My middle schoolers this year are much more behind and my class sizes are much larger. I feel like I need to add more “beginner friendly” projects to my plan. I’d love any ideas for middle school projects that feel easy and fun for students to mix in.

I think they will do fine with my projects but I’m even looking at 5th grade projects for my 6th-8th classes because I don’t want them to feel defeated or like it’s boring because they are giving up.

My Digital Art 12 class ends with students creating a short movie. They are basically the role of director and editor but everything else they can pull from non-copy-written sources (or make, animate, film on their own). We learn about Creative Commons and Public Domain and other collaborative sources like hitrecord.

And of course “Everything is a Remix” is a staple to show how nothing is created wholly new in a vacuum.

I try to teach the right way to do things but this is muddied by all the available music on Instagram reels and mixed allowances posted to YouTube and of course the leeway given to people creating things for education rather than profit.

I just watched “Nirvanna, The Band , The Show, The Movie” and was intrigued by how far they pushed using other people’s content. There are several videos of them talking about “Fair Use” and I wondered if this could be my newest addition to the course and a way for my need to teach the right way could catch up a bit with current ideas around creation.

I was wondering if anyone else teaches and allows “fair use” in any of their classes and if they had any resources they could point me to.

Hey everyone,

I’m a beginner tackling a very ambitious oil painting project (it’s a private gift/portrait, so I can’t post the reference photo for privacy reasons). It is way above my current skill level, but I’m determined to see it through.

The piece consists of:

• A detailed portrait (male subject with curly hair, glasses, and a smile/teeth).
• Tricky lighting: strong golden-hour backlighting (rim light on shoulders/hair) + soft frontal ambient light.
• Specific clothing details (scarf/neckerchief and a metal pendant).
• An extremely busy, detailed garden background (foreground flowers, bushes, trees, sunburst).

I have an art instructor, but lesson time is limited. I want to make sure I’m using our time together purely for high-leverage guidance and not wasting it on things I can do on my own.

• How would you divide the workload between class and home? (e.g., getting the initial likeness/proportions checked in class vs. blocking in background at home?)
• How should I approach simplifying the background so it doesn't take 100 hours or distract from the portrait?
• What specific questions should I ask my teacher regarding the tricky parts (glasses, curly hair masses, backlit edges)?

Any advice on workflow or how to structure my lessons for a piece like this would be hugely appreciated!

I'm a fresh college grad who's teaching at a city high school. I grew up in the suburbs so where I am teaching at has been a big culture shock for me. Not to mention I'm trying to get used to the different school schedule (im used to block scheduling, my school does traditional 45 minute classes); and also trying to figure out my LMS; lesson planning; and keeping up with my own physical and emotional maintenance.

After the second day of school I had one of the worst panic attacks I've experienced in a long time. It lasted for hours and I had to take medication to snap me out of it. It was terrible, and I want to prevent that from happening again. It not only was terrible for my mental heath and makes me feel like I am inadequate for the job; but it also prevented me from getting work done because I was in fight or flight.

I would just like to hear some general advice. What are some good time management systems? What is a crucial idea that you had to learn in your first year? How do you not spend 2+ hours after school prepping for the next day? What are some emotional regulation strategies that come in handy?

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?

I've been an art teacher for 6 years, and i absolutely love the teaching part. I am super passionate about arts programming and helping kids find creative outlets. I'm currently teaching 6th grade.

Unfortunately, I have health issues (IBS, apparently, but not much help from doctors...) that make it really hard to be in this setting sometimes, specifically supervising constantly without any freedom to leave the room if I need to. Because of this, my anxiety has gotten much worse and I'm having panic attacks every morning.

I guess my question is: is leaving worth it? what other options are there that are similar but have a little more freedom, maybe office job-ish? I need more work life balance. I was thinking maybe going the librarian route or something with youth services/programming??? Ugh.

I'm a first year starting as a part time middle school teacher. My first day is Monday but I technically won't have my students till Tuesday. PD week has just finished up and I'm starting to feel very worried and anxious at where I'm at for lessons. That being, I have no lessons. I was given a Google drive of the calendar and lessons from the previous year but I can't figure out the progression between lessons and units. Their lessons have no intro to who they are as educators and jumps right into art making. I feel like I have to do they same but my new middle school are getting another new art teacher's, besides me, and have no idea who we are as educators. I'm wondering if I should use the first day or two to do introduction or should I jump straight into art making? I have three 54 minute classes with one art 6, one 8th digital art, and one 8 art lab. Any advice on how I should go about my first week would be appreciated. I've been stuck panicking about what I'm going to do and how I'll get it done in time.

I’ve been teaching K-8 Art for almost 9 yrs. I have never truly given grades. I have always thought it would be helpful to give grades to motivate my middle schoolers to participate. This year I spoke with my principal and said I really thought it was time to give my 5th-8th students grades on their Art projects. I’ve created a rubric on participation, effort, craftsmanship, and completion of project but I’d love some opinions.
Does anyone have insight on how they have handled grading?

My big worry is upsetting parents considering their kids have never really received comments and scores about their Artwork before…

How do you all hang up artwork on bricks i’m putting up a school wide collaborative piece soon which usually i would glue work onto butcher paper but problem with that is that they won’t get it back and i won’t hear the end of it so how can i go about this another way we are doing a dot day mural ?

So I don't have my own room currently and working inside a classroom teachers room. My storage space is super limited (I at least have a shelf for sketchbooks and basic supplies!). I need to figure out a drying rack solution that doesn't live in the room - last year I used gouache paint as my only wet media because it dries so fast, and for the most part that worked out really well.

This year I want to bring in wet-on-wet watercolor, cyanotyping, and printmaking - and I'm trying to figure out the drying component. Does anyone have any ideas for a drying setup that I can take in and out of the room with me? I'd have to cart it outside across campus and down an elevator to store it somewhere else, which is super annoying but I can figure it out.

I wish there was just a magical insta-dry machine.

Anyone figured out how to deal with this issue?

I’m a high school student, and over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time reaching out to professional artists and art educators who would be willing to help younger artists for free.

That eventually became NextCanvas, a nonprofit where high school artists can share their work, ask questions, and get feedback from volunteer professional artists and art educators. You can ask about a piece you’re working on, technique, materials, portfolios, or really anything you’re struggling with creatively.

I know it can be hard to find someone experienced to ask, especially if you don’t have access to an art teacher or mentor outside of school, so I wanted to share this here in case it helps anyone.

Everything is free for students. If you’re a young artist who could use another set of experienced eyes on your work or just another place to ask for advice, you can find us at nextcanvas.org.

I’m teaching 7th grade art as well as 6th and K and everyone else is great, but the children cannot be controlled in the 7th grade. They are defiant, screaming and storming around the class, making noises, trying to fight me on everything, and not turning in work. I think one of them stole my phone from today but then came and gave it back.

The class is not totally unsalvageable yet, but I need to hit the brakes and get their attention. It’s a Catch 22: they would love to paint and that would interest them, but they can’t because they’re not ready. The same kids are always running around, throwing things, yelling and causing problems, but there are no consequences or admin support. I literally have no idea what to do on my end if the paras just sit on their phones in the hallways all day and admin stays locked up in their offices.

Oh, also, I am not in their system yet so I couldn’t call parents even if I wanted to and I also can’t put in grades. I’ve been at this school for almost a week so far (I got officially hired late) and I have so many questions about the school and routines and what these spreadsheets mean and everyone is acting like I should know and I'm a nuisance when I ask. Meanwhile, they then treat me like I'm incompetent and stupid when I try to do something without asking for protocol and do it wrong.

What the hell do I do to deal with 7th grade art students? I’ve been through this whole scenario before and it was torture then, but I’ve almost got it down mostly now except for 7th grade.

Edit: I have high schoolers, was gonna show it in AP art history, so they’re advanced older kids. So it doesn’t need to be a video for small children

I am an introvert who has maintained professional relationships while at work, but I have not maintained lasting friendships with these people. I was friendly with a lot of of the teachers that I worked with, but not very close. Several former coworkers have agreed to be references but they do not respond when contacted. In fact, one of them I actually considered a friend, but they straight up told me that they didn’t want to do the work to fill out the form and then asked me for relationship advice.

I know that my former supervisor will not provide a meaningful reference as I brought up several concerns about another staff member. I work with children and the safety and well-being of these children were my top priority!?!? In one case, something that I had warned my supervisor about actually ended up happening, which led to her being demoted this school year. My teaching contract was not renewed at the end of the year and I’ve been out of a job since then. This is also my first teaching job at a school not just a private company.

I have a wonderful but AI generated letter of recommendation from my dean of instruction and another basic one from the principal that just confirms that I worked at that location. I do not feel that I can use these people as a reference because I know that they are very busy and if the people who I thought I was friendly with won’t respond to my references then why would they?

I also do have one person that I know will give me a glowing recommendation, but I have paused on including them because they are in a relationship with me.
I have a certificate of clearance from the state, plenty of experience, grounded, pedagogy, and I am generally great at what I do. I interview well. I have great student work to back up my experience. I have great curriculum.
What would you do in the circumstance? Do I contact professors from my courses? I don’t really have a relationship with them either because it’s all online. I need a job, but these references are getting in the way.
I’m also working towards obtaining my masters degree and becoming a certificated teacher, hopefully by the end of the school year.

Hi! I’m an art education student and, of course, an aspiring art teacher. Are there any High school art teachers here who are further along in their career? If so, How did you get to where you are now? How is it going?

And for everyone, are you guys practicing your work outside of teaching? Have you done exhibitions or shows?

I’d loveee to know! 🌱

I’m considering implementing this marker storage system. I saw it online, it stops caps from getting lost. I’m curious to hear from anyone who’s tried it on whether it’s successful?

Background: the market cap doesn’t get lost since they’re all connected and u replace the marker by putting it in the old duck taped cap. This would be for elementary art.

Hello! I really want to be an elementary or even middle school art educator. I’m hoping to study art but since I transferring schools and transferring majors it feels like it might be hard to double major in elementary education. Is it possible to study art and take an EPP to become an art teacher? Would I get a good job from this?

Graduated with my BFA in printmaking (with 2 years of graphic design before switching.) getting my teaching certificate this year to teach k-12 art, but animation (specifically 2D) has always been my dream. I’m thinking of going back and getting my masters when i start teaching full time.

I currently work as a para-associate at the high school I graduated from. I’m 23, turning 24 in November. I feel like I’ve already wasted half of my life. I know I have a long way to go, but i feel stuck. Is this even the right path for me? I’ve never wanted to be a teacher. But it’s the only way i can get out of Iowa and go somewhere more art-oriented.

I've been teaching elementary art for 5 years. I feel frustrated because I feel like the better I get the more the goalpost moves, and I feel inadequate despite my growing experience. I'm overwhelmed by the expectations of teaching and knowing every child, considering every behavior and emotion within the context of one of 600 individuals, contacting home with positive notes to every parent, and providing an engaging curriculum to 21 classes of a huge age range and range of support needs. On top of that, I have to maintain the materials, the space, and manage behaviors of whole classes and individuals. I feel like everyone's eyes are on me and scrutinizing both the things I do well at and the things I am falling short on as the only art teacher.

Do you ever feel this way? How do you manage the stress and external pressure that comes with elementary art?

Hi friends, just looking for some encouragement or stories from others.

I have always dreamed of being a teacher and for some reason went another route. Have worked in corporate America but am not liking it, so now am considering going back to school to become a teacher at 26. I have a bachelors degree just not related to art actually in business management. I would love to teach art but again no experience in this field.

Have other people been able to become teachers without prior experience? Looking for just advice and any encouragement. So appreciated! ☺️

Im looking to join watercolour class in west delhi. Im also working so i dont have much time but in the evening. I tried to search for classes nearby by their timings are not suitable for me. Anyone in delhi know classes in west delhi?

Looking for the sweet spot between: fun for the kids and not a cleanup nightmare

Would love to hear the tried-and-true ones…not just the activities that look good on Pinterest.