Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education University, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

I want to do just a fun, quick episode today. We are almost at winter break and honestly, nobody has the time or the attention for an hour-long podcast the week before break. So we’re going to move through things quickly today, and I’m going to ask the question because I want to know what type of winter break teacher are you? I was thinking about this. I was thinking about how everybody deals with winter break a little bit differently, and I came up with three different types of teachers and how they deal with winter break. And they are the overachievers, the relaxation specialists and the creatives. And we’ll talk a little bit more about what makes up each of those types and maybe what you are, so think about that.

But before we get started, before we dive into the three types, a couple of housekeeping items. Number one, no podcast the next two weeks. As everybody’s on winter break, the podcast is going to be taking a break as well. So no episode on December 24th or December 31st, but we’ll be back on January 7th with the January mailbag. So Amanda and I are looking forward to seeing what questions come in and seeing what we can answer for you. So if you have questions, email me timothybogatz@theartofeducation.edu, or email podcasts@theartofeducation.edu. Got a couple of really good ones already, looking for a couple good additional questions and we’re excited to come back with the podcast on January 7th.

Also, in January, we are going to be doing Art Club. This is going to be Thursday, January 9th. And Art Club is part of the AOEU online community, so the Art of Ed Community, and part of that is Art Club, which is a monthly meeting. It’s a meetup where teachers get together and share ideas, learn some fun new tips and tricks, and make a little bit of art too. So our January Art Club is going to have Amanda and me on as guests. We’re going to be making art, we’re going to be doing some drawing. We’re going to be doing some giveaways and talking about the NOW Conference, so you are not going to want to miss the Live Art Club event. It’s going to be held on Thursday, January 9th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central, and you can RSVP and mark your calendar in the Art of Ed Community. And if you are not in the Art of Ed Community, please go join. We want to have you there. We’re doing so many cool things. You can find it at community.theartofeducation.edu. We’ll link to that in the show notes and we’re hoping that we can see you there.

Now, let’s get back to talking winter break. Like I said, I want to know what type of winter break art teacher are you. Are you an overachiever, a relaxation specialist or a creative? And so, this is what I was thinking about with overachievers. The overachievers, and this is not derogatory, I wish I were an overachiever, to be honest, but these are the art teachers who cannot sit still. They can’t relax over break. Like their break is a time for productivity. It is a time for accomplishing things, getting things checked off the list, getting that to-do list done. And so, they might be starting planning for semester two. They might be at school, organizing in their classroom. They might be doing PD hours or courses or workshops or whatever to make them a better teacher. I know some teachers who are writing grants, applying for grants and trying to get art shows set up over break.

They might be looking for new teaching strategies or tools to implement after the break or reading about professional practice. There are a lot of great things that they can be doing to make themselves a better teacher. Now, again, that is not me. I need to take some time off from school when it’s break, but I know there are those people who really want to get things going for themselves. They want to set themselves up for success. In the second semester, they want to really just take that opportunity to get better at what they do. And like I said, props to them and it’s something that I cannot do, but I respect everybody who is doing that.

Type two, this is the relaxation specialist. And so, I’m thinking of those people that are trying to relax, so those are the people who are consciously stepping away from school-related responsibilities. And they’re stepping away from school, they’re focusing on themselves or their home or their family or whatever they are, whatever that may be for them, they are focusing on that. They’re focusing on rest, they’re focusing on rejuvenation.

And so, what does that look like? It could look different for everybody. They could be doing some traveling, whether they’re going on a quick vacation to relax, they’re going to a cabin, they’re going somewhere warm, whatever the case may be. They’re trying to relax, they’re trying to get away from things. And it could be spending time with their family. It could be catching up on Netflix. It could be reading books for enjoyment, something unrelated to art or to teaching. It might be practicing mindfulness or doing some other self-care routines. Maybe it’s hobby time, cooking or puzzles or whatever may be. I was going to say gardening, but it’s winter, so very small percentage of us are doing any gardening. Maybe you’re just out trying to get out in nature, even if it’s cold. Maybe you’re taking walks or getting outside for an exploration of some sort, connecting with nature. And there could be a new skill that they’re trying to come up with, a new hobby that they want to try and they’re finally having the time to do that. Something that helps them get away from school, something that helps them relax.

And so, I think there are a lot of forms that can take my question about relaxation and being an overachiever, is can you balance the two? Because I know there are a lot of people who want to get work done in order to set yourself up for relaxation. Like you want to relax, but there’s something nagging you. There’s that to-do list that needs to be done before you can truly relax. My wife is like this. I’m well familiar with the idea that you got to get those things done, and then you feel better that you can sort of compartmentalize that. You can put that to-do list away once it’s finished and then you can fully relax without having that worry.

And a lot of times, the same way as a teacher, I really like staying a little late on the last day before break or taking a few days before break to kind of prepare. And I would do that to get everything set up for the first day back. Like seriously, everything set up for the first day back. And then once it’s all ready to go, I have my lesson, I have my supplies, I have everything that needs to be done, ready to go to start semester two. And then after that, I do literally nothing. Like I forget that I have a classroom, I forget that I have a job. And then, we put that all away until we go back to school. And then I get back to school, I’m like, “Oh my goodness. Thank you to past me for setting all this up.”

Because you’re just able to relax. You’re able to chill out for a while and then you know that when you go back into school, everything is finished, everything is done. And honestly, it can be a little tough when it’s four o’clock on that last day before break, like break has started. Everybody’s out of there. Everybody’s been gone for a while, and the custodian comes, like, “Hey, hey, what are you still doing here?” And like I said, that stings a little bit, but it’s so worth it to be able to put that away and have a real break, but still be prepared for what’s coming when you get back to school.

All of that being said, we’ve not touched on type number three, our teacher type. Number three are the creatives. I’m thinking of the people who spend their break diving really deep into their own artistic pursuits. And so, maybe they’re working on some small projects, maybe they have a bunch of sketchbook stuff that they want to do. Maybe they’re trying to explore some new media or maybe they’re finishing some long-term projects or some paintings or creations that you’ve been working on for a long time. Maybe doing some winter art shows, or if you have an Etsy shop or an online shop, doing what you need to do to keep that going.

And maybe you’re collaborating with some other artists or doing some community art things, making gifts for friends, making gifts for family or doing a quick sketchbook challenge or trying to dive into that creative habit that you want to get started in the new year. Or one thing that I love to do is just visiting museums, visiting galleries, just because we all love to visit museums, whether it is just to feed your artistic soul, or whether you want some inspiration for what you’re going to create, that’s time well spent. And so I think having that free time that we don’t have during the school year is so nice, and being able to just dive into the creative endeavors that you don’t have time for otherwise and taking advantage of that opportunity is great.

So as I kind of described those and as I think of those, I would love to know like what type of winter break art teacher are you and what type do you wish you could be? Or if you are a creative, are you happy being a creative? Are you happy embracing that time? Or do you wish you could relax a little bit more? Or do you wish you could be a little more productive? I think I’m somebody who really likes to relax. And then after I have done that for a few days, I like to dive into a few creative pursuits. And so, I think I maybe have a foot in both, sort of straddling both worlds there. And so, I’m curious to know what other people’s thoughts are. And I think that might be the case. Like are you part of one? Part of another? Are you somebody who gets all their stuff done as an overachiever and then dives into their artistic pursuits? I think that’s definitely impossible. So I think you could in fact be all three. So I would love to hear from you. Email me if you have some thoughts that you want to share. I think we’re going to start a discussion over on the AOEU community, the Art of Ed Community. So if you want to jump over there and join the discussion, I’m curious to see what people have to say.

And I will also just add the disclaimer. Like none of these types of our teachers are better or worse. They just are. And you may fit multiple. You may not fit any of these. You may approach your break completely different from any of these. And it’s just something that I was curious about, something that I wanted to start a discussion on. Now, I will have a couple of resources in the show notes that can kind of help for anything, if you want to pursue your creativity a little bit more, if you want some help relaxing and stepping away from things, I think that could be good. So we’ll check out maybe some art challenges or some online prompts, if you want to dive into the creativity, maybe some mindfulness ideas or de-stressing routines. We’ll see what we can find, what we can put together. And honestly, if you’re an overachiever, you probably already have your to-do list, you don’t need any suggestions from me, but we’ll put in what we can.

Hey, a couple other things that I was thinking about. I wanted to give book recommendations for a couple of the three types, and I also want to talk about what famous artists are doing and how they may approach their break, so I wanted to explore those a little bit. So again, overachievers, you probably have your book list, you probably have your to-be read, so I’m not going to throw anything at you.

But if you are a relaxation specialist or you want to relax a little bit more, my book suggestion would be a book called The Art of Doing Nothing by Veronique Vienne. And it’s a great exploration of just kind of how to embrace doing nothing, like being idle, being still, and finding the joy in super simple, just those moments in life where you’re not hurried, you’re not feeling like you have to do something. And there are essays on the art of breathing, the art of meditating, the art of bathing, listening, waiting and there are just all kinds of great insights in there and some really practical suggestions for mindfulness and finding contentment in your everyday activities, whether you’re just sitting in a warm spot or sipping a cup of tea or opening a book that you’ve been wanting to read. So just the idea of doing nothing can be an art form in itself, and I think that’s a really worthwhile message. So again, that’s called The Art of Doing Nothing by Veronique Vienne.

Now, if you are a creative, my book recommendation for you is a book called Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory. This came out a while ago, and actually Danny Gregory was a keynote presenter at an old NOW Conference, and he was fantastic. Took us inside his New York City apartment, talked us through his creative day and all of the creative endeavors that he went through throughout the day. And that’s kind of what this book is about, just helping you incorporate creativity into your daily routine. And so, there’s some stuff for beginners, but a lot of the exercise, a lot of the ideas are valid for experienced artists like us, and it really shows you how to find joy in creating every day.

So there’s some humor, there’s some good anecdotes, there are artistic exercises as well. And so, even if you’re just taking a few minutes to draw or sketch or paint or do those things each day, it really helps you get into the idea of being an artist, of being a creative for the break. So getting into those habits is a great thing that you can do while you’re away from school. And I think this book can be motivating. It can give you a little push to, I guess, nurture your creativity, for lack of a better phrase. So just finding a few moments to create can be really worthwhile, and I think that’s good. So again, that is called Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory.

All right, and then two close things out, I had a few ideas of just what different artists, like famous artists would be doing over their break. So I decided to research just a few famous artists. I thought I could find some anecdotes. So just a few for you. Claude Monet in the wintertime, he really liked painting snowy landscapes. That’s probably not a surprise for anybody who knows Monet, but all around Giverny, just seeing how light was affecting the snow or highlighting the frost in the landscape. He loved painting. He’s definitely a creative.

Okay, Georgia O’Keeffe, she was more of a relaxation specialist. She loves nature. If you know anything about Georgia O’Keeffe, you know that she loves nature. She loved to find quiet and solitude. And a lot of times over the holidays, she would just kind of be exploring the deserts. When she was living in New Mexico, she would just kind of explore what was out there, explore nature, and that would kind of inspire some of her paintings, but she loved to get away from things and relax over the holidays.

All right, Frida Kahlo. Again, if you know her, you’re probably not surprised. Lively parties from Frida Kahlo. She loved getting people together, lots of music, lots of conversation, lots of art. So Casa Azul, her home, she’s creating a ton of vibrant work and just creating a vibrant environment for everyone to sort of embrace that joy of the holidays, embrace that creativity.

All right, van Gogh. He spent a lot of the holidays writing letters to his brother Theo. Again, not surprising. But he’d spent a lot of time kind of reflecting on artistic goals. He would be creating a lot of sketches, sending those to Theo. So he seems more of an overachiever, just still writing, still working, still going through things over the holidays. So maybe it’s creative, maybe it’s overachiever, maybe it’s a mix of both.

And then I thought about Dali as well. And of course when it comes to the holidays, Dali’s going surreal. That should not surprise you, either. He would design super eccentric, super elaborate decorations for his home. He would do illustrations, like he would be creative with his work, doing some holiday-themed illustrations and creating some really fun stuff when he was on his holidays. So just a few fun thoughts that I thought I could add to the discussion of what some different artists liked to do over their holidays.

Now, as we wrap things up here, like I said, quick episode, a few reminders for you. We’re going to continue this discussion of what kind of winter break art teacher are you. We’re going to continue that over on the Art of Ed Community. So make sure you come join us, come be part of that discussion and get ready for Art Club at the beginning of January. And if you’re not part of the community yet, community.theartofeducation.edu. We also put it in the show notes. Come join us there. It’s going to be awesome. Next two weeks, we’ll not have anything in the podcast feed. So no episode on the 24th, no episode on the 31st, but Amanda and I will be back January 7th with our mailbag for January.

And then finally, one thing going on over break, the NOW Conference. We have a December 31st deadline for $20 off the NOW Conference registration. So if you’re thinking, oh, I need to sign up for the NOW Conference, I haven’t done that yet, we want you to do that. Do it before the end of the month here in December and you can save $20 off the regular price of the NOW Conference.

All right, congratulations, everyone, on making it to winter break or almost making it to winter break. I know we’re close, but you have put in a semester of dedication and your creativity and your hard work as a teacher have made an impact. We know that you have put a lot into your classroom, and now that we’re going into break, it is time to do something for yourself. So whether you’re planning to relax and recharge, whether you’re going to dive into some personal projects or spend some quality time with the people you love, just remember that you have earned every single minute of this break. So celebrate the season, celebrate yourself in whatever way feels best for you because you deserve it. So a big thank you for everything that you do. So just enjoy this time to the fullest, enjoy your break as much as you can, and know that you are appreciated and know that you are valued.

Art Ed Radio is produced by the Art of Education University with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast so we can join you again. And if you love the show, please jump over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, wherever you listen. Give us a five-star rating and leave us a review. Now, I also said in the episode, we are taking questions for the January mailbag. If you have any questions about what to do after break, how to start a new semester, how to reset your classes after break, anything else along those lines, we would love to hear them. Email timothybogatz@theartofeducation.edu or podcasts@theartofeducation.edu with any questions you may have. We are looking forward to reading them and possibly answering them on our next episode.

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education University, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the October mailbag. We are very excited to have you. Unfortunately, Amanda is not able to record with me this month, but we have Janet Taylor with us, familiar voice on the podcast, frequent guest. Janet, how are you?

Hey, Tim. I am doing pretty good. How are you?

Good. I am great. Well, I’m always excited to record mailbag episodes. These are my favorite. I do want to say we got a bunch of new listeners now that the school year started. With the September episode and a few people wrote in and we’re just like, “Hey, the podcast is great. Who are you?” And so I thought that we should probably begin by introducing ourselves. So just really quickly, for those of you who are new to this podcast, my name is Tim Bogatz. I am a longtime art teacher. I did some elementary art, I did a lot of secondary art, and then I’ve worked for the Art of Education University for the past eight years, full-time, doing all sorts of cool things, including the NOW conference and this podcast every single week. So Janet, can you give us a quick introduction and tell us who you are please?

Sure. So I’m Janet Taylor, and I am a high school teacher in the western suburbs of Chicago. I have taught pretty much any different course that there is, different media or whatever, but mostly teach jewelry metals, and ceramics right now and AP. And I came by AOEU like, what was that, 2019? So it’s been like five years. That’s crazy to think-

It is that’s awesome.

Five years. Part time. So I’m the K-12 content specialist with the community engagement team as well.

Yeah, very cool. And you’ve been all over the podcast. We’ve done so many things together. So I know your voice is familiar to a lot of people, but before you host a mailbag episode, I need to ask you, are you good at gardening?

I’ve always been waiting to be asked that actually. No, I’m, what is gardening after? Okay. I am a terrible, terrible gardener, actually. I feel like every year I really want to be a good gardener. We plant vegetables and I’m really good at killing everything. In fact-

That’s okay.

… In fact, yeah, my neighbor around the corner was doing a fundraiser and I bought mums. I thought, okay, it’s October, or it’s almost October, so we should probably get some little yellow buds going, a little bit longer to feel. And my husband picked him up and said, “Are you sure you want to give up these?” And she’s like, “Well, why? All you have to do is water them once a day.” And he’s like, “You know you are sending them to their death by sending them over to us.” I was like, “How dare you say that?” But it’s so true. Sad.

Oh, that’s funny. No, I just feel like Amanda and I talk about our gardens to the point of annoying some of our listeners, but as Amanda said, you’re in charge of your own destiny. You can hit the fast-forward button, but I will spare everyone any gardening talk, but things are going well for me, I will say. Our big thing that we need to talk about though, before we actually open up the mailbag is Amanda kind of teased this in the last mailbag episode at the beginning of September, and then last week I had generally been on the podcast to introduce the Art of Ed community. And I would just say we are very, very excited about it. We’ve been working on it forever. How long, Janet? How long has this been?

Like a year and a half. It feels like it’s been like five years,

But we’re so excited that it has actually launched, as Amanda’s been calling it, your new favorite place on the internet, a community for art teachers to get together and do all sorts of amazing interactions. So we’ve sent out a lot of communication about it, but in case you haven’t heard, I’m going to do a quick synopsis and then Janet, I would love to get your opinion as well.

So the Art of Ed community, it’s a best way to say, it, is a dedicated online space for our teachers to come together and hang out with other art teachers. And you can ask questions, answer questions, give and receive support. We have daily polls, daily questions, we have monthly events so people can get together live online to learn new things and to make some art. I think I talked about this a little bit with Jen last week, but it’s like all the best parts of social media all in one spot without a lot of the headaches and a lot of the annoyances that come with social media. And I think that’s been a really sort of refreshing experience. So Janet, what has it been like for you since the community has launched?

It’s refreshing, I have to say, right? I just noticed the other day I was scrolling through some social media. It’s just so much spam now, and I’m always just trying to get to the good stuff. I’m like, no, no, no. I want to get my questions answered. I want to talk to my community, my people, and it’s hard to sift through it. So I’m really excited because our community is truly that. You just go in, everybody’s so welcoming and warm and just really wonderful positive space, which gosh, we all really need a lot of that right now. You know?

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, so I’ve really been enjoying that as well. I also wanted to ask you though, before we open up the mailbag, how is the school year going for you? I mean, we’re what, six weeks in for a lot of us? I don’t know, are you a month in now, but how are things for you?

Yeah, so I am a little over a month in, which is crazy because I mean, I keep asking myself, it’s like got to be winter break by now, right? I literally walked into the building the other day and there was the teacher that I didn’t even know. I was like, “Oh, I really like your outfit today.” And she’s like, “Yeah, man, I’m so tired.” And I was like, “Really?” She goes, Yeah, we been teaching for seven months already? I was like, “It’s not just me. Okay, okay.” Yeah. So it’s going pretty well. Okay, so a little bit fun note. My daughter is a freshman, not at my school, but her other school, whatever. But she’s a freshman this year, and so I feel like very particularly attentive to those little babies.

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.

I feel like I’m experiencing her freshman year, even though I’m not even around just watching these freshmen walk around.

Watching what they do. Yes.

So it is interesting being a parent and having that kind of experience again. But so my classes are going really well. I’m pretty excited about them. Actually, my day goes, I feel really good. I feel happy and excited to be there, which is a great feeling. Last year, one of our ceramics teacher, amazing ceramics teacher, she retired. And so this year some of her students came over to me and were like, “Can you please continue Clay Club?” And I was like-

Clay Club. That sounds amazing. I mean, I love the alliteration as everybody knows.

I know.

It just sounds like so much fun to come to Clay Club.

I know. I was like, I’m not doing a club, I’m not going to do a club. I don’t have time to do a club. And then they were like, “Please Mrs. Taylor.” And I’m like, “Okay, okay, okay, all right, fine, fine.” But I was like, “You two have to be the leaders.” And it’s just been like, oh my gosh, we had two Clay Club meetings and it’s just like packed. Everybody wants to play with it, but okay, I have to tell you about this really cool activity that they did.

So the first day they wanted, so again, I said to these two leaders, I said, “You guys have to plan things, I’ll help you, whatever.” And they totally brought it. So they brought this activity called the Fortune cookie activity, and I think she literally just made it up. She saw these porcelain fortune cookies on Pinterest something, right?

And she’s like, “Oh my gosh, this would be such a good idea if we can teach them about the stages of clay and how clay will dry out and it’ll be brittle, be bone dry.” And I was like, “Okay.” So she said, “The first day we’re going to all do little fortune cookies and write little fortunes and put them in the cookies and then we’ll put them out to dry. And then the next week when we come back, we’ll open up the fortune cookies, pass them around.” And oh my gosh, it was the best activity ever. I’m like, these two leaders are going to be art teachers. They’re going to be art teachers. Yeah. So it was really, really great.

Important question. Have you posted about this activity?

Okay. Yes I did. I made a little reel about it. And here’s the funny part. Okay, usually my stuff gets two views. No, I’m just kidding. It’s like a couple hundred or whatever. I have a small following, whatever. It’s very tiny. I’m not one of those amazing elementary teachers who are viral every time they post something, right?

Yeah.

And so all of a sudden on Instagram, I got this notification that was like, your post has gotten a lot of views, and I look and it’s like at 2,000 views within 24 hours. And I was like, am I viral? Did I go viral? I literally had to go on Google and look up what does it take to be to go viral? What does that actually mean? I’ll just like to admit for those of people that are my age, I did not go viral with it.

I feel like if you have to Google search, am I going viral? You’re probably not.

Probably not. Yeah.

I like it. But still, we can link to your Instagram in case anybody wants to find what you’ve posted about.

I love it. Thank you. But I just have to say that’s twice now in the podcast. We haven’t even talked about the good stuff yet. Twice now, I feel like I’ve been outed for my gardening skills and now my ability to know what going viral really means.

Well, I was just going to say, you’re doing a great job subbing in for Amanda because we are 11 minutes in and still have not gotten to the first question. So I feel like we’re doing great.

Okay, good.

That being said, we do need to get to some questions. So the official sound is going to play after I say let’s open up the mailbag. Okay. First question, this comes from Trevor in Nebraska and the subject line, which is perfect, which is why I asked you, it says, “A teaching question for your gardening podcast.” Which just made me laugh really hard when that came into the email. So I told Amanda, I feel like we’ve been successful with our gardening talk.

There you go.

Trevor’s question is what should I do with a student teacher or practicum student? I feel like teachers are never taught what to do with a student teacher. They’re given a few rubrics and tasks the student teacher is to complete before the end of the semester, and that’s about it. What is the key things a mentor teacher should do to best prepare their student teacher?

Wow, that’s such a good question and even a better subject line. Okay, so this one is so good, Tim. I have to say it’s been on my mind for quite a while, and I don’t think I told you this, but I was thinking that we should do an entire episode just on this instead of what do new teachers need to know? It’ll be like, what do new teacher mentors need to know?

That’s good. Yes. Tack it on to our miniseries.

Let’s add it to the list. All right.

I’m not thrilled about that much work, but I’ll admit when I read this question and I even replied to Trevor, I was like, “This could be its own episode.” So yeah, there’s lots to chat about. So can I share just a couple ideas.

Please.

So I think the biggest things to think about at first, and I have some other ideas I want to share too, because Francisco Matas a couple years ago at the NOW conference, put together a great presentation about how to set your student teachers up for success. So I’ll reference back to him in a bit, but my first idea that I want to chat about biggest thing is just to prep your classroom and prep your students, make sure everything is organized, make sure you explain your routines and procedures and just kind of share what’s happening in the classroom and make sure you can share why you do those things in your classroom with your student teacher. Not only the what, but the why. And I think preparing your students as well and just, “Hey, we’re going to have somebody coming in. This is what it’s going to look like.” And just make sure that they’re prepped. So it’s not a huge surprise when when the student teacher is starting to help or starting to co-teach or starting to actually teach or take things over.

And I think it’s important to lay out the process where you begin with your student teacher or practicum student observing and just seeing and learning the what and the why. And then we’ve talked before about the gradual release of responsibility where they’re slowly taking on more things. We talk about it in terms of curriculum or instruction a lot of time, but it works for student teachers as well as they slowly take on more responsibility and slowly take on more of the teaching. But I think it’s super important. I’d say one thing that you can do to best prepare them for teaching is figuring out not only what the student teacher wants to teach, but what they want to get out of the experience. And so if you have some time to talk to them about what their goals are, what they want to learn, what they want to do coming in, make sure that you get on the same page with them, then I think that’s going to set them up for success and give them some of the tools they need to have a positive experience. So Janet your thoughts?

Yeah, totally. So I think what do they want to teach is just a really good question. I worked with student art teachers as a supervisor for a year at a university.

Oh my gosh, I forgot about that.

Yes, I did too. I was like, oh yeah, that was back into the classroom I go. So what was cool about that experience, especially for me was going around to seeing all the students in different schools like elementary, and middle school, and high school and getting to see what their mentor teachers did and didn’t do with their student teachers. That was really interesting to see how that went. But I have to say, a lot of what you do with your student teacher really depends on that student teacher. You know?

Yeah. That’s a great point.

For me, this is my second career. So I think I had already spent my good 10 years in another career, and so I think I came with a different skill set, for example. So walking the classroom is very different for me. I might need to focus on different things than right out of college, out of undergrad, 22-year-old. So that really depends, or maybe if they have an really strong art background or whatever. But I would say, in that first part, when you were talking about the graduate release and the observation, sometimes I think mentor teachers don’t really know what you do with the observation, you know?

Yeah.

Sitting there and what they, and I think student teachers don’t know what am I looking for, what am I supposed to be paying attention to?

As Trevor said, there’s just a checklist and checklist observe.

Done. So I think when it comes to that, a great opportunity for you to do is maybe provide some questions to them as you’re even a little piece of paper or something that they can take notes on while you’re teaching a lesson. Why do you think I did that? Do you think it went well? What did you notice about the student’s response? And then those usually create really great organic conversations around like, oh, I saw so-and-so was having an issue or struggling with this. Oh yeah, how do we help that kid? Or that kind of stuff. And those are the things that really help new teachers. Right?

Yeah.

And then once they get into that kind of place of actually teaching, I think it’s really hard as a teacher to let go of your classroom and let go of your curriculum and trust that, that student teacher is going to do right and by you. And sometimes you have to just let go and be like, “Yeah, they might not have a great lesson, but I think it’s really important for them to try.” Right?

Right.

I know even in my course team, if I have the same lesson as somebody else, I often have to change the materials because teaching it is so different for me and it feels really inauthentic and it’s hard for me to teach something that’s not mine. So I think it’s really important for them to be able to try that out and then taking time to really reflect on that. I think student teaching is a lot, it’s a lot of brain work really. It’s just a lot of reflection, a lot of thinking about what worked, what didn’t work, why? That kind of thing.

The other thing that I wanted to mention too before I forget, is as they’re working through a lesson preemptively, a really great thing to do with your student teacher is to bring up things ahead of time. Hey, what do you think about the materials? How are you going to distribute materials, for example? Asking them those questions ahead of time, but coming from a place of curiosity so that they’re figuring it out as opposed to, I think a lot of times as a veteran teacher, we want to just give them the information you want to impart… I mean, I’m guilty of that. I just want to give you all the things I can.

Right. Right.

Right. And so oftentimes it’s like, oh, you should do this or you should do that. And instead you should really… Now, now I’m saying that, instead, you should. You know? Really ask or offer questions that they can figure it out what’s going to work best for them.

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I think that’s important to let them figure it out for themselves. Let them learn on their own rather than you just imparting that knowledge. I think that’s good. I want to ask you too, what do you think, let’s say they are going to present a lesson, you’re letting them try a lesson and you are pretty sure it’s going to fail spectacularly. What is your reaction to that? How do you deal with that?

It’s making me feel anxious just thinking about that, right? It’s so hard to just watch that happen, but I mean, I think it’s kind of that fine line of teetering on letting them figure it out because that’s how you learn best. But obviously, if they’re going to do something that’s off the wall and kids are going to be throwing pain at each other or cutting their fingers with an X-ACTO knife because they don’t know how to do… You know what I’m saying?

Yeah. Yeah.

Right. That’s not really a fine line. I think that’s a pretty clear line.

Right. Right.

On the failure scale. But I think sometimes it’s like, okay, you can see that maybe something’s not going to work out. You ask the questions, they haven’t maybe figured that out ahead of time. So let’s go back to the materials distribution question. So the kids don’t know how to get materials. It took forever, things happen, right?

And then they didn’t even get through the lesson and kids are talking or whatever, because now they’re disengaged or unengaged or whatever. So after that period, that’s a great time to say, “Okay, so what do you think went well? What do you think didn’t?” And then “Let’s problem solve together. Maybe next time try this.” And then hopefully they’ll have another opportunity pretty quickly to reteach that lesson and try it. And then you can reflect on that. “Okay, so did that work better for you? Did this feel okay?” I mean, I don’t know. I just think we all know that learning we do best by failing and figuring it out as opposed to being told everything, right?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I was just going to say there, like you said, there’s a line between letting them fail in a way that helps them learn or just letting them fail, period. And so you need to kind of be aware of that. But I think there is a lot of opportunity for reflection there. Nothing’s going to go perfectly, and I would say as often as you can take advantage of those opportunities.

And then just one last thought to close out this question. I mentioned Francisco Matas. He had that NOW presentation and the four steps he said to set your student teacher up for success was the number one, establish the relationship. Like I said, figure out what they want to get out of the experience.

Number two, get ready to let go. As you and I both said, it’s tough to give up control or to give up parts of your curriculum, but it’s something that you need to do.

Number three says, let them do the heavy lifting, but you still need to support them. Let them do their thing, let them know what teaching is all about, but you’re still there to help. You’re still there to support.

And then number four, creating closure. Just all of those reflection things that we just talked about and what you can learn from them.

So if anybody wants to dive a little bit deeper into that, I will put in the show notes a link to his presentation from a few years back. And it’s a really good one. So if this is of interest to you, then you can definitely check it out.

All right, Janet, our next question is from Jeff in Iowa and just says, “What suggestions do you have for lessons for students who don’t want to be in art class? I have one class with only about 20 kids, but it’s all students who are signed up for the class, not by choice. I haven’t found anything yet that gets them excited about art. What do you say?”

So Janet thoughts on what you can do for students who maybe didn’t choose art class but are in art class anyway, how do you get them engaged?

Yeah, so I guess I kind would be questioning what’s their MO, right? Why aren’t they excited about art? So are they feeling uncomfortable about making art? Maybe they didn’t have a really good experience in the past, or maybe they equate art only with drawing, technical drawing, like we’ve talked prior.

Yeah, so many kids are in that boat. Drawing realistically or nothing at all.

I’m not a good drawer, so forget it. I’m not good at art. It’s like what? Or maybe they’re like, oh, I’m too cool. I don’t want to look like I am good at this. You know what I mean? I don’t know.

Can’t be seen trying hard. That would be-

God forbid, right? So I think I kind of look at that perspective and think, okay, what’s that? So my tips would be to get to know them personally, try to understand what it is that they’re interested in, what’s cool at that age group. So I don’t know if that’s middle school or high school. It kind of sounds more like high school or whatever, but obviously, as we just noted that I’m not cool, or hip with what’s happening in high school, but that’s fine. People love me anyway. No, I’m just kidding. Okay. So I’d say that’s a big part of it. And then from there, kind of branching out from there. So small bite-sized, low-risk art activities, like fun challenges, introducing them to things that are not specifically long-term technical drawing projects that’s going to kill it fast, I think. And then creating a really fun community culture. So I think some things like that could be partner challenges or experiences using fun materials that don’t carry that judgment weight. Instead of doing drawing, doing collage where you’re tearing the paper only. Or you’re taping a marker to your elbow and drawing with a partner or that kind of thing. Or trying some monoprinting that is messy and really low expectation because it’s not something necessarily representational.

And it was funny, Jen Leban and I were just talking about this at the community, we had an open studio time, which was really fun. And I’m trying to remember if her husband Todd had asked about this or something, but we were talking about it and I was like, “I feel like kids are just really excited to use other materials like Shrinky Dinks or just different hands-on stuff like clay.” And she’s like, “Yeah, well you know Janet that digital tools can still be really cool because not every kid has those necessarily those type of tools or experiences at home.” So anything that they don’t have access to feels novel and exciting to them.

And then lastly, I’d say if you were, so again, if you’re using more traditional materials, trying to make it more functional or relatable, so you could do a phone stand or I’ve had students have done little speaker things for their phones or whatever, or my kids love Shrinky Dinks, make the keychain, make it functional that they can put on their backpack. Or if you’re like my daughter going to Homecoming this weekend digital poster for asking a date to Homecoming,

Oh my God.

What could motivate them more? I’m not sure. I’m not sure.

Oh, I love it. I was just going to say though, just to kind of carry on with that idea of giving them opportunities that they maybe don’t have other places, I think that’s a big key. Whether that is building something with clay or just cool processes like the monoprinting that you had mentioned, or digital art or whatever else. I would say just pull out all the creative lessons, creative materials that you think might work for them and just keep trying things and something will eventually pique their interest and it may not be what you expect, maybe something that surprises you, but I would just say try as many different things as you can. You don’t need to go super in depth with any lessons. Like you said, Janet, just the bite-sized art activities, as I think you said, just let them kind of try it out and something’s going to click eventually. So I would say just be patient and be willing to experiment and you will find something that will get them motivated.

Can I share two resources too, that might help?

Please do.

Okay. So if you are a pro subscriber, we do have a great pro pack called Motivating Reluctant students. I think that’s a great one to access. And then if you’re looking for some kind of out of the box materials to get them excited about it, I wrote an article a while back, I’m trying to remember the title of it. It’s like magical. I’m sure it’s got some alliteration in it, but it’s like Magical Media for the Classroom or something like that.

Okay.

Yeah, we’ll link that here too, but it’s-

Okay I will make sure I find that and link that one.

Yeah, I think paper making, things like that, right? Just all those things that we forget about, I feel like you know?

Yeah, no, I think that’s great. And there are a lot of ideas out there and the more time you spend researching, the more ideas you’ll get and I think we can definitely find something that will help for that situation.

Our next question is from Diane in Massachusetts and Diane says, “It’s late September and my supply order is still not come in.” That’s rough. Diane says, “I have pencils and some old markers and that’s literally it. I will take any suggestions you have for lessons with pencils only.”

Okay, I’m laughing with you, not at you because I feel this pain so deeply, right? I swear speaking from a teacher right now, myself, who put in a supply order over the summer and things keep being backordered, backordered, backordered so you just never know when it is coming. It’s the worst feeling.

Yeah, agreed.

Okay, so I hate to even bring this up, Tim, but remember when we were in this little thing called a pandemic?

Oh, yes.

I’m so sorry to say that word. But there are actually surprisingly a big number of resources where you basically don’t have to use anything more than a pencil. And so one of those Saria Krajewski had written an article literally called What to Do When You’ve Only Got a Pencil and Paper or, so I’ll put that in the show notes as well. That one’s great because it talks about all types of mark making the basics of hatching, cross-hatching know scumbling, etc., and then having students come up with their own types of techniques. And name me, I have a contest, that kind of stuff. But there’s other things that you can do besides just drawing too. And I am just going to name a couple things that I thought of. So one is if you have markers, like you mentioned, you could also put them in water and turn them into watercolor paints.

I know that might be different if you don’t have brushes, but there’s just ways to use watercolor in a lot of fun ways. So there’s that. But also as somebody who teaches mostly 3D now I’m going to say your paper turns into really great 3D sculptures. So even if you just have paper, you could even do it in preparation for drawing exercises, like tearing up the paper and strips and turning them into a word like standing upright and then using light sources and taking photos or doing some fun origami or I love zines. So anyway, fold up your paper and use it in different ways.

And then I’m not sure what the age is here about the question, but maybe an actual good use of phones. I hate to say that too, out loud. You could do some scavenger hunts, right? There’s a ton out there as well for that of different prompts and things like that we’ve provided through the years too, so you don’t have to be stuck with just paper and pencil because like I said, you just never know. It could be December before you get your order, but hopefully it’ll be tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll be tomorrow.

Diane does not want to hear that, Janet.

I’m sorry.

No, I was just going to say I appreciate your creativity there because I was just jotting down a list of projects and they’re all drawings, so anyway-

Okay, good. That’s better.

… But honestly, when I was in college, I had drawing 1 and then drawing 2 and all of semester one, all of drawing 1 was just done in black and white media. It’s not unheard of to go through and just do a bunch of drawing for a semester if you need. I think that’s okay, but a quick list of thoughts and list of things that I’ve done before. Obviously not comprehensive, but can maybe give you some ideas to get started. Still life with one object, still life with multiple objects, translucent objects, transparent objects, reflective objects, all good drawing challenges. Portraits are always good. Self-portraits are always good. Portraits of your pets or other animals, always fun as well.

That’s a big one actually. Yeah, pet portraits, biggie.

Yeah, kids love it. Kids love it. Doing just studies of facial features, doing studies of anatomy, going outside, drawing plants, going outside, drawing trees, any of those things work really well. If you want something really in depth, you can do a grid drawing or a transfer drawing. Try and learn about photorealism. One artist that a ton of people don’t know about. But one of the best photorealists I know is actually from Omaha where I live. His name is Kent Bellows, and if you look up Kent Bellows, he does just incredible graphite work as well as colored pencil work. But my kids are fascinated by seeing his stuff. It’s just absolutely incredible photorealism. So if you’re looking to do something in-depth, that might be a good starting point for your graphite drawing. Anyway, hopefully that can give you a few ideas, Diane and can get you on the road to getting things figured out until your supplies come in.

Next question is from Casey, and Casey says, “This is my first year of teaching. Thank you so much for the podcast and all of the resources. I’ve been listening to as many episodes as I can, and it has been really helpful. My question is what to do about elementary students who won’t stop asking, am I done yet?”

Is it just elementary? Are we just talking elementary here? Okay.

She said, “I heard people joke about it before I started teaching, but it’s so much worse than I thought. How do you get them to stop asking?”

Janet, thoughts on this one?

First of all, congrats Casey to your first year of teaching. That’s so exciting. And welcome to the world of, am I done yet? That will not stop. Okay. Okay. So this is kind of funny actually, because we were just talking about this in the community under, I had posted a poll of what are your art teacher pet peeves? I think it came up a few times, like 10 or 12 maybe. I’m not sure.

Wait, what did you put down for your pet peeve? I don’t remember from the discussion.

Oh, what did I say? I have,-

I said mine was side conversations, kids talking when I’m trying to talk, I cannot handle that.

Oh, I think that was actually mine too. I think I posted that because the question, because it was literally happening to me and I was like, this is my pet peeve. Okay, what are everybody else’s pet peeves?

Good conversation piece. I like it.

Oh my gosh. Oh, yeah. I was a little bit nervous actually, that people would go down the rabbit hole of negativity. I’m not kidding. This is the most positive community. I’m not just saying this. I was like, wow, this is really great. Yeah.

I love it, I love it.

And people had a lot of suggestions also on how to curb those pet peeves, so I appreciated that.

Okay, good. That’s helpful. Okay, so let’s help Casey. How do we curb am I done yet questions?

Do you want to go first?

Yeah, I can. I can. So I actually learned this from when I was doing elementary art. I was traveling from classroom to classroom and I had a classroom teacher actually helped me with this and she talked me through it and she wanted me to, going back to the reflection piece, figuring out why they’re asking. And there are a few different ways or reasons that kids might be asking. It might be just approval. They want your approval, they want some praise, and it’s really good to turn that question around and say, “Hey, what do you think? Do you think you’re done? Or what do you think you could do better?” And just let them kind of figure out if they aren’t actually done yet. Second reason might be they just want to be done working on it, which is fine. Some kids are like that, don’t love it if they’ve rushed through it.

And so then you maybe think about what can you compliment about the drawing? I really liked how you did X, Y, and Z. Can we work a little bit more on that? How can you get them to put a little more effort or a little bit more time? And a lot of times with elementary kids just complimenting a certain part and seeing if we can get more things like that can be really helpful there. They might be asking, am I done yet? Because they just want it to be excellent. They might be an achiever or an overachiever. And so if you have a rubric that shows them this is what we’re looking for with this project or just talking through what the goals for the project are, then you can do that, go through that with them, but also remind them, “Hey, your opinion is the one that matters.” And so let them figure out what they think about it, whether they think it’s excellent, whether they want to improve anything and just see how they feel things.

And sometimes kids are just asking because they need some attention, which is fine, but also I can’t handle too much of that. And so I usually would send them the always popular ask three, then me and just get other opinions. And I think that can be really helpful to redirect. And if they keep coming back too many times, it’s okay to shut them down. It’s okay to say, “Hey, I’ve already helped you with this, I’ve already answered this. I have a lot of other students who need my help too.” And then redirect them to go work on whatever they need to do and just kind of move on with things, but don’t let them keep coming back over and over again.

So anyway, just a few thoughts there on why they might be asking and what you can do with them. So Janet, other thoughts? I guess? I mean, you are in high school, so I don’t know, but you just mentioned you do get this question still, so you want to add on whatever thoughts you have?

Yeah, well, I mean think your points are really great, that is kind of how I feel a lot of times too of when they ask me, am I done yet or am I done with this? I almost always put it back on them and ask them the questions about their work, right? I don’t know, like you said, I don’t know are you? What do you think of that? But I think sometimes too when you said maybe here’s some suggestions or whatever, I oftentimes will tell my students, “Okay, this is really great, and also here are some other ideas.” I’m just thinking I oftentimes I’m like, “I don’t know, I’m kind of coming up with this on the top of my head. You could try this or you could try that.” And just kind of come up with a bunch of different ideas. And you could see sometimes their gears turning then it’s like they just didn’t know what else they could do. Right?

Yep.

And I always say to them, “I don’t know, you don’t have to use any of that. You could use none of it. You could be done.” But just kind of getting them to think in a different way sometimes helps them get further. But again, I teach high school, so it’s a little different, but I think this is also a great time to pause. So when kids are coming up to you all the time saying that, or you notice it more frequently, you can pause the class and be like, okay, and do a little mini lesson or discussion about like, oh my gosh, everybody’s asking me is this finished? But I’m curious, how do we know when an artwork is finished? I mean, I just talked to my students about this. How do you know when it’s finished? I’m not sure. Sometimes I don’t know when my work is finished.

Talking about what craftsmanship is, because I think that’s really difficult to quantify of saying, what does that actually look like to take your… I asked my kids, “What is craftsmanship?” They’re like, “Putting in effort.” I’m like, “What does that mean? What does that look like?” And it’s a real stumper, but even the littles they know they will say, talking about paying close attention to detail or drawing neatly or whatever it is, right?

Mm-hmm.

But part of that talk then, becomes like, well, it takes us a while to actually do that. So if we’re slow down, so if you’re coming up and asking me this right after I just gave instruction, am I done? Then you need to think, probably not. Sit back down and work a little bit more. I also like to give some of my students a checklist of what to make sure that they’ve done before they can come and ask me. Whether it’s the rubric or it’s just like these three things need to be done. Did you do this? Did you do that? Did you shade it nicely? Do you see areas, spaces that are not shaded or whatever? That kind of thing.

And then another thing, sometimes students finish really fast and you know it should take them a long time. I mean, I think that’s one of the bigger problems. And so sometimes just breaking that project into smaller chunks so that each of those little sections of instructions takes shorter time, but they know that they have a checkpoint where they can… Before they move on to the next thing. And so that kind of builds that stamina or that resilience to actually focus for an extended period of time to create the artwork that is more significant. Right?

Yeah, that’s a really good point. So yeah, something that I had not considered, but yeah, I like that a lot. Cool. All right, our final question is from Trish. And Trish says, “I teach art K-12 in a tiny little school with very small classes. I try to critique with my middle school students and they did not want to speak up at all. I want to try again, but I’m not sure what I should change. I’m also going to try with my upperclassmen soon too. What advice do you have about getting students to talk during a critique?” Okay, I have a few ideas. Is it okay if I answer this first, Janet?

Please do.

All right. I would say just like anything else you’re trying to teach in the art room, critiques are something you need to build up to. You need to scaffold this. And speaking in front of a group can be incredibly intimidating. Even more so if you are a middle schooler, that’s a tough age to get people to talk in front of everybody. And if you have a small class, a small group, that can be even worse. So there are some things you can do to kind of ease into that. And I would say my first idea would be to do a written critique. You don’t need to make them talk. If you’re just starting out, you can do it asynchronously. You can have the kids write or give suggestions on sticky notes. Put those sticky notes next to the artworks or on the artworks. Or you can have students leave their artwork at their desk, put a piece of paper next to it and have them rotate around the room and leave comments or leave suggestions.

And another idea, you can make them talk, but not about their artwork necessarily. And you can practice on famous artworks or famous artists that you’re looking at in class, show them a piece of your own artwork. This is what I created. What do y’all think? Let’s talk about this. Or you can have them swap classes, talk about a different class’s artwork. So it can be a little bit different. Not quite as much pressure if they’re not talking about their own work or their friend’s work who are right there with them. And if you do talk about a different class’s work, take some notes on that and share them back with that other class. And that’s a good way to connect things between classes. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just addressing the elephant in the room and just say, “Hey, this is uncomfortable. It’s not easy to talk about your art. It’s not easy to talk in front of people, but we’re going to do it together and it’s something that we can all do together.” And just lead the way with that. And if you can slowly build up to that, then it’s something that, like I said, a skill that you can build.

And I was going to say we have a ton of resources on fun critiques, different critiques, different approaches to critiques. So we’ll link a few of them in the show notes if you’re just looking for some different ideas or looking for something that might work for your students in particular. So Janet, your thoughts please?

Yeah, well scaffolding is a hundred percent true. There is just nothing worse than starting a critique and then just having crickets. It just feels so-

That’s terrible for everybody. It’s bad for you as a teacher, it’s terrible for them as students. No, nobody wants that.

Yes, totally. So I think a big part of that is that they don’t even know what to say because it’s too big of an ask. I always look at when you’re questioning or asking students to talk at all, regardless of a critique or anything, sometimes I’m in class and I’m like ask them a very yes or no, black and white question. And it’s like crickets. I’m like, is my ask really that big? I’m not sure. Do you have a pair of scissors in front of you? Yes or no? Just tell me. When it comes to critique, it is, that’s a big broad statement to just come up with something to talk about it. And so building that kind of ability to articulate or know how to ask or give feedback is a big thing. So I don’t even do end of unit critiques anymore. I really just focus on the process feedback because I also want my students to know that those critique, the information that you’re getting is supposed to help you get better at what you’re working on in progress. Right? So-

Can I interrupt you real quick there? Yeah. Just because I think that’s an important point is it’s good to give something for kids to walk away with at that critique, something to do on their artwork, some actionable item there with the critique. So we’re not just awkwardly sitting around talking and then be like, okay, thanks everybody. It’s good for it to be productive and give them a direction or some assistance with what they’re creating or what their process, the direction that it’s going. So anyway, sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.

No, no, that’s exactly… So you can start even at the planning phase. So kids are just drawing little tiny sketches for their ideas and then have actual little critiques then. So it’s really low risk. Nobody has even put effort into making an artwork. So it feels really low risk there because it doesn’t really matter yet. So even just asking which one do you think is the strongest little sketch? You know?

Yeah.

And then why? I feel like it’s a lot more approachable than giving feedback on a finished work that somebody’s worked on for three weeks. You know?

Absolutely.

And then also in the scaffolding front too, of providing maybe one to three very specific prompting questions. One question even or one thing. And maybe you’re working on a still life, for example. And so the question could be like, can you identify the focal point? What is the focal point? And why are you saying that’s the focal point? If the audience, the responding students, even if… You had mentioned sticky notes, I use them constantly, right? It’s so much more chill. You know?

Yes. Yes.

Or I said it was the apple, but you as the artist are like, no, no, it’s the giant head on the side of the… Or whatever it is. And so then, okay, now how can we fix that? And that’s helpful.

And then sometimes I think artists will feel a little uncomfortable sharing a work in progress because they don’t want to be told like, “Oh, well you should do this.” And then the artists, when they’re having these conversations, I have this all the time with my students, will be like, “But I’m not done yet.” “Oh yeah, I was going to do that.” “Oh yeah, but you don’t understand.” And so what I have my students do is ask a specific question that they particularly want feedback on. So they don’t want feedback on the whole thing. Or they might say, “No, I am open to any suggestions.” And that puts it on them. Or they could say, “No, I’m asking in this area, should I be doing the mark making with oil pastel? Does it work? Do you like it? Why not?” So then it’s just targeting that area and then they don’t feel like the rest of their decision making is compromised by the feedback. You know?

So just quick, small, I think not making them feel so important in a way, they’re still formal. They can still be formal but not feel so risky. I think it helps take that pressure off. Yeah.

Yeah. I love those ideas. Those are all really good. And I love the idea of taking the pressure off, like we talked about with Jeff and his students who didn’t want to be in art class, making the small, bite-sized activities make the bite-sized as well. And I think that’s a good way to build up all of those skills that we’re talking about.

So Janet, thank you for all of those suggestions. Thank you for jumping in to do the mailbag with me. It’s been great to talk to you and we appreciate all of your advice today.

Thanks so much. I hope I lived up to being Amanda today.

It was good. It was good. We’ll let everybody write in with their reviews and I’ll get those.

Oh, please do.

We’ll let you know. All right, thanks Janet.

Thanks.

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education University. And I’m your host, Tim Bogatz. As a lot of people are headed back to school, I wanted to take some time today to talk about different ideas for the beginning of the year or different things we can do with our classes to help our kids make some art at the beginning of the year, make them feel comfortable, hopefully even make them feel successful to start the year. And I know everyone has different goals for their classroom for the beginning of the school year. Some people want to get routines and procedures down immediately, others just want kids to enjoy coming to the art room, having a great first experience. Some people want to have a mix of fun activities and discussion of what the school year will look like in the art room. But I’m hoping that some of our ideas we discussed today can be helpful for you no matter where you are on that spectrum or where you are with your goals at the beginning of the year.

Janet Taylor will be my guest today. And she has been collecting and sharing a lot of her best beginning of the year ideas on her Instagram account. We’ll link to it in the show notes, don’t worry. And of course, we could go through things with quick, half-hearted explanations, but if you listen to this regularly, you know that’s not how Janet and I roll. We’re going to go in depth, we’re going to fully explain our ideas. We’re going to share our reasoning behind why we do what we do, probably go off on a couple of tangents, but really give you a good idea of everything that we are doing and why we are doing it. I’m going to get out of the way and get the discussion going with Janet. Janet Taylor, welcome back to the podcast. How are you?

Hi, Tim. I am doing just fine. Period.

That’s fair. You know what?

Great. I’m doing great.

You were going back to school this week, and so just fine, period, is good enough. How are you feeling about the start of the school year?

Well, up until this point, I’ve been a little bit in denial, let’s say. That would be my word I use. And it’s really funny because I shared this on Instagram, a little reel about my denial of my summertime and how I always think, oh, I’m going to get all this stuff done in the summer and I never… But this summer I literally felt like, I was like, “Okay, I am going to get these things done,” and then I just didn’t. I just couldn’t do it. I found myself not being able to physically bring myself to go to school and do the things I need to do. I posted this on Instagram about this, and it was so funny how many teachers, veteran teachers especially, were like, “Yeah, that’s how I was this summer. I just was in this-”

Yep, just feeling the same way.

Yes, just being present with their families, being present with vacation or whatever it was they were doing. And they were like, “Yeah, that’s the same.” And I was like, “Okay, maybe this is the year for that.” But in general, I’m really excited.

Good, good.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been in denial. I’m moving forward into excitement. Last year I think we were talking about this, that I said I was going to give myself some grace, slow my role a little bit. I wanted to give myself time to grow the program, to not do all the things and be all the things all the time, just take it as it comes. And well, now it’s like my second year moving into this new school. Last year was a new school for me; this year it’s not. I know I have returning students that I’ve already made relationships with, which really excites me, right?

Yes. Yes.

And I have my space, which was glorious when I walked in there last year, but it’s even more so getting to be more me, so that feels good to come back to, you know?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

And I think having that motto of slow my role and give myself grace did actually very well for me last year and helped me keep that more stable mindset as we moved into this year. This summer, I think I felt like I could take off from not worrying about things because I was already in this better mind space. I don’t know, ask me next week when we chat again. I might be a totally different story, but yeah.

Yeah. No, it’s good to have a little excitement. In the podcast today, though, I want to talk about hands-on activities, art making activities for the start of the school year. And I’ve talked a lot on the podcast about making sure that you’re not just reading your syllabus the first day because everybody reads their syllabus the first day, and you got to do something a little bit different. But I just love your perspective on that. For you, why are hands-on activities important to do at the beginning of the year?

Yeah. I teach high school, and I remember earlier on in my career that it was an expectation, you know?

That you read the syllabus. You had to do that. And I just dreaded that myself. I still do. I don’t want to do that.

I don’t even want to go over this. Why would the kid want to if I don’t even want to do it?

And they’re not listening anyway, you know?

No.

They go from class to class hearing the same thing, and it’s like the Peanuts teacher.

Oh yeah, wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like sometimes when I’m talking like that, I myself as that even. There’s no way kids are going to want to be there. And so basically I want them to be at school, right?

I want them to get excited about what they’re going to learn. I want them to have really tactile out experiences right away. I think that’s a very sensory thing and a good core memory, I feel like. I think you can do activities first day at all levels, right?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I’m just speaking from my high school experience. I get that there are constraints for what you have to unload at a time. But I have come to adopt the philosophy that if I’m making art on day one, I am going to also teach my procedures and expectations in small, little chunks along the way, right?

Yep.

I start off with my non-negotiables that for me that are more overarching for the semester but are still important on day one like don’t talk when I’m talking or when others are talking. You are not allowed to talk.

That’s rule number one for me, don’t talk while I’m talking.

That’s just it. That’s first thing. And then I teach jewelry metals mostly, so there’s a lot of crazy tools and stuff in there so I always say, “If you don’t know how to use something or haven’t been told that you can use something, even if it’s a bin of cut paper,” you know?

Mm-hmm.

“You need to ask first.” That is a rule. Right?

Yeah.

And then I usually show them… I have a projected daily agenda, so I always say, “You walk in here. Here’s my agenda. This is what it looks like every day you walk in here. We go through X, Y, and Z. That’s that.” Really short and sweet. And then I feel like the rest of that stuff comes when you are actually teaching stuff and modeling it. And then kids are actually experiencing it in the moment. And we know-

Rather than just hearing about it. Yeah. Yes.

Right. We know that they learn best by doing. Yeah, it seems like why talk through all that stuff and instead get in there. And I want to focus always on when they walk in, they’re usually pretty scared, right?

Mm-hmm.

I really think they’re nervous. Arts you think would be the place where they’re like, “Yes,” but I think a lot of them are scared of what they can’t do or comparisons and that kind of stuff, right?

Absolutely.

I always think too when you start off always doing things that focus on creativity, some sort of social collaboration or building that fun environment, relaxing them and ways to level the playing field, right?

Yes.

Jewelry medals, I look out because I think most kids don’t have that experience, so that’s a pretty good, solid start, right?

Right.

They don’t know what they’re doing. But letting them figure out ways to… Or showing them ways that they can shine in different capacities in art class, that it’s not just about, oh, who can draw the best or the most realistic drawing?

I think you and I are aligned on that. We’re going to talk about our specific activities that we do. But mine are very much about those things where, like you said, leveling the playing field, making sure that it’s low pressure because kids are scared when they come in. I’ll talk to a little bit later about what I do to ease kids in and make them feel comfortable on the first few days of class. We can chat about that a little bit more in just a minute.

But I want to ask you, when we do get to know each other activities, those can be important, but they can also be really cringe. People can really, really hate them. How do you let kids get to know each other? How do you let them interact but do it in a way that seems authentic and seems like part of what you would otherwise be doing rather than the really cheesy icebreakers that nobody wants to be a part of?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, as I move into my institute days this week, I’m thinking a lot about how we’ll be sitting there like, “We’re going to model today. Turn to your partner and shoulder talk,” or whatever. And I’m always like, “Oh. Oh, no.” All the things that we don’t want to do ourselves, I’m like, “I don’t want to make my students do that,” unless it’s, like you said, in more authentic ways to how and what we teach.

For sure students, we could do a lot of fun, creative activities that could break that ice and just be a fun game that are related to art or related to creativity. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. That’s really fun to do and just get the kids excited about being there. Right?

Yeah.

Me personally, I also really like to be thoughtful on what it is I’m doing to make the time that I’m teaching them really matter, because I feel like a semester with them feels really fast. And if I am taking up too much time in the first month, that’s a lot of time away from getting them ready to actually be sawing and cutting and soldering and doing those things, so I want to make sure that whatever activities I put forward are those low risk, fun art making, but also scaffold skills that I eventually need them to be utilizing, right?

Yeah, that’s a great point.

Yeah. If I want them to document their artwork, which we’ll talk about, then in the first activity, I’m going to ask them to take photos of their artwork and put it on a collaborative slide deck or whatever it is, right?

Mm-hmm.

And also, I really have found… Again, this is just in my years of what works for me, is that when I do those activities that relate directly to what we are going to be learning, it is a way for me to assess. You know how I love assessment. And I know everybody freaks out when I say that. Just don’t turn off the podcast right now. But seeing where their baseline is, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Even in the creativity department, you can see… Or imagination you can see can they think outside the box? Do they need extra supports? What is that going to look like as we move into more technical types of things, right?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah.

I like that. Only you, Janet, would think about first day activities like, you know what? This is a great opportunity for assessment.

Okay, I’m just going to say… You know I always say this, but it’s like that’s the thing about assessment that everybody freaks out because they only think about rubrics. I’m not even thinking about rubrics. I’m just like, assessment is just what we do and is what you’re already doing. Okay. All right, that’s my point.

No, I think that’s good. And no, we talk about that with finding a baseline. But so many people do that portrait project with what’s a self-portrait look like on day one? What’s it look like at the end of the semester? That’s exactly what we’re talking about, just in different forms. And so even though I poke fun, it is legitimately something that you can start thinking about and start doing.

Okay, we need to get to the exciting part of this podcast, which is our favorite first day or beginning of the year activities. Not necessarily the first day, but over the course of the first couple weeks when you’re seeing kids. I asked you to bring a few of your favorites. I have a couple of my favorites. Would you like to start talking about your first favorite activity for the first days of school?

Sure. Okay, this is what I call extension of me or you because it’s like a drawing prompts, but also a collaborative discussion kind of a thing. Sometimes I’m like, “I hate that title,” so I want to change it to replacement parts or… I don’t know. I’m always coming up with a place to change the titles. But unless it has alliteration, it’s just not good enough for me.

It’s not good enough for you? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. But anyway, so this is an adaptation that Matt Nolkowski and I had done years ago, which is a post-it portraits and where you can hold a little post-it, give them a post-it. They can draw the portrait of the person across from them, hold it up, take a photo and a… Gosh, my brain is not working. The force perspective with the photos, right?

Yep.

Okay. In this one, kids are given a blank square with a symbol on it that puts them into a pair that they’re not expecting, right?

Yes.

And you could have them interview each other, but I decided instead, I wanted them to focus really on close listening and give… Because they’ll interview each other, and they’ll be like, “What’s your favorite color? What sport do you like?” And then they’re like, “Basketball.” And then that’s it.

And then the conversation’s over and they’re looking around.

It’s just done.

What do we do next?

Right, right. What I have them do is actually prepare a storytelling. I don’t give them time to really prepare, I just have them think about it. And I usually have maybe three different prompts to choose from to get them to think about a story to tell. One might be what’s your superpower if you had one? Or it could be what’s something you did over the summer that really shows who you are? You know?

Mm-hmm.

More in depth kind of things like that. And then the partner would tell that story and while the other person is doing some close listening. We talk about what close listening means, what it looks like. And why you’re using it is because that person is then going to draw a replacement part that’s imaginative when they’re done and hold it up and take the pictures, right?

Yeah.

And then as a teacher, because you know I joke about assessment, but I learn what technical skills the kids are coming in with, what kinds of styles of drawing that they’re interested or that most engage them. I see their imagination, their ability to maybe follow directions, that’s a biggie, how they actually work in partners and how they problem solve taking the photo. Because a lot of times it’s cute because they’ll take the photo, and then the other person will run over because they want to see what it looks like. And then they’ll be like, “No, no, let’s take it over here instead,” or whatever. Yeah, it’s just a fun thing to do. And they get to know each other very quickly at a deeper level, I’d say, which is nice.

Yeah, it’s not just surface level conversation. I like that idea. That’s a good prompt. My first idea is very much about making the kids feel comfortable. It’s maybe not as hands-on as some of the other stuff that I like to do, but I think it’s important. I like to do a quiz about the teacher. And this has been on the Art of Ed website. We have a video that people seem to enjoy the idea. But I actually stole this idea from my wife who’s a history teacher. And basically, we just come in first day. And the kids don’t know anything about me, but I give them a 20 question quiz that’s all about me. And this is the way that they get to know me. And so just have them guess how old I am, how long I’ve been teaching, where I went to school, favorite types of art, things like that, but also just ridiculous questions like how many pairs of shoes do I own? And what did I have for breakfast today? And it’s not a serious thing at all, but it’s a good way for them to get to know me and it’s a fun one. Whoever gets the most right, I’ll give them a prize the next time. It’s just a different way to introduce myself. That’s a fun one that I like to do with them.

And then along those same lines, we were talking about kids coming in being scared or feeling very uncomfortable, very nervous, and so I like to do a couple things to put them at ease. I give everybody a note card and I have them write down just answers to a few questions that will introduce me to them a little bit where… And just asking, “Hey, what year are you in school? Why did you sign up for this class? What do you want to learn? What do you struggle with? Or what are your challenges when it comes to art?” Things like that. But again also some ridiculous questions too about their favorite snack or what they like to do on the weekends or whatever. Just have them write them down.

And then I will also ask them for recommendations too. I’ll say, “Hey, tell me your favorite thing to watch on YouTube. Or what is a song you think I should listen to? Or what is a movie you think I should watch?” And so I get to know them a little bit through those answers as well. And when there are connections there, and I can talk about those in the next week, “Hey, I listened to that song you recommended. It was really good,” gives us a good conversation starter. That’s a fun one.

And then at the bottom of that note card, I have them ask questions. I have them write down questions for me. And they can be about anything. It can be about anything about me, anything about the class, anything about the school. And then I just read them and answer them anonymously out loud for everybody. And so that gives kids a chance to ask, “Oh, hey, do we have to do this in class?” Or, “How do I get to the lunchroom?” It can be anything that they’re nervous about or scared to ask about, they can just submit that anonymously and I’ll answer it. And it really helps everybody. And so that’s, like I said, not quite as hands-on, but I think it’s something that’s worthwhile, and it’s definitely helpful for the kids. I don’t know, that’s a lot of ideas rolled into one, but just a lot of chatting and writing on the first few days to let them get to know me a little bit more about the school, a little bit more about the class. And I get to know a little bit more about them as well.

Yeah, it’s fun. All right, next idea from you Janet. What do we got?

Okay, before, actually, I should preface and say that I do spend a lot of time getting to know their names. It’s not like we just jump in and I’m like, “Okay, here’s the project we’re doing today.” But we do go around and I ask questions or whatever. Because yeah, that would be weird if you just started on day one without even… Right?

Right. Right.

Just like, “Okay, now we’re going to get together and you’re going to ask some really good, intense questions.” Okay. Then another one I love to do in the first week-ish, I guess, is called paper pair up. I feel like I’ve talked about this one before, but a great reminder because it’s really good for art survey class that covers a lot of different materials. Or for me, again, I teach jewelry metals and ceramics mostly now, so a lot of 3D stuff. For jewelry metals, it’s great because what I do is I’ll put them in groups of three. I find that three works really nicely for this.

And I do want to note a little bit about grouping because people always ask, “Well, what about the kids that don’t want to be in a group? Or what about the kids that don’t work well in a group?” And I will say this: That happens. I’ve had a kid who was like, “I just want to make my own thing and I don’t want to be in a group at all.” And I always talk to them about the importance of working in a group, but I’m never going to force them to be in a group, especially in that first week when they’re already not comfortable, you know?

Yeah.

You really have to build that environment first. My little bit of advice on any of this is, I don’t know, pick your battles, right?

Mm-hmm.

What’s most important? Most important to me is that my kids are creating and enjoying it. That’s it. Anyway, in this, we talk briefly about design, wearables. Because basically they are making a wearable 3D piece that is completely out of paper. And so we talk about… Because jewelry, it’s perfect for cold and hot connections translated into paper clips, brass fasteners, tape glue, folding techniques, things like that, so we talk about that in design. Again, I always have to add my little tidbits of advice. With any project or any assignment or any activity, I used to show all these pictures for inspiration, right?

Yeah.

To get the kids thinking, and being like, “Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do.” And I stopped doing that. I really just give them one to three images tops and keep… My slides are only five slides long, you know?

Okay. Yeah.

And it’s very succinct because I find that when I show them a bunch of ideas, then they just create that idea, right?

Yep. That-

Or they want to-

That’s a problem from kindergarten all the way up. Yes.

Yes, right?

Yeah.

As an adult even it limits my creativity, I think. Anyway, when I just give them two ideas, then it gets them understanding the idea. But then once they start creating, then I feel like if I can give them ideas or let them research then, it tends to be like their gears are working and they learn how to modify or adapt for what they’re interested in as opposed to copying it, right?

Yes.

Okay. I usually give them one to three days to create. It really depends. We have a hybrid block schedule, so it depends where it falls, if they have a block day or not, to create their wearable together. It’s really fun to watch because you can see how they approach creating, which is interesting to me. And I do briefly talk about it so that they understand that there’s no right or wrong way to approach this, about how some kids love to draw things out, sketch them out first. Some kids will get the papers and start folding and playing and manipulating the paper. Some kids will look at the fasteners. Some kids will start placing paper on top of their body in places to see what they want to wear, you know.

Right, right.

It’s really fun to watch them physically problem solve together. And then they create that and then they take the photos of it, because, again, documenting artwork is important in my classroom. And it’s really fun because they also are… It’s white paper, and then the ceiling is white, and so they’ll be using their phone and do this terrible photo with white paper on the white ceiling with all the… And you’re like, “I can’t even see this.” And then they go out and I show them ways to photograph them. I wait until after I see what they can do. And there’s kids looking out the window, you know?

Yeah.

In this mystical way. And you’re like, “Okay, I feel like you get points for that photo.” But anyway, the main point of this is really fun. Sometimes if the kids finish really fast with one, I’ll be like, “Well make a set.” You know?

Yeah.

You did a necklace, now do a ring that goes with… Or whatever it is. Some kids do some really imaginative stuff. A group made a full apron with pockets that had chef tools in it all out of paper. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. Fun.

Just different ways of thinking. But it’s a contest. I think that’s also a great way because kids get really excited about games, right?

Mm-hmm.

It’s a contest, but low risk. They get digital ribbons on the slide deck. All the students vote. Not just within their class, but all of them in all of my classes. And so that’s just fun when you put it on display too and they have an award for whatever it is and it’s not me picking it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s fun. That’s fun. No, I love all of those ideas. And I have seen the photos of your kids doing those things, and they make some great work, so I really enjoy seeing all of that stuff. My next idea, just some favorites, drawings. And this goes back to what you were talking about earlier, about learning what kids are interested in, learning how they draw, what level they’re running around in, and just what they’re interested in, what they’re doing in art, what kind of experiences they have, but also a little bit about them and their interests.

I’ll try and explain this quickly, but I usually just give everybody a piece of paper, and we’ll do two lines down, two lines across; divide your paper into nine sections. And then I will hit up nine different themes and just have them draw for those. And a lot of times, draw me a picture of something related to your favorite food or your favorite person or your favorite place. And like you said, it just lets them learn… Or lets me learn a little bit about them. And then I’ll add in some other things where it just takes some creative thinking like combine any two or three animals to create a new animal, just whatever creative drawing prompts that you might like. And just give them five minutes per drawing to do whatever. But it just moves quickly. And I just tell them, “We’re not worried about how good these drawings are, how realistic you make them,” because again, they’re nervous, they’re worried about drawing skill, and so I emphasize that point, that these are quick drawings. We are having fun with these and just doing some enjoyable drawing for the first day.

And you can stretch that out as little or as much as you want with whatever prompts you want. But just asking them, like I said, to share some of their favorite things to do on the weekends or draw a picture that relates to your favorite music or your friends or your pets or whatever. And like I said, just learning a little bit more about them with some low pressure drawing. You can see where they are, you can see what they’re interested in. And it’s very helpful, very simple to do. That’s a fun one as well.

And then I guess I have one more that I was hoping that you could talk about. I’d ask you to chat about your sketchbook design because I know a lot of people do sketchbook covers, sketchbook designs. A lot of people are interested in doing that, so can you just talk us through what you do for Sketchbook Designs at the beginning of the year?

Sure. Those other two activities are more collaborative. And if you’re looking for something a little bit more independent, hands-on project, I think sketchbook covers are a great thing to get kids loosened up and relaxed. Sketchbooks have a special place in my heart for every class and every media, but I’ve done some pretty elaborate units on them. And then I’ve stopped doing that as much because it just takes up a lot of time. But if that’s what you can do, then go for it. But again, sometimes they’re store-bought ones, sometimes they’re hard bound ones, sometimes they’re handmade ones. Just sketchbooks are just so versatile, and I just love that so much. And when they’re really elaborate artworks that students put into it, it’s just such a deep sense of ownership over their sketchbook, you know?

Yep.

And even the quick ones, they still have a lot of ownership, I feel like. But the purpose of that sketchbook kind of changes a little bit. It’s more about the learning and having a place to house that learning versus having it more precious, you know?

Mm-hmm.

It depends on what you’re interested in using it for. But quick ones that I do with my classes in a drawing and painting one class, we did a unit that was all exploration on media and techniques. And so we would do small, little pieces in their sketchbook. Okay, here’s a worksheet on shading. Before we do it together, explore it on your sketchbook page, then we’ll do it together. Now here’s another additional small piece of paper. I want you to explore and play with those same mark making or shading techniques or the different materials that we’re covering over the unit. And then at the end of that unit, they take all those pieces and create a collage out of them. We talk about composition and things like that.

I just wanted to share too on that point, the previous teacher that was there before me, there were a ton of leftover, unused sketchbooks that they didn’t really use in the same way that I use sketchbooks. It was more like, okay, let’s draw this. And then there was just a lot of leftover blank pages. And so I just pulled all those, I trimmed them a little bit, and then each kid, we folded them in half, made small sketchbooks. And each kid then hand-stitched their own. I didn’t even spend any money on it, which is really nice.

Yeah, that’s perfect.

In jewelry metals, we focus a lot on design and composition in the beginning. Excuse me. I have some colored cut paper pieces. I give them real small pieces, and they have a palette that they have to choose from, color palette; maybe two colors in a neutral or something like that. I talk a little bit, not much on elements and principles. It’s more about learning how to problem solve the space, moving the pieces around, looking at positive and negative space, things going off the edges. How can you add marks or texture? Because in metals, we do a lot of texturing, things like that. That’s usually pretty quick too and fun and really low risk because some of them turn out really cool, some of them are not that great. And it’s fine, you know?

Yep.

But we always laminate sketchbook covers. I always do it with packing tape; I have that down. The kids are always like, “How did you do that so fast without wrinkling it in bubbles.” It’s like, “Well, 15 years of laminating sketchbooks comes in handy.”

I was going to say.

I also, especially with jewelry metals, like to teach them how to hand stitch, like a pamphlet stitch. And I’ll do it in small groups. Kids that are ready, I’ll do it with a group of five. I’ll walk them really slowly through. And then they become the experts. And that’s how my class is set up anyway. I like to also integrate some of those modeling and teaching expectations right away. “Okay, well, awesome. Now you’re really good at stitching and you have this. Can you teach another?” Sometimes they’re like, “No, I don’t.” And I’m like, “I believe you,” you know?

Yeah.

“That you could not do that.” But I always say, “Well, can you do it with, do you think, two of you together can do it?” And they’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, totally. I can do that.” The hand stitching, I’m just going to put this out there too, does take some time. It’s amazing to me how engaged they are with hand stitching and flip books. But they really struggle following direction. The speed at which I have to work through that with them is phenomenal to me. It feels like a snail’s pace, you know?

Yeah.

But jewelry metals is really pretty technical. There’s a lot of technical stuff and following directions, so I think it’s really interesting to see that baseline so I know how fast or slow I need to teach each of those skills. I like to see that even in the small group with me leading them they’ll help each other out, which is really nice. And I can see those leaders right away. And also, their fine motor skills, right?

Yeah, I think that’s really cool. No, I love the in-depth explanation for all of that. And I appreciate you going through that with all of us. Now, Janet, to wrap it up, I always love to have guests give advice, as you know, so I would just appreciate any of your best advice for teachers out there about the beginning of the year. What is one thing that teachers should worry about at the start of the year and one thing they should definitely not worry about at the start of the year?

Well, this is easier said than done, right?

As I say them, and I’m reinforcing it for myself as I go back to school too. But okay, what I think the most important thing to actually worry about… And I don’t want to say worry, but to make a priority, right?

Yes. To prioritize.

Yeah, to prioritize is really just about creating your warm and welcoming environment and setting the stage and taking that time to really observe your students and address their needs in real time. I always say it doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been teaching, the first day of school with students feels like kindergarten for me. I’m so excited. I probably talk way too much. I’ve had too much coffee. And they walk in, they’re like, “Ugh.” And I’m like, “Hi. Here I am.” But I think it’s just that piece, is as soon as the kids come in, I feel like I’m relaxed again. It’s like, yes, this is right. This is where it should be. I feel like that should always be the priority at that point. And then going into what not to worry about on that is to not worry about being perfect, right?

Mm-hmm.

Your classroom doesn’t need to be perfect, you, your lessons, they don’t need to be perfect. What needs to happen is that you are excited them to be there, you are really welcoming and learning about them and making them feel comfortable. Because with that, all those other things fall into place, you know?

Absolutely. Absolutely. No, that’s great advice. And I think you’re so right; if you can just make kids feel comfortable, help them be excited about what’s going to happen in your classroom and just put your authentic self forward, the rest of those things are going to take care of themselves eventually. I think that’s some great advice on what to concern yourself with. Not what to worry about, but what to prioritize at the beginning of the year. Thank you, Janet.

Thanks, Tim. Appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you to Janet. I appreciate her coming on. And as always, I appreciate her sharing all of her ideas. I just want to send best of luck to everyone as you’re starting this school year. I know it’s always a mix of emotions as you go back to school. You’re feeling all of the feelings all at once. But I hope that things are going well for you as you’re back working with students. And I hope that the podcast today can give you some ideas that will be helpful to you as you are working toward your goals for your classroom at the beginning of the year.

Art Ed Radio was produced by The Art of Education University with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. Now, if you are a Now Conference fan and you want to join us at the end of January for the Winter Now Conference, we are running super early bird pricing right now where you can get $50 off your registration. Use the code winter99 at checkout for $50 off and you can attend the Winter Conference for just $99. You can find everything you need to know about the conference and register for that low price at theartofeducation.edu/now. We hope to see you there.