Management can create an environment that can cultivate safety, exploration, and opportunity while giving teachers organization and structure. Although it seems like organization and structure only matter to the facilitator, I have learned that management benefit students more than we think. Whether it begins with routine, or the simple listening skills, students learn to focus and engage while making art. Art can look chaotic, unorganized, and messy, but if an art teacher can help guide messy exploration, it is very successful. My personal experiences with art have shaped who I am today, how I visually read and communicate, and how I view the world around me. Art builds many life skills such as problem solving, creativity, collaboration, etc.
Here are a few points that help support the importance of art:
The art classroom can be a place where students can get messy, experiment, make discoveries and take care of the space that surrounds them.
Structure can allow students to safely learn new content, acknowledge their capabilities, and engage in a growth mindset.
Especially, Elementary and Middle School students benefit from routine and management because they are developing more responsibility.
Specifically, in art, classroom management is crucial for students to learn and facilitators to recognize how to structure class time and how to deal with discipline. From observing many art classrooms, I have experienced that art can be a class where students can calm down. Most students who need help will begin class irritated or upset, but immediately become engaged during the art making process.
How can we make learning meaningful?
The role of a teacher is not to spit information at the class in a lecture form. A teacher’s role becomes much deeper when recognized as the facilitator of understanding.
Teachers design lessons that are important, relevant to the students, and includes content that students can transfer to many aspects of their life.
Learning becomes meaningful when students are given the opportunity to see the independence and capabilities of their own thinking. Teachers can bring many strategies into class time to help give students more of those opportunities.
What does choice in art relate to Classroom Management?
Choice is important for every art teacher to include in their lesson plans. If teachers spend all year doing teacher led projects, what are students learning? Choice can motivate, push growth, and cultivate ideation.
Teaching students HOW to have choice is the key element to introduce at the beginning of the year. We can teach students to brainstorm, branch off to new ideas, and ask big questions.
How does motivation and ideation connect?
Elements that engage the learner and address management
Personal connection
New materials, new projects
Design a time for ideation and planning
For every project, even with exploration/experimentation.
What is the importance of IEP/ALP/RTI in the classroom
Know your students – the most important rule.
Create projects to be universal for each student.
Classroom layout can affect all students, especially students with special accommodation or needs.
Classroom structure can help keep students organized and benefit students who thrive in routine.
Safety – when students feel safe, they are able to focus on their learning.
What is the difference between differentiation and accommodation?
Differentiation is to create and provide multiple ways to meet learning targets.
Accommodations is providing alternative ways for an individual student.
How does the art educator address access (considerations for resources or process) and expression (considerations for product or performance)?
Considerations for resources or process
A teacher provides resources such as materials, tools, ideation, and group discussion. In class, the teacher can provide a teacher example, walk through process, scaffolding, and one on one assistance.
Considerations for product and performance
An educator can address the product and performance in the lens of the result of instruction. Assessment can be brought in to collect results to help move students forward.
What is the relationship of art studio design to management issues?
The space that we live and work in affects how we act, feel, and focus. Art Classroom design can help move traffic, space out chaotic art processes and give collaborate opportunities to every student.
Management issues can be addressed during studio time easily and if not, there can be a space in the classroom where students can moved until a time has presented itself.
What is the relationship between safety and management?
Students need to learn that it is not a free for all with all materials. It is a privilege to receive all materials to work with. If students gain the discipline and responsibility, the level of safety can dramatically shift.
Again, the classroom structure can possibly be the only structure in a student’s life.
Structure = safety
How can community, communication with all constituents, parent partnerships be created?
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