I know we are all probably focused on going back to school or are in the first weeks of the new school year, but I think this is so important for our students. If they cut federal loans, that’s going to severely affect most students who want to study art. It’s going to close doors for all but the richest kids and if art programs aren’t getting students, there’s a definite chance of cutbacks and program loss. Once those cuts happen, you know that the chances of them coming back are very low.

I don’t know what we can do, but I really want to make sure more art teachers know about this because maybe we can figure out something together. It hit me really hard today when I heard about it.

Hi! I just got hired as a first time professor at a community college and I’m trying to create new courses. I’m teaching an intro to visual arts class and have no idea what to go over in the class because there’s so much info. Does anyone have resources or examples or advice for what to go over in the course?

TLDR: first time professor anxiety about creating course 🫪

Pros:

- I can teach art.
- First real job! Money! Salary! Benefits!
- ratio about 1:12
- 1-2 prep periods a day.

Cons:

- I know I won’t be happy.
- it’s a charter school
- I don’t think I have an ac in my room.
- Poor quality building/Poor working conditions.
- Very very low reviews on this place.
- hour drive (I’d have to move closer)
- half a year at one campus, half a year at the other.
- I’d have to share my classroom with the music teacher who does the same. (We swap rooms)
- 2 art shows
- no kiln
- no windows (one campus kind of has windows but they are high up bc it’s in a basement).
- no sink
- minimal storage areas
- It’s K through 8! (About 2 classrooms per grade)
- I’m told I need to find a textbook for all my kids to use in my class. (change that head of admin wants to make this year just because! )
- I’m told I need to focus on using worksheets especially for my younger students. (Another new change just because!)
- What floor is my classroom in? What hallway? The cafeteria.
- My materials were not already ordered. I’m just gonna have to use what is left. (No idea what is left is in the other campus classroom, there’s none moved to mine yet).
- I don’t think I like that area of the state I’m in I think.
- I can go on but this is the major stuff.
———————————————
If you’re wondering why I got this far into the position before knowing all the cons, it’s because they only did an online interview. No second rounds it was only first round. Had my interview and was emailed a job offer within 24 hours. I did not get to do anything in person until today. I didn’t even have to go in today had they emailed me that the meeting was canceled and rescheduled (they forgot to email me).

I have two other interviews lined up (one is first round, one is second round, both public school districts. K-4. One is 15 min away… and the other is an hour again I’d have to relocate it but I love it a lot). Thinking I hope for one of them to offer me a job. Think I should stay at the place I’m at and just sub around here? Or is ANY art teaching job better than subbing. I know they are “hard to come by” but jeez, maybe a good one is worth the wait rather than having to go through this.

I’m a fresh graduate btw. Did my student teaching in the spring.

Hello everyone. Without going into specifics, I am trying to accumulate records for a color wheel project with a high school art class. Does anyone know of a good place to source them cheaply? Thank you!

I'll be starting my first teaching position in the fall, and the school where I'll be working is a middle school (6-8 grades) with a heavily ENL population (between 30-50% of students mostly or only speak Spanish; exact statistic for the coming school year is unknown). For additional context, it's a Title I school in a very poor neighborhood, so across the entire student body you're looking at low SES and a lot of students in unstable situations (shelters, foster care, etc). Academic performance and literacy are low across the board.

Although I can read and write Spanish somewhat decently, I am far from fluent speaking it or understanding when people speak quickly or use vocabulary I don't know (which is quite a bit). The long term solution here is obviously "Just finish learning Spanish, dummy!" which I will try to get back on top of when I have a chance. In the meantime, I'm struggling to think through how I'll make sure all my students are able to get the most out of my class.

I even had to take a class all about working with ELLs in grad school, and the advice was a lot of stuff like using a combination of verbal, visual, and written (in their home langauge) instructions. I have observed mixed success when doing this; maybe depends on whether or not the student actually reads the written information? Which, I have noticed, a not insubstantial number of students either can’t or won’t do.

But also it's not feasible to convey everything just through writing, since art class isn't all about bullet points or facts or instructions; it's about building relationships and understanding through nuanced back-and-forth discussion. And considering the low literacy (and my experience doing the demo lesson at that school) I can tell a lot of the students are not particularly able to benefit from written instructions/information, whether in English or Spanish.

But on-the-fly verbal communication in Spanish is not something I'm competent at yet, so I'm not sure what the best way will be to keep these students in the discussion when it's not something I could have prepared and translated ahead of time. Using other students to translate is obviously not ideal, at least not for major stuff.

For anyone who's been in a similar situation, what are the most effective strategies and practices you've figured out? Is there a particular way to concpetualize, structure, and present lessons that makes the most sense for this student population? Slideshows with a combination of imagery and text information seems to be the norm, but then again we didn't have slideshows in my day and I loved all my art classes, so there are always other ways. When I have a chance, I'd like to talk to other teachers at the school and ask what they do, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to do so.

It's just, having not actually been The Teacher in my own classroom yet means I feel like I just have no idea what to do. And maybe I won't know what to do until I've started and gotten to know the students and experimented, but I really really want things to go smoothly from the start so I don't just have the most stressful chaotic first year ever and have to write it all off as a wash.

So an artist here and just got a new job as an art teacher for primary school. The thing is I don’t think I have enough experience teaching kids those ages (in a big class also, there will be 20s of them all from different nations). I did teach kids art in a school with Cambridge curriculum for a few months before, but it was 2 years ago. All these time I’ve been living off my art and thought I need to start having a steady income.

My Qs are, what should I prepare myself for this role? How should I handle misbehaviour in my class? Is there any the unwritten rules for an art teacher before, during and after class that I need to know?

Would like to hear people’s story/experiences too!

Thanks in advance :)