The Teaching Palette

Favorite Classroom Management Ideas on the Web

Posted on 18. Jan, 2012 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Organization and Preparation

Classroom management really can make or break you as a teacher.  Even if you’re a veteran teacher, there is always a new idea or creative solution to make your teaching life easier. For those of you using my favorite web 2.0 tool, Pinterest, you may have seen some of these images before, but for those who are not . . . enjoy!

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.

Review: IKEA Dignitet Curtain Wire and Clips

Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik + Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Organization and Preparation, Reviews, Tools and Miscellaneous

Submitted by: Anni Lyzenga, middle and high school art teacher from Lakeland, Florida

Product Title: IKEA Dignit Curtain Wire and Clips

Grade Levels: 3rd grade and up

Categories: Teaching Resource, Art History/Aesthetics/Criticism

Product Review: The Ikea Dignitet curtain wire and clips are a great addition to the art room.  Used together, these can be used to quickly clip up artwork for student critiques, or as a more permanent exhibit of student work.  Be sure to have a wire cutter handy as well to cut off extra length of wire to fit your room.  Currently, I have three of these installed in my art room.  Be sure to chose a spot that is easy for all students to view and if stacking them, leave enough space to display large artwork or posters.

Bucket Rating (out of 5):

(5) Love it! Need it! Gotta have it now!

If you’re interested in being a Teaching Palette contributor and submitting a review, please click here to learn more.

Delicious Denial

Posted on 22. Jul, 2009 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Organization and Preparation

I was once in Delicious denial; I had heard of Delicious as a social bookmarking site but really didn’t see the need to use it.  Sure, sharing bookmarks with everyone else is a nice concept, but I already had spent hours organizing my own bookmarks in Safari and was just fine with my own little system. What I wasn’t willing to admit at the time was that my little system of organized bookmark folders was not very effective.

The chart below describes my reasons for finally making the switch to Delicious:

So what about your organized websites neatly tucked into a bookmark folder? When uploading to Delicious, the folders and sub-folders that you created on your computer will turn into tags – no need to redo anything! See how easy it is to use Delicious in the Tutorial below:

Can’t view video above? Click here.

So here’s where the “social” part of Delicious comes in:  If you think a website is useful to others who also read The Teaching Palette, add the tag “teachingpalette” (one word).  See the hundreds of art education resources we’ve already tagged here.

Useful Tips:

• When using compound words such as “art history” do not leave spaces in between each word as they will separate into two different tags. Instead write “arthistory” or “art_history”. (I learned this one the hard way)
• Use “tag options” to change or rename a tag.
• Bulk edit is useful for adding additional tags to large groups of bookmarks or making selected tags on bookmarks private.
• Keep in mind that although your bookmarked website will show up instantly in your Delicious account, sometimes it takes longer for the tags to register.
• Use Delicious as your search engine – type in a tag on the Delicious homepage to see what websites others have bookmarked.
• It never hurts to create a backup of your Delicious bookmarks from time to time. (Backup directions can be accessed when logged in)

Tizmos: Post-it Notes for the Web

Posted on 30. Dec, 2008 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Organization and Preparation

It is amazing how many cool websites exist out there – just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone else comes up with a better mousetrap. I always promise myself I will remember to get back to those sites “when I have time.” The reality is, I rarely go back to the website and it is lost somewhere among my bookmarks/favorites menu.

Recently, I came across Tizmos, the perfect visual reminder! Tizmos is a web- based, personalized homepage that allows you to “see” your chosen web addresses from any location.

Each “Tizmo” looks and acts a bit like a multi-colored Post-it note linked to the web that can be dragged and dropped, edited, or deleted. Tizmos can also be set to open as your home page so you are reminded of interesting sites or used as quick access when presenting to students. The screen shot below clearly illustrates Tizmos.