Yeah, I’m talking to you, regular classroom teachers.
1. When you say things like, “at least you only teach art,” we want to punch you in the face. Just because we only teach one subject doesn’t mean we don’t work as hard as you or that our job is any easier than yours. I teach 21 different classes. That’s 21 different groups of students with different group dynamics and different levels of understanding and ability. Not to mention I teach seven different grade levels. You teach one group of students at one grade level, and yes, you may teach four or five different subjects, but at least you don’t have to teach a class of 24 Kindergartners to draw the human figure and then immediately switch gears to explain to 6th graders how to convey the message, “We Hold Peace in Our Hands” through art.
2. We have our favorite classes. Yours is not one of them.
3. We probably don’t know your first name. And furthermore, we probably wouldn’t recognize you anywhere in our building other than standing outside our door. And outside of school? Forget about it. Especially when you’re new to the school like me. Again, 21 different classes in 3 different schools. You’ll be lucky if I even remember your last name by Thanksgiving.
4. We assume your students’ behavior in our room is a reflection of your classroom management skills. Or lack thereof. Seriously, I can tell you exactly what teachers have unruly classrooms based on the way their students act when they come to my room. And if your classroom management sucks, it means I have to work extra hard at managing your group of kids while they’re in my room. Oh, and #2 definitely applies to you.
5. We don’t have the time, the patience, nor the memory to keep track of your classroom’s tally/chip/point/star system, so please don’t ask us to use it in our room. I have my own classroom management strategies. An art room is drastically different than a regular classroom. Chances are, I have multiple different classroom management strategies and systems in place for different classes and grade levels. Your system will not work in my room. End of story. Oh, and when you pick your kids up and I tell you they earned a point or a chip or 10 seconds of talking time, I totally just made it up on the spot.
6. We hate it when your class goes on field trips. There’s nothing I hate more than having a class miss art because they went on a field trip. No, wait. There’s nothing I hate more than not being told a class is going on a field trip and having them not show up for art. I don’t keep track of your classroom calender. I have no idea what goes on outside of my room. Chances are, I didn’t get the memo. Assuming one went out. Yes, the nurse, the cafeteria, the custodians, the PE teacher and the bus drivers all got it, but the art teacher? Nope. Oh, and telling us we’re lucky because we won’t have your class that day is insulting. We work just as hard as regular classroom teachers to plan out our lessons. When your students miss a class, it throws our curriculum plan off by weeks.
7. Our favorite students are not the same as your favorite students. I tend to favor the kids with personality. The ones who get in trouble in your class. The ones who can’t be bothered with things like math and language arts. Chances are good that those students thrive in my classroom. Your good students? Chances are they do exactly what they need to do and their work looks exactly like my sample piece. This is not a good thing. They lack creativity and originality.
8. We kind of envy that you have time to sit down and eat lunch. Even if it is in the cafeteria with your students. I rarely have time to sit down, let alone eat something.
9. We can tell you have a substitute in your room even before your class shows up for art. Because they’re late. Or early. Seriously, is it that hard to leave directions to the art room for your subs? If I can hear your class coming down the hallway before I can see them, I’m pretty sure you’re out today and there’s a substitute. Your students are horribly behaved when you’re out. Which makes my job that much harder. Not that that’s your fault, I’m just saying. Although, a little heads up wouldn’t hurt, but I understand, you’re busy.
10. Yes, we’re art teachers. No, we don’t want to make your poster for you.
11. Art teachers hate glitter. And Popsicle sticks and pom poms and feathers and pipe cleaners. Yes, most of us have these in our classrooms, but I can assure you, we have no idea where they came from. A colleague and I are convinced the craft cabinet breeds in the middle of the night. Crafts are not the same as art.
12. Crafts are not the same as art.
13. We have to pee. Like, all the time.
14. We don’t want the bag of rejects you amassed while cleaning out your junk craft room at home. Stop bringing it in to us. I have no use for 28 wooden spools or that box of 85 to-be-painted wooden cut-out Santas you have. Stop it right now. Stop. Right now.
15. Your students complain about you in our room. We let them do it. I do not, however, complain along with them. I just provide them with a safe and comfortable environment to vent their frustrations about you. Nothing against you, I just understand that everyone needs to vent from time to time.
16. We feel isolated and alone 88% of the time we’re at work. For real. Regular classroom teachers have team meetings and math meetings and ELS meetings and ESOL meetings. You have a bond and relationship that elementary art teachers only dream of being a part of. Our lunch time isn’t the same time as yours. Our planning time isn’t the same time as yours. We don’t get invited to IEP meetings. You only visit when you want something. Or when you’re dumping your students off on us. Heck, we feel more welcomed by and closer to your students than we do by you.
17. We aren’t journalists. Don’t ask us to come in and document your Bahama themed party with our digital camera. That’s what parent volunteers are for.
18. We hate having an “extra set of helping hands” in our room. Aides, assistants and volunteers in the art room create more work for me. It’s like babysitting adults. They don’t know what to do, where to stand, or how to hand out supplies. And they certainly don’t understand my unique style of classroom management. Plus, 9 times out of 10 the working noise level in my room will drive them bat shit.
19. It makes us feel good when your students bring us leftover snacks. Especially on birthdays. Although most of the time, I will admit, I don’t dare eat the snack they bring. It still feels good to know that I’m good enough for your leftovers. You get holiday and end-of-the-year gifts. I get the smooshed cupcakes and broken cookies that no one else wanted. Would it kill you to request that your students start bringing in whiskey and ginger ale for snack though? Trust me, after my first three classes of the day (an hour each), I could use the pick-me up.
20. Art teachers are super stars. We have admirers down every hallway. We know you your students think we’re super cool, and we know you’re envious and wish you could be like us. My adoring fans shout out to me from across the cafeteria, wave to me from bus windows and high-five me in the hallways. Your quiet hallway line instantly becomes a twitter with “hi”s and “Do we have art todays?”s when I walk by. Line rules are broken for hugs. Grouchy frowns turn into excited smiles. “Hands by our sides” quickly spring up for quick and energetic flappy greetings. Your students love us. You wish you could be us. And we love everything, and I do mean everything, about being an art teacher.
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ MY FOLLOW-UP, Humor. It’s Not All Sunshine and Roses. Mostly It’s Not.
Art Teachers Hate Glitter 
This is so true it hurts… I teach theatre arts to 83 (yes, I did say eighty-three) classes K-5 in 3 district elementary schools (oh, and I teach up to 8 classes a day and work only 4 days a week…) The music teacher and I work without a dedicated space. In one school my 'classroom', the stage in the multi-purpose room, is LITERALLY 6 feet from the lunch cart and 550 students passing through to get their lunches. Yes, I measured and yes the admin. denied it… really? a concrete reality, I measured, he chose to deny reality over fixing the problem… and told me to go to the daycare room if it was a problem. He would not even agree to make the lunch line a 'quiet zone…'
Yes, the daycare, the after-school, for pay babysitting club given not one but TWO spaces on our campus with priority over credentialed teachers teaching curriculum!!! One of those classrooms was ours for a few years but the FOR PAY DAYCARE was given priority… is that legal? Is it right to give about 40 students in an after school program priority over 550 students learning from our state arts' curriculum? When I ask my students to 'PROJECT' their voices, a theatre skill, it is so I can hear it 4 feet away from them over the din of the lunch crowd. That is JUST ONE EXAMPLE of my frustrations…
Our music teacher does all of the above but with all the instruments which are heavy and bulky, she has nowhere but the floor to place them… and we have no seats for our students, up to 36 at a time, with a space that is about 20' X 24 ' at most, sitting on a cold hard floor.
Which class do students ALWAYS say is their favorite? The arts classes- we hear it every day, over and over.
And YES! We are the superstars leading the way for the next group of SUPERSTARS, the arts not only inform, they encourage creative process, feed imagination and give starving schoolchildren a kind of nourishment only the arts can give…
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you live in the corner of my art room? Cause you nailed it. The other day I was forced to go on a cart due to a monsoon in a 6th grade classroom. (It was literally pouring in like 10 different places in their room.) I arrived at a 5th grade class with unfinished paintings plus supplies. The teacher, a respected colleague, said, “Why don't you just show a movie?” A} I don't have a dvd player in my room, so I don't have any movies or any idea where to get them on the 'net. B} My plans involved your students painting. C} I am not going to shortchange your students just 'cause I'm inconvenienced. Sorry (not) if that inconveniences you.
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Mrs. T elementary art Methuen Mass, you and Taramarie88 have put my thoughts into print, I can't wait to copy your list and post it to the inside of my storage closet and laugh every time I go and grab my lunch in the hidden fridge just bellow the hidden microwave that the other middle school art teacher useand iI use, because its a waste of time to eat anywhere else but our room, thank god there conected by a kiln room/closet. clean hands a little tempra paint or sharpie doesn't effect the taste of your lunch. Telling class room teacher and pto for that fact that “sorry you don't have money in my art budget to supply you with that.” go ask the school secratary if there is any money you can use to go buy the roll of mural paper you want to cover you buliton board or the cafe windows for the 8th grade dance. you are my new favorite web page and I'm e-mailig it to an other retired/my metor to get a good belly laugh out of the phone will ring before she finished reading it because we started teaching long before computers and we finger peck, talking and hearing each other laugh is much more af a painful laugh. thanks for the best end of the school year gift I've ever read/ recieved. your so funny and right on I'm crying you list is going to take up my whole backside of my closet door were I usually write down crap I run out of and need to oreder more for next year. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. remeber we're art teacher most of te time bad spellers. finger pecking dosn't help.
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OMG! YOU SAID IT!! bahahaha!! That was awesome and every bit of it is TRUE!! Now I do not have to feel bad when I stare at a student for a minute desperately trying to connect his face with a name…or wonder how my class who never showed up is going to meet the dead line that month….or how I am expected to paint the theater for free between now and tomorrow because I am an artist….or why I am never eating in the lunch room with all the other teachers because that is my “prep time” and I don't want to show my twisted face because of my stomach cramps I have due to the sandwich I had to squeeze down in half a second…or why I don't have a reward system because that is too complicated with 700 students or why parents rarely volunteer more than once because the “volume” in my art room is deafening……!!!! I think I am going to do what Anonymous above is doing, print it, cut it out, and tape it to my closet door, to get a laugh (when I get a second)!
Thank you a TON for a your fabulous description of an art teachers “life”…!! 😀
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It's not often I laugh out loud while reading….alone. You nailed this on the head and it is oh so true!!!
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Hi, greetings from Canberra, love your blog.I didn't eat lunch today either.
http://goyasdog.blogspot.com.au
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this is my first year teaching art, and you NAILED it… only been in the position for a few weeks… hilariously true!
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I retired after teaching elem and middle school art for 30 years. However I was offered a part time art teaching position working with 6th grade art students for 2 classes a day. LOVE it! This blog has put into a few words what my world has been like since 1978! THANKS SO MUCH for affirming some of my feelings in a career that I have loved for many years. Now, as far as making posters for the PTA spaghetti supper…… I told the PTA lady “Yes, but the kids would be painting the posters.” She said “OK!” I told the kids what needed to be said on the poster then I sat back and did not help them one bit; especially not with spelling of the words correctly, layout or anything. The posters were a total mess. I have never seen spaghetti spelled so many different ways. Needless to say the PTA has NEVER asked me to do these types of things again!!! Tee hee…………..
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Your blog is hilarious!!! BUT my one disagreement is “Craft is not art”??
Craft implies that you need some sort of skill to create. Art is an all encompassing term, and yes I believe craft falls under art, not necessarily popsicle art, but “craft sticks” have their place….like for applying slip on clay or creating textures 🙂 Craft is also in Craftsmanship- which is an incredibly important term when teaching art! Thanks for your humor!
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Also, kids DO see crafts as art. I mix crafts into my art curriculum (pipe cleaner people sculpture, play-doh relief sculpture). There is nothing wrong with integrating ‘real art’ with the more fun ‘crafting art.’
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I loved, loved, LOVED this! Thank you for writing what we( the Art teacher, Music teacher and PE teacher) have been talking about for YEARS!!!!!! Honest and real- my favorite language- awesome blog!
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Could someone please tell me why oh why oh why do they continue to the teacher with the most amount of supplies on a cart expecting them to schlep all their materials from classroom to classroom? It just doesn't add up if you ask me! Put one of them four R's on that cart… And are any of you K-12 on a cart or have to roll out down the sidewalk to other buildings? Ridiculous…
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can you handle one more 'love it'? I just came across this while searching for art room organization ideas and this is way better….i can't believe someone else feels exactly like I do and, apparently, loads more art teachers agree!!! so so so funny!!! thank you!!!!
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I once had a principal who put the Social Studies teacher on a cart instead of me, saying “You need a room, she just has to wheel around textbooks.” These blogs are fantastic. I am retired after over 30 years of teaching art to a variety of age groups and I so wish I had read all of this when I was still in the classroom. For many years I was so frustrated I had to convince my colleagues of the value of art/art education, but I grew to understand that it was because of their own art experiences (or lack of them) that they felt this way. In the middle of my career I moved to a middle school that had been without an art teacher for a couple of years. I was surprised to find that I was welcomed warmly by the staff. The reason for such a warm welcome was that they all had to teach a period of art before I arrived. Many said they couldn't believe how much harder it was to teach Art compared to Math, Social Studies, English, Science, etc. My advice to all of you is to stand your ground, display your students' work proudly (and with some explanation for those who may need it) and face the reality that you will always encounter idiots who just don't get it.
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I absolutely love this. I finally don't feel so alone. I love my job but isn't it interesting that we have so many of the same issues. My biggest battle was the teachers trying to drop off their kids early. I fixed that (they all hate me and I don't care). Now they don't come to pick them up. My principal has told us to “just send them back”. So we do. My schedule is so tight, I am the only one who cares that it works. I am the only one who can make it work. I am the only one who does make it work. Who cares if the classroom teachers like me or not. I wouldn't care to spend 5 minutes with any of them if I was getting paid.
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Thanks. I SO needed this laugh tonight.
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I teach at the high school level, but did some of my student teaching at the elementary level. I had a second grade teacher ask how many stars they got, I told him 3, then he proceeded to announce to the line of kids at my door, that “No, Mrs. W is wrong, you definitely only get 1 point.” Talk about wanting to punch someone in the face!
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I teach art 7-12 and i have a huge sign on my door that says glitter with a circle and slash through it.
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Thats so funny. I also have a hidden microwave and a hiidden fridge in the storage closet.
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I have taught elementary (k-5) for 10 years and will move to the high school next year. I just heard the news today and was ecstatic. The elementary art scene is especially demanding. Leadership at the school really matters in elementary more than one might imagine. You need a good buffer between you and the parents. You have a front row seat to childhood development in k-5. Every child comes through the door with a different set of skills (or lack thereof) and artwork often becomes 'project' based so that every child can bring something nice home to their parents. A few year ago my first 'art star' got a scholarship to Yale in art. I remember coming to the k-5 world as a first year teacher and thankfully had a very supportive principal as you are basically given a room and a pat on the back. That's about it. It takes a few years to get used to being alone with children all day long. It is not quite as “fulfilling” as some would imagine. Most of the kids are nice, but not exactly stimulating companions. Often the younger kids are lucky to be able to sit upright in their chairs let alone hold a paint brush! Yes, I've had my share of wild classes in my very diverse demographic. I love the spirit of the kids though. Their energy is infectious and their art is sometimes sublime. I love your candid take on the world of elementary. I am excited to be making the move to the High School though.
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this is hilarious! i AM an art teacher, K-8, and i needed a wee break tonight from prepping hundreds and hundreds of pieces for the annual school art show & a friend showed me this blog…i do really love my school and students and everyone is pretty good about respecting art/computer/spanish/pe teachers and all…AND YET just the same i'm laughing hyterically at the truths you've managed to capture! i have kiddos who chant uproarously “do art, do art, do art!” when i walk down the hallways…nice 🙂
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Hee hee I always thought about this sort of stuff when I saw my art teachers eating lunch in the art room and how they had more time for the students than the staff. That they tell you, you could illustrate for a living.
10 years later I quit being an architect and illustrate sci fi and fantasy book covers full time. They've got a sixth scene and Thank god for art teachers
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Just discovered your blog because of FB post about the AOE online conference. Although this post dates back a bit, it's timely and perfectly sums up what many of us are thinking, especially near the end of a long school year. Keep the humor coming!
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I've been research art ed blogs because I'm planning to start one of my own, I have a small list of ideas for things I'm going to blog about when I do. This post is pretty much exactly what I was going to say in my first blog post 🙂 Since its already been said so perfectly, I'm going to cross it off the list! (Also really glad to know I'm not alone when I think these things!!)
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I laughed so hard I almost peed. Except I am an elementary art teacher so I have tremendous bladder control. I DO get to sit down and eat lunch…in my car as I drive between my two schools. Can't everyone eat lunch in the time it takes to drive 2 miles??
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You are hilarious!! I can so relate to your list. I now teach elementary art to K-5th grade…after 29 years of teaching I find it quite enjoyable and also a great challenge. The time involved in pulling together the supplies and materials is tremendous, but this has been my most inspiring year. Good luck to you.
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“We kind of envy that you have time to sit down and eat lunch. “
What WORLD do you live in? I don't remember the last time I got time to each lunch. Wow, I don't have the nerve to say one teacher's job is harder than another, but you clearly do. Try teaching a subject that no one thinks is fun (like math) and then speak.
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I have taught both and they are equally challenging…..but not in exactly the same way. I hear ya.
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FYI. I’ve done both and teaching general ED was a walk in the park conpared to what is expected of me as an art teacher. You are clearly the teacher who always trying to tell me it’s my job to make her posters.
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“Bingo” yvonne….I teach art in a 6-8 MS & EVERYONE assumes I have no curriculum(or one that MATTERS), NO STANDARDS, no goals & objectives, no daily lesson plans or materials management (which, to them means I must have “free” &endless supplies–so I can run my own program as well as supplying their needs in a 1500-student school—NEWSFLASH…I GET exactly the same budget as LA/SS/MATH teacher—-$50 per section to run a rotating art schedule where all my materials walk out the door or wear out…..while they have to buy white board markers…..) …because, every teacher at one time…& ESP. the ESL teachers & for goodness sakes the dance teacher, the DRAMA teacher, (who SHOULD be teaching stage craft in his/her OWN class), expects me to make their posters, program hand-outs, advertisements,T-shirt or button designs, banners, stage sets & so on….I’m also expected to paint/repaint the school’s outdoor murals. I have both a secondary AND multiple subject (elementary) credential, so I’ve taught all over the place, many subjects. I’ve EVEN taught 7th grade math…..IMO, hardest parents to face: math, language arts, whatever (b/c they just want you to relieve their PAIN…”fix the grade”….)….; hardest, most exhausting job: art teacher. Most fulfilling job: art teacher.
I have a sign put in in my art room by a student: “No Groan-Ups Allowed” ( & a 6th-grader later penciled-in, misspelled, my name….”Except for mrs. M………..”). We ALL know what this means 🙂 Please review above, numbers 2,3,4,7,10,14,15, 17, 20.
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Recently retired from teaching art for many years…EVERYTHING you said was true. One caveat, a few regular ed teachers, EBD staff, classroom assistants and COOKS were totally in my camp, i.e. folks who get down and dirty!! My custodians were also awesome and LOVED seeing the kids get into it during art….Miss the kids, not the meetings,
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Absolutely correct as a fellow music teacher. Integration is wonderful when not forced and when it does t take up the entire time we get with students. Most of these are interchangable for us as well. Can your choir sing for this?”
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As a regular classroom teacher for 26 years, (art for 3), I totally get all of this! It's nice to know both sides and I am proud that, for my 26 years being 'regular', I walked all the way into the room with my kids, okayed where they were sitting on the rug, and told them to LEARN something exciting, not just 'have fun'. Special area teachers always saw me coming with my kids and said, “Oh good! It's your class!” I expected calm in my homeroom and it carried over into specials. (However, I must admit that I love glitter! Unsolicited misc. crap donations….not so much. My storage closet it already messy and disorganized!)
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You know the specials all loved you too. There is just no convincing some teachers that how they drop their kids off will affect my class, but god bless those who get it. I’m with you on the glitter I love it and would roll myclothes in it on a daily basis, but not so crazy about it in the class room. If you have one disorganized kid in the class, you could end up with the stuff in someone’s eye. Very dangerous.
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Awesome! Totally awesome!
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LOVE THIS! So so SO true! I can relate to 95% of this as an art teacher for 7 years.
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I am so very thankful that you are not the art teacher in my school. I truly respect my colleague and feel she respects the classroom teachers. We work together. Sometimes we do need to remember to put ourselves in each others shoes though. Maybe some of this is meant to be tongue and cheek, but I think it sounds mean spirited myself.
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Nice point, some understandable, but bit on the angry side. So, my responds to #18 is when I come to class as a SP Aide, and my life skills child needs assistants with the bathroom,or help cutting with scissors so she does not cut her self or others, I'll just go take a walk, because you got this right!
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I love when an extra pair of hands is in my art classroom.
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You have to know this depends on theacher and the aide. There are aides I love having in my room. They know my procedures and are great with helping out. They let their kids do the work on their own not for them and they are another pair of eyes. There others i’ve asked to not join us. They may interrupt while I’m teaching, they may allow students to split adults by giving permission for something they know I won’t allow. I’ve even had one who will speak over me during instruction, roll her eyes if I correct a kid, and spread her school work across a students work space crowding them into another student’s space.
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I am so tired of being told, you're so lucky you “just teach art”. The band director once told my husband, who is a core curriculum teacher, don't let her tell you her job is hard, because our jobs aren't even close! I was livid! I work my butt off to incorporate as much information into a 9 weeks rotation class as physically possible! I'm not saying our job is any harder than any of the other teachers, I just wish we were given the same amount of respect as core curriculum teachers. We don't just teach our students to paint pretty flowers or to color inside the lines. We foster their creativity and help their personalities to blossom, while also teaching them math, history, science, etc. It always seems as though the art department is the last to know about everything but the first door everyone stops at when they need something done last minute. Also, we cannot use books as our only resource, we have to purchase art supplies, using a very small budget. Please, for the love of god, do not ask to use all of our supplies, because chances are you won't return them or will return them in ruins. I just wish the faculty would stop and realize that we're helping to successfully bridge the gaps between all subjects and giving our students the confidence to be who they really truly are.
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I’m there with you, sister. I don’t loan out my supplies. I’m given $10/ child for the whole year and I tell them this. It only goes as far as it does because I’m creative with my supplies and very careful both personally and in how I train my students to use the supplies. I’ve even had the business office send teachers to me to get supplies. I give them out only after I tell the business office how much it will cost to replace the supplies.
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Wow, I get $3 per student per year & everything- supplies, repairs, equipment all has to come from that. I always apply for grant money from other sources, & am fortunate to usually get some $$ but I have to stretch the budget pretty thin. I always wondered how some schools could do some of the projects posted on blogs, but with $10 per kid, they would be doable.
I’ve been teaching for decades and totally agree that the management and attitude of the classroom teachers is important. I have gone from being a hs teacher where I was a respected member of the faculty to elementary where I am definitely a 2nd class citizen.
Thanks.
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Art is CORE.
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Seriously…?
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It's pretty evident she's talking about general aides sent in to “help teach art” because obviously “anyone” can do that. Do you honesty think she's talking about individual special needs aides? I should hope not, because if you “don't know what to do” then you aren't a very good individual aide. I think you may want to relax and not take it so personally.
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HAHAHAHAHAAA! And the bladder control issue is so important, considering all that running water at the back of the classroom all day long!
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Exactly my thoughts during my 29 years of teaching elementary art. I loved the students…many of the adults were the problem. I would add:
* My partner in crime in elementary, the music teacher, told me early on that elementary classroom teachers act like elementary kids. No words were more true!
* In my 12th year of teaching 600 kids a week at 7 schools, with one day of travel being 50 miles to/between schools and having no art room—when I say to you I NEED an art room and you say, “That would be nice” I do not feel all warm and fuzzy. I am not going to hold my tongue when I say to you, “The first day you started teaching, you had a room why should it be different for me?” Where's your empathy?
* When you have more education than my Masters Degree plus 60 credits beyond, MAYBE I will let you call me and my class 'your break'. I have as much education or more than you. I am not your break person.
* Quit calling my class a 'SPECIAL'. Art is the center of education, not some fluffy, “special” class for fun. I teach art history, and connect the dots between science, history, math, reading, and the arts. Do you connect those dots?
* Quit telling the woman from the American Legion or the grocery store manager that the art teacher would be happy to have her class make posters or 'decorate grocery bags' for their events. I have a curriculum just like you and have to meet state standards. Posters and decorating are not mentioned ANYWHERE in it.
* Do not keep kids from art to clean their desks. How rude. Can I keep them from your math class to clean my brushes? Likewise, if you need to speak to a student during art class be courteous and ask me if you may do so unless it's OK if I walk into your room during reading class and just start talking to a student.
*Luckily, I was able to transfer to the high school for the last four years of my career. There I had a fabulous suite of rooms, and felt equal to every teacher in the building as the teachers did not treat me as a second class citizen. That was a VERY welcome change!
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preach!!! i have some students who miss art every other week because ” they couldn't get their work done in class” well… how are they going to get their work done in here? should i take them out of math? no? so i guess it is only “real” subjects require students to complete assignments.
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You seem to have such a negative outlook on classroom teachers! I am sure it was meant in jest (at least I hope so), however, your writing piece makes me cringe. At my school, fine arts are very much supported by classroom teachers and we appreciate the hard work that is put in by our art teacher. We know that our challenges are different from your challenges but, yikes! I hope your attitude changes. The entire school can probably benefit from a little more positivity from some one who is such an intregal part of a child’s education. Good luck.
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Well…it’s great that your school is like that, but I wonder if you missed the title of the article? This is not negative or mean spirited, it’s truth.
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Really love this……now I know I’m not alone!
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Besides glitter, I hate hearts, v-shaped birds, and circle suns with rays…and I teach high school!
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Yes, yes and YES!
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Thank you! Can we make this required reading for a teaching certificate? We started inservice today and I was greeted by six bags of crafty crap on my clean tables, eighteen coloring books( the devil), and five extra classes added to my 20. I was so aggravated until I read this! Until my 400 adoring fans arrive in two days I’m just the chick “who will help you because you are an idiot that has no imagination and the one who gets the kids in a crazy mood”-( actual things said to me!)
We are the rock stars- and we deserve it- I want to plaster this in every room on linoleum with gorilla glue!
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No one has the nerve to mis-behave in my room. My kids know what is expected of them and when they can talk or share their work. Yes there is more talking and they are excited to come, but I expect them to demonstrate a concerted effort and prolonged concentration. It is how I get their best work out of them. It only takes that first really successful work of art for a kid to want to do their best. Sometimes it’s only another kid who did really well for others to copy their effort. I’m going to bet that when most art teachers look at their classes through this standard, they are going to find that the same is true for them. It’s when we judge our classes through didactic general Ed. teacher’s eyes that we find our classes lacking.
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So tired of art teachers complaining about having 20-ish classes. I have 47 classes and over 1,000 students. I would LOVE to just have 25 classes!!!
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love this blog! 26 years in the art-room; i feel your pain…and
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yes- art teachers do know who has good classroom management and who doesn’t!
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I am not Art Teacher, however, I have a daughter who teaches Art and actually had no classroom! Her Principal stated ” it’s only Art” you can teach from a cart !!! Luckily my daughter wanted more for her students and designed laminated squares so her students could go out in the hallway and on their hands and knees used the floor for desks!!! But at least she stated they “learned” more than just using crayons and pencils !!! There would be no eARTh without ART!!!!
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While I agree with most of this, I have to say that at my school substitutes are far more capable of delivering their classes on time than the classroom teachers. Classroom teachers also seem to believe that if their class gets to my room 5 minutes late they can pick them up 5 minutes late.
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I have got a lot of catching up to do but I LOVE IT!!! have not had time to read everything because I HAVE 27 CLASSES each week
THis might take me 2-3 years……..How about this statement ?????>>>> (i am sure someone’s heard it) You ready???? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
” The LAST Art teacher we had was just SO helpful to us. She used to do and make anything we needed. She was so well liked..Can you make us a 2 foot by 4 foot good- bye card for the school principal?? ” (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) bhahahaaahaha!!!!….
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