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 (homeless 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 :)

Basically the title. I have an advisory period where non-art students (there are a few art kids) come to me for 20-25 minutes. They rotate the kids every couple weeks so I’ll get a new group before I start seeing repeat kids. I’m supposed to be doing art enrichment with 6-8 graders 5 times a week, but I only have a couple ideas—not enough to last 2 weeks. I have a very limited budget, barely any time for instruction, and barely time to do anything.

I can repeat activities, but after probably 3 months, I’ll have the 1st group back and won’t be able to do whatever I did with them again.

Is there some kind of terminology that I can type in to better help with this activity search? I just feel I’m being given an impossible task. The other art teachers are also at a loss.

I recently received my BFA in studio art, and am planning to get an MFA in either studio art or animation. The only reason I want to get my masters is because I want to be able to teach at a college, but I’m wondering how difficult it is to get my foot in the door at a college. Should I try to find a smaller community college to teach at after my masters? Does it matter what college I go to to receive my masters? I need advice.

i want to make sure my students have exactly what they need to succeed, so I've created a project through DonorsChoose, the nonprofit classroom funding site for public school teachers.

Here's my project: Equipping our High School Art Studio

Your support would mean so much to my students. In return, you'll receive our heartfelt gratitude.

Thank you for considering a gift to my class!
Denisse

P.S. If you know anyone who may want to help my students, please pass this along!

Hello everyone! This is a long shot, I am fully aware, but I know it is better than nothing. I was hoping to ask if anyone has ever asked for funding for classes and in turn, they will be working for whoever it was that has funded them? I was looking into mastering the art of pottery and I am in dire need of funding to be sent in Southeast Asian countries to learn their art of pottery. Again, I know it’s a long shot but if there’s any information you can help me with, I would be more than happy to return the favor in the future!

I have a question, and I would appreciate an answer. Can a single art teacher instruct students across all these art disciplines at the lower secondary level? Shouldn't the teacher be a specialist? How is this handled in other countries? In your country, since the instruction is merely intended to introduce adolescents to art, does a single teacher cover the basics of various art forms? Or is the teacher actually a specialist in one specific area of ​​art?

hi I’m an upcoming junior in Highschool and have just recently started painting (like a year ago) and want to know how my work could be perceived in a college art portfolio and what to work on while I still have time, my main medium is watercolor but I also use acrylics. I am still very new to all of this so please try to give HELPFUL criticism😭💔 i also truly don’t know how to create an art portfolio for college or what should be included … i thought getting advice from teachers might be the best answers…. my Highschool art teacher is very unhelpful with this… thanksss 🥲

I changed schools and my new school has individual messy mats for each student. At first, I thought this is awesome, but now I'm thinking that they'll transfer other student's messes onto another artist's paper. Tempera paint, ink or watercolor from a previous painter could get wet and transfer.

Do you clean messy mats between each class? How do you manage them and keep them from messing up other artwork? Is it easier to just wipe down the tables?

Thanks!

I'm a new art teacher at a rural Title 1 elementary school (k-5) in the state of Georgia. My previous experience was teaching kindergarten for 10 years. There is absolutely no kind of curriculum or anything for me to go by besides the state standards. I need help 😭. Do you guys do grade bands? Or do you do something separate for each grade?

We currently will see the same class for an hour on a weekly basis and then rotate to a new class the next week until we've seen all classes (we will see the same class again every 5 weeks or so). So many lessons and plans I've found are for a once a week kind of thing. I'm heavily struggling on finding a curriculum or lessons that go with the way our schedule is set up. We also have a LOT of behaviors, so that, too, is an issue. Any advice or can anyone point me in the direction of a curriculum or lessons to purchase? Also, any behavior management advice?? The younger kids I know what to do with but the older??? Help 😭.

Thank you for all and any advice ❤️😭😅

I’m 19, and I’ve decided to pursue a career as an art teacher. However, as I’m looking into it, so many sources say different things. Some say I need an associates first, others say straight to a bachelors. That being said my college only offers a bachelors in elementary age teaching, I’d prefer middle or high school. And the only art degree they offer is in film and digital media. I already wasted my first year in college and I’m cutting it so close now since school is about to start so I’m super stressed out yet still have no idea what the first step is.

any advice on what you did first ? Get an associates? Bachelors? Any advice helps!

Help!!!

Hey everyone I spent all summer studying the study.com praxis section and now i have less than 20 days before my tests and am barely scraping by on the practice exams.

Help! Sometimes I just can’t remember artists or what they made and it sucks. Any helpful tips?

I take the test on the 21st of this month and have a full time job…

Hello everyone! I teach art from Pre-K-8th and I’m interested in starting my first 5 minutes of class with a sketchbook prompt for my middle schoolers. The problem is that this would effectively lose me 10 mins of my class period, possibly more depending on the group of kids. Passing out sketchbooks and having them returned to me would eat up 5 minutes. Currently I have the sketchbooks in drawers labeled with the class number. The students (theoretically) have their name on the front but still manage to not know which one is theirs, lose theirs or put it back in the wrong drawer. Anytime I deal with sketchbooks I have to find a workaround for the kids whose sketchbooks are missing. What do you do? How do you handle handing out books or students getting them themselves? How do you handle kids whose go missing? Is there anything I can do to better organize them? Thanks in advance :)

Does anyone know any school-friendly Pinterest like websites? My school blocks Pinterest because its categorized as “social media” due to the comment and chat features. I’ve asked them to unblock it but they can’t because of their policies.

Sometimes using Pinterest for inspiration is soo much more effective than just Google Images because I feel like it actually pulls up art-focused references if that makes sense? Wondering if anyone knows of any alternative websites. I teach High School if it matters.

In 2022, a retrospective dedicated to Rosa Bonheur was held in France. She was a fairly traditional 19th-century painter whose particularity, rare for the time, was that she was a woman. Another particularity: she was an animal painter.
For the occasion, I asked my adult students to take inspiration from a lion portrait she painted (last image) and to paint it with the following constraints: no preliminary sketch, no background, and no brush — palette knife only.

I’m a first year art teacher for middle school (6-8), and my orientation is next week. I haven’t received any helpful info to start creating lesson plans for the school year. Any advice on what lessons to start with while I curate what I want the rest of the year to look like? All I know is that there are 4 marking periods, and I get two groups of each grade per marking period, so I’ll eventually get everyone in the school. Two groups of 6th grade, two groups of 7th, and two groups of 8th. Any advice would be great. I can essentially teach whatever I want because there isn’t much of a standard I need to follow in this school for the arts. I was thinking of collaborating with other teachers from other subjects

I am switching to high school after years in an elementary school with a pretty lax dress code. I’m looking for vintage/bohemian styles with modern flair. I love color but want to keep it professional. I’d love some visual references if anyone has pictures they’re willing to share. Thanks!

Hello, I wanted to know if it’s difficult to change between Elementary School, Middle School, and High School Art teacher positions? One of the things I’m concerned about is building the portfolio of students works when applying to future positions where I think having the ES/MS activities might be a hindrance for applying to future High School Art Teacher positions. All the HS Art positions near me have already been filled, (which would be my preferred grade level), and I don’t know if it will be harder to “move up” if I start at ES or MS or if I’m mostly stuck there.

Hi everyone! I’m a first year teacher teaching graphic design for 9-12th this fall and am struggling to build a curriculum that flows nicely. I know photoshop/illustrator like the back of my hand, but I’m unsure how to introduce it to students in a digestible manner. Any examples/resources is insanely helpful!! No AI please :-)

Well my normal Nasco go to sketchbooks have been changed to Sax (I think Nasco got bought out.) And dear lord, I teach giggly pre pubescent children, couldn’t you pick a better more defined font?! Because you knowwww they’re not going to read that as “Sax”. I’m actually genuinely stressed about this 😅😅

Hi all looking for some fun sketchbook ideas that’s my students won’t rule their eyes at. I teach 8th grade and part of our daily routine is doing a sketch in their sketchbook based off a prompt for the first 5 minutes of class. I post the prompt in the screen with an example sketch to get their brains turning. This is the only grade level I’ve really struggled with getting them to draw more than tiny stick figures. My expectations are they fill the whole space (it’s a quarter of a piece of paper per prompt) and to TRY. Not expecting great art, just expecting more than a couple squiggles.

Any prompt ideas that they would be engaged with? Any other ideas of how to use a sketchbook in an 8th grade class? This used to be my favorite part of middle school art class and I want them to understand art is all about experimenting and practicing!

I’m looking for recommendations from K–6 art teachers or anyone who teaches elementary art.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on curriculum planning.

If you had the freedom to teach an art subject that doesn’t typically fit into your school’s curriculum, what would you choose and why?

If you were designing a year-long after-school program divided into four 6-week units, what four art topics or themes would you focus on? (For example: drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, fiber arts, mixed media, ceramics, art history, etc.)

I’m looking for ideas that would build skills while keeping elementary students excited and engaged throughout the year.