"The reality, however, is that many of these students will encounter a teacher who is enmeshed in a system geared up to treat all 1st graders as though they were essentially the same, or all Algebra I students as though they were alike. Classrooms and schools are rarely organized to respond well to variations in student readiness, interest, or learning profile (Archambault et al., 1993;"

Understanding Differentiated Instruction: Building a Foundation for Leadership

five septembers: summer vacation's gotta go

five septembers: summer vacation's gotta go: Recently, I was cruising along a country road on a gorgeous, sunshiny day to visit a friend. It was a Monday. And just when I was feeling ...

Big Thinkers: Howard Gardener on Multiple Intelligence

http://www.edutopia.org

When I was teaching at FRCS as a LTS art teacher for middle school students, I was encouraged to display my Class Rules prominently. It went through several iterations. Mostly the list got shorter, the words got bigger and color was added. Here is a small task for you. Take this early list that basically is what you want and make it your own. Make it easily digestible while your at it.

Mr Lamb's Class Rules

-->

1. Always be on time for class and prepared with the necessary materials.
   
2. You need a pass to be admitted into class late. 
   
3. Homework and assignments are written on the board for each class, it is  your responsibility to be aware of those and write them down. This information is also available in your syllabus.
   
4. If you have a question, raise your hand.
5. All students are working on classwork at all times. Disturbing or distracting behavior will not be tolerated. Be on your best behavior at all times. Ask permission before working on anything else! 
6. If you don’t know or don’t understand something – ask me for help.
   
7. Pick up after yourself at the end of every class – this includes any materials you may have used during class, anything you brought to class and any trash or spills. Please make sure if you take art supplies out that it is returned to that same place.
   
8. No electronics. I WILL take it away.
   
9. One student at a time may leave the room to go to the bathroom, locker, etc.
10. Put your name and your class section on all of your work.
11. Do not leave a mess. You are responsible for cleaning tools and brushes, leave enough time.
    
12. Be very creative!

Technology in the Classroom: EMBRACE IT!

Plugged-in Students are Telling us to Embrace the Future

"Services such as Remind101, Edmodo, and Google Apps for Education and Classroom are excellent resources to help students organize their learning, submit homework and otherwise bolster their education. Using these resources helps not only your high-performing students, but also students who need extra assistance keeping on track in the classroom."

TGIF!
10 Proven Classroom Management techniques that will work with your students.


Also Dr. Bill Rogers talks about how to avoid getting messy during check-in.

Use Arts Integration to Enhance Common Core

At Edutopia.org 

"What is striking is that both STEM and Arts Integration are linked through definition as an approach to teaching through two or more content areas. Still, the arts have some unique parallels to the Common Core Standards that may make their implementation a beneficial addition for teachers and administrators."

What this article says to me is that an art teacher often has to initiate the process of cross-curriculum activities. Talk with your faculty team members. Find out what the students are working on. Work with the whole team to integrate art into the lessons and content into the art. This will reinforce the message that art is about learning.

Raising learner's Motivation in Art Class

Rachel Shirley's website 

Adjusting the differentiation in the lesson plans in order to accommodate those who enjoy a challenge as well as those who have little confidence in painting (or drawing), is more likely to ensure both will experience success in learning. This may involve blending both the cognitive and the Behaviourist approach to teaching.

After I apply for a teaching job with resume and cover letter material through Schoolspring, I often send a custom e-mail through to one of the hiring team to emphasize my interest and capabilities. Below is a typical example.

I have over two years of teaching experience in Art classrooms. I have strong content knowledge. I plan instruction according to a student's individual learning style. I believe that communication with families is necessary to earn trust from my students. I believe in equality and I urge all my students to have high expectations of themselves. I run a safe, respectful, and culturally sensitive and responsive classroom. I feel the developmental level of middle school student age students is the level where true excitement about creativity is found. Students are discovering art mediums and techniques and are amazed to see what they can do--often for the first time. Middle school students are full of curiosity and they are eager to shed light on the mystery of art. I look forward to meeting you and your team in order to discuss this art teacher position.

Best wishes,

Greg Lamb

21 Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation from Teachthought.com

"Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is a key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education, and teachers can play a pivotal role in providing and encouraging that motivation in their students. Of course that’s much easier said than done, as all students are motivated differently and it takes time and a lot of effort to learn to get a classroom full of kids enthusiastic about learning, working hard, and pushing themselves to excel."

 See all 21 Simple Ideas here: Student Motivation

Modification, Differentiation, Adaptation and the Art Classroom 

Artful Artsy Amy says thinking concretely about modification, differentiation, and adaptation is vital. 

A candidate for a middle school art teacher position needs to clearly articulate how they engage students, maintain the integrity of the classroom, and align their lessons to be aligned to the curriculum. An assistant principle has shared his main concerns about new art teacher candidates: "My recommendation to you is to think about the developmental level of a middle school student, and what their artistic needs are.  Further develop your understanding of behavior management, differentiation, and student motivation."

Reverse Curriculum Design

From: www.bartelart.com Lesson ideas that promote a student's individual creative solutions.

"I use a kind of ‘reverse engineering’ to plan art lessons. Reverse engineering an artwork allows us to teach creativity instead of imitation. It provides an unlimited source of ideas for classroom questions, experiments, play, practice routines, and so on, for art lessons. This leads to artwork that the students individually invent instead of stuff that is imitated or copied. It is a way to find the strategies for students to learn how to invent content and creation strategies based on their own lives. I am looking for the engineering of the invention process itself. Of course there are many answers to this. Most questions that are worth asking and answering have many answers. We can use and teach this empathic imaginative approach to help our students learn to experiment, discover, practice, design, persist, self-critique, think, feel, and express themselves as artists instead of relying on examples, demonstrations, imitation, or copy work."

This article gets to the root of the relationship between teachers and their supervisors.

Slate.com/ Stop beating up on Teachers and pay more attention to their bosses.