Art Room Goals

Every student has an art goal in class each week. As the students enter my room, I get them seated and settled down so I can proceed to introduce or review a lesson. I first demonstrate what I want the students to do, and I ask for a volunteer to read the art goals that are posted on the white board while still at the demonstration table. A student will read the goals that repeat what I just finished showing them by demonstration. I explain that their goal is what I want them to complete today in class, and if they are working and not fooling around, they should be able to complete their goal for the day. Questions, if any are answered and the students go back to their seats to get to work. I estimate that half the class can work independently, and the other half can't seem to do the task on their own without my help. Is it because they aren't paying attention while I'm talking, or do they have trouble with multiple step tasks? Generally I think it's the later, and for this reason alone it's so important to post the goals on the board for all to see. If they get confused, the steps are clearly stated on the board for the student to read at any time. It's also a good idea to post the goals for the anxious student who walks in the door and asks "what are we doing today?" as they pass by me to enter the room. All I have to say is "read the board" for the student who can't wait any longer. Posting the goals helps me as a teacher to stay focused and organized especially since I travel from one location to another everyday.

Why Did I Become a Teacher

Kathy mentioned that we should review our personal mission statements and ask ourselves "Why did we become teachers?" For me that's an easy question to answer since I became a teacher later in life. I simply needed to continue to follow my passion for art and design and take it to another level, which for me was sharing my abilities with K-12 students. When my own kids were young I volunteered weekly at their elementary school, Southtowns Catholic School. The principal at the time was Jerry Baldelli, and at a PTA meeting, he asked us parents to write down an anonymous wish for the school and place it in a box. I wrote that I wished the school could have a mural or some type of art that represented our lively and energetic student body. All the hallways in the school were painted beige, and there was very little color to be found in the building. The school looked like an old hospital to me and I hated it. To make a long story short, my anonymous note became my own six month project involving two hundered students painting full length, self-portraits on primary colored walls. After that experience I re-evaluated my professional life and realized that I spent most of my time designing print materials that talked people into buying products, eating in specific restaurants or visiting local attractions. I needed more, and wanted to channel my abilities into something more meaningful. So I made the decision to work towards my art certification once both my children reached Middle School age. By the way, I started my college education at Buffalo State in 1978 as an Art Education major and changed it to Design in my senior year. Funny how life turns out, I have truly come full circle with no regrets and know in my heart that my art teaching career was meant to be.

Synergize, Synergize!

My art room has certain routines that when followed, make the class run like clockwork. For instance in the beginning of class I call one art leader from each table to pass out artwork and certain supplies. While they're doing that, I'm usually handing out paint, water or paper mache glue. It makes my job easier and faster to have these students help in the beginning of class. But at the end of class I call on ALL students to synergize to help clean up the artroom. Before a student can wash up from class, they first need to put away their artwork, and then go back to the table to collect their supplies and take it to the cart. It's hard to believe at this point in the year that I still have to remind some students that they need to take care of their supplies before washing their hands. At clean-up time, I'm constantly saying take care of your artwork first, then go to back to your table and get your dirty brush and paint palette and return it to the cart, then you may wash your hands. When we paint in art class we need about ten minutes of clean-up time for eveyone to take care of their art, put away supplies and wash their hands. Students are supposed to synergize at the end of class to clean up their own tables. Most students do, but I constantly have some students look at me like its their first day of school, totally puzzeled as to where everything belongs once they're finished with it. I sometimes wonder if they do anything to help clean up at home. If not, they don't have any concept of helping to clean up at school. So one day I started clapping my hands, singing "Synergize, synergize thats the way, to clean the art room everyday". I repeated the tune over and over again and it seemed to get the kids motivated to synergize and help clean up. When we all work together we get the job done faster and more efficiently.