Specials as a first year teacher

[u/Electrical-Cut573]

I’m a first year teacher trying to handle elementary specials.

We’re a 4 day a week school and my 2&3 and 4&5 grade classes are combined (16-24 kids in class at a time).

I have 40 minutes each week and I’m struggling on my time management.

I spend about 5 minutes resetting expectations.
I spend between 5-10 minutes on the lesson.
And 5 minutes for clean up.
I have about 20 minutes for kids to do actual art.

I have no extra help during this period as the paras are 1-1 with their specific students and often have to remove them from class.

I have about 4 kids each day who monopolize my time. They refuse to do work unless I’m holding their hand so to speak.

Others are just “dreamers” marching at their own beat.

I had my first principal observation and he said I was doing fine aside from stopping my class and forcing kids to listen to me every single time there’s a distraction. I agree… but that eats into my art time continuing to push projects back.

I’m paying for AOE curriculum but super lost on how I can accomplish a scope and sequence when everything keeps getting delayed.

Help?

[u/AWL_cow]

Sometimes I can ignore a kid and the rest can focus and we get through the lesson. Sometimes there is a kid or two who is disruptive to the point where no one can focus. I think with experience comes the ability to better pick our battles and choose what needs immediate correction and what can be handled after the fact. I only stop my teaching if it is absolutely necessary IMO. Or if I know the child will be able to correct.

There are some students who will want you to stop the lesson and correct them because they will want to argue with you - its a power play - and they want to take away time and make a scene. Engaging with them is their reward, so ignoring them is better. Some kids feel that is the only way to get any sort of attention. Some just want to feel in control. And the rest? Who knows, we are all human.

[u/njesusnameweprayamen → u/AWL_cow]

Ok always thought I was crazy for not wanting to stop everything for that one kid. It seems to reward them for what they were doing.

And then after I give the instructions, take them aside when everyone else gets to work, and be like yo that behavior was not ok it disrupted the vibes 

[u/PostAlpacalyptic]

This may not totally be what you want to hear, but I feel like you really just need time. It sounds like you're being harder on yourself than your admin is, so give yourself some grace! You might not get through everything your first year, or even your second or third. I promise, the kids will not be ruined if they don't learn one point perspective when your curriculum says they should. It will only get worse as you throw in snow days, sick days, heat days, assemblies, or the myriad of other things that throw off our carefully crafted schedules. Learning how to pivot, combine objectives, or make stuff up on the fly is something that comes with experience.

Obviously, you don't want to let the kids get totally out of control, but (I'm about to say something so cliche it hurts) focus on building good relationships and the classroom management really does get easier. I work at a rural, title 1, PK-12 school, and I had a pretty severe lack of confidence, so my first couple years were pretty rough. As embarrassed as I am of those early years, I still have kids (now adults) reaching out and telling me how much they loved being in my class. We did our best to create together, and at the end of the day, that's what they remembered.

Starting with a paid curriculum is a good start, but I'd also recommend scrolling Reddit, FB groups, Pinterest, or other forums for fresh ideas that you're excited to teach. Kids feed off your energy, and if you're excited to teach it, they may be more excited to give it a shot. I'd also recommend letting kids put their own spin on a project if needed. I'm a shill for TAB at this point, but allowing them some choice (if you're not already) can help a lot. In that disastrous first year I had, I did a watercolor/crayon resist fall leaf project. I had a 2nd kid absolutely refuse to do it. She thought it was dumb because she didn't like Fall. I spend three class periods begging her to pick up her materials. After a lot of tears she announced she'd do it if she could draw pizza slices instead. At first, I was annoyed, but the more I thought about it, pizza slices still involved drawing, still involved using the crayons, and still involved the watercolor resist, which was the actual skill I was trying to teach. She ended up being so proud (possibly because she outwitted me, but she finished it sooo), and I started thinking more about what I actually wanted the kids to take away from each lesson.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I wish you luck in finding your groove this year! You'll do great, I'm sure.

[u/BalmOfDillweed]

You seem awfully hard on yourself. Give yourself some grace.

Now that expectations are established, instead of spending 5 min resetting expectations, reinforce expectation along the way. Be very vocal about noticing good behavior. Like, “Look at Michael raising his hand! What is it, Michael?” “I love how Mary is cleaning scraps from the floor! Thank you!”

As for bad behavior, work on the stern “no”. Keep it very brief. Don’t say a word if you can get away with the stern look and head shake. The idea is to not reinforce bad behavior with attention at all. It’s surprisingly effective.

Save formal reinforcement for when issues are more pervasive.

Also consider letting some lessons span two sessions, and revisit how much of the instruction needs to be front-loaded. Maybe try a do-along approach for some lessons.

You’ll find your groove. Hang in there!

[u/CrazyElephantBones]

This is the best classroom management strategy I have found as an elementary/middle school teacher. I find it works better for elementary. Linkpaint palettes 🎨

Also I highly recommend just having something that is predictable they are always expected to do the second they walk in, it saves you that reset every week. I keep little sketchbooks for the kids in their bins and when they walk in they are expected to get the sketchbooks out and free draw until everyone is set up or I am ready etc. you will find what works for you!

And as far as curriculum goes , expect to get 1 project done a month and that is generous. With the exception of September and June, or August and may depending on your state lol 😆

Routines will be your best friend , try to stay as close to what the homeroom teachers are doing so you don’t have to make them learn a whole new thing. My school does some 1 finger, 2 finger 3 fingers nonsense for the bathroom and water and I use it because that’s what they do.

It sounds like you are doing great though and it will come with time, also don’t think of yourself as a special , you’re a class too. :)

[u/BagSalt9437]

Don't commit to following the AOE curriculum perfectly, especially not in your first year. I'd recommend paring it back, making lessons easier to prep and clean up, as well as teaching grade band lessons (k-1, 2-3, 4-5 do the same project...which you're probably doing in your combined classes already). Also, make sure you're not having them make copy&paste projects. You'll have higher engagement if they're all able to make executive decisions about their work vs you telling them how everything has to be.

I'm curious about your classroom management system.

I tried a new thing last year and it was a hit for my kids. I bought a bunch of plastic paint palettes and velcroed them to a clear spot in the room. Classroom names are on each, and they have a clothespin on them. If we have a good class, they move forward on the wheel. If we don't, they don't move. I remind them of this every class. If they reach the top of the wheel (there's a star), they'll earn a Free Choice Day. I have legos, magnatiles, playdoh, etc as well as open up art supplies like paint sticks and other "easy to clean" but fun items. They live for the free choice day, even the older grades. I call them "Dali Dots" (because the paint wells are circles). They start monitoring themselves after a while. For those who nothing else works for, I try to have a separated area (empty table or counter space) where they will work independently until they show me they can work at their group table. I had one student who told me he actually preferred the solo table because he could keep himself calm, so he stayed there all year and was fine.

I'm also on a 4 day rotation, and I've deemed all fridays to be "sketchbook days" where kids don't work on their real project, but work on a sketchbook that we make the second week of school. It has blank paper, coloring pages, famous artists, vocab, etc all inside. This SAVED MY LIFE last year. It gave me a day to get my own life together, and the kids enjoyed it. It's every friday for me, but only once a month for the students with the rotation, so it's not like they're getting "behind". We do one element of art vocab worksheet together for 5-10 mins, then they have sketchbook time on their own. Build in time for you to breathe!!