I’ve found that high school students are surprisingly willing to help with cleanup, more so than elementary or middle schoolers. Highlighting the proper place for materials makes things easier. When you work with new materials, demonstrate the proper disposal of excess media and scraps. The real challenge comes in keeping everything where it should be. Clearly state your clean up expectations and stick to them. Students understand that if everyone doesn’t do their part, the materials they need to work with might not be there next class.
Setting the stage and emphasizing the communal nature of the space is often enough to keep things running smoothly. We SHARE this space with others! Please care for it by keeping things clean and organized! All supplies returned to original location. All materials returned to original location. If you are using wet media, allow yourself at least ten minutes to clean palettes, brushes, etc.
When you finish with a material or tool, return it to its proper location! This will save you time at the end of class. Only take what you need! We share the materials in the classroom, and there may be limited amounts of supplies!
Keeping things labeled increases the chances that they’ll end up in the right place at the end of class. Managing the physical space of the art classroom is a great start to the process of staying organized. So how do teacher maintain organization while leaving space for flexibility, creativity, and more in the high school art classroom? Here are 8 organizational techniques to help keep things together amidst the hectic school day. And though it might seem like the teacher is a bit scattered, the controlled chaos is more of a dance and balance that art teachers are skilled at managing. While working, a bit of a mess is encouraged. But in art spaces, students are meant to be active. When observers come into the art space, they aren’t used to seeing students constantly moving around, talking with each other, materials strewn about, and the teacher roving back and forth throughout the room. This all becomes magnified at the high school level, as folks imagine teens adding a level of attitude and drama to the entire picture.Īrt teachers acknowledge that activity in the art room is not exactly comparable to that of an English or math space. Disheveled, paint covered, and, in general, a bit of a mess. The picture most have of the art teacher suffers from a similar preconceived notion. Add art supplies, writing utensils, notebooks, paper, etc.The stereotyped image of an art classroom is mess and chaos.Find some type of container, basket, or cart around your home.You can organize your kid’s supplies with any number of household items: And the best way you can get started with a workspace is to organize school supplies! Having a dedicated workspace will provide your kids with a similar structure to the one they had in school. And keeping their school supplies accessible has made a big difference in their willingness to learn from home. In our family, my kids will be learning from home for over 9 months, which is crazy! But we’re making the best of the hand we’ve been dealt. And the 2021 school year decision is likely one of the hardest decisions you will ever make.