If this sounds familiar, the first step is to check your contract for how many preps you are obligated to teach. If you would like to teach above what’s required, that’s great! If not, schedule a time to chat with your administrator and department chair to come up with a solution that works for everyone. The best thing you can do as an art teacher is to ensure you are taking care of yourself and your course load. This will allow you to show up well for your students each day!

Learn how to juggle and streamline your preps with finesse for more efficient use of your precious time! 

1. Keep it simple.

The sparkly lessons we see online or on our favorite art teacher influencer’s page are enticing! However, there may be ideas that will be a better fit for your classes. Don’t compare and overwork yourself to match the lessons you see on social media. As long as you meet the required standards and objectives, keeping your lessons and prep simple is okay!

2. Implement transition activities.

Bell ringers or exit tickets are great ways to transition your students from one activity to another. When students know the routine for entering or exiting the classroom, it gives you more time to greet, prepare, or finish any last details. Bell ringer activities can include a quick exercise listed on the board, a drawing prompt, grabbing supplies, or getting portfolios. At the end of class, students can reflect on their learning, ask clarifying questions, clean up, or set up the materials and tables for the next class.

3. Incorporate centers or stations.

For those long days when you lose your prep time to cover a class or are just really busy getting ready for back-to-school night or your art show, set up centers or stations! They are also great when you need a last-minute activity for a substitute teacher. Provide students with readily available supplies, like markers, pencils, and paper, along with a prompt or instruction sheet. Set these up in copy paper box lids at the beginning of the year so they’re ready to go when you’re short on time.

4. Teach students how to self-assess.

If all art teachers can agree on one task in the art room that takes up a lot of time, it would be assessment! When students self-assess, grading multiple projects and requirements at the same time is totally manageable. Plus, it reinforces introspection and communication. Try reflection journals, rubrics, and artist statements. 

Remember, not everything needs to be “officially” graded! Quick checks for understanding can be an easy grade if you walk around with a clipboard or your laptop. Have students flag their best five sketchbook pages for you to grade so you don’t have to flip through hundreds of books. At the end of a one-day lesson, stand next to a display board or long piece of bulletin board paper. Show students how to mount and display their work. Double-check and immediately input students’ self-assessments while they hang their work to be as efficient as possible! For more ways to streamline grading, watch the video below.

5. Use similar supplies for all classes. 

Using similar supplies across different grades and classes with minor modifications can simplify your prep. This approach reduces the need for vastly different types of materials and makes it easier to manage your inventory. See how Sarah Krajewski does a clay week and a fibers week with all of her grade levels. In elementary, focus on one medium and break it down into different project ideas for each grade level. If you have stacked classes at the high school level, select one medium for the whole class period and set varying requirements for each course or group of students.

6. Stagger long projects and deadlines.

Before you jump into a unit and assign due dates, take a few minutes to check your calendar. Space out all of your project deadlines, take into account events on the school calendar, and give yourself ample time to get grades in at the end of the quarter. If you’re teaching the same lesson to multiple levels or classes, stagger your start date so you can focus on one grade or course at a time.

7. Balance teacher and student-led options.

Offer both teacher and student-led options to cut your prep time in half. For instance, teach a lesson about an artist. Introduce the artist, examine and discuss their artwork, and explore the cultural context or associated art movement. Provide two projects inspired by the artist for the students to apply their learning. One will be a teacher-led project where you scaffold clear steps with a new technique, process, or medium. The other will be a student-led project (with your pre-determined requirements) where students put their own twist on an artwork or record their process in a visual journal.

8. Collaborate with colleagues.

Share lesson plans, resources, and ideas with others to lighten the load. If you work in a school with other teachers who teach the same course, share lesson plans, or take turns generating lessons and resources. If you don’t have other art teachers in your school, reach out to art teachers in your district or online for similar partnerships. Collaboration can bring fresh ideas and reduce the burden of planning everything yourself.

9. Download reusable resources.

Take some time now to start a digital organization system to archive lesson plans, student work, and resources. That way, when you need something, you’ll be able to quickly find it! Add pre-made resources so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. If you need help figuring out where to start, FLEX Curriculum offers a robust library of standards-aligned lesson plans and classroom-ready, student-facing resources and assessments. Lesson plans like Visual Storytelling are great to tailor to multiple preps. Follow AOEU on social media so you don’t miss future complimentary downloads on the Magazine, too!

10. Assign jobs to student helpers.

Double your efficiency by delegating tasks. Assign responsible students to help you with routine tasks such as preparing paint, passing out paper, or sharpening pencils. Not only are you promoting student responsibility, but you are gaining precious minutes to manage other students or take a breather. Sometimes, we need to remember our best helpers are right in front of us. Many students love to organize and help! 

In a perfect world, art teachers will always have the capacity during the time given to get their pinch pots in a row. In reality, many art teachers juggle multiple preps in one schedule, whether that’s many classes per grade level or stacked courses in one room at the same time. Fortunately, there are many small things you can do to make your year and workload as streamlined and efficient as possible. Get started by keeping things simple, collaborating with other art teachers, and harnessing helpers. Adopt some of the tips above so you can breathe easier and stress less! 

What’s your go-to tip for staying organized with lots of classes and courses?

How do you streamline your workload with multiple preps? 

The post 10 Tips to Effectively Streamline Planning for Multiple Art Preps appeared first on The Art of Education University.

As you get ready for the upcoming school year, consider fresh strategies to establish a positive and productive art room environment that will stand the test of time.

How do you handle unexpected behaviors?

Before we dive in, let’s touch on the most common aspect of classroom management—student behavior. Unfortunately, behavior problems have increased across the board. It’s important not to take them personally because there are many shifting factors outside of the art room walls. Even the art teacher with an arsenal of effective strategies will run into an inevitable disruption. Do your best to create conditions that promote positive behaviors and address undesirable behaviors quickly, consistently, and appropriately.

Follow these four steps to manage challenging behaviors:

1. Prioritize safety.
   If a student is a danger to themselves or others, take immediate action. Remove dangerous tools, the student, or other students from the classroom as needed. Often, a private conversation and a break in a calm corner can help. Reach out to your professional school counselor and administrator for extra support and to keep them in the loop.

2. Share your calm.
   Human beings are social creatures. Adopting another person’s words, attitudes, and actions is an instinct embedded through mirror neurons. Respond with a calm voice and kind words to students who are dysregulated or disrespectful. Your calm demeanor can help de-escalate the situation and set a positive example.

3. Address causes, not just behaviors.
   All behavior is a form of communication. Students who behave inappropriately may not know how to communicate unmet needs. Build strong relationships to identify if these needs are social-emotional, academic, or physiological and provide a safe space for students to talk about them and ask for help.

4. Show a path back to success.
   Some students may struggle to recover from a poor choice. When they are calm and ready to listen, provide clear, concrete steps to help them return to learning.

Arrangement of the Space

You can set the stage for success before your students enter the classroom. Think carefully about how you arrange furniture and how students will flow through the space. Many conflicts occur simply because students do not have enough personal space or they don’t have clear access to what they need.

Bookmark Art Room Makeover for creative ways to arrange your classroom with lots of attainable DIYs!

Use these three strategies to optimize your space:

1. Cluster tables or desks in pods to facilitate collaborative work.
   This also opens up floor space, providing multiple pathways around the room.

2. Create a calming corner to help students cool off.
   Include fidgets, posters with visual cues, and activities such as neurographic art to aid students in self-regulation.

3. Assign spots or numbers for smooth transitions.
   Number spaces along a side counter to designate spots where students will line up when they exit your classroom and where they can keep personal items during class. For secondary students, number tables or art supply kits to streamline the moving parts of a bustling studio!

Routines & Procedures

Students often have very limited time in art class. Their schedule may put them in the art room for an hour or less per day or per week. Strong routines build efficiency to maximize that time. At the start of the school year, invest in teaching key routines such as entering the classroom, cleaning up, and lining up. Show and tell students what you expect and then have them practice, much like a fire drill.

Watch Run the Art Room for several videos packed full of tips and tricks to add to your classroom management toolkit.

Try these four routines to keep your classroom running smoothly:

1. Build art history exposure and post a student-friendly artist bio from FLEX Curriculum for students to look at, read, and discuss at the beginning of each class.

2. Bring some fun using games like Teacher vs. Students.

3. Use consistent phrasing to cue routines, like “Projects, supplies, sanitize!” This quickly prompts students to store their projects, put away tools and materials, and then clean up.

4. Incorporate a few fun call and responses to garner attention.

Organization

Art teachers juggle countless tasks from storing hundreds of pieces of artwork in all stages of creation to managing supplies for multiple mediums. Plus, the art room can become a dumping ground for well-meaning donations. It can be daunting to keep track of and keep up with everything!

Don’t miss Artfully Organized for tips, tricks, and hacks to bring order to your art room.

Here are two tips for staying organized:

1. Label everything.
   Labels on the outside of cabinets, boxes, and bins tell everyone what’s inside without having to open something up. Including a graphic with text helps English language learners and struggling readers. Take your labels to the next level by including a photo of how you want the materials stored when put back correctly. Use a label maker, purchase pre-made ones, or make your own for free with masking tape and a permanent marker!

2. Name tables and other landmarks in the room.
   Naming a table after a color or an artist allows you to address groups of students sitting together and quickly organize their work. Rather than passing out papers individually, give each table a folder so works-in-progress are easy to collect and distribute. Name large furniture pieces in the room so students can have fun identifying which drying rack you want them to use.

Instructional Delivery

The wonderful part about art is that it’s so hands-on. Think about how your instructional approach reflects this hands-on aspect. Engaging students through a mix of interactive demonstrations, visual aids, and step-by-step explanations can minimize distractions and confusion.

Consider these three strategies to keep students productive and engaged during instruction:

1. Flip your classroom to harness technology.
   Embrace Gen Alpha’s tech familiarity. Allow them to use devices to navigate slides, videos, and other resources for self-directed learning. As an added benefit, when students can self-pace their learning, it frees you up to circulate the room more.

2. Use movement breaks to promote focus.
   It’s increasingly difficult for students to have the stamina to be still and focused for a full class period. Build in opportunities for students to get up and moving. Invite students to come to your table for a quick demonstration or to highlight a peer’s success.

3. Provide incentives for whole-body listening.
   Individualized feedback can motivate students to stay focused and attentive. Some classes may benefit from stars on a chart, marbles in a jar, or other forms of tallies to earn an incentive.

Expectations & Accountability

Establish clear communication and expectations for routines, processes, artwork requirements, assignment instructions, and more. This tells students what you’re looking for so they can be successful. Reward students who meet or exceed your expectations to build motivation and momentum. When more students have positive experiences in art class, it’s infectious and sets the tone for the whole class! Soon, small extrinsic motivators will grow into pride and self-discipline. When an expectation is not met, quickly address the issue and point out any natural consequences to foster accountability.

Here are three low-cost, high-value reward strategies:

1. Give students “keycards” when they demonstrate responsible care for materials. Keep a cabinet of special art materials that students can access when they turn in their keycards.

2. Distribute a “help pass” when students show kindness above and beyond expectations. Let them redeem the pass for an art room “freebie,” such as skipping cleanup for one day.

3. Pass out awards such as a certificate, sticker, or a handshake to recognize achievements.

Remember, successful classroom management isn’t just about rules and consequences. It’s about creating a positive and supportive environment where all students can thrive. Establish routines, set clear expectations, and consistently reinforce positive behaviors for a successful and fulfilling school year. Experiment with different strategies and find what works best for you and your artists. The time and effort you invest now will allow you to focus on what you do best—inspire creativity and nurture a love of art!

What is your favorite classroom management hack?

How did you successfully manage a challenging behavior in your art room?

The post Art Classroom Management Systems to Set Up Successful Behaviors All Year Long appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Get your students to redefine art on day one through a powerful discussion with the activity and prompts below.

Come with an open mind.

Art is a universal language with many mediums from painting to sculpture to so much more. But what medium goes too far and is outside of the bounds of art? For example, if a mechanic is an artist, is the car their artwork? One of the beautiful things about art is that it’s very subjective. Keep an open mind so your students’ minds stay open, too! Showing you’re excited to hear their ideas and thoughts will encourage them to take more risks and feel safe contributing. Plus, you never know—you may discover something you’ve never thought of yourself!

Compile a variety of artists and artworks.

Gather a large variety of images to challenge students’ notions and the societal norm of “what art is.” Include famous artworks they probably have seen in pop culture or other classes like Vincent van Gogh or Edvard Munch, more post-modern and contemporary pieces like Marina Abramović, architectural marvels, a breadth of media, and more. If you’re feeling brave, you can even include a photo of something you’ve made so that students can get to know you! Be mindful of students’ prior knowledge and backgrounds and strive to include images that will resonate with as many students as possible.

Here are some images to include to prompt deeper discussion:

• New shoe designs
• Fashion trends
• Performance art
• Cars
• Props from popular shows
• Graphic design
• Household items
• Books
• Interior design
• Movie stills
• Engineering and architecture
• Comics
• Trash

Set up the discussion as a game.

A powerful discussion about what art is is probably more enticing to us than to students. Make the experience fun and game-like by playing for a prize, playing in teams, or having a neat buzzer they can push when they have an answer to contribute. Making it a game can relieve any pressure and allow students to team build. You can even ask them if this game is art because you created it and they are interacting with it!

Establish guidelines.

Begin by acknowledging each student’s diverse perspectives in the classroom. Highlight that every opinion matters and follow through by affirming contributions during the activity to establish a foundation of trust and openness. There is no right or wrong answer! Write this note on the whiteboard as a friendly reminder for all.

As the discussion progresses, encourage students to let their curiosity guide them. If a particular piece of art or topic interests the students, take time to talk about it more deeply or research it together as a class. This flexibility intellectually stimulates the debate and helps build a strong class culture early in the semester.

Provide a foundational definition of art.

Start by sharing Webster’s definition of art which states, “Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” This is a pretty lengthy definition, so it can be helpful to break it down into more manageable words or phrases.

Foster deeper thinking by expanding on student responses.

The first days of school can be daunting and trying to get students to talk in front of their peers can be even more so! It can help to have questions on hand to get thoughts flowing and prompt conversation.

Use the following questions to help students elaborate:

• What do you feel when you look at this piece?
• What story is this telling?
• How was this created?
• Did someone make this, find this, or design this?
• Can everyday objects be art? Why or why not?
• Do you think this is beautiful? How?
• Does this provoke thought? What does it make you wonder?
• Is this useful?
• How does this piece compare to something you consider art?
• If you don’t think this is art, what would you add or change to make it art?
• How does this challenge your view of what art can be?

As you facilitate this activity, there are many ways to keep the dialogue going beyond the first day!

Here are our essential tips for a successful open-ended discussion:

• Remember that you matter.
  When you are passionate and knowledgeable about the artists and artworks you discuss, your excitement will become contagious. Choose artists that resonate with you so your interest will be genuine and students can learn a little bit about you.
• Map meaning.
  As the discussion progresses, take notes on the board. This visual mapping helps solidify the concepts discussed and shows that you value all contributions. For example, if a student says a sneaker is art because of its color, write “color” on the board.
• Take notes on a seating chart.
  As students talk, jot down notes about each student’s interests so you can remember and get to know them!
• Include silent students.
  Many students may not feel comfortable participating verbally. This doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care or don’t have opinions. Allow students to write or type their opinions for you to read aloud. Provide color-coded cards or signs for students to hold to signify their answers. For example, green cards can represent they believe the image is art and red cards can represent that it’s not art.
• Wrap up strong.
  End by reinforcing that art has no right or wrong answers. Emphasize that the Elements of Art are like the ingredients that go into cooking a dish. There are guidelines, called the Principles of Design, that are like the instructions in a recipe. However, true chefs eventually move from following a recipe to making their own culinary creations! This openness and flexibility are what make art diverse and fascinating.
• Do exit tickets.
  Provide a few minutes for students to reflect on the conversations and activity. Students will write their definition art. These are fun to keep and compare with their future end-of-year definitions!

As art educators, we have the privilege and responsibility to open our students’ minds to the boundless possibilities of creativity. Engaging in discussions about what constitutes art can help students appreciate art and artmaking for years to come. It also encourages students to think critically, express themselves, ask questions, and feel valued. This activity will help build strong connections, cultivate a vibrant classroom climate, and celebrate creativity in all its forms! Embrace this opportunity on day one to redefine art with students and inspire them to see the world through a bigger lens.

What is your definition of art?

Share how you get students excited about art on the first day!

The post How to Engage Students on Day One by Redefining Art appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Thrifted items make the perfect budget-friendly addition to your classroom. Look for these items to elevate your art room and style them to fit your needs.

1. Containers, Organizers, & Baskets 

Transform your art room into an organized oasis by repurposing thrifted containers, organizers, and baskets. These affordable finds offer a practical solution to the ever-present struggle to keep art supplies tidy and readily accessible. Build a collection of bins in every shape and size to use as table caddies, store collections, and arrange your space just how you like it.

2. Trays & Storage Racks

Invest in trays and storage racks to streamline your art room organization. Paperwork trays, lunch trays, and serving trays are perfect for prepping art materials and making distribution a breeze. Storage racks are ideal for organizing papers, supplies, and small artworks to maximize your space. Explore the Organizing Your Elementary Art Room for Success Pack from PRO Learning for more tips on managing everyday art supplies. 

Here are some ways to style these items in your art room:

• Organize pastels in a tackle box or divided veggie tray to keep them from rubbing against each other and muddying the colors.
• Thread yarn through holes in a plastic organizer to distribute yarn without the tangled mess.
• Make mini-damp boxes for clay projects from plastic containers flipped upside down with a clay board resting on the lid.
• Use a spice rack to create tiered storage for small paint bottles and tubes.
• Repurpose a record holder or letter tray to store paint palettes or stacks of paper.

3. Heat Tools

Artists employ unconventional items in their creative endeavors all of the time. Grab hair dryers from the thrift store to show students the versatility of everyday objects in the artistic process. Use repurposed hair dryers to dry paint and clay at record speeds and flatten artwork to give it a sleek, pressed look. Your students will love learning that heat tools are for more than just hair! What else will you repurpose in the art room?

4. Texture Tools

Thrift stores are treasure troves for texture-making tools. Collect fly swatters, doilies, sponges, kitchen utensils, toothbrushes, rubber stamps, and other objects to experiment with surface manipulations. Use these tools for one of the projects in the Experimenting with Monoprinting Collection from FLEX Curriculum, or set up a tactile and exploratory activity like the one below.

Here’s how to set up a texture-making smorgasbord for your students:

1. Gather an array of thrifted texture tools with a variety of patterns. 
2. Arrange these items on a large table so they are easily accessible. 
3. Press the tools into different colored paints, inks, or stamp pads.
4. Print them on white or colored pieces of paper to reveal the texture.
5. Experiment with layering textures and combining materials to create complex compositions.
6. Alternately, press tools into wet clay to add visual interest to ceramic pieces.

5. Yarn & Fabric Scraps

Introduce your students to the world of fiber art without breaking the bank. Repurposing items like sheets, pillow covers, clothes, and curtains provides a diverse range of fabrics for students to explore different techniques. Take advantage of the weekly deals so you can stretch your budget further, ensuring every dollar goes towards widening your students’ artistic experiences.

Here are some ways to style these items in your art room:

• Gather skeins of yarn in different colors and weights to bolster your stash.
• Repurpose t-shirts into yarn to weave into your collaborative art room loom, crochet into wearable art, or knot into macrame planters.
• Salvage linen fabric to back needle felted projects.
• Create felt from washed 80% to 100% wool sweaters to make felted food sculptures.
• Swipe flat sheets with fun patterns for bulletin board backgrounds that last.

6. Paint Shirts & Messy Clothes

Say goodbye to worrying about getting paint on your favorite clothes by opting for designated “paint day” or “clay day” outfits sourced straight from the racks of a thrift store. Plus, it’s fun to find unique outfits to match your eclectic art teacher style! Stock up on oversized shirts for your students to pull on over their nice clothes instead of aprons when it’s time to dive into messy projects. By purchasing these items secondhand, you save money, reduce waste, and contribute to sustainable practices in your art room.

7. Picture Frames

Use the plethora of picture frames available at thrift stores in both traditional and nontraditional ways. Display student artwork by hanging a gallery wall of thrift store frames. Remove the glass and attach clothespins to make it easy to switch out the masterpieces. For an unconventional twist, turn wood frames into deckle boxes to create handmade paper, like in the video below.

8. Mirrors, Dishes, & Glass

Peruse thrift stores for a wealth of materials to fuel your mixed-media and 3D projects. Collect reflective surfaces like CDs, DVDs, and mirrors to add dynamic pizzazz. Repurpose ceramic mugs as water cups or carefully break plates into pieces for vibrant mosaic artworks. Fuse recycled glass into rings for whimsical wind chimes. Dive deeper into the world of glass fusing with the Getting Started With Warm Glass and Lampwork Pack from PRO Learning.

Here’s how to turn a mirror into an empowering self-portrait station:

1. Choose a large, horizontal, sturdy mirror.
2. Decorate the mirror’s edges to make it visually appealing and inspiring.
3. Transform the mirror into a personal affirmation station by writing empowering statements around the border with paint pens or vinyl decals. 
4. Hang the mirror horizontally at eye level for students seated on the floor.
5. Explore the Experimenting with Portraiture Collection from FLEX Curriculum.
6. Send students to draw at the affirmation station when they need a break or as an early finisher activity.

9. Books, Games, & Puzzles

Incorporate an element of literacy and creative play into your art room by sourcing books, games, and puzzles from thrift stores. These items educate and entertain early finishers while encouraging artistic exploration and critical thinking skills. Seek materials with well-composed designs and enriching illustrations to ignite your students’ imagination. Even older students enjoy a good picture book, board game, or puzzle now and then!

10. Furniture

Revamp your art room’s ambiance by sourcing second-hand furniture. Not only will it serve a functional purpose but it can also make your room more visually welcoming and aesthetically pleasing. Pick out small tables, chairs, or bookshelves made of solid wood so they will stand the test of time. Embrace your inner DIY enthusiast to make your art room a magical place that you and your students want to spend time in.

Thrift stores provide a wealth of opportunities for art teachers to find affordable and sustainable materials to enhance their art rooms. Use a spice rack to store paint bottles, gather one-of-a-kind texture tools, DIY t-shirt yarn, or collect glass for mosaics. The possibilities for transforming thrifted treasures into art room essentials are endless! Incorporating second-hand items into your classroom saves money, reduces waste, and inspires your students to think outside of the box and see the potential in everyday objects. So, next time you’re browsing the aisles of your local thrift store, keep an eye out for hidden gems to elevate your art room and ignite your students’ imaginations. Happy thrifting!

What’s your best thrifted art room find? 

How do you promote sustainability and resourcefulness in your classroom?

The post 10 Must-Have Thrifted Items to Elevate Your Art Room on a Budget appeared first on The Art of Education University.

We are in need of more well-designed spaces than ever. The World Health Organization reports that anxiety and depression increased by 25% worldwide within the last few years. One fun way to offset the rise in mental health concerns is to “return to paying attention to the design of interior spaces.” Thoughtful interior design choices can evoke positive emotions, reduce stress, and enhance productivity. Learn how to harness your creative intuition to curate environments while boosting your mood and mental health.

Draw inspiration from the art teacher cribs featured below to reimagine the spaces you live and teach in.

Check out fun home and classroom tours and gain studio space ideas, artsy decor inspiration, organizational tips, and more with AOEU’s YouTube series, Art Teacher Cribs. Step inside art teachers’ homes and classrooms across the country and see why art teacher energy is unique! Our super fun classrooms often serve as student sanctuaries. This joy carries over into art teachers’ homes where there is a perfect blend of quirky and aesthetic. Kick off the series with Jennifer Hamilton’s rainbow home and classroom below.

Browse these simple tips to help you design a home and classroom to prioritize mental health and well-being.

1. Focus on aesthetics and functionality.

Strike a balance between form and function to craft spaces that look good and serve your daily needs. A well-designed, functional space contributes to mental well-being by reducing stress and enhancing productivity. Sarah Tucker broke out of “the idea that you ‘have to’ have certain rooms in your house” and converted her dining room into a cozy study and reading nook. Seamlessly integrate practical considerations into your decor to set up spaces where you and your students can thrive.

Make your spaces more functional without sacrificing the aesthetic with these tips:

• Install additional shelving to maximize vertical space to showcase your art and decor.
• Sort through your home and classroom clutter and organize your spaces for increased practicality and productivity.
• Incorporate aesthetic hooks, hangers, and bins to turn functional spaces into attractive displays.
• Choose lighting fixtures with a creative flair to create a warm and inviting ambiance.
• Ditch what spaces were “meant” for and make them into areas that fit your needs.

2. Rely on color psychology to mindfully add a dash of brilliance.

Colors hold unique emotional associations and influence mood, perception, energy levels, and productivity. When infusing color into your spaces, consider the impact each hue and shade brings. Katie Jarvis’ favorite space in her home is her closet because “the bright, fun colors and patterns remind her of summer vacation.” Mindfully selecting colors that align with your personality and an area’s intended purpose allows you to curate a whole atmosphere.

Follow these four steps to add color to your spaces with ease:

1. Explore color psychology and choose hues that align with the atmosphere you desire.
2. Develop a cohesive color palette to ensure a balanced look.
3. Play with patterns and textures in your chosen colors to add depth and visual interest.
4. Periodically reassess how your color choices impact your mood and well-being and adjust as needed.

3. Mix natural elements and textures for added comfort.

Bringing the outdoors in can enhance well-being. Nature has a positive impact on mental health and reduces anxiety, depression, and loneliness while increasing happiness. Meg takes advantage of this strategy by lining her home studio with a “growing collection of handmade mugs” and a “little jungle making its way across [the] ceiling.” Add natural elements to your living and teaching spaces to connect with nature and promote relaxation and tranquility.

Add more natural elements to your indoor spaces with the ideas below:

• Maximize natural light by using light-colored or light-filtering curtains or blinds.
• Opt for furniture made from natural materials like wood, rattan, or bamboo for an organic touch.
• Choose houseplants that thrive in your space’s conditions to improve air quality.
• Select textiles made from natural fibers such as cotton, linen, or wool to provide warmth and a natural tactile element.

4. Integrate personal touches for maximum happiness.

Inject a dose of personal flair into your spaces by adding meaningful touches that reflect your unique identity. Kayla Koslow set up a home art studio “completely dedicated to her creative brain” with “anything and everything she loves.” Similarly, Allison filled her studio with “all the little things that make her who she is,” including card collections that remind her of her childhood, student notes, photos, gifts, and artwork. Personal items like these infuse personality into your surroundings and encourage feelings of joy!

Let your art teacher personality shine through in your decor with the suggestions below:

• Display your favorite collectibles or artifacts to tell a story about your interests.
• Incorporate personalized artwork created by yourself or local artists to infuse individuality.
• Create specific areas dedicated to your creative mind where you can make art or lesson samples.
• Craft your own decor items or repurpose existing pieces to reflect your artistic style on a budget.
• Curate a gallery wall with framed photos, postcards, and artwork to remember significant moments and memories.

5. Share your intentional spaces with others to spread joy.

Your thoughtfully designed spaces have the potential to be vibrant hubs of collective well-being that foster connection. Now an inviting shade of green, the pass-through window that initially drew Rachel Poddoll to her house made her home “a welcoming spot for guests, just as she imagined it would.” April Ryan designed a game and craft room where her family “gets to show off their collection of figures,” play games, and spend quality time together. When you extend the invitation for others to experience the beauty you’ve created, you start a ripple effect of joy that enriches the lives of others and reinforces a sense of community.

Plan an event to share your home and classroom with others like the five below:

1. Set up board games or video game stations for a fun and interactive evening with friends.
2. Host themed dinner parties where you showcase your culinary skills and a visually appealing table setting.
3. Invite your community for a Family Fun Art Night, where everyone explores their creativity.
4. Host open studio hours during your next art show to ignite artmaking.
5. Facilitate a Gallery Night Fundraiser where you guide the community on a tour of student artwork and stories.

Caring about and curating beautiful and practical surroundings has the power to boost your mood and enhance your mental health. By prioritizing functionality, embracing color psychology, incorporating natural elements, and infusing personal touches, you can turn your home and art room into sanctuaries of well-being. Why keep all of these benefits to yourself? Share your carefully curated spaces with friends, family, and your school community for a truly transformative experience that sparks joy and connection. 

Which design tip are you most excited to try in your home or art room?

How do you promote well-being in your art teacher cribs?

The post Art Teacher Cribs: Curate Spaces to Boost Your Mood and Mental Health appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Try these 11 fun and educational games to keep your students engaged up to the final bell of the year.

Games provide closure to a unit or year without the challenge of rushing to finish projects on the way out of the door. The games below will keep students focused and enthusiastic while reviewing information in a fun way. Plus, they can be customized for any grade level or course!

1. Where’s Whaledo?

Narwhals are the unicorns of the sea and there is nothing better than bringing magic to a careful examination of artworks. Use our bespectacled narwhal friend, Whaledo, in the perfect hidden picture art room game. Use your favorite image editing software to drop Whaledo into famous artwork. Print the images and laminate them for students to circle Whaledo with dry-erase markers or simply project the images on the board. After students find Whaledo, ask them what other interesting details they discovered. Download Whaledo and the corresponding instructional guide today!

Download Now!

2. Trivia Challenge

There is a reason games like Jeopardy and Around the World are still popular decades later. Everyone loves the opportunity to show what they know. All you need is a slide deck with questions from your curriculum. Additionally, try the Art Trivia Take-Away Lesson and Game Guide in FLEX Curriculum for an activity where students reflect on art concepts and art history.

Here are three tips to keep your students on their A-game:

1. Allow students to work in teams to keep it low-pressure.
2. Include bonus questions of silly personal trivia to make it more fun!
3. Add in challenges to get students moving. For example, Race to assemble a color wheel from found objects in the classroom!

3. Picture Puzzle

Puzzles are a relaxing way to review prior learning. Print pictures of the artworks your students learned about this year. Cut them into pieces considering appropriate sizes and shapes for your students’ levels. Make it a race to not only assemble the picture puzzle but also identify the artist, artwork title, and big ideas students recall from the lesson.

4. Mystery Drawing

Students are often mentally exhausted when they complete testing, portfolio submissions, and final exams. Many students will find comfort in directed drawings or other guided practice activities. Keep things simple but introduce a little bit of intrigue!

Here are three ways to keep students guessing the entire time:

1. Guide students through an activity step-by-step without telling them what the end result will be.
2. Facilitate a drawing upside-down and don’t tell students to flip their papers right-side up until the end.
3. Try an exquisite corpse drawing and watch the delight when students unfold their papers.

5. Art Room Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is fun at any age. To make a scavenger hunt more educational, give students clues that pose a problem and challenge them to find the correct tool. For example, instead of telling students to find a brayer, a clue might read, “I want to make a print. I have a printing plate, a piece of paper, a tube of ink, and an ink plate. What else do I need?” This approach requires students to think through the process. You can also challenge your students to find examples of artworks that show a particular mood or have a specific subject matter, or search their portfolio for a project that demonstrates a certain technique.

6. Quick Draw

Use individual dry-erase boards, take turns in front of the class at the main board, or use scrap paper. Give students a drawing prompt with a list of criteria and watch them race to sketch it all. Ensure students demonstrate craftsmanship by including Elements and Principles as criteria. For example, a prompt could be, “Draw a person using geometric shapes and hatched lines.“

This can be a quick five-minute game or you can extend it by adding multiple rounds. Additionally, turn it into a tournament or a team relay to keep the fun going. Another alternative is to put drawing prompts at different stations around the room to get students moving.

7. Virtual Escape Room

Identify key concepts by looking at objectives, assessments, and vocabulary lists from the year. Use this information to generate questions you want students to answer. Add the questions to a Google Form and use the response validation tool to let students advance only once they’ve completed a question or task correctly. Include riddles and hidden codes to keep students on their toes!

8. Custom Board Games

Let your students take the lead by designing their own board games, either in pairs or small groups. Creating a game requires students to ideate, problem-solve, draw, sculpt, write, and present ideas. Depending on your schedule and requirements, creating a game can take students anywhere from a week to a month. As a culminating activity, host a Game Day and allow students to play one another’s games to give constructive feedback. Hopefully, they’ll remember their favorite art teacher when their games become a hit outside of the classroom!

9. Art on Trial

This game will motivate your students to examine and think critically about art. It will push students to get beyond the default responses like, “It looks cool” or “I like the colors.” Put a famous work of art up on the board and announce the work stands accused of being awful. Divide the class into three groups. One group will serve as the prosecution. One group will be the defense team, and the third group has jury duty. Allow a period of discovery for the prosecution and defense teams to discuss the evidence for their sides. Then, allow each side to present their case and give one minute for a closing statement. Finally, the jury will deliberate. Each juror will share the point they found most persuasive as they vote for either the prosecution or the defense.

10. Art Heist Challenge

You may recall hearing about this game on Art Ed Radio. The premise of the game is simple: Your nemesis, Dr. Meaniebadguy, stole some of the greatest artworks from museums around the world! Students must figure out which works he stole and recover them. Print pictures of a variety of artworks along with clues describing the pieces. Set up an obstacle course between the students and the artworks and hide the clues along the way. For instance, you can use yarn to make a maze of “lasers.” Students must avoid touching the “lasers” to prevent the alarm system from sounding. Try neon yarn and black lights to create a special effect! Students love this game which engages them both mentally and physically.

11. Fact or Fake

Share odd and interesting bits of trivia about an artist or artwork. In teams, challenge students to spot which is fact and which is fake. Once the team decides, they write fact or fake on a dry-erase board and hold it up. Provide points to the teams who write the correct response and keep score.

Transform the end of the school year from a time of restlessness and boredom to joyful artistic engagement. Turn looking at and reviewing art into a magical experience by searching for Whaledo. Bring in trivia to challenge your students through collaboration and friendly competition. Incorporate the element of mystery with an escape room, quick draw activity, or art heist challenge. All of these games are great ways to keep students invested in your class, reviewing content from the year, and making art right up until the last bell.

For more art room games, check out the following:

• 6 Games Perfect for the Art Room
• Games in the Art Room Pack in PRO Learning
• Ideas for Art Room Games (Ep. 331)
• 3 Super Fun Art History Games

How do you make time for joy and fun in your art room?

Share your student-favorite art games!

The post Level Up the Fun! 11 Awesome Art Games to End the Year appeared first on The Art of Education University.

One morale-boosting way to do this is to create projects for your beginning-of-the-year bulletin boards. Choose bulletin board projects that are exciting, easy, and will last well into the year. Involve your students in making artwork that will greet them with a burst of creativity, instill pride, generate a buzz for your art program, and set a positive tone for the upcoming year.

Prepare to infuse your classroom with excitement and anticipation for the next school year with these themed bulletin board ideas and collaborative projects.

Themed Bulletin Boards

Center your bulletin board around a specific, pre-determined message to get students excited about creating art. Involve your students in developing individual elements for the board that tie into the chosen theme. Involving students in creating these elements fosters ownership and belonging in the classroom environment, which sets a positive tone for the upcoming school year.

Students can create bulletin board elements around these themes:

1. Imagine the Possibilities

Using the art career cards from FLEX Curriculum, design a bulletin board featuring different art careers. Each grade-level-appropriate card includes an art professional’s skills, attire, tools, and responsibilities. Students interview other adults and conduct research to create their own art career cards on additional careers. Display both art career cards on the bulletin board to showcase the diverse range of art-related professions and inspire students to explore career possibilities.

2. Coming Soon

Design a bulletin board resembling a movie theater marquee or a streaming service carousel. Students create digital posters showcasing their favorite projects, techniques, or themes based on what they learned during the year in art class. Display the posters on the bulletin board to give incoming students a sneak peek of the exciting artistic discoveries awaiting them in the upcoming school year. Rely on the Digital Drawing Basics Pack from PRO Learning to give you a place to start with your students.

3. Starting the Year Off Write

Design a poetry-themed bulletin board featuring student-generated poems about their favorite art class experiences. Students incorporate their poems into visual images using concrete poetry, ekphrastic poems, illustrated haikus, and blackout poetry. Display the poems on the bulletin board and use your artists’ own words to inspire incoming students for another year of artmaking.

4. What Kind of Artist Will You Be?

Create a bulletin board featuring portraits of different artists. Explore FLEX Curriculum’s artist bios for a vast archive of diverse artists to include. Build upon portrait drawing skills learned during the school year or trace the artist’s silhouette to create their own renditions. Fill the portrait with distinctive elements associated with the artist, such as iconic artworks, techniques, or motifs. Celebrate the variety of artistic styles and encourage students to explore fresh artists. 

5. Art is Everywhere

Design a bulletin board that illustrates the real-world applications of art. Provide students with a list of subjects and content areas and challenge them to create collages that illustrate how art relates to each. Students can use images, text, and mixed media to showcase the connections between art and the real world. Display the collages on the bulletin board to celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of art education.

6. The Picture of a Fantastic Year

Encourage students to capture well-composed photos related to the art room to create a photography-themed bulletin board. Explore the Creative Approaches to Beginning Photography Pack from PRO Learning for tips on how to set your students up for success. Display the photos to give a picture of the exciting experiences the year will hold.

7. Find Your Style This Year

Design a fashion-themed bulletin board to engage students with art history. Showcase clothing designs or wearable art inspired by different artists. Provide students with templates of clothing items such as purses, shoes, or dresses and challenge them to incorporate symbols, colors, or techniques from an artist of their choice into their design. (This is another fantastic time to introduce the artist bios in FLEX Curriculum!) Display the finished designs to get students pumped about discovering their style along with other artists’ styles in the fall.

8. Your Voice Matters Here

Create a board where students visually express themselves and share their messages with the world. Students design symbols representing significant events from the year or causes they’re passionate about. Review the Social Change Relief Print Lesson from FLEX Curriculum for step-by-step directions on how to turn these symbols into prints. Use relief printing to amplify student voices and showcase your commitment to meaningful expression and advocacy.

Collaborative Displays

Engage students in a collaborative art project by giving them a simple shape or form to replicate. For instance, students can fold an origami fortune teller, like in the video below. Once completed, gather their masterpieces and arrange them together to form a cohesive and impressive installation artwork. Incorporate a welcoming message or theme and celebrate the teamwork your art room fostered. 

Select a collaborative project for students to contribute to:

1. A Rainbow of Possibilities This Year

Invite students to create coffee filter creations using coffee filters, washable markers, and a spray bottle. Color the filters with vibrant hues, spray them with water, and watch the colors bleed. Turn their colorful creations into a rainbow sea, a vibrant garden of flowers, or beautiful butterflies. This display conveys the rainbow of possibilities that the new school year holds.

2. Weave Together a New Beginning

Engage students in creating a giant paper tapestry by writing favorite lessons and experiences on colored paper strips. Working collaboratively, weave the strips together into squares. Intermediate weavers can even create three-dimensional paper weavings, as seen in the Basic Weaving Techniques Pack from PRO Learning. Hang your woven shared experiences to inspire another year of artmaking.

3. Love-ly to Have You Back

Encourage your students to express their love for art by drawing embossed heart designs on cardboard squares. Embellish the hearts with patterns. Trace the designs with hot glue and create an embossed look by covering the squares with aluminum foil. Add color with permanent markers and display all of the hearts together to express the joy of having everyone back in the art room.

4. We All Fit Together Here

Create a puzzle to symbolize the unity of your artists. Divide a large piece of paper into puzzle pieces for each student to design. Draw inspiration from FLEX Curriculum’s Contemporary Street Art Collection by having students illustrate their names in graffiti lettering. Assemble the pieces to reveal a unified image that fosters belonging and togetherness.

5. We Missed You ‘Round Here

Explore rhythm, repetition, variety, and other principles of art in a unique way as you anticipate the coming year. Craft radial designs on colored paper circles. Cut them into quarters and arrange them on square background paper to create a captivating pattern. Display this collaborative quilt to symbolize a vibrant community reunited and ready to embark on a new artistic journey.

6. Welcome Back to [Your School Name]

Paint half sheets of paper with lively patterns and textures. Then, cut them into small squares and rearrange them into large block letters that spell out your school’s name. Use the FLEX Curriculum resource, What Are Mosaics? to learn about the different types of mosaics and how to create them to inspire your students’ work. Introduce mosaics to your students in a budget-friendly way that doubles as a colorful welcome back in the fall.

7. Dye-ing to Get This Year Rolling

Get ready to kick off the year with vibrant energy and create oil pastel tie-dye squares, like in the video below. Color paper squares with oil pastels in stripe or spiral shapes. Drag an eraser through them to blend the colors and make a tie-dye effect. Discover tips for how to help your students succeed in the Getting Started With Oil Pastels Pack from PRO Learning. Mount the dyed squares together to compose an energetic display.

8. Writing An Exciting Chapter

Embark on a collaborative storytelling adventure with your students by creating a storyboard with sticky notes. Illustrate reflective prompts like, Draw a moment you felt confident in art class, or Portray an artist you feel inspired by. Then, caption each drawing to tell the story of the fantastic year ahead. This is a fun way to collect feedback and create a buzz for incoming students. 

Foster creativity, collaboration, and ownership in your students by engaging them with artwork up to the last day. Use the artwork in a display to generate excitement to come back to school in the fall. Whether composing artistic poems for a theme like Starting the Year Off Write or collaborating with peers to emboss hearts for a Love-ly to Have You Back display, bulletin board projects provide an opportunity for students to showcase their artistic talents while contributing to the welcoming atmosphere of your art room. They are also helpful if you need to adapt to end-of-year schedule twists and turns. Invest time now to reap the benefits later and do your future art teacher self a solid today!

What bulletin board project will you do now to set yourself up for success in the fall?

How do you bring your students together to create collaborative displays? 

The post 16 Art Bulletin Boards to Do Now to Jumpstart Anticipation for Next School Year appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Start with these words of wisdom about stepping into the world of high school art:

• 13 Things You Need to Know Your First Year of Teaching High School Art 
• High School Mailbag: What Are the Wins and Challenges of Teaching Art? 
• How to Plan Your First Day at the High School Level 

Keep reading for what to expect when you take the big leap into the high school art room. 

Say goodbye to your energetic helpers. 

Most elementary students jump for joy when they enter your art room. They can’t wait to learn how to paint and make monster pinch pots. They greet you, grinning from ear to ear, excited to give you a high five! However, at the high school level, many students take your art class for mandatory credit… and not all of them will be thrilled about it. Furthermore, because students have headphones or earbuds glued to their heads, you’ll be lucky to get a “Hello!” back when you greet them. 

Don’t get discouraged by the apathy! High schoolers still aim to please and many are happy to be in your classroom even if they don’t show it. The process to get them to be energetic helpers may take longer to implement but it will be more than worth it. Start by greeting them by name when they walk into your room (even if they “ignore you”). During studio time, ask them about their lives and take a real interest! The wonderful thing about teaching teens is you can have real conversations about real issues. They have opinions and once they’re comfortable, they love to share them. Leverage the connections you build to get them to help you! High schoolers want to be around adults they like and who genuinely care about them. If they like you, they will help you regardless of their preference for your class or art—even after graduation.

Shift your classroom management strategies.

The days of using call and responses are probably long gone. As mentioned above, your classroom management system will shift heavily toward relationship building. This may have been difficult at the elementary level due to the sheer amount of students you taught on a spread-out rotation. Luckily, in most circumstances, you will see your high school students daily or several times a week. This will allow you to regularly check in on their lives and see real progress and growth in their maturity and artwork. Relationships go two ways, so make sure you share about your life too! They love it when you can connect on memes, trending songs, and clothing styles.

Being a high schooler is hard—they are juggling intense courses, after-school jobs, caring for younger siblings, extracurricular activities and sports, and relationships. On top of all that, they are navigating how to find their voice, hone their belief system, and decide what to do with the rest of their lives. That’s some serious pressure! Many students love the art room because it’s a safe space where they can escape the chaos of their schedules and social lives and be themselves.

Check out these two resources to help you build meaningful relationships with your high schoolers:

1. 5 Ways to Build Relationships With At-Risk Students 
2. 6 Truths Generation Z Art Students Wish You Understood Now 

Revamp and readjust your curriculum. 

Although your high school students are physically bigger, this may be their first art class in a long time (or at all!) You may need to start from scratch with foundational knowledge and skills, like how to use a ruler or hold a pair of scissors. Conversely, you will have students with advanced skills—sometimes better than yours! While cookie-cutter lessons are good for skill-building or quick exercises in between longer projects, take advantage of where your students are developmentally and dive deeper into artmaking. See how Clare S. exposes her students to advanced artmaking processes and mediums like figure drawing and acrylic masking in the video below.

Select a broad theme or idea you want your students to focus on for the year. Start with the end in mind and break that down into learning outcomes and objectives for each quarter, month, or week, depending on your particular schedule. High schoolers are learning how to form their own opinions and what those opinions are. Meet your students where they’re at and incorporate opportunities to explore deeper concepts in the curriculum.

Here are three tried and true resources to get student buy-in into your secondary curriculum:

1. 7 Contemporary Artists to Support Advanced Students
2. Teach Your Students to Use Art as a Tool for Social Advocacy
3. 3 Strategies to Help Students Find Their Voice in the Art Room

Juggle multiple subjects and classes at the same time like an organized pro.

Teaching secondary-level classes often includes specialized classes by medium like sculpture, photography, or drawing. Some schools stack similar classes due to low enrollment rates or overpopulation. Stacking allows students to fit their desired classes into their schedules and many teachers choose to stack courses to keep their specialized classes. This can leave you juggling multiple lessons, mediums, and curriculums simultaneously. 

If you’re overwhelmed, take a look at your contract. You may be asked to teach multiple preps but may have grounds to politely decline. If you’re committed to multiple preps, there are ways to approach this complex situation. Divide your period into groups by course. Alternate your schedule so one group/course receives instruction while the other works independently. Pre-load as much of your coursework as possible into an online learning platform so students can work asynchronously and access help when they need it. If you are lucky to have classes working with the same art mediums, tailor your assignments from foundational to advanced so students can pace themselves at the appropriate level. Additionally, incorporating skillsets like visual journaling allows all students within your classes to work on the same assignment with varying prompts or requirements. 

Know that technology will be a blessing and a curse.

Many students in the secondary classroom have cell phones, tablets, or laptops. You may find yourself fighting for your students’ attention. While this is frustrating, you can choose to embrace the situation. Remember, students have grown up using technology every single day of their lives so they have a natural affinity to navigate screens. Teach them how they are digital citizens and show them how to use their technology wisely as a tool for research and artmaking. Social media is also a way to find common interests. Sharing real-world artists they have seen in their algorithm is a surefire way to increase engagement. 

Studio time without screens is beneficial too! Many students are on screens all day in their other classes and at home. Art can be a time they look forward to because they get to use their hands and brains to create. Guiding students to have a healthy balance between technology and being present will go a long way in positively impacting their learning and mental health. Plus, many artists today toggle between the digital and physical worlds of artmaking. It’s helpful to highlight them and how they do it to provide students with options and possibilities!

Dive into these two reads to discover more ways to go screen-free in the art room:

1. 3 Subtly Effective Ways to Manage Screen Time in the Art Room
2. 13 Technology-Free Ways to Engage in the Art Room 

Remember, your high school students are also very similar to elementary students.

Don’t let them fool you—high school students are still little kids at heart. They love high-fives, stickers, snacks, and classroom jobs. High schoolers also love assignments that aren’t so serious. We often associate play with our youngest learners but teenagers need time and space to explore their imaginations too! Because of all of the heavy responsibilities high schoolers are juggling, coming into the art room to create a paper airplane, make a popup card, or fiddle with plastic building bricks can be just the brain break they need. 

For ways to incorporate play and simple lessons into your high school art room, check out the resources below: 

• 12 Fun and Interesting One-Day Lessons for the Secondary Art Room 
• Why You Should Let Your High Schoolers Finger Paint 
• 4 Benefits of Play and 5 Ways to Incorporate Play in the Secondary Art Room 

The transition from the elementary art room to the high school art room is a big one! Whatever you do, don’t lose your art teacher energy. In a teenage world where hormones are raging and little things feel like the end of the world, your consistency in care and curriculum will make an impact. Shift your classroom management to prioritize building rapport and having authentic, two-way conversations. Sprinkle in fun activities that promote play, spur the imagination, and provide brain breaks and small treats. Teach students how to use technology wisely as a tool and center your curriculum around big themes where students can express themselves and explore advanced processes and mediums. Before you know it, those timid students at freshman orientation will be submitting art portfolios and confidently walking across the graduation stage, giving you the biggest smile of gratitude ever! 

What is the biggest lesson you learned when you made the elementary to high school switch?

Share your favorite secondary classroom management tip.

The post What Do You Need to Know About Teaching High School vs. Elementary Art? appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Keep reading for advice and tips to revamp your classroom management after a break to finish the year strong!

Reflect on and evaluate your current systems and routines. 

Take a moment to reflect on your classroom management. Think about what systems worked and what adjustments to implement moving forward. After a break, art supplies are often disorganized, misplaced, or depleted.  Reorganizing and replenishing art supplies will allow students to access what they need for projects. Additionally, remove extra or unwanted art supplies to create more space and proactively prepare you for the end of the school year.

Get started and level up your systems with these downloads:

• Fill out the Classroom Management Reflection to pinpoint where you may need to make adjustments.
• Post the 40 Student Cleanup Jobs checklist for early finishers to assist with classroom care.

Check out these resources for art supply systems and organization:

• 3 Simple Steps to Reassess and Reorganize Your Art Supplies 
• How to Make Good Use of Extra and Unwanted Supplies in the Art Room 
• Budget Labeling Systems for the Art Room (Ep. 1)

Refresh your physical space. 

While getting a brand new classroom space is a wish, refreshing your existing space can make you feel like you have a whole new room. Breathing new life into your studio does not have to be extensive or complex—it can be as simple as hanging up a pile of artwork that never made it to the gallery wall or swapping out a few anchor charts. Guarantee smiles and joy to returning faces with a new display. Select one or two easy tasks that will make a big impact!

Here are resources to help you reset your art space: 

• 5 Tips to Redecorate and Reorganize for Back to School 
• 27 Ways to Design an Inviting, Functional, and Flexible Art Room 
• 4 Quick & Budget-Friendly DIYs to Upgrade Your Art Room 
• Makeover Your Art Room to Start the New Year with a Fresh Inspiring Space 

Encourage collaboration and cultivate connection. 

The community and relationships of your classroom are just as important as the systems and routines. Many students lack the daily social interactions they get from school during long weekends or breaks. Encourage students to reconnect with cheesy icebreakers and team-building activities. Incorporate warm-ups for social-emotional check-ins. For more ways to foster laughter and discussion, play games or introduce challenges.

For activities, games, and collaborative opportunities, check out the resources below: 

• How to Help Your Students Learn to Talk to Each Other Again 
• 6 Exhilarating Classroom Management Games You’ll Want to Play in the Art Room 
• 8 Warm-Up Activities To Support Classroom Management and Calm Starts to Class 
• 10 Neat Ways to Group Students in the Art Room for Collaborative Projects

Keep up your art teacher energy!

Positive and enthusiastic energy has a big impact on the classroom environment. Teacher energy is contagious and can dictate how students feel and experience class. The majority of your students will be eager to see your smiling face! If you greet them at the door with a huge grin and peppy greeting, they’ll be more inclined to do so back. However, remember that some students may be dealing with or processing things we are unaware of. It’s a good reminder that giving the benefit of the doubt and being kind, even if they don’t seem responsive back, can go a long way.

Check out the resources below to help preserve your art teacher energy:

• How to Effectively Save Mental Time and Energy Using Circles of Control 
• How to Make a Personal Studio to Preserve Your Creative Energy
• Embrace A Word of the Year: 10 Phrases to Focus Your Priorities
• How to Preserve Your Creative Energy by Being Intentional With Your Calendar

There are so many routines and systems in the art room because of all of the artwork, supplies, and tools! Coming back after spring break can feel like even more of a juggling act than usual. Each day tosses in more balls that you need to keep in the air, such as art show prep, art contests, mid-year supply orders, and advanced course portfolio deadlines. It’s okay to let the balls drop, pause, and regroup. Decide what you need to keep on your plate, remove, or adjust. Select a couple of small improvements you can make to your classroom to spruce it up. Revive connections through discussion prompts, games, and challenges. Protect and harness your art teacher energy by exuding smiles and prioritizing a few intentional goals. Before you know it, the end of the school year will be here and you’ll be proud of how you made the most of the last few weeks with your students.

How do you regroup after spring break?

What is a student-favorite activity perfect for post-break? 

The post Advice for Effective Classroom Management in the Art Room After the Break appeared first on The Art of Education University.

The traveling art teacher gig requires adaptability, creativity, and a willingness to embrace diversity as you deal with different school cultures, staff, students, and environments. The practical tips below will help traveling art teachers navigate the intricacies of different classrooms and turn the challenge of splitting time between multiple schools into an enriching and fulfilling artistic adventure. Whether you’re juggling varying schedules, engaging with distinct student populations, or immersing yourself in diverse school environments, uncover strategies to make your journey as a traveling art teacher smooth and creatively vibrant.

Here are four tips to help you overcome the challenges of being a traveling art teacher.

1. Immerse yourself, ask questions, and make adjustments.

Every school is unique so it’s good to be curious and ask a lot of questions! This will allow you to bring your art teacher flair in a way that will best mesh with the school. Model effective questioning practices as you seek to learn the ins and outs. Let the staff and students at each school be your guides by asking them three questions a day until you get your bearings. Tasha Guswiler and Cayla Cushing assert that “flexibility is key” as you explore the nuances that shape the artistic experiences of your students. Adjust as you learn to tailor your instruction and strategies to the needs of each school. Put yourself in a first-year teacher mindset, like Brittney Witt in the video below, to stay curious about your schools.

2. Pick one school event, meeting, or collaborative activity to participate in per quarter.

As a traveling art teacher, it can take longer to form connections. Make time in your schedule to attend (or coach) extracurricular activities, sit in on a staff meeting, or collaborate on an interdisciplinary project. Each of these will provide opportunities to build meaningful relationships. Nellie Mitchell joined the social committee at one of her buildings to help plan events. She said it was worth the effort because she connected with staff more regularly. Create a sense of unity and shared purpose by contributing to the broader school community.

Build relationships inside and outside of your art room with these resources:

• Visual Journals and Classroom Communities (Ep. 397)
• 6 Ways to Build Great Relationships With Students in the Art Room
• Colorful Conversations: 9 Fantastic Resources to Enhance Communication in Your Art Room

3. Go digital to simplify your curriculum and lesson planning.

Keeping it simple will help your sanity as you rush between schools and schedules. Embracing a digital approach to curriculum and lesson planning streamlines the process. Brooke Schatz’s digital filing system is her “best friend” for a reason! Online platforms like FLEX Curriculum help art teachers seamlessly access, manage, and share resources between different schools. The lesson plans, resources, and videos that FLEX offers make it easy to adapt instruction to the needs and preferences of your schools. Going digital also ensures consistency in lesson delivery across distinct student populations. Follow along as Marina Alfera shares her tips for digital lesson planning.

4. Clone your systems and plan for emergencies to stay organized.

Running multiple art rooms and programs efficiently requires a systematic approach. Duplicate routines, procedures, and visuals across all locations to establish consistency and predictability. Rely on the tried and true strategies you’ve developed to keep yourself organized. Plan for the sticky situations that will inevitably arise by stashing a backup kit in your car, like Tania Lichtenstein’s, filled with art basics or your personal teacher necessities. Find ways to organize yourself so you can streamline your workflow. 

Find systems that work for you regardless of where you’re teaching with these two ideas:

1. Watch the Artfully Organized YouTube mini-series.
2. Check out the Managing the Classroom Pack from PRO Learning.

Try one of these 12 ideas to foster collaboration between your schools and harness your superpowers as a traveling art teacher.

Fostering collaboration maximizes your impact and creates a cohesive artistic community across multiple school environments. “Work smarter and not harder” to harness the many extra hands and resources you have from more than one school. Integrate your creative vision in your teaching spaces by encouraging your students to connect with peers from different schools through joint initiatives like the ones below.

1. Collaborative Projects
   Promote teamwork and a larger sense of community by initiating collaborative art projects that involve students from both schools.
2. Artist Trading Card Swap
   Create artist trading cards for students from one school to swap with students from the other.
3. Student Art Exchange
   Facilitate exchanges of student artwork between schools to create connection and appreciation for your students’ diverse talents.
4. Common Lesson Themes
   Coordinate art lessons around common themes or units across both schools and bring in pictures of work-in-progress to inspire.
5. Swap Self-Made Art Supplies
   Try your hand at making art supplies and share them between schools to rate how they work.
6. Common Resource Hub
   Encourage your schools to collectively invest in FLEX Curriculum to digitize and centralize art resources.
7. Joint Art Field Trip
   Plan art field trips to museums, galleries, local businesses, or cultural events and involve students from both schools.
8. Cross-School Art Competition
   Organize a friendly competition between the two schools to boost morale and school spirit while encouraging creativity.
9. Giant Art Show
   Turn your annual art show into a joint event that is double the size and affair, featuring student work from both schools.
10. Cross-School Art Events
    Plan art fairs, themed art days, and other art-focused events that involve students and staff from both schools to advocate for your program.
11. Resident Artist Program
    Bring in artists from the community to visit your schools and share takeaways.
12. Community Art Initiatives
    Learn how to engage in community art initiatives with the Partnering With Your Local Art Community Pack from PRO Learning.

Embracing the challenges that come with teaching at multiple schools is an art form in itself. Hone your practice and curiosity by asking questions. Engage in school events to familiarize yourself with the school cultures and find your place. Stay organized and efficient as you move between art rooms with digital tools and tried and true systems. Unleash your traveling art teacher superpowers by fostering collaboration between schools. This will transform your role into a unifying force that weaves distinct classrooms into one vibrant tapestry of shared artistic expression!

What strategies help you embrace your role as a traveling art teacher?

How do you promote collaboration in your school environments?

The post 4 Tips and 12 Ideas to Help Traveling Art Teachers Who Teach at Multiple Schools appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Harvard Project Zero states the eight studio habits of mind are as follows: 

1. Develop Craft
2. Engage & Persist
3. Envision
4. Express
5. Observe
6. Reflect
7. Stretch & Explore
8. Understand Art Worlds

Establishing these habits develops a classroom culture that values the artistic process. Moreover, students can continue to shape their art process even after completing their artwork. For more about the SHoM with practical application and resources, check out the Studio Habits of Mind in the Elementary Art Room Pack in PRO Learning. Although designed for elementary, it provides helpful overviews of each habit and several activities that will transfer well to high school.

Keep reading to discover 12 activities designed for high school early finishers. These activities will keep students engaged in continuous learning!

1. Construct a sticky note wall of Mini Masterpieces.

Display students’ creativity in a public space on a wall of Mini Masterpieces. Mini Masterpieces are sticky note drawings based on prompts. The smaller size is less daunting for students to draw on. Use provided prompts or adapt them to connect with what students are currently learning in your classroom. In addition, simple drawing prompts can help stimulate art creation and overcome the tendency to overthink. These finished masterpieces may even spark new inspiration for larger projects!

2. Supply students with coloring pages and Finish the Picture worksheets.

Contrary to popular belief, high schoolers love to color! As mentioned above, students often get into the habit of overthinking and then they get stuck. Academic course loads can be overwhelming for secondary students so activities that encourage a flow state are a welcome change of pace. Try coloring pages and Finish the Picture worksheets to spark new inspiration. Connect these activities to your curriculum by requiring specific shading techniques or color schemes. 

3. Recycle scrap paper and old artwork with a bookmark station.

Repurpose old artworks and scrap paper into bookmarks to reduce waste and allow students to create functional art! This activity encourages environmental consciousness and an opportunity to design. Bookmarks also make perfect gifts or inventory for an art club fundraiser. Cultivate positive community connections and donate them to the local library or retirement center.

4. Create a fidget corner or mindful area.

At the elementary level, these areas serve as great calm-down spaces. The good news is that high schoolers enjoy them too! Use a fidget corner as a calm space to work on puzzles or a speed cube, or build with plastic building bricks. Like the coloring page idea above, this area offers students a much-needed mindful moment in their busy academic day.

5. Delegate students to help around the classroom.

Delegate tasks to maintain the studio space and teach students responsibility and teamwork. Many middle school and high school students love to help sort paper, hang artwork, or wash paintbrushes. These tasks promote ownership in the classroom and help complete your to-do list.

6. Select a list of photo prompts.

Use photo prompts as an early finisher activity for mess-free mobile art creation. Just like the Mini Masterpieces drawing prompts above, you can use a pre-made list or adjust it to incorporate the current seasons or holidays. In addition, photo challenges are a fun way to get students’ creativity flowing. Watch the video below for a way to implement and collect photos for a digital scavenger hunt.

7. Collect old magazines for a collage corner.

Dedicate a corner or space to collage creation with piles of old magazines and newspapers. Students can use these materials in their sketchbooks, visual journals, or new artworks. Secondary students love making collages and creating unique juxtapositions with images. For ways to spice up your students’ collage practice, watch The Basics of Collage Pack in PRO Learning. 

8. Add an origami station. 

Magazine paper also makes a great alternative to origami paper because it’s colorful and thin. Students who love to build and work with their hands often love this paper-folding process. Origami not only allows for hands-on exploration but also teaches patience and craftsmanship. Host an ongoing challenge to see who can compose the smallest and largest origami creations!

9. Establish habits of visual journaling.

Visual journaling is a great tool to foster critical thinking skills like analysis, examination, evaluation, and reflection. They are a way to document the art process for secondary-level students’ portfolios. If you teach advanced courses such as AP or IB art, students are most likely required to work on and submit some form of a process portfolio or sketchbook. After an artwork is complete, the remaining class time is a prime opportunity to wrap up incomplete journal pages, add a few more to synthesize learning, and brainstorm fresh ideas for the next artwork!

10. Assemble an inspiration corner.

Put together an inspirational corner of art books, FLEX Curriculum artist bios, and social media trends in the art world. Break the monotony of screens and go old school with a library of physical resources students can flip through and explore. Invite students to contribute to this space to foster a sense of community. When students don’t know where to start on a project, you can also send them to this corner to jumpstart the ideation process.

11. Design a school community grid. 

Use the grid drawing process to create a large-scale community artwork. This approach can be a fun way to include the school community by making portraits of teachers or students of the month. Stylize the portrait to break it down into simple shapes and values that will be straightforward for students to replicate on their own. Break up the portrait into a grid and blow up each individual square before printing. Label the squares and provide corresponding blank squares of paper. Once all of the squares are complete, display the mural for the school community to see! 

12. Encourage collaboration with an interactive community artwork.

Why stop at your school community? Keep the fun going with your local community! Create a large-scale community artwork using white butcher paper. Ask local businesses or organizations if your students can create a custom banner for an upcoming event. Then, draw a large-scale black-and-white line drawing for your students to color. Depending on the event, you can swap this process—your students can create the line drawing design for the community to color in! 

Early finisher activities are a great way for students to embrace the SHoM from the start to finish of class. The activity options provided above can all align with specific learning objectives if needed. Your secondary students may surprise you with their willingness to put down their devices and dive into these activities! However, if you are looking for a small boost of motivation, you can assess the activities with participation, self-assessment rubrics, or extra credit. Make every minute of class count in your art room with plastic building bricks, recycled artwork, pads of sticky notes, AOEU’s complimentary downloads, and more. Once you establish the SHoM in your classroom, your students won’t want to leave!

What are your favorite early finisher activities for the secondary art room?

How do you encourage a learning-centered environment and culture in your classroom? 

The post Unplug with 12 Innovative Early Finisher Activities for the Secondary Art Room appeared first on The Art of Education University.

Art teachers are constantly navigating how to work with students who learn and create at different paces. Developing a system for early finishers in the art room is crucial to making every minute in the art room as creative as possible. Whether you’re looking to refine your existing early finisher system or build it from the ground up, there are a few things to consider. Get started with the ideas below, and for a deeper dive, watch the Methods for Early Finishers Pack in PRO Learning or tune into the YouTube episode of Artfully Organized, featured below.

Streamline your early finisher system to enhance artistic output and learning. Make strategic changes to your approach for a more dynamic and purposeful structure. 

Effective early finisher systems require deliberate planning, ingenuity, and sensitivity to the diverse needs of your budding artists. Implement an approach that balances accessibility, engagement, and time management to nurture student creativity and productivity long after they wrap up an assignment. Optimize your system with the three considerations below.

1. Create a system that is easy to access, explain, and refresh.

Ensure students can readily access the materials and instructions without additional assistance. Keep the setup organized and labeled to allow for independent navigation. Design a system that enables you to easily swap out activities without re-teaching or re-explaining the procedures.

Make your early finisher activities visible, accessible, and manageable with:

• Posters
• Menus
• Stations

2. Add speedbumps to encourage students to spend time on their work.

Incorporate “speedbump” activities into your standard end-of-project procedures to encourage students to invest ample time and effort into their artwork. Students are more likely to spend time on a project if there are extra steps required to check for “quality control” like craftsmanship. 

Ask students to complete one or all of these speedbumps:

• Peer Feedback: Ask a friend what you can do to improve your work.
• Clean Up: You left no trace of your artmaking on the table or floors.
• Writing Assignment: Complete an exit ticket to capture your learning.

3. Provide activities based on the remaining class time to reduce mess and stress.

Tailor your activities to correspond to the amount of time remaining in class. This will ensure students engage meaningfully without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. Offer a standard selection of 3-7-minute, zero-mess activities for shorter time frames. Reserve extended activities with more components for longer periods. Track the minutes left on a visible timer so students know which activities are available.

Add these quick, mess-free early finisher activities to your list:

• Practice upcoming skills with drawing packets.
• Free draw on dry-erase boards to save paper.
• Read a book from the classroom library.

Consider the three aspects above to help you thoughtfully orchestrate a conducive environment for your early finishers. Now that you’ve established an intentional system, it’s time to expand your activity repertoire. 

Make every moment count in your art room with these early finisher activities perfect for elementary students. Nurture ongoing creativity through project extensions, drawing, art enrichment, technology, and creative play.

Project Extensions

1. Add extra steps to the project.
   Experiment with diverse color schemes, unexpected textures, or alternative materials after completing the main task. Plan an extra step for every project.
2. Set up a project with related content.
   Prompt students to create new artwork using the ideas, themes, or techniques they recently discovered. Predetermine the extension project or let students independently explore.
3. Engage artists in a long-term side project.
   Introduce ongoing art endeavors for students to work on at their own pace, such as artist trading cards (see below) or an original comic book. These passion projects engage students in artmaking that interests them.

Drawing

1. Curate drawing prompts.
   Instead of “How to Draw” books, students craft their own creative prompts and organize them by themes in binders for other students to access.
2. Compose structure-free drawings with choice boards.
   Students generate imaginative ideas by pairing prompts with visuals. You can integrate themes from your curriculum.
3. Collect a bag of objects to draw.
   Gather pinecones, shells, sunglasses, geodes, or reflective objects in a bag. Students pull an object from the bag and draw the mystery item.
4. Enhance a contour drawing with string.
   Challenge students to do blind contour drawings of objects or classmates. Glue string over the contour lines.
5. Add a spotlight for shadow drawing.
   Set up a spotlight on the edge of a flat surface. Students place a group of objects in front of it and then trace the shadows of the objects on their page.
6. Print various Roll and Draw sheets.
   Provide a selection of Roll and Draw game sheets to dictate compositions. Include blank game sheets for students to create their own around a theme.
7. Supply Finish the Picture worksheets.
   Give students a drawing sheet with a mark, shape, or partial drawing. Challenge students to incorporate the element into a completely new drawing with a background.
8. Distribute stickers for a Stickermania Draw Fest.
   Supply a sticker sheet with 3-5 medium-size stickers. Add stickers to a sketchbook page and create a background or composition to integrate them.
9. Facilitate optical illusion practice.
   Explore optical illusions with how-to guides. Practice each step to create an illusion. Then, incorporate it into a large design with color and value.
10. Foster collaboration with a school mural.
    Set up a large sheet of paper for students to contribute small drawings or elements. Over time, it will become a unique and evolving artwork. Display it in a prominent spot as a collaborative mural.

Art Enrichment

1. Exchange artist trading cards.
   Design small artist trading cards (ATCs) to swap with peers. Make one to take home or make one to leave for another student!
2. Feed into the folding craze with origami creations.
   Provide origami paper and instructions to create various paper sculptures or animals. Allow students to take their creations home or contribute to a large-scale collaborative piece.
3. Collect stamps to create repetitive designs.
   Set out stamps and ink pads to create designs. Enhance the compositions with color.
4. Experiment with texture plates.
   Introduce texture plates and stencils. Experiment to see how they add depth and visual interest.
5. Create a mood board to describe feelings.
   Identify a specific emotion or theme and represent it with a mood board.  The mood board can be a collage of images, colors, and words.
6. Set up hula hoops for weaving collaborative textiles.
   Transform hula hoops into giant circle looms to collaboratively practice fundamental weaving techniques. Explore how to teach this skill in the Basic Weaving Techniques Pack in PRO Learning.
7. Create friendship bracelets.
   Explore the craft of jewelry making! Design and make unique pieces using beads and string to share with friends.
8. Introduce fashion design with outfits of the day (OOTD.)
   Print appropriate models for students to draw outfits on. Add fabric swatches, ribbons, and sequins for students to cut and paste onto their designs.
9. Engage your students in art history with an Art History Remix.
   Inspire students to replicate famous paintings with a unique interpretation or modern spin.
10. Instill artistic behavior with cleaning tasks.
    Create a list of tasks to choose from to practice responsibility and ownership, both facets of the artistic practice.

Technology

1. Film a stop-motion animation.
   Use materials like paper, scissors, glue, or playdough to create scenes. Snap photographs and compile them into short stop-motion films. Explore stop-motion techniques in FLEX Curriculum’s The Art of Stop-Motion Animation Collection.
2. Simplify animation with interactive flipbooks.
   Supply sticky notes or cut scrap paper to make a flipbook depicting sequences or stories. Students can film their flipbooks to animate their work.
3. Collect props for art history parodies.
   Recreate famous paintings in real-life parodies using available dress-up materials and props. Capture the scene by taking a picture of their reproduction.
4. Introduce coding concepts with pixel art.
   Color in squares on graph paper to create pixelated designs or make a digital version. Discover more basic coding ideas in the Introducing Coding with Art Collection from FLEX Curriculum.
5. Curate YouTube art tutorials for your students.
   Offer a selection of art tutorial videos for students to watch. The Art for Kids Hub is a great channel to start with!
6. Spread positivity with poster messages.
   Design posters with positive messages to explore composition and lettering. Print the posters and hang them in your classroom.
7. Create digital DIY coloring sheets.
   Utilize a drawing app to create personalized digital art coloring sheets. Digitally share designs or print them out!
8. Send on a virtual scavenger hunt.
   Search for artworks matching specific criteria, such as abstract, still life, or contains multiple patterns. For detailed instructions, see the Virtual Scavenger Hunt Lesson in FLEX Curriculum.
9. Snap themed portraits in pairs.
   Provide props and supplies to curate characters and make quick backgrounds. Students collaborate to arrange themed portraits. Document with a photo.
10. Combine gaming and art with PBS Kids Art Games.
    Explore games that integrate artistic thinking, imagination, and creation with various known and loved characters. Learn how to structure this and other activities in the Methods for Early Finishers Pack in PRO Learning.

Creative Play

1. Set up a sensory table or bin.
   Tap into the sensory needs of your youngest learners and open a sensory station. Add sand or rice to give students a tactile, stress-relieving outlet.
2. Provide magnetic shapes for mosaics.
   Create mosaics using magnetic materials to explore patterns and designs.
3. Decorate wooden craft sticks.
   Pre-draw designs on craft sticks. Students match pre-drawn patterns, create their own patterns by arranging the sticks, or draw their own sticks.
4. Explore playdough.
   Provide playdough, rolling pins, wood or plastic clay tools, cookie cutters, and small toys.
5. Paint objects in ROYGBIV colors for a rainbow sort.
   Gather diverse objects of various colors. Students sort them into rainbow sequences to enhance color recognition and organizational skills.
6. Prepare clipboards for beading practice.
   Clamp pipe cleaners onto a clipboard and give students a bucket of assorted beads. String beads on the pipe cleaners to practice fine motor skills.
7. Collect items for found object sculptures.
   Accumulate found objects such as buttons, cardboard scraps, and bottle caps. Construct small sculptures using these items.
8. Create a Makerspace for design challenges.
   Issue challenges to integrate design thinking and pop culture. For five tips on how to set up Makerspace activities, review the Methods for Early Finishers Pack in PRO Learning.
9. Furnish your room with assorted building manipulatives.
   Provide blocks, magnetic tiles, marble run kits, interconnecting pieces, and other similar toys. Students construct and manipulate to foster spatial awareness and critical problem-solving.
10. Stock up on art games and puzzles.
    Introduce games and puzzles for a fun way to reinforce skills like color theory or imaginative drawing.

Restructure your early finisher system and add to your arsenal of activities with the lists of ideas above. In doing so, you will transform spare moments into opportunities for continued artistic exploration in your art room. Long-term side projects, Stickermania Draw Fests, hula hoop weaving, stop-motion animation, and magnetic mosaics all serve as catalysts for deeper creativity and skill development. Establishing an early finisher system will make your classroom run smoother and the artmaking will continue until cleanup. Get ready because you won’t hear the “What do I do now?” question anytime soon!

How do you structure activities for early finishers in your elementary art room?

What new early-finisher activities will you add to your classroom?

The post 46 Early Finisher Activities to Boost Creativity in Your Elementary Art Room appeared first on The Art of Education University.