Start the year with Habit 3

As teachers we all start the year with Habit 3, to put first things first. The first week of school is filled with rules and procedures for starting the year on the right track, and in the art room there's no exception. As a third year teacher, I've improved upon clearly defining the rules in the beginning of the year, and reinforcing those same rules throughout the year. It's not that I didn't know to do that in my first year, but with experience you learn from your mistakes and see first hand how discipline and classroom management can go awry if you don't stay on top of it. I think often about something Kathy says when talking about procedures in the classroom... "What does that look like?" is the phrase that comes to mind. Yes, what DOES that LOOK like to the student? So my first week of school now shows them exactly what my procedures look like. We practice the clean-up routine with a model table actually getting out of their seats, pretending to put away wet paintings in the drying rack, going back to the tables to gather wet brushes, paint trays and water buckets and placing them on the carts. Next, my model students show everyone the proper way and time allocated for washing hands and going back to their seats where an art leader is allowed to clean their own table with a wet sponge. And last, the model table shows everyone how to line-up at the door for dismissal. The model students act like performers and the student audience loves this style of learning. We clap and thank the model students at the end of their presentation and allow for questions at the end of the class. The students really benefit from seeing exactly how art procedures work in the classroom, and I benefit too from all my students understanding the rules, so I can enforce them fairly all year long.