maria pairitz's
community of teachers portfolio
viii. classroom management/community
evidence
Classroom management is the bane of any teacher's existence. It is arguably the least enjoyable and most challenging aspect of our jobs. I want to challenge that perspective and argue that classroom management is essential to creating a healthy community among and between students and teachers. For this reason, I have made an effort to observe, read, and construct a meaningful repertoire of strategies, resources, and responses to manage my classroom so my students and I can focus on community building.
The evidence I have compiled are examples of my ability to manage an art class and consider the community my students and I will create together. These pieces of evidence include, pictures of classroom environments accompanied with a reflection of my observations and experiences within those environments, S.O.D.A., a tool for managing and assessing student progress and need for teacher intervention, a first day of class activity that allows me to get to know my students, reflections over the texts "Studio Thinking," and on "Make Me!," an annotated syllabus from my mentorship, my stance on technology in the classroom, a class project that fosters community building, a video clip of my instruction, and excerpts from my reflection journal for my mentorship.
These pieces of evidence are important because they've allowed me to think through and, in some cases, practice organizing and managing the hectic atmosphere typical in art classrooms in a way that channels that hectic energy into productive student learning and behavior. Keeping students on task in the art room is a difficult job especially when it is easy to miss instances when a student is off task amidst moving bodies, music, and talking, compared to a more traditional classroom setting. I am not sure that I have necessarily found an answer to this issue, but I have tried to address it in some of the tools I've developed.
I can use these experiences and resources in the future when I have to manage a classroom by myself. I have tools that I need to test on students to see if they are as effective as I intended them to be in designing them. I have a repertoire of interactions and exchanges with students who have been off task or resisted in minor ways to draw from when I interact with students in the future. I can be more purposeful in arranging the physical layout of my classroom depending on what I want students to accomplish.
I believe in student autonomy, collaboration, and efficiency in the classroom. I try to keep these values in mind when I am developing tools and strategies to manage the classroom. I believe in the competent student and that they should be able to function autonomously in my classroom. As this is something I value, I try to maintain that belief in my policies about technology, the physical arrangement of the classroom, and how I address behaviors in the classroom that are not beneficial to themselves or peers. I believe collaboration is essential to creating a community in which all members feel supported and are active contributors. This again is reflected in the physical layout of the room and in activities I have designed specifically to target collaboration. Efficiency is also key to productive student behavior in such short class periods. I created tools that I feel will allow students to utilize the given time to their fullest benefit.
A pattern I have noticed in this collection of evidence is that I am not afraid to try something other than what has been modeled to me by my mentor or other teachers I have observed. I am comfortable branching off to create solutions to the issues I am seeing in the classroom.
Overall, I have had substantial experience and developed/collected numerous resources geared towards classroom management. I believe in this collection of evidence is a sufficient means to continue my growth in classroom management/community. I believe I have demonstrated my ability to provide a positive learning environment for all students and believe I have reached Ready to Teach for this expectation.
Classroom Environment
Wide open space with large tables for student groups for collaboration, natural lighting, and accessible resources.
Wide open space with large tables for student groups for collaboration, natural lighting, and accessible resources.
Wide open space with large tables for student groups for collaboration, natural lighting, and accessible resources.
Wide open space with large tables for student groups for collaboration, natural lighting, and accessible resources. Space in center to set up still life for observational drawings.
Wheels with enough space in between each other, access to outlet, can look over half wall to see teacher.
Station for prepping clay.
Daily objectives kept up on screen during class.
Posters with school schedule, classroom management tools (S.O.D.A. and BYOD poster), and instructional materials (taxonomy of reflection for self critiques).
Laminated poster hung directly in front of each wheel that demonstrates critical stages of throwing in case students need reference.
Grab a S.O.D.A
S.O.D.A. is a classroom management tool that Ms. O has helped implement throughout the art department. If she or the other art teachers happen to have their hands full when a student requests help they tell them "Grab a S.O.D.A." Students are led step by step to try and address their problem on their own.
Situation - Identify the problem that needs to be addressed.
Options - Brainstorm potential solutions for 1 to 2 minutes. Include all ideas that come up; don't dismiss any.
Decision - Pick what you think is the best solution and start there.
Assess- Create a way of evaluating whether you have solved the problem successfully.
I have not seen this in action yet. In theory I think it is creative and a good way to handle being overwhelmed by student questions. I wouldn't ask my students to write down everything, I would just ask them to think through the steps provided. I would add to "Options" to brainstorm with a peer so they are getting input from someone else.
Another strategy I would like to try in place of S.O.D.A. is a green light, yellow light, red light, system. Every student would have three cups, green, yellow, and red. Green means "I understand what I am doing and don't have any questions at this time." Yellow means, "I am working through this but I have a few questions." Red means, "I'm stuck and need help moving forward." That way I can efficiently assess who needs help and when and this effectively avoids the line up of students standing behind me while I work with another student.
The environment we create for our students ultimately affects their learning and the work they produce. The physical set up of the room should promote autonomy, collaboration, and efficiency. To achieve this, I truly believe the art classroom needs to have been designed specifically to be a space to create art. It should not be an afterthought where the art teacher is placed in the spare classroom clearly not meant for art. While this is in the hands of the administration, I have been fortunate enough to observe and work in classrooms designed for making art. When students see that the arts are given as much respect as science or english classes, they are more likely to feel the work they produce is an important and respected form of meaning-making.
The art room should have plenty of space for students to move about, natural lighting, tons of storage, and appropriate work stations depending on the medium.
In my mentorship, I appreciated how large the labels were on cabinets so students could function autonomously within the classroom, minimizing disruption to ask Ms. O where something was, and allowing experimentation with materials they may not have experience with. Other important procedures or references are posted throughout the room. All the labels are laminated and securely attached to the cabinets and drawers. She almost never restricts access to any materials. More dangerous materials like jeweler's saws, exacto knives or chemicals are stored in spaces she can monitor. Saws and exacto knives are labeled with a number and have a specific slot/space in the drawer. Students are assigned a number so she can keep track of who put away their materials and who may have kept them.
Almost every classroom has students in groups of 4 or are situated in a way where everyone is facing in towards each other. This allows the opportunity to generate ideas off of one another and collaborate on projects. Students are usually social during work days so it allows them to talk quietly to their neighbors.
Ms. O's desk is placed in the corner of the classroom like most teacher's desks, but this is mostly for administrative work. She rarely separates herself from the rest of the classroom and is almost always walking around the room or sitting in empty seats with her students.
Ms. O does a great job projecting the objectives for each day so students can get to work right away and be reminded of their goals. She also has important resources posted on the white board for students to grab when needed.
There is space to store student work. Drawings and other 2D projects can be stored in drawers for each respective student while 3D projects need shelf space. She labels these shelves by period and makes sure they are out of harms way in a busy classroom.
An important aspect of the creative process is presenting their finished work. It is important to have spaces dedicated to display student work. This can be in the form of bulletin boards inside the classroom, display cases in the hallway, a gallery for the school, and special events for the community.
All of these aspects incorporated into the physical layout of the classroom helps promote autonomy, collaboration, and efficiency to produce outstanding student work.
All About You
Building a community in the classroom means I need to make it a priority to know every student in my class as an individual. We cannot establish a community if students do not feel recognized or like the contribute to the community in some way. One of the ways I hope to build community within the classroom is through a visual diary that is "All About You." At the start of the semester students will create a little page about themselves that will be accessible to everyone else in the class. They will include pictures and annotate those pictures to depict their interests and values. This will also become a jumping off point for them to go back to and generate ideas for future projects. I will also share mine with the class so they can see I am a human being too.
Studio Thinking
Chapter 3 Elements of Studio Classrooms
This book is a collection of research done on two art dedicated high schools. Chapter three addresses the complexity that goes into designing a studio classroom. This chapter points out a lot of my own observations during my mentorship (see evidence "Classroom Environment"), but does provide more insight into why art classes are designed the way they are by the teacher.
Some observations they made that I didn't reflect on was the use of music in the art room. Most classes I have observed or been a student in play music during class. Music can play an important role in setting the tone for the day and helping students stay focused or get inspired. Sometimes the teacher will stimulate social buzz and energy in the classroom by playing pop music. What time of day is important as well. A teacher can play pop music in the later part of the afternoon to keep student's energies up after a long day and in the morning they might play jazz or lyrical music to stay soft and help warm students up to the day. Music can also be a classroom management tool. Maybe when the designated cleanup song starts to play, it signals students to start wrapping up their projects and putting supplies away and they have until the end of the song to finish up and be seated until the bell rings. Each class could choose what their clean up song will be.
Another element of the classroom is where I am physically present as a teacher. If students need time for unobserved work to mess with an idea or new material without feeling judged, I might stay by my desk and take attendance, or clean up some part of the classroom I've been meaning to get to. Other times I might be meandering around the classroom so students can grab me quickly when they need to talk through a problem and so I can assess student progress. Sometimes I might be doing my own project with my students. This allows students to observe the teacher in the planning stages, or making mistakes, or using more advance techniques I might not have demonstrated that some students might want to try. By being on their level and working through an art project alongside my students, I am part of the classroom community too.
I will continue to use this chapter as a guide for how I arrange my classroom in the future.
Make Me! Understanding and Engaging Student Resistance
In any classroom, there will be some degree of student resistance. How we respond to that as teachers can make or break the community we may have or have yet to establish in our classroom. This text has helped me rethink student resistance and how I plan to respond to it. Toshalis challenges us to look at student resistance as a symptom, not the problem itself. Student resistance indicates that we need to look closer at what the real issue is.
A lot of student resistance is resolved within redesigning our curriculum and rethinking our instructional strategies, but in terms of classroom management, I have learned that it is best to pull the student aside immediately or at a later time, depending on the severity of the behavior, and ask "What's going on?" Asking this instead of demanding "Why aren't you doing this?" or "What is wrong with you?" gives the student the opportunity to explain the context for their behavior and opens dialogue instead of closing it off. Pulling the student aside also eliminates feeling embarrassed or judged by their peers if you confront them in front of the entire class. I would use this technique in instances where the student is on their phone instead of doing work, talking while I'm talking, not staying on task, and other benign acts of resistance.
There are certain behaviors and situations that I would call out in front of the class though because sometimes a zero-tolerance policy sends a clear message that I care about the physical and emotional safety of the rest of my class. Instances like this include making obscene or violent comments towards a peer, using classroom materials like exacto knives or jeweler's saws inappropriately, and other dangerous behaviors.
Toshalis has also helped me think deeply about how to make my classroom a space where mistakes are only indicators of where they are now, not where they will be. Where they feel safe to take risk and where their strengths are built instead of feeling like I'm hunting for a weakness. With this goal in mind, I will think carefully about the instructional strategies and classroom rules/procedures I employ to make sure they support this vision.
Class Yearbook Project
Ms. O had me create a collaborative project for her AP class. For the past year of AP, all of these students have been working individually on their concentration. For a final project, I wanted to bring together all of the diverse styles, mediums, and concepts into a community mural. The intention was to create an appreciation for their peers' concentrations and how all of them, knowingly or unknowingly, contributed to each other's growth as an artist and individuals over the course of the year. It is described more in length in the link above, but essentially we created a class yearbook of everyone in AP that year. Reflecting on this project, I would have possibly done this at the beginning of the year to establish that sense of community from the get go, but at the beginning they don't really of their concentration flushed out quite yet. I could possibly do this as a breadth project at the beginning of the year and not include concentrations, but just do straight portraits of each other, but I don't feel as though it captures the artistic diversity present in the group. It is something I'll have to consider more.
Bring Your Own Device
I believe in the technology centered world we are in today, it is important to teach etiquette pertaining when and where it's appropriate to use technology and how to use technology in resourceful and productive ways. I believe telling them to put away their phones or they'll get detention is not an effective way to produce this understanding. A way to help them understand times it is appropriate to use technology is through this BYOD poster. I can mark on the board that today is a red day so they won't need their phones. Or I can mark yellow so I am able to monitor where their phones are and so they are easily accessible if a student needs to look up something. And green when I need them to utilize their phones, tablets, and laptops. This helps develop habits that will be beneficial to them in the future whether they go to college or enter the work force. It may seem small but I believe practicing technology related etiquette will introduce responsible and resourceful contributors to society.
I already foresee that most use of technology would be before a project - when researching ideas or techniques - and after a project is completed - documenting work, writing an artist statement, and submitting a filled out critique/rubric.
And issue with using technology during green days is making sure students are on task on their devices. I thought about roaming the room, but students can easily switch tabs to appear like they are on task when I walk by. One way I could try to keep students on track is to combine roaming the classroom with a submission at the end of class that shows me all the images they've collected and research they've done for a project. This way I can assess who utilized the time fully and who just dumped a few images or didn't even attempt to do any research at all.
For students who do not have their own devices, I would make sure they have devices from the school technology center or work with someone who has one or propose a grant to have my own set of iPads in the classroom.
Class Syllabus
In the attached document, I have annotated a syllabus from my mentorship that I would like to use as a model. I chose this particular syllabus because I loved the transparency and explicit nature of it. I think just laying down the rules and expectations without going further into why you have them or what responsibilities you owe your students is not beneficial to the student-teacher relationship. A syllabus sets the tone for the classroom for the remainder of the year and is the basis on which a community can be built.
In my annotations, I point out aspects I would like to keep and aspects I would change. I consider how this is perceived in the eyes of my future students and what I wish was on a syllabus when I was a student.
Annotating this document helped me reflect and think deeply about how I want to start off the semester with my students.
I haven't written my own syllabus or classroom rules/procedures because I am still debating on whether it's easier to just state the rules and be over with it or make it something that my students participate in creating, which would require more time. I think including students in the establishment of rules and procedures would make them feel like they were a part in building the classroom community and they would be more likely to respect the rules they agreed to, but I don't know how to make sure there are rules that need to be included be included in the discussion without taking away their autonomy.
I include a video of my instruction in class as I feel it demonstrates my ability to create a positive learning environment. I demonstrate mutual respect for my students by creating a classroom climate that encourages students to share their thoughts and opinions with the rest of the class. I established this tone at the beginning of the year and have continued modeled what respectful behavior is for my students. For example, when I ask what a vessel is, one student responds that it is a boat. I affirm his response as it is correct, but then incite him and the class to come up with a second definition of a vessel. In this way, the student does not feel embarrassed or like he said the incorrect answer and won’t be afraid to continue to participate in class discussion (0:18 – 0:23). I also demonstrate respect by making eye contact and listening to what my students have to say and repeating their responses to affirm their input and make sure I understood them correctly.
I demonstrate my rapport with my students through our ability to laugh and smile openly when overhearing their conversations in small groups (4:20 - 4:25). Additionally, I overheard a student’s story and walked over to tell him that I like the connection he made with the bear trap representing her being trapped on the phone (3:45 – 3:52). Later, I ask him to share his example with the rest of the class (4:45 – 4:52).
I demonstrate my responsiveness to students with varied needs and backgrounds by encouraging students to share their responses with the rest of the class. Some students who may feel that their personal response isn’t correct or good enough to share with the rest of class need the encouragement and affirmation that their responses are worth sharing. To prompt them to share with the class I point to one student and ask, “Do you want to share yours?” She responds, “Really?” and I tell her, “I really liked it!” which encouraged her to share with the rest of the class (4:33 – 4:45).
I challenge students to engage in learning by asking them to hypothesize the definition of a new term by using prior knowledge (0:00 – 0:43). I also ask questions that challenge them to look at the form, surface decoration, and function of the vessel to come up with a story that might have gone along with it (1:23 – 1:50).
Journal Excerpts
L., a so proclaimed problem student, accused of not caring about him because I wouldn't let him go to the bathroom today (because he asks every single day). I laid it down for him. I told him if I truly didn't care, I wouldn't be checking in to make sure he is doing his assignments correctly, or making him redo things to his best ability, or hovering to check and see if his coiling technique is correct. If I didn't care I would let him go to the bathroom so he could dick around. I told him not to accuse me of not caring again. I think he got the message, but he played too cool for school and muttered once I left. The student next to him was like "she does have a point dude."
Today was not super great. I had a tense time with 7th period. Everyone is at different stages now and I am okay with them working on other school work, as long as they've turned in everything I needed. So during 7th I notice a lot of them are talking and hanging out with their friends so I go on Canvas to check and see if they've finished their work. One by one, I called them out and told them to go back to their seats to work. Once they're all working, I get several questions about the assignments, all things I KNOW I have gone over, and I just get so cranky and upset. They are making me into someone I am not because I have to drag them by their fingernails to get anything done. So at the end of class I sat down and asked them to put everything away and listen to me. I talked frankly with them and said that they were making me a teacher and person that I am not. I said I could literally care less if they LOVE the art project or LOVE the assignment. I'm more interested them taking initiative, doing what is asked of them to their best ability and putting forth effort. You shouldn't be skating by doing the bare minimum in life. I think that they heard me, but I do think that I will still have to hold them to the line and just accept the fact that they will need more management from me. It really stunk.
Today I had an issue with one of my sped students in first period. S. is known for being fully capable of doing the work but refusing to do it out of laziness and stubbornness. She has taken Intro to 3D about five times (don't get me started about how I don't believe they should have sped students taking the same courses over and over instead of pushing them a little further each time) so she knows the routine.We are currently working on a wire/reed sculpture in class where they create an abstract sculpture that represents them. We have modified it so that she is creating something that interests her and is less of an abstract concept. After brainstorming, she decided to create a Sonic the Hedgehog shoe. She did well in the beginning twisting wire to create the base of her sculpture, but these past few days she has been refusing to help her aid, L. I asked S. to try attaching one of her twisted wires to the sculpture and she said, "No thank you." Then when asked to assist in holding up a piece of the sculpture so that L. could attach it for her, S. got more irritated saying "No thank you!" I said I heard her and that maybe we should press pause on the project until she was ready to participate as L. shouldn't be making the sculpture for her. This only irritated S. more. I take it that S. was taught to say "no thank you" as a polite way to communicate her frustrations or feelings, but has now confused it as a means to get out of doing any work that is asked of her. I took the opportunity to contact her teacher and communicate what happened in class. He came down the next period and told me that he talked to her and told her that her aid is no longer allowed to do the project for her. It was just nice to have that reinforcement and support from her main teacher as I'm sure he and S. have a better relationship than I have with her at the moment.
I also had an annoying incident during 7th period. Basically, I was forcing students to clean up like 5 year olds and then while they hovered by the door waiting for the bell (which I explicitly tell them to stop doing every day) I noticed someone left EVERYTHING out on their table. I couldn't picture who it was and asked "Who left all of their materials? Who sits there?" and they just stared blankly at me and then left when the bell rang. Thankfully, two sweet students stayed after to help clean up the mess, but I was livid. There's literally no reason not to clean up. So to address the issue tomorrow, I'm going to change procedures. The reason they go hover by the door is because, as the last class, they have to put their seats up, so their standing around and slowly but surely meander towards the door. I am now going to have them clean up and then sit in their seats until the bell rings. THEN they can put their seats up and leave. This way I can assess who hasn't cleaned and can prevent clustering by the door. Gonna try and keep my cool tomorrow even though I was literally furious. Hopefully tomorrow is better!
While I introduced the assignment, I had them follow along on their own laptops so I could demo the process of posting images of their work to the discussion and how to reply to each others comments. I kept asking if they were doing okay, if they understood what they were doing, how much experience they have with canvas etc, and I was just met with blank stares or people who didn't even lift their faces up from their laptop, so I couldn't get a read. I don't think they were being resistant or rude, I just don't think Ms. O asks for verbal feedback or eye contact when she's giving them info in class. When I have my own classroom, I would kindly ask and enforce that my class gives me verbal responses when I ask them questions so I can help them, because no eye contact or blank stares doesn't let me know what I need to help them with. I will also enforce active listening. I believe you can't fully receive information if you are not facing towards the teacher, sitting up straight, and giving eye contact. I am fine with doodling or fidgeting, but you can do that without looking at whatever you're drawing or fidgeting with. I draw from my experience as a color guard instructor where verbal feedback and active listening is expected. I know it's different in the classroom, but I do believe it makes a difference in how students receive information and their ability to apply it later on. I also believe that these are life skills that will benefit them in almost every other part of their life in and outside of school. I would make sure that I am explicit about the reasons I ask them to follow these classroom procedures so they understand how the skills can apply in other areas of their life and not just seem like a crazy controlling teacher. I also wouldn't like punish them if they didn't do these things, just remind them.
Another thing I've noticed is that phones are very prevalent during workdays, or working on other homework. I think it's important to teach students how to use technology responsibly, not just force them to keep them away during class. So I want them to use their phones and tablets for research of references during projects, but that should really only be during the initial planning stage and when they hit a problem in the production of their piece. I think I will make sure to have phones kept away during project workdays.
May 5, 2017
I did not write a journal for this since it was the end of IU's semester, but I substituted for another art teacher at Fishers and had an experience I wanted to share. During homeroom period I was taking attendance when two girls walked in. One handed me a pass to go to the library during this period. On the pass was her name and everything and then in a different color ink and handwriting was a second name scrawled to the side. I smiled and said "so this is a pass for both of you?" and they said yes. I asked why one name was in a different ink color, and the girl who didn't hand me the pass said that the teacher had run out of ink and needed to use a different pen. I smirked and said "Nice try" in a joking way and they both kind of laughed. I let the one with the pass and asked the other one to sit down. I think by keeping it lighthearted and acknowledging how bad (in a funny way) her attempt to trick me was avoided a potential power struggle had I gotten all mad that a student tried to trick the sub. I definitely will use this strategy for minor behaviors of resistance in the classroom because kids will be kids and try to get away with things and I think seeing the humor in these minor, non-harmful, attempts keeps a relationship between the student and teacher, because it's not worth cutting off the relationship over something small just to prove your power as a the figure of authority.
The day went smoothly aside from the reoccurring issue of a few students doing other classwork instead of working on their projects in Ms. O's class. I feel that this is a typical problem to have in art classes because students have the perception that the other classes they are studying or finishing homework for take priority over art classes, even during class time. It was hard for me to tell them that they couldn't be working on homework for other classes because I caught myself thinking "Okay this kid is scared about his upcoming test on Shakespeare in 5th period and feels unprepared" and almost felt like letting him study for it out of sympathy, but then I realized it's his own fault if he's not managing his schedule and making time to study for this test outside of class. Kids sincerely believe it's okay if they miss a day in art class doing other classwork. They also tried justifying working on something else by saying "well this art project is due next Tuesday, but this worksheet in English is due today." Crazy. I think I do a pretty good job of keeping it light when I confront them and they generally respect me and put the other work away. So I want to develop better strategies for making sure students are staying on task, especially with an art classroom being so hectic and some things slipping by like students working on outside classwork.
Then in some of my later classes I was having difficulty keeping students on task. I would go around to the students who were sitting on their laptops or doing other school work and ask "So how's your project going? Show me some of your sketches!" and they'd get flustered and get back to work for the most part, but some other ones I could not get to stay focused. There were some legit reasons, like their piece was still in the kiln so they couldn't underglaze it or they couldn't resin set and that was the last step in their jewelry project, etc. but others had work to do but weren't doing it. I'll have to be a little more firm next time.
During 5th hour, AP and Drawing 4 just had work time. I told one girl who literally looked like she hadn't done a thing to her drawing since last week that she was being to careful and precious with her art and that she needs to just let loose and make confident marks on the page and deal with them later if their wrong because you won't know if they're wrong if you're too afraid of "messing up" what you already have. I just want her to get to the actual meat of her project because she's been working on drawing a brick wall background for the past two weeks. I think Ms.O's method of assigning a due date midway through the project may be contributing to this slowness because they're not even halfway done and they've had plenty of time already. I see the pros to assigning the due date when the class hits the halfway mark because then you can see the pace of how they work and make sure they have sufficient time to finish their work, but it negatively affects the pacing too. I don't know.
The last two periods were the jewelry classes which have very different vibes. The first one is crazy hectic and working at way different paces. A lot of them are freelancing and making their own projects in between assigned projects so there's a lot of individual questions and demonstrations that Ms. O and I have to fulfill because she wants them to keep pushing themselves, but today she had them pause, told the ones working ahead to review class materials and the ones a little behind to complete the project they were on so they could reconvene as a class and she could demonstrate new techniques to everyone, not just the ones working ahead.