Classroom Manangement Plan

CLASSROOM AND BEHAVIOR MANANGEMENT

My classroom management plan’s foundation is three-fold: Respect, Curiosity, and Play.
Respect for self, respect for others (in class, in school, in the world), and respect for the studio (equipment, tools, and materials). Curiosity: Always looking to learn more, to grow and experiment without fear of failure. Play: Making and studying art is serious, but it should also be fun—an opportunity to celebrate life.

RESPECT: I expect students to follow the class and school rules and routines. I will interactively
model from the first day of classes to teach these and will revisit them throughout the year. The reason for rules and routines is to allow for as much quality time devoted to art without the distractions of misbehavior. I will use techniques from the Responsive Classroom® series (The First Six Weeks of School and Responsive Classroom for Music, Art, PE, and Other Special Areas). Because time is limited, I will use call and responses to focus attention, to signal transitions from working to clean up, and for orderly dismissal. Students will be assigned art jobs by tables on a rotating basis for distributing and collecting supplies, storing projects, cleaning areas at the end of class. To build autonomy and independence, materials and equipment will be clearly labeled with posters for expectations like the steps for putting glue away properly. Following rules and routines shows respect.

CURIOSITY: I want students to ask questions and I use inquiry-based instruction to prompt deeper thinking. I want students to share ideas, collaborate, and encourage each other to stretch and explore (Hetland et al., 2013). I will tolerate a good amount of noise and even some safe chaos in the attempt to create an environment where students can experiment without fear of failure. I encourage the Studio Thinking’s Studio Habits of Mind (Hetland et al., 2013) and/or Portrait of a Graduate (Lonnett, 2021). To keep students from being over or underwhelmed, I pre-assess (with a warmup or quick assignment) and offer choices based on differentiated instruction as described in the book, Differentiated Instruction in Art (Fountain, 2014). I have successfully differentiated with individual students to keep them engaged and be successful. For example, one student would significantly stress about drawing, so I allowed her to use clay or paint to complete her learning of our topic.

Finally, PLAY: The best way to minimize classroom disruptions and misbehaviors is to keep students actively engaged in their learning. Helping students to be intrinsically motivated is the key to developing life-long learners. Lessons and activities that are stimulating and challenging are fun. When work is completed, there must be time for reflection and celebration.

References

Fountain, H. L. R. (2014). Differentiated Instruction in Art. Davis Publications, Inc.

Hetland, L., Winner, E., Venema, S., & Sheridan, K. M. (2013). Studio Thinking 2: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press and National Art Education Association.

Lonnett, J. (2021, February 25). Portrait of a Graduate. AVT 668 Class, George Mason University.