My room last year at this time. Now, I have new tables, stools, and will have a smart board upon my return!
School is almost in session here in Philly. I have one trip to take before I am fully back into my classroom. I will be going in this Thursday and Friday to empty out my closet, which is currently stuffed with… EVERYTHING!!!
So the past week and today I have been working on a little list of lessons my students will create in their quarter of art. ( I see about 5-6 classes of my kiddos for roughly 8-10 weeks, and then I get a new group every quarter.) What I have created is a very simple matrix that roughly lines out what project they will be going into each week. The more in depth matrix comes into production weekly as I keep it current to where they are in their projects and may ultimately change things after assessing lessons and their progression. It is basically my rough draft. I looked at the one I created last year, edited it, and added lessons. Throughout last school year, I added notes to the matrix to remind me of stuff in my editing stage. Next year, at this time, I will be doing the same thing. And BTW, the matrix layout is a sort of borrowed design. Another art teacher from a Facebook group posted hers, and I liked it, but it did not totally meet my needs, so naturally I changed it. Pretty easy to make in Word.
Additionally, I have a very rough layout for my studio art classes, which are smaller pullout art classes for students who sign up and maintain their academic performance in their other classes. I don’t fully form that one, because the lessons in that class are very flexible, and usually based on their interests. With the 6th-8th grade studio, I am trying something new. I am having students work on art that will be required of their portfolio should they choose to pursue that for their high school track. I will also have an after school portfolio club in the fall for those who need immediate help and attention for this upcoming high school application year.
Below are PDFs of my matrix. Check it out. Offer suggestions. Borrow ideas. Judge me. Whatever. 😉
Ms. Grace Face 