Routines

It is the last week of September. We have been in school for a little over a month. I have seen all 450 of my students for two rotations. This means we spent approximately 8 hours together. A very short amount of time relative to the volume of work the students have already produced. To clarify: produced means sketch journal, processes, reflecting, discussion and all the pieces we do each lesson. In the studio classroom I maintain ‘an every moment counts’ approach. Another way to think about this; we use all of our instructional time all of the time. This looks like explorations in art applications and the sounds like students being given the responsibility through implementation and maintaining consistent predicable routines. There are as many ways to present and attend to routines in a classroom as there are art educators. My best thinking and reflection has lead me to create and maintain a community of makers who ‘…are caretakers of the materials, tools and each other…’ I say this quite bit. I use this phrase consistently with all grade levels for example : ‘…[student name] thank you for wiping off the table/using the brush to create these beautiful strokes…’ or whatever we are learning and I am reinforcing through language and action. 

The culture of a classroom is a direct reflection of the adult action in that classroom. A community of makers that are regarded with their names and with their individuality is a safe place to learn and succeed in the arts.