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ELEMENTARY "TOP 10" MANAGEMENT TIPS
Shelly Bailey, Sharon Christman, Lindsay Mouyal
1. Give choices- Especially helpful as students get older- Choices help engage students and lower discipline problems if they feel they have some ownership in the decision. (might be choice of 2 different projects/themes, choices of 2 different mediums to use for a project).
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¡2. Offer two lessons at same time- have one simple self directed lesson and one that needs more instruction from teacher. For example printmaking, have small groups rotate through project with teacher as others work on self directed lesson.
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¡3. Reward System- as much as we don't like them, they work. Stickers, smell-ies (flavored chap-stick swiped across top of hand), etc.
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¡4. Sensory Box- with the growing number of students AD-HD etc. a box of items to help them concentrate without disrupting the class. EX: Velcro on underside of table to rub, a basket of stress balls, something quiet to tap on (like a sock) for pencil tappers. Some students can not concentrate without it, so give them a quiet solution.
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¡5. Parent Volunteers- if you can get good parent volunteers to help. Use them to help hang artwork, prep-art supplies, xerox items. (tip- Do not have them come help at the same time you have their child in class.)
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¡6. Artist Statement- Use an artist statement on back of artwork when sent home to parents and on a sentence strip when hung in school to pair with artwork. These can be written by the students and or teacher. This helps educate others as to what you teach for each lesson and why.
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¡7. Student Helpers- use student helpers to help pass out and collect supplies. Have them be responsible for counting and being sure to collect the same number of pencils, markers etc. at the end of class.
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¡8. Team with other Special Teachers- Team with Music teachers etc. to come up with rules and consequences of discipline for students.
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¡9. Give Respect/ Get Respect- create a safe and secure learning environment with an atmosphere of mutual respect. Create an environment where students feel secure enough to take chances, make guesses, and yes… even make mistakes.
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¡10. Use catchy Phrases- students love catchy phrases, songs etc. To get student's attention and bring them back to focus.¡ Example: I say MONA you say LISA. Clap echo, catchy song.
MIDDLE SCHOOL "TOP 10" MANAGEMENT TIPS
Anna Nichols, Casey Williamson
¡1. Be consistent – mean what you say and say what you mean. You are either consistent or you are not – you can’t be just “sort-of” consistent.
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2. Keep students busy & KNOW your students; have projects ready for early finishers and do the best you can to figure out what they really enjoy doing. (Bored and idle kids = discipline headaches.)
2. Keep students busy & KNOW your students; have projects ready for early finishers and do the best you can to figure out what they really enjoy doing. (Bored and idle kids = discipline headaches.)
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3. Have a discipline plan from day one, complete with rules and procedures. (and even a signed behavior contract). Let the kids practice procedures as much as needed, and sometimes a little more! They need to be reminded of the rules and procedures occasionally – they will forget! Middle school kids crave structure. Prioritize teaching kids to be respectful, responsible, and resourceful.
3. Have a discipline plan from day one, complete with rules and procedures. (and even a signed behavior contract). Let the kids practice procedures as much as needed, and sometimes a little more! They need to be reminded of the rules and procedures occasionally – they will forget! Middle school kids crave structure. Prioritize teaching kids to be respectful, responsible, and resourceful.
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4. Seating charts are a must! Also, keep out of seat movement to a minimum whenever possible.
5. ACKNOWLEDGE when students do what they are supposed to do, use specific and authentic PRAISE when they excel, innovate, serve others, or take artistic risks. Focus on the POSITIVE and DISPLAY artwork everywhere you can!
4. Seating charts are a must! Also, keep out of seat movement to a minimum whenever possible.
5. ACKNOWLEDGE when students do what they are supposed to do, use specific and authentic PRAISE when they excel, innovate, serve others, or take artistic risks. Focus on the POSITIVE and DISPLAY artwork everywhere you can!
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6. Have a good sense of humor. Be kind, but firm. (“Warm-Strict”)
6. Have a good sense of humor. Be kind, but firm. (“Warm-Strict”)
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7. Learn their names quickly.
7. Learn their names quickly.
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8. Have a good relationship with everyone but especially w/ the janitors, lunch ladies, counselors, office workers, and librarian.
8. Have a good relationship with everyone but especially w/ the janitors, lunch ladies, counselors, office workers, and librarian.
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9. Make the invisible visible – be very clear about what it is they are learning and what the goals/objectives are for the project. Have detailed rubrics/self-assessments for projects as well as examples/non-examples for visuals. Have a student demonstrate after you; this helps you see what you failed to communicate and will capture their attention, too!
9. Make the invisible visible – be very clear about what it is they are learning and what the goals/objectives are for the project. Have detailed rubrics/self-assessments for projects as well as examples/non-examples for visuals. Have a student demonstrate after you; this helps you see what you failed to communicate and will capture their attention, too!
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10. Have a bottle of sweet-smelling lotion on your desk for those times when, lets say, the room gets a bit “ripe.” For example, if someone passes gas and everyone around is loudly proclaiming, "Ewwwwwww!" You can calmly walk over, offer a bit of lotion, and the disruption is immediately stopped.
10. Have a bottle of sweet-smelling lotion on your desk for those times when, lets say, the room gets a bit “ripe.” For example, if someone passes gas and everyone around is loudly proclaiming, "Ewwwwwww!" You can calmly walk over, offer a bit of lotion, and the disruption is immediately stopped.
HIGH SCHOOL "TOP 10" MANAGEMENT TIPS
Jill Ritchey, Chris Screws
1. 1.Give and expect respect
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2. Be consistent with expectations3.
3. Have a plan for early finishers and for those who need more time4.
4. Pull students aside and speak to privately or discreetly when a discipline issue needs to be addressed in a non-confrontational way5.
5. Keep students busy with thorough lesson planning and clear expectations
6.6. Be prepared but also flexible; prepare for the worst case scenario; anticipate problems and have several backups
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7. Provide clear, specific rubrics and examples for students to be clear on project goals and grades
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8. Be perceptive-establish a good rapport with your students and know their personalities; make an effort to spend a few minutes with each individual student providing feedback on their progress
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9. Have a place for everything-well organized; also have a plan for keeping control over materials that tend to disappear (sharpies, etc)
10.10. Have a procedure in place for cleanup and setup which is student directed (students aware of and responsible for cleanup/materials)
2 comments:
From Mr. Tracy Wilhelm, elementary art teacher who holds both a master's degree in counseling as well as a degree in art education and has 20 years experience teaching elementary and high school art:
"I think the elementary top ten can be very useful in helping to maintain classroom control. I really like 3 - 10 and found some information that I can use. However, I disagree with 1 and 2. I believe they are not practical and only adds more confusion to a class you are trying to control.
#1: Giving choices is a good idea, but only in the context of the project that is being presented by the teacher. Keep it simple. If we are talking strictly about elementary students then I believe it is the teachers responsibility to decide what project, artist, etc. to introduce and the medium that is being used and its correct use.
Instead I suggest practicing consistency. Students should be made aware of the rules and expectations and the art teacher needs to be consistent. This is also a very important trait in establishing procedures so classroom teachers know what to expect when dropping off and picking up students.
#2: Offering two lessons at once will only cause the teacher to go in two different directions and not be able to focus on teaching the concept of the main project. It can result in an uncontrolled environment. Instead I suggest a project that the teacher introduces as a whole and then has the ability to float around the class working with several groups also enabling the students to help each other.
Focus on one project. Yet, if students finish projects early then I suggest having extra resource materials students can access. For example, students can read an art book, use color sheets, or free draw in their spare time.
My only other thought is #8. Working with other special teachers can be invaluable. However, rules that work in their classes may not be applicable to the art class. I would simply stress the importance of communicating the rules and expectations of the art class to the students. Talk with the students and post all rules. Yet, keep it simple, these are elementary kids. Stick to the basics."
I think that every teacher, every student, every class, and every day is different! I think that the top 10 list might work for some, but not (just as I think Mr. Wilhelm’s comment would work for some, but not for others). With that said, I think he made some great points and his information is very useful.
Here are my responses to his response:
#1-giving choices…I mainly give choices for my older students (3rd – 5th) to allow them more ownership. Some students need a step by step demo with certain projects because they aren’t as skilled or confident in the topic I am teaching while other students who are more skilled and have a higher independence might want to try something different. So, I will often let students know-and give them a sneak peak-as to what I will be giving a demo on and also give them a choice to try it on their own, as long as it falls into the same art concept we are covering. Obviously this only works with some projects.
#2-Offering two lessons at once…I totally get Mr. Wilhelm’s concerns here. However, I have found that this works well for me for my extremely young students (K-1). I try and make sure the large group activity they are working on hits on the same art element or medium I am working with the small groups on, so it isn’t as confusing and helps reinforce the lesson. It also makes for less classroom management issues, because all students are on task…mostly. I don’t do this for every lesson, but I do it for most. With my upper kids, I do the whole group lesson with walking around entire class and monitoring and interacting one-on-one and at tables too. Even when I do two activities at once (pulling a small group) I still pause from time to time to go around and make sure large group is on task.
#8-Teaming with Other Teachers…I agree that what works in one class, might not apply to art. I have my own rules and procedures and a behavior chart that aligns with those. BUT, I also collaborate with all special classes so that if each class adheres to my rules they earn a star on their artist palette and we calculate the stars in each special class (they earn them in P.E., music, library, and counseling as well). Every nine weeks we offer a reward for the class in each grade level that earned the most stickers in the special classes combined. This does not replace my behavior plan, only supplements it and allows students to see importance of comprehensive consequences and rewards.
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