative space. That masterpiece where the artist is laying down those big broad brushstrokes, he/she is setting the tone with the colors chosen, the lines and shapes put into place. That’s going to be the tone for the entire painting. Think of the tone that you want to establish in your art room.
Now, with that in mind, I want you to listen to this. I did a little bit of googling and just out of curiosity I googled “elementary classroom rules” just to see what our fellow teacher and buddies were up to in their teaching spaces. I came across pretty much what you’d expect and a lot of rules I’ve used in my art room before. Let me go over the top three.
Walk in the classroom. Okay, walking’s important. We don’t need to be running anywhere except outside and in PE. I can go along with that. Second one, raise your hand to talk. I have most definitely had that as a rule in my art room. Be kind to your classmates. I love that rule. I mean that’s like a life mantra. That’s not just a rule. So, those, of course, are setting a tone. Here are some other rules that I came across, which also set a tone. I’m going to read these to you twice. I’m going to read them to you once and then I’m going to read them to you again with the tone that I think they were written in.
Here’s the first one. Listen and follow directions the first time you are asked! In my mind, here’s the tone with which I heard that rule. Listen and follow directions the first time you are asked! Here’s another one. Do not get out of your seat unless you have permission! Here’s the tone. Do not get out of your seat unless you have permission! The last one. Raise your hand before speaking. Do not shout out! Raise your hand before speaking. Do not shout out! The funny thing about that rule, I feel like that rule is shouting out.
All right, do you understand where I’m going with this? The tone that those three rules set, imagine being a student in that classroom. Imagine the tone and the climate in that classroom. Imagine that being your learning space for an entire year. So, when you’re coming up with your rules really think clearly about that tone. Read your rules out loud and make sure they are going to help you establish that creative, exciting, and wonderful space that you have.
Many people also have a tendency, like I said earlier, and myself included, to confuse rules with routines. They end up with a list of rules that entirely too long. The one about walking into the classroom. I feel that’s more of a routine. You need to show students how you want them to walk into your classroom. This is our routine for walking in. This is our routine for walking to gather supplies. This is our routine for walking to exit. That’s not a rule.
Let me share with you the top three rules. The only ones for your setup, situation, and students that you’ll need. When I was coming up with these I decided to think of it more, not as a rule or a set of rules, but as a life mantra. I want these to be life rules. Rules of life to live by. When I was coming up with these I thought of the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid. So, here’s the acronym I thought of using the word ART, of course. A for ART is for Aim. The R in ART is for Respect. The T for ART is Trust. My three rules, Aim, Respect, Trust.
Now, let’s go over what I mean by each one of those three words and three rules. I’ll do this with my student. Let’s talk about the A, which I said is Aim. I want all of my student to aim, to try their best and aim to do the right thing. I can’t ask more of them than to try their best and to do the right thing. The R is for Respect. I want my students to respect themselves, their artwork, their classmates, and the art room. It’s one thing I know about people and students, they cannot have respect for others or what they’ve created or art supplies or space unless they first have a respect and a love for themselves. So, establishing that self confidence and that respect for themselves comes first in that R of respect.
Let’s talk about trust. Trust in yourself. Trust in your ability to learn. I’m currently reading a couple of books on growth mindsets. I feel it’s got a solid connection to what we do in our art room. We want our students to know that they can grow and they can learn. Things aren’t always going to come easily. They never will always come easily in life, but if they trust in themselves, in their ability to learn, then they will be able to grow.
Those are my three art room rules. Ones that I feel like, regardless of your setup, your situation, and your students these would work well in your room. They might be shown or displayed a little differently from room-to-room, but they will most definitely set a tone. A tone that we want our students to create and live and learn within. Thank you so much for letting me share my top three art room rules with you.
Tim: Hello, this is Tim Bogatz, the host of Art Ed Radio. Thank you for tuning back into the second episode of Everyday Art Room with Cassie Stephens. As we told you new episodes will be arriving every Thursday so make sure you subscribe iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you love the show, please submit a rating and a review on iTunes, because this helps other art teachers find the show.
Also, make sure you check out Everyday Art Room on the Art of Ed website under the podcasts tab. You’ll find the full transcript of this show links to Cassie’s blog, AOE articles, and resources that can help your teaching. It’s all of the artofed.com under the podcasts tab. You can also sign up to receive weekly emails whenever a new episode is released. Now, let’s get you back to Cassie, as she opens up the mailbag.
Cassie: Now it’s time to dip into the mailbag. All right, this first question ties in pretty well with what we’ve been chatting about. It says this, “Cassie, you talk a lot about your art room, but you don’t talk very much about kids misbehaving in your art room. Do you not have kids that misbehave? If so, how do you make that happen?” Oh friend, I could only dream of an art room where all the children were perfect angels sent from above, but let’s be honest, that’s not the case. Each and every art teacher struggles with students. It’s just how it is, but it’s all about how each and every art teacher handles that student that’s causing disruptions in the art room. Let’s talk about that.
First of all, the most important thing to do when you have a student who’s interrupting your art room is to not take it personally. Remove yourself from the situation. Pretend that you are rising above being a little fly on the wall watching the madness happen, because regardless of the behavior, it’s not you. There’s something else going on. Your job is to first of all, stay extremely calm despite the fact that your blood pressure might be rising.
The second thing you need to do is remove yourself from the situation and just know that this anger or misbehavior, even though it might look as though it’s directed at you, there’s something else going on here and it’s not you. Your next action is really important, because all eyes, not just the eye of the child misbehaving, all eyes are on you. Whatever you do, however you decide to handle that situation, it’s important that you do it with extreme calm. Usually what I’ll do is I’ll lower my voice, I’ll talk very calmly. I might ask the student to go take a break. I have a time out area.
These are things that we will definitely be covering in next week’s episode when we chat about consequences. We talked about rules, but we haven’t yet talked about what to do when students break those rules. Don’t you worry, we’re getting there next time. Remember, keep yourself calm. Know that this behavior, this misbehavior is not geared towards you that there’s something else going on. We all have issues with students like this and the key is knowing how to handle that situation, which, like I said, we will be chatting more about next week.
All right, one more question from the mailbag and this question is one that I get quite a bit, which I think is really funny. Here we go. “Cassie, how do you have time to do all of the things that you do? You seem to get a lot of stuff accomplished in a short amount of time.” Oh, man, I take that as a big old compliment and I also take that to mean that I have all y’all fooled. I will let you know, I am a big time waster of time. In fact, that’s what my second grade teacher Mrs. Cheek wrote on my report card, “Cassie Stephens needs to work on her time management skills.” That’s how I read that even though Mrs. Cheek was a lovely teacher and never spoke like that. She had a teepee in her room y’all. A teepee.
I will tell you this, but I do, and I probably don’t even need to tell you this, I do consume a lot of caffeine. I don’t really believe in keeping clean house. It’s an artsy house. It’s got stuff everywhere. I ain’t got time to clean. I also don’t have children, that frees up quite a bit of time and we don’t have cable or a functioning television. Don’t get me started, but with those three things, or without some of those three things, I am able to get some things accomplished.
I will also let you in on a little secret. When I’m doing something, like creating a needle felted piece or painting a picture or sewing an outfit. I’m not doing it for just that reason alone. I usually have several layers to that project. If I’m sewing a dress, let’s say that has a Russo style print on it, that’s because I’m going to be teaching my students about Russo. If I’m coming up with lessons on Vincent van Gogh, we’ll just throw him out there, then I’m probably also coming up with something that I can wear in my hair or an outfit that I can create or a painting I can make from my room that will help reinforce what I’m teaching.
When I put together my passions, like sewing or creating, together with something like what my students will be learning about, then I’m able to do, I guess you could say double duty. Although my students refer to that as something else, but I digress. I hope that helps to clarify, but let me just say, I don’t have a magical time machine and I am a hot mess. So, there you have it. If you guys have any old questions, you feel free to send them my way. You can send them to everdayartroom@artofed.com. Chat soon.
It’s been awesome chatting with you guys today about the top three rules, the only top three rules you’ll ever need for your setup, your situation, and your students. Remember, think of rules as being the tone. The tone that you want to set in your art room. Also, when coming up with those rules, remember there’s a difference between rules and routines. Rules are the big, broad, beautiful brushstrokes, kind of lay the foundation and set the tone for the masterpiece that’s your art room.
Routines, well those are those teeny tiny finer details and just how fine those details are, well that’s up to you and the tone you wish to set in your art room. My top three rules that I shared with you, A is for aim. Your students are aiming to be their best and to do the right thing. R, well that’s for respect. They first need to have a respect for themselves, before they can have a respect for their artwork, their classmates, the art room and the art supplies in the art room. Lastly, the T is for trust. Your students need to trust in themselves and their ability to learn. With those three rules in your art room you will set a wonderful tone for your students to not only flourish, but create. This has been Everyday Art Room and I’m Cassie Stephens.

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Thursday, August 10, 2017

Everyday Art Room, Episode 1


Hey, y'all! I'm THRILLED to share the launch of Everyday Art Room, a podcast partnership between me and The Art of Education! We began this pod-tastic adventure a while ago and have been working super hard to bring you some elementary art teacherin' talk. I cannot thank the team at AOE enough for their work on this project; they are truly dedicated to bringing the very best to art teachers everywhere. 

You can take a listen to the very first episode of Everyday Art Room now. I'd LOVE to hear what you think! If you have a comment, question or suggestion that you'd like to submit, please feel free to do so either here on this blog or here. New episodes will be coming your way every Thursday so if you'd like to stay up to date, drop us your email here. 

In the meantime, I've added the transcript from the show. This will help you in case you'd like to have a visual of those eight routines I cover. Don't take notes, just sit back, take a listen and know I got you covered. Enjoy and I'd love to hear what you think!

You know they say that wisdom comes with experience, but I’ve always been one to kind of test a good theory so let me share with you something that I did not too long ago that definitely showed that I am not wise beyond my art teachering years. It was the first day of Kindergarten. I got the great idea that on the very first day of art, with five year olds, we should paint. I know. You already know where this is going. Sadly, I didn’t own that crystal ball, so let me paint the picture for you. All of my students were starting to paint and it was going pretty well. Shockingly well. I should have taken that as a sign. All of a sudden, across the room, I hear one of my sweet students say, “Oh, oh. I got paint on me. I got paint on me.”
I can hear the panic tone in her voice. I went over as a good art teacher does, and I said the words that we all say, “It’s art class. It’s okay. You’re supposed to get a little bit messy.” I turned my back for just a second, and all of y’all know that’s all it takes especially with Kindergarten painting on the first day of school. In that moment I hear the entire class erupt in this sound, “Oh no.” When I turn around my sweet little friend is thrilled that she no longer has paint on her. She also is no longer wearing her top. That’s right. She’s topless.
Hopping up and down saying, “I’m clean. I’m clean now.” It’s before I can do or say anything else, I hear a tiny little voice from across the room that says, “I can see her niblets.” Ooh y’all. You would think wisdom of art teachering would have told me not to bust out those paints with Kindergarten on the first day of school, but you know what, that’s our reality. This is every day art room, and I’m Cassie Stephens.
Now what my nearly 20 years of art teachering should have told me is that on those first days, weeks, month of school, you need to really be working on establishing your art room routines, so today I thought I would share with you my eight art room routines for a super successful school year. These are my eight art room routines. This is what works best for me. I’m going to share those with you, but you need to keep an open mind and think about what works best for you. Think about it like this: I like to use the three s’s. Does this work best for my setup? Think about your classroom if you have one. Think about your cart if you’re using one. Think about the school or schools that you have to travel to. Is this best for my situation? My demographics, my school demographics. Is this the best thing for my students.
I’m going to share with you my eight art room routines. What I have found to work best for my set up, situation, and students. Keep an open mind, many of these might work for you but many of them might not. For that reason, you need to start by putting yourself in your students shoes. When I’m establishing my eight art room routines, I always do this every single year. I rework it, rethink it, and I put myself in my students shoes. The first thing, the first routine I establish with my students is how do I want my students to begin art? Think about it, do you go to your students classrooms? Do your students get dropped off by a classroom teacher? Do they walk themselves down independently as my students do? If that’s the case, how do you want them to approach art class? Because that is what’s going to set the tone for the rest of the art class.
My students know that because we’ve established a routine, and we’re going to reestablish it on that very first day and weeks of school, that I have a line of tape right outside my door. That line of tape is where they stand and wait to enter quietly. That’s routine number one. Think about how you want your students to approach art class. That will really set the tone. Thing number two is making an entrance. How do you want your students to enter your art room? Now I know that this seems really nit picky, but once again, this really sets the tone. Let me tell you why I’ve really had to think hard about how my students made an entrance. I used to hold the door open and my students would walk past me as they enter the art room. As they did it was like a barrage of questions. What are we doing today. I like your shoes. Did you get your haircut? Somethings different about you. By the time my students got into my art room and settled, I’d answered at least a dozen questions, and we already lost several minutes of art time.
Think about how you want them to walk in your room. Here’s what I do. Here’s what works for me. Before my students can even raise their hand or ask me what are we doing in art today, I greet them at the door with a, “Hello my most amazing artists.” They know to all respond, “Hello my most amazing art teacher.” Trust me that never gets old. I say to them, “How are you today,” and they say, “Ready to create.” This is our routine that we go through every single time. Not only does it set a really happy and excited tone, but it also gets the chit chat out of the way. They file in my room and then we can dive right in. Let’s talk about think number three.
When my students come into my room they do not go straight to desks or tables. Here’s why. I learned from experience that if my students go straight to tables and sit down, whatever is on that table becomes fair game and it becomes a battle of the stop quick notes. They always win. Trust me. I usually just end up losing my patience. For that reason, we have, some people call it circle time. I say, take a seat on the floor. I don’t have a fancy rug. I just have lines of tape on the floor. These lines of tape show my students exactly where to sit as far as creating nice straight rows. They know to go all the way down to the end of the row leaving no space in between you and your neighbors. That way we can all file in quickly and quietly to dive into circle time. In that time we talk about what we’re going to be learning, creating, doing in art class that day.
The next transition in routine, and this one is a real big one, the next routine is the gathering of supplies. Oh boy. I don’t think classroom teachers will ever understand just how much work we put into preparing, passing out, and getting students to gather up those supplies. Really establish that routine because it’s a big one. My students in my room, this is what works for my set up situation and students, my students know to go shopping at “a store”. I have a long cafeteria style table. I have it divided into sections by grade level with just a piece of tape right down the center of the table to establish that this is the first grader supply area, second, third and fourth. My students, once they’re given their “shopping supply list”, which is basically just me telling them what to pick up at the store, they know to go shopping at the store. Many supplies are already kept on the tables.
Things that we would need every day. Glue, pencils, scissors. That kind of thing, but the thing that’s specific to their art project, my students know their routing is to go collect those things at the store. Now, when my students go to their seats to start creating, I do have a seating chart. I believe firmly in a seating chart and here’s why. It’ll really help you number 1) learn your students names. One of the ways that I establish my seating chart is I think hard about my students. I’ve taught my students for many years and I know most of them very, very well. I know that if I pair my students up correctly that they are going to have a really successful art class. I use a lot of peer tutoring in my room, and it’s great to see kids who excel in some areas help their friends who might not, because then the roles are often switched. I have noticed that some of those kids who are great at weaving, might not be so great at drawing. They can offer help to those who need it.
It’s wonderful to see the kids working together. Not just sitting and hanging out with their buddies. That is why I always have a seating chart. Another great thing is is that if you want to offer an incentive to your students, offer a party or a celebration for good behavior, allowing days where they’re free to sit wherever they like with their friends, that’s a great thing too. Another routine is to establish where your students sit. Now it comes time for creating. Finally. It always seems like there’s just not enough time for that. If you’ve established your routines firmly, then your creating time is going to go so stinking well. You do need to talk to your students, as you guys know, about noise level. About movement within the art room. How much movement do you want them to have. Do they need to constantly get up and get supplies, or will you have somebody who’s in charge of gathering supplies for them.
Not only that, but how are your students going to ask for your help. I have a rule that my students are not allowed to get out of their seat, come up to me with big old painted hands, and tap me on my arm. That’s like my number one routine. We don’t need to be touching the Miss Stephens. My students know they stay in their seat and they raise their hand. These are some things that you might think gosh my students should already know that. Remember, these are routines that you need to establish. Assume that they don’t know these things. The most important routine is clean up. Whoo that can make or break an art class experience. Think about how you want to signal to your students that it’s clean up time. How do you want them to go about cleaning up. Will there be certain people who have certain clean up jobs. Will they each be responsible for cleaning up their own individual area.
These are routines that you need to establish so that clean up time does not become mass chaos. Finally, our last routine to establish is how you want to close your art class. How do you want to end an art experience with your students. For me this is just as important as starting your art class. Remember that really positive and uplifting greeting I gave my students at the beginning of class, I want them to leave with that really great and happy feeling. We do this in a couple of ways just depending on time. One closing activity that we do is a game called the smartest artist. In this game I review simple things that my students have learned. How to mix the color green, what are supplies did we use today, and with that I can establish where my students are as far as what they’ve learned during that particular art class.
It’s the smartest artist. It’s a super fun game, but if we’ve run out of time, one simple thing I like to leave my students with is this: I’ve shown my students how to sign I love you. As they’re leaving my room, that’s what we do. I love my students. I love creating with them, and I want them to leave my room with that warm, fuzzy feeling. Those are my eight routines. That is a lot to go through during your first days and weeks of art class. Don’t expect them to get these eight routines right away. It’s going to take a lot of rehearsing and reviewing, and going over it, over it, over them again until one day, magically it’s working. You might be thinking, how am I going to establish all of these routines in a matter of a few art classes.
You can go about this a couple of ways. One of my favorite ways to share with my students my expectations and my routines is to do it in video form. Think about a clever way where you can create a video that your students can watch that’ll show them just how to gather up supplies, or how to walk in the art room. An idea that I did last year, was I brought in my specials team to act those things out with me. My students absolutely loved seeing their other teachers cut up just as much as their art teacher in this video and they really learned a lot. Even having the students stand up and act out different routines or situations will really help them to understand what you’re expecting from them. If only I had really thought that through on that very first day of Kindergarten with painting, topless. But I digress.
Thanks guys for letting me share with you my eight art room routines for a super successful school year.
Tim Bogatz: Hello this is Tim Bogatz, host of Art Ed Radio. We hope you’re enjoying the debut episode of everyday art room with Cassie Stephens. New episodes will be arriving every Thursday, so make sure you subscribe to this podcast in iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. If you would like to contact Cassie or submit a question for the mailbag, you can email your comments and questions to everydayartroom@theartofed.com. Finally, The Art of Ed is focusing on back to school week. All of next week and throughout the month of August, check out the site for podcasts, videos, articles, resources and so much more that will help you start your year off as strong as possible. You can find it all at theartofed.com. Now, let’s get you back to Cassie as she opens up the mailbag.
Cassie Stephens: Now it’s time to dip into the mailbag. My first question is: Do your students wear aprons? Well that would’ve come in pretty handy with Kindergarten and painting. If so, what kind? Once again, you got to think about your set up, your situation, and your students. Thinking about those things, I have tried every single apron with my students under the sun. We’ve tried t shirts, and button down shirts, we’ve done the plastic pull em over your head aprons, the ones that go all the way down to your wrists that make the kids all hot and sweaty. What we are currently using, I think we’re going to stick with, are canvas kid sized aprons. It’s funny. I actually bought these on accident thinking they were full size aprons that I was going to tie dye for a workshop, but when I got them and noticed that they were miniature sized, I decided to take them to school.
The kids really love these aprons because they look like little miniature bonafide artists when wearing them. I keep my aprons on hooks over in our painting area. My students who are in kindergarten through second grade, they don’t have an option of whether or not they can or cannot wear an apron. It’s mandatory if we’re getting messy. My older students, it’s paint at your own risk. You can wear one if you like, but you’re old enough to make that choice. When my students put their aprons on, they simply pull them over their head, bring the strings that are in the back around to their front by their belly button and tie. If they don’t know how to tie, they just phone a friend. They really love wearing these aprons, and it has really made it so a lot of wardrobes are saved. It also helps if you use paint that is water soluble so as not to damage your students clothing.
My next question is kind of along the same line. It’s this: How do your clothes not get messy. You are always dressed up to teach art. Friend, if you could see me close up you would notice that my clothes are absolutely covered in a rainbow of paint, and clay, and glue, and some other mysterious items that I can’t quite identify. One way that I keep my clothing from getting too messy is I wear an apron most of the time as well. I also purchase the grand bulk of my clothing from thrift stores. This makes it so if I do damage my clothes in some way, it isn’t a financial strain. I can simply renovate that clothing, up cycle it somehow, or give it back to the thrift store. Here you are, a masterpiece splatted in paint. Enjoy. That’s one way that I manage to salvage my wardrobe.
It has been so much fun talking with you guys today about the eight art room routines for a super successful school year. Remember, when you’re thinking through your eight art room routines, consider the three S’s. What works best for your set up, your situation, and your students. With that in mind, plan through your eight art room routines. Number one, how do you want your students to have art. Will they be coming to you, will you be going to them? How is it going to look. Number two, how will your students make an entrance. Will you greet them, will they greet you, what’s the plan here? Number three, do your students, when they walk in, will they be sitting on the floor, and if so what will that look like? Will they be going to their seats.
Number four, how will your students gather their supplies? Will a table captain do it, will they do it independently? Next up, number five, seating. Will your students have specific places to sit or will they get to choose where they want to sit? Number six, what is your creativity time going to look like and if your students need help, how are they going to ask you or appear? Number seven, clean up. That’s the one routine we really need to establish so make sure you think that one through, and also that’s the one you’re going to have to review over and again with your kids. The last one is closing. How do you want to end your art class?
Thank you so much for joining me today. I’ve had the best time chatting with you. This is Everyday Art Room. I’m Cassie Stephens.
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