Museum Manners

Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Neat Video, Organization and Preparation

Art museum visits and art history discussions can be great learning opportunities for students.  However, it just takes a few negative student attitudes to change the experience for the entire class. The following Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) video addresses many art conversations and museum etiquette issues in an entertaining format directed at tweens and teens.

Can’t view YouTube video above? See it at the AIC website.

Possible Discussion Questions:
1. What did you learn about visiting a museum that you didn’t know before?
2. Why might each artwork have different meanings to different people?
3. What type of art do you like best? Why?

Magic Pocket Name

Posted on 28. Feb, 2009 by in All Posts, Challenging Students, Clssrm Mgmt, Off-task Behavior, Positive Reinforcement

magicpocketThere are all kinds of behavior incentive systems. Not all are practical for the art room where you literally have hundreds of students passing through your room each week. With the high number of students and the limited amount of contact time, what can effectively track behavior, motivate a class and target a specific undesirable behavior? Well, you might want to try the “Magic Pocket Name,” a simple but effective incentive program that I picked up from my colleagues. It can work in concert with other behavior systems you might already have in place.

It works by focusing on a specific undesirable class behavior such as talking without raising their hand, putting their own supplies away without being prompted or keeping hands and feet to themselves in line. For my classes it was paying attention and not talking any time I gave directions. My goal was to get students to focus their attention faster so that the class could receive directions and start working as quickly as possible.

Here’s the rules as you can explain to the class:

  1. Tell the students that you’ve picked one student and written his/her name on a piece of paper or a customized ticket, which has become the “Magic Pocket Name”.
  2. Put that ticket in your pocket and explain to the class that every student will eventually be the Magic Pocket Name.
  3. At future classes, remind the students that you have a new Magic Pocket Name – perhaps let them see that you’ve written it and are putting it in your pocket.
  4. **IMPORTANT: Never announce the name. Since no one knows if they are the “Magic Pocket Name” they all stay super quiet.
  5. Throughout the class, secretly watch that specific student to determine whether they were paying attention, following directions, etc. (or whatever behavior you wish).
  6. If the Magic Pocket Name student demonstrated good behavior, announce their name in line at the end of class.  I’ve found that the rest of the class will show support and applaud the winning student.  It’s really cute.
  7. Tell the students that that student’s ticket will go into a weekly drawing to win a prize from the prize box, or something similar.  Each class should have their own prize drawing with multiple winners.
  8. If the Magic Pocket Name student was not cooperating or demonstrating the key behavior you desired, simply announce to the class that there is no Magic Pocket Name winner today.

**Now, this is important, you never say the name of a student who “lost” the Magic Pocket Name. First, it could potentially have negative consequences by embarassing the student. Second, by keeping the name unknown, they all reflect on their own behavior. It makes them think about their own actions during class. It also helps you rotate your attention through out the class for monitoring student behavior and gives you another piece of data for assesing student behavior. I simply make a note in my grade book to keep track of the Magic Pocket Names. On the other hand, when a student “wins” the Magic Pocket Name, it reinforces their positive actions and develops class comraderie through encouragement as they often remind one another to be on their best behavior.  It’s a simple system that you can use on a regular basis or selectivley with challenging classes.

Positive Reinforcement

Posted on 16. Oct, 2008 by in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Positive Reinforcement

Create an elementary art environment that praises and encourages desirable student behaviors. Learn how to reward good behavior in a meaningful way that helps develop intrinsic motivation. Check out our “Positive Reinforcement” tip sheet that gives creative ideas that can be adapted for any classroom.

  • Some examples of positive reinforcement from our tip sheet includes:
  • Create a slip of paper with a fun website of the week. Distribute it to students caught doing the right thing.
  • Xerox fun “how to draw” pages. Give out to hard working students.
  • Create a compliment slip for children to fill out about other children (example). This can be filled out at any time during class (except clean up). You need to teach that the compliment must be specific. (Not just Joe was nice.) Read compliment out loud for class to hear and give to compliment recipient.
  • Create a positive reinforcement game board (example).
  • For the complete positive reinforcement tip sheet, click here.

Learning from Mistakes Only Works After Age 12

Posted on 29. Sep, 2008 by in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Positive Reinforcement

(Image: Courtesy of Leiden University)

(Image: Courtesy of Leiden University)

 

Thought I would pass along this article from Science Daily based on the research of learning styles of children.  This could prove helpful when developing behavior management systems in your classroom.

The picture to the left shows the areas of the brain involved in cognitive control following positive feedback in children aged 8 to 9.