Molly

Posted on 11/03/09

its is also my 2nd year teaching and I am still testing out
things to see what works and what doesnt...
something I have found that works really well for my students (6-
8th grade) is that I play the Beatles song "Help!" when its
cleanup time and the students know that when they hear that song
its time to clean up, and they only have about 2 minutes to do
so...(for painting I usually play the song to let them know its
time to clean up, but they will have longer to put things away).
students get really excited when they hear the song, bc they can
sing along and kind of move around to the music while theyre
cleaning up so its gets them going.
I have also had the problem with my students commenting on other
groups art work saying "why cant we do that, thats so much
cooler!" it drives me nuts!!!! I usually just tell them
that "someone just said they same thing when they saw the
projects from your class", and theyre like "oh, ok" and kind of
drop it..but it drives me crazy to hear that too...
maybe, one class you could have them clean up with 10 minutes
left, and if they complain about cleaning up early at the end of
class, let them know that clean up time could be shorter if they
did what you ask when you ask. see how that works.
anyways, hope this helps! just know that youre not the only one
having these troubles!

On 11/03/09, ArtMe wrote:
> Little ones hanging onto you- just smile and say lovingly-
> You're great, but this is your chance to run and play and I
> love watching you play with your friends!
>
> With middle schoolers and clean up- you might try making it a
> competition between classes. Allow 5 minutes of clean up time,
> then set a timer and have then take their seats at the end of
> clean up. I always have silent inspection. Give points for an
> efficient clean up and silent inspection. Come up with some
> kind of prize for the class that gets the most points over a
> certain time period. The prize can just be free choice art
> class if you don't want to give them junk to eat.
>
> You can try posting a rubric so kids will know what you are
> expecting from them in their work and hopefully you will get
> more effort from them. Let them know they will do the fun
> looking project when you feel they're ready and have met
> certain goals first. If they can't clean up well, they're
> obviously not ready for clay or other messy projects. Logical
> consequences. Make sure you're not allowing them to argue with
> you or question the value of your program. You are the
> teacher. It's not your job to be nice, but to help them learn
> and to meet certain standards. There are many ways to make art
> fun, but your job is not to provide entertainment. You are a
> young teacher. These children seem to think they can walk over
> you. Let them know you're the one in charge. You can be nice
> after Christmas.
>

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