Saturday, August 20, 2011

Teaching at Multiple Schools

This is my 2nd year as a full-time elementary Art teacher in a K-8 school district in the Chicago suburbs.
Last year, I worked between 3 schools with 2 out 3 schools being art-on-a-cart and one classroom for one day per week. I taught students from 1st grade to 6th grade, most being seen once a week. I focused on developing my classroom management, developing lessons based upon our district curriculum, and creating connections in my schools.


This year I will continue to work at 3 schools, with 2 of them being from last year's schedule, and one new one. I believe that I will continue to have a classroom for 1 day a week, be on a cart for 3 days, and one day I will be able to utilize the gym for art.

I am excited to be starting this year as I am revamping my classroom management, policies/procedures, organization, and goals for the year.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Back to School!

I'm embarking upon my 2nd year as an Art teacher! As I work through unpacking boxes and setting up at 3 schools, I have been reflecting upon last year and deciding upon how to begin the year.

Last year, I had 3 rules: Be respectful, Be responsible, and Be Safe. I'm looking to be more specific to art but not lengthy. My classes seemed to be very 'reward driven' as I had in place what is called "Picasso Pick". 4 numbers were placed on the board at the beginning of the class period. The numbers remained on the board as long as students were on task, not too loud, be respectful,etc. At the end of the class period, a raffle was held. So if 3 numbers were left on the board, 3 numbers were picked from my box and those corresponded to numbers next to the students' names on the class roster. Students were not picked more than once without everyone getting a turn.

Any suggestions for new rules and reward system?