Evernote

My “must have” cloud application is Evernote.  I keep a running list of supplies needed, track students who need to complete artwork, and use images to organize and plan for future lessons.  The video below shows how I have used the Evernote desktop application to sort out and sync all the details of my teaching life.

iCal and Google Calendar

Since I have hundreds of students and lots of classes to track, keeping a planning calendar is essential to my sanity.   Instead of using one calendar, I create a separate calendar for each grade level as well as one for school events that can be viewed individually or all together.  Like Evernote, a “cloud” calendar travels wherever you are, viewable from any computer or mobile device.

Here is an example of my iCal calendar.

Another great option is Google Calendar.  Here is an example:

While I don’t exactly teach painting or ceramics in “The Cloud”, my schedules, lesson plans, and “to do” lists certainly do live online.  As a result, I am a more organized and thorough teacher ready to get my hands dirty with art supplies.

How do you use the cloud? What works best for you?

Get Your Room in Order

Get those paper towels in the right place!  Motivation at its best from Katie Moris at Adventures of an Art Teacher.

Short on counter space?  Then maximize your wall space with these home-made magnetic containers.  This would be great for art teachers on a cart too! Image source: Laissezfaire blog.

De-clutter your desk and get your paperwork in order.  I love how this is labeled. Check out the makeover from the Venspired blog.

Every good art room needs a broom and dust pan – especially one that  is named “Dusty”!  This great idea comes from Theresa Gillespie at Splats, Scraps and Glue Blobs.

If you teach elementary, kids are always making pictures for you.  But what do you do with them all?  By adding them to a clipboard, you can display the most recent and still be able to look through pictures from the past. Idea from Clean & Scentsible blog.

Create a Classroom that Works

Just a subtle hint for your students (and their teachers) from Mrs. Hansen’s Art Room.

Bring peaceful thoughts to your classroom as students enter or leave.  Image source Jankwilson on Flickr.

“I need help” flip charts.  Easy to make yourself or you can buy them here.

This video explains how to get a handle on the noise level in your classroom using plastic cups.

Sometimes you just need to say it plain and simple – keep order in your class by hanging a Peacemakers and Peacebreaker chart.  This great idea came from Mrs. Lee’s Kindergarten class (though this would certainly apply at all age levels)

Teach with Visuals

I love this word wall Art With Mr. E created for his classroom using index cards with magnets on the back.

Help your students understand what careful artwork looks like with this craftsmanship rubric from art teacher Kathleen O’Malley at her blog, Art Moments.

Make the Most of Your Minutes

From a blog that brings organization to a whole new level, Jessica Balsey at The Art of Education shares how she has art questions ready when there are a few extra minutes left in class.

Looking for more ideas and visuals? Check out our classroom management section.

1. QR Codes.  These black and white pixelated squares can be found on TV, in magazines, and now in classrooms.  Using a mobile device with a camera such as a smart phone, iTouch, iPad or free software downloaded on a computer, a QR code can be quickly created to link directly to text, images, or web addresses.  Try it yourself by scanning QR code below:

Don’t have a QR reader? Type getscanlife.com into your Internet browser on your mobile device to download a free QR reader.  Now imagine using this in your classroom by linking to online resources, creating a scavenger hunt, providing the answers to quiz questions, or extending art room learning by sending students home with QR code resources. Read my article on QR codes for additional resources and ideas on how to use them in your classroom.

2. Create a Photo Peach Quiz.  Photo Peach is a super easy way to create an interactive quiz game using images.  Learn how to create your own quiz here.

3. Animoto.  Want to look like a master movie-maker? Simply upload images or video clips, select music, and click to create an amazing movie.  Just by registering for an educator account you get access to full-length movies without paying a dime.  (If you’re looking for a good alternative, Flixtime has some very similar features with a good selection of music).

4. Blabberize. What isn’t funny about an artificial talking mouth?  Start with any portrait, define the mouth area, and talk.  The mouth will follow your voice. Use Blabberize to present information about an artist, convey classroom rules, or give studio instruction.  While this may not change your teaching world, incorporating Blabberize into your lessons can certainly enhance instruction and get the students to take notice.  Check out this brief example: (Can’t see this video? Click here).

Tip: Use a screen-cast tool such as Jing or Screencast-o-matic to record your Blabberize and save on your computer.

5. Twitter. If you want to take charge of your own learning, Twitter is the way to do it.  Every resource I reference in this post I have learned because of Twitter.  It is all about following the right people.  See my list of art educators on twitter to get you started and develop your own PLN (Personal Learning Network).

6. Wallwisher.  Want to have a class critique and involve all your students?  Wallwisher lets you quickly set up a virtual “wall” so that anyone with the URL address can add a comment and interact.  One of my favorite features is the ability to moderate comments, ensuring all posts are appropriate.  Learn more about Wallwisher in this article and see how to embed a image in a wallwisher wall here.

7. Delicious is an online bookmarking tool I have been using for several years and blogged about it here.  Since your bookmarks are accessible online, you can access them from any computer.  Using multiple “tags” makes finding your bookmarks easy.  Thankfully you can import your existing bookmarks into Delicious, so you won’t lose your previously bookmarked sites.  (A similar, just as awesome, bookmarking alternative to try is Diigo)

8. Pinterest might just be the ultimate bookmarking tool for art teachers.  Instead of bookmarking using text, images are used instead.  The best way to describe Pinterest is with this video walkthrough:

Read more about Pinterest in my Tech4Arted column and join the collaboration starting with the iPhone/iPad Apps for Art teachers board.

9. Livebinder  I first wrote about Livebinder as a way to organize digitally here. Livebinder is an electronic binder used to collect web resources or your own files in one organized spot.  Here are a few examples of binders I have created for students and for my own professional reference.

10. Google Maps. I am a huge fan of Google Maps to help students connect art to our world. My favorite trick is to embed images into the placemarks on the map.  Watch video on how to embed an image into Google Maps.  Here is my example on using Google Maps to teach about Georgia O’Keeffe:

View Georgia O’Keeffe Life Tour in a larger map

Do you have a web 2.0 tool you can’t live without? Share it be leaving a comment below.  Also, check out additional resources in my Web 2.0 Tools Livebinder:

Click here to download Mac keyboard short cuts poster.

 

Share your tech tips for making technology in the classroom a little easier

to organize in the comments section below.

My classroom expectation system has evolved in connection with our school-wide PBIS framework.  As the Ball’s Bluff Tiger we ROAR = Respect, On task, and Always Responsible.  So what does that look like in my art room?  Here are my expectations communicated visually:

Respect – A hand in the Air will keep art fair.  – We all have important ideas and questions, the only way to let everyone share in the knowledge is to be fair and respectful to everyone in the class. Download PDF

Respect – Success comes to those who try, failure comes to those who “can’t” – I despise the “I can’t” phrase!  I discuss with my students how they are all learning (even me) and  what  happens when we say “I can’t”. What if one day I said “I can’t” teach you”?  What would they learn?  So I set the expectation – no “I can’t”; we always try our best. Download PDF

On Task – Busy pencils mean Artists at work.  I don’t mind if students are talking. I encourage the sharing that comes in an art class.  I do discuss that while they are in class the artwork needs to be worked on—so they can talk as long as their pencils are moving. This way the discussions tend to stay on the art and they develop the correct work habits. Download PDF

On Task – Show creativity.  What would the world be like if all art were the same?  What would the class be like if all the student art looked exactly like mine?  The goal is to develop their ideas through the lessons and skills we experience together. Download PDF

Always Responsible – Van Gogh knows.  Use your ears.  Listen and learn.  Then you hear the directions and the questions of others and have the most time for YOUR art! Download PDF

Always Responsible – Safety First.  No running with scissors!  And this connects to so many things – ultimately – making good choices. Download PDF

My class learns like the Mona Lisa.  It is great to talk about Mona and use her memorable pose as a model for daVinci.  The mystery behind her intrigues the kids so much and we can learn a lot from her for art class too!  We discuss how her eyes follow you (just like their eyes should follow the speaker), her mouth is a quiet mysterious smile (because what teacher wants to look out at frowns?), and how her hands are still (hold them still just until you can dive into your artwork)!  When I need the student’s attention I say “MONA” and they reply with “LISA” and the students immediately stop what they are doing to make their best Mona-pose.  I “look for my Mona Lisa’s” as they come in to class, etc.  And it hits home – I’ve had students count the Mona’s in my class (I apparently have over 35). One student said, “Thanks, a lot of eyes watching me!”  I think he got it! Download PDF

There are so many others, I welcome you to take a look at my other management visuals and share your own.  These work for me!

Image Source: Silverfuture on Flickr

Since I started teaching, I’ve always wanted one of those “take a number” systems you see at the deli.   I’d use it to form a line for asking questions, getting supplies, or more recently, taking turns at the interactive whiteboard. Each of these activities have threatened my sense of order and organization and would benefit from students taking a number.

This year, I decided to tackle this challenge with a similar take-a-number solution, and came up with “Magic Numbers” to help organize our interactive whiteboard time.  Magic Numbers is a low-tech visual system that lets the students keep track of whose turn is next.

Here’s how it works in my classroom: On days when we use the interactive whiteboard, I distribute cards with numbers written on them. Or I’ll simply ask students to take the numbered cards from their corresponding numbered pockets, which are secured to a “Magic Numbers” poster board, and sit back at their seats to work on their artwork.

Magic Number System

To begin the interactive whiteboard activity, the student holding No. 1 approaches the board, puts his/her card in the No. 1 pocket and proceeds to the interactive whiteboard activity. The student holding No. 2 sees the visual cue that s/he is next. To keep things moving smoothly, I have two students stand-up at the board — one student is working with the interactive whiteboard while the other student is “on deck”. This helps facilitate quick transitions onto the interactive whiteboard and minimize wasted time.

To make your own Magic Number system here are the supplies you need:

1. Cardboard or matte board (to which you attach the pockets)
2. Library book pockets (pockets can also be found at local teacher supply stores)
3. Clear packaging tape to secure pockets to board.
4. Two sets of laminated magic numbers (one to be attached to the library pocket and the other set attached to a card that can slide in and out of the pocket)

Can’t see video above? Click here.

Image source: Flickr by Brit

Kindergarten is my toughest class. Some teachers are “naturals” at teaching Kindergarten, but not me. The first time I taught Kindergarten was in my first class of my first teaching job. As it turned out, it was one of “those” classes that come around once or twice in a career. Lucky me.

Here are a few highlights during my first month teaching Kindergarten. . .

• A couple boys thought that they were “puppies” and decided that crawling under the tables and barking would be a good idea just at the very moment the principal walked in the room.
• The “potty train” to the bathroom was getting out of hand until the one day I said – “No more- no one else can go until after class”. Then a child promptly peed right on the floor.
• Another day, I was handed a lovely lock of hair (draw your own conclusions on what happened).

And those are just a FEW of the highlights!

I did survive get through Kindergarten that year, but it has taken several more years to really feel like I can manage a class effectively.  Below I have listed a few suggestions that work for me.

Lesson Ideas. It is hard to teach art without the lesson ideas. Here are a few successful art lessons I have used with my Kindergarten students, along with a list of art ideas from other teachers.

Classroom Management. This will make or break you. I love the post written by Jessica Balsley “Teachers, Forget Your Lesson Plans“. She discusses how important the classroom management details are to implementing a successful art curriculum. The following is a list of strategies I wish I had during my first year teaching Kindergarten.

Preparation

• Create a supply table or counter-top.  Pour the paint, set out the paper, organize materials. Make sure you have enough of everything so that you’re not running around during class trying to replenish supplies.
• Label front of smock with child’s name. Have them wear it to every class until you know their names.
• Don’t bother with seating charts. They forget where they sit.  If you are continuing a project from one class to the next, strategically place artwork from the previous class around the room with name side showing so that you can separate students appropriately. However, sometimes it is necessary provide “learning locations” (aka assigned seats) for few children – just write it down so you’ll remember from class to class.
• Only put on their table the supplies they will need at that very moment – everything else is just candy and causes more problems than it is worth.

Instructional Management

• Smile. You can be a kind, nurturing teacher and still have students meet your expectations.
• Check out the whole brain teaching strategy described in a great guest post by art teacher Katie Jarvis.
• Name on paper. Always make this the first direction before anything else. Check to see that it was actually done (because not all Kindergarteners are capable or even want to write their name) Then move on.
• Get students attention quickly. Try these attention grabbing strategies in art.
• Find things that make kids laugh, it can grab their attention, but don’t be TOO funny (there is a backfire point for everything).
• Before you give any instruction or demonstration, wait until all eyes are on you, bodies are sitting up, nothing is in hands, and all voices are off. Don’t say a word, just wait. It might be 1, 2, or even 4 minutes. It will kill you to wait the first time.  If necessary, give hints to kids quietly that you “wish you could start but you’ll just have to wait”. Wait until everyone is looking, with mouths closed for a full 8 seconds. Wait as long as it takes – it might take months to see real progress, but it WILL happen if you remain consistent!
• Eliminate distractions. If you have the space, pull all the kids together for demonstration or discussion.
• Pace your lessons. Show only a couple of steps and let them try it. Gather the class together again, and show a few more steps. This will not only help all your students feel successful but it also slows down the rushers and buys a bit more time for the slower workers.
• Don’t let a demo or discussion last longer than 10 minutes.  Even if they’re sitting quietly, chances are you’ve lost them.
• SLOW DOWN. Yes, I know sometimes it is impossible – a clay project that has to get finished or one last step in a painting process (occurrences that only art teachers can fully understand). But the beginning of Kindergarten, make sure you build in extra time or alternate your “messy” lessons on one day to “not-so messy” on another. Use those classes that don’t HAVE TO have artwork completed to teach classroom procedures.
• Don’t get mad if students are not following your procedures. Just practice the proper behavior until they get it right.  Complement the children when you see them doing the right thing and let their homeroom teacher know when they do a good job.
• If students are still not following your procedures, walk students back to the outside of their regular classroom and start class over. They hate it. Waste their time now, then you will get more time back later.
• Teach them the “need to know” rule otherwise known as the Tattletale Trauma.
• Potty trains. Rule: One person to the bathroom at a time. No one is allowed to go to bathroom while you are giving instruction. (yes, once in a while if a kid is giving you “the look” and holding himself, that would be a good time to make an exception)
• Transition activities. I have several different puzzles set aside for students to work on as students finish their artwork.  Train them on your expectations for sharing, quiet play, and clean up.  Students who have trouble with these expectations should lose the privilege during that class.
• Absent kids.  If you’re working on a project over two or more class periods, and a child is absent on the first day, grab a piece of paper that the children are creating art on and add the absent student’s name.  The next week, you will see if anyone was absent or not by the blank piece of paper left from the week before.  Group absent kids together to give instructions for catching up at the same time.

Clean up

• Don’t expect your students to remember a list of clean up procedures.  Give them a visual – create your own clean-up map.
• Brushes.  Train the students to drop brushes in the sink or in a soak cup.  As much as you may want to teach them how to clean their own brushes, with limited sink space, it needs to be used for hand cleaning, not brushes.
• If you use sponges, squeeze them out for the students and only give them to children who are sitting at their seat.  The table signals that they are finished by stacking all the sponges.  Peers pressure each other to follow the procedure and it gets the sponges out of the hands of “enthusiastic” cleaners.
• If the room is still a mess, ask the children to each pick up 10 (or 20) scraps off the floor.
• When it is time to line up, send only a few at a time.  You could choose to have students who sit the quietest, clean up most efficiently, or who are most helpful to one another.
• Have students SIT in line. It is harder to bump into someone when they are in one stationary spot.

How do you manage your Kindergarten classes?

Independent Activities for Early Finishers:

At the drawing center: sketching, making a comic, drawing from observation. Grade two

The following is a guest post written by Kathy Douglas. She is a retired art teacher from East Bridgewater, MA public schools, Massachusetts College of Art and Stonehill College. You can also follow Kathy on Twitter.

Budget cuts are everywhere these days and schools have to tighten their belts. Many art teachers report that this has had a big impact on their teaching conditions, with shrinking supply budgets and expanding class sizes.  In some schools teachers now have classes that are doubled up, but with shortened class time.  Under these difficult conditions it is a challenge to offer a quality art program and we are expected to do more with less.
All art teachers offer their students a time structure, space to work, materials, and inspirational instruction.  As a young teacher in the early 1970s I was motivated to do this, but had class sizes up to 33, some half hour classes, a small art room and a smaller supply budget.

Eight-year-old painters set up their own materials using menus in the paint center.

Through trial and error I discovered that not everyone had to do the same thing at the same time.  I began the year with whole group demos of entry level “dry” media (drawing, collage, simple cardboard construction) one each class period, adding something new each week but keeping the previous options open.  I was pleased to note that children sorted themselves out among the choices and worked much harder when they had a choice.

When it was time to introduce paint, I found to my delight that I could limit painters to 8 at a time, while the other students continued independent work. Set up and clean up (which I taught the students to do instead of me!) was a breeze.  I was also able to offer a large variety of paintbrushes and high quality paper, as I needed only a few of each type.  This benefit extended throughout the year, as I could make a dozen weaving looms useful in several classes for instance.

Grade three: independent work with silk screen using finger paint.

As the years passed and I became more experienced, we were able to add elaborate and/or expensive materials and techniques to our course of study. For example, because I could work with a few interested students at a time, I could introduce the complicated silk screen process to eight students, who subsequently became printmaking coaches for other students. With only eight screens and a very small sink, I never would have attempted this technique with an entire large class!  We could afford small amounts of lovely 24″ by 36″ 90-lb paper and better quality brushes for students who were committed painters. In a typical grade three class you might see a group of six students using the silk screens, four or five children working on plaster gauze masks, several at the drawing table (one or two using pen and India ink in spill proof containers) and always, several children at the construction center building with found objects such as cardboard, plastic caps, small boxes, etc.

Grade one students sort “found objects” they have collected from home.

Why Choice-Based art curriculum’s work:
1. Students had more time to work as they set up and put away materials as needed.
2. I did not have to have enough of any one material for everyone.
3. Students helped stock the studio with their material finds and the search for these materials extended their interest in the art class.
4. I was able to work closely with small groups of interested students trying new techniques or materials.
5. Because students in large groups could spread out or work standing up, the space in my small room was used more efficiently.
6. The opportunity to move around in the room, or to find a quiet corner, helped the students cope with the large numbers.
Over time I realized that my adjustments for large groups had actually improved art learning for my students, as they took on more responsibility and became engaged in work that was important to them.  I taught this way for nearly 35 years and every day the children and I learned from each other.  Small class sizes and huge budgets are wonderful, but we don’t have to wait for that bounty to make it work for our students.

For more information on choice-based art education:
Teachers College Press has published Engaging Learners Through Artmaking: Choice-Based Art Education in the Classroom, co-written with Diane Jaquith.
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