Phrases and Questions I’d Like to Ban from My Art Room
“I can’t.”
“But it doesn’t look like yours.”
“Did I do this right?”
“Can you do it for me?”
And my most recent biggest pet peeve…
“Is this good enough?”
What phrases and questions do you wish you could exile to far away lands?
Art Teachers Hate Glitter 
“Like this?”
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That takes too long. (As if they have somewhere else to be.)
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Can I be done?
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I hate that one!
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“I don't care” is a big one for high school. I get that a lot when I ask something like, “How do you feel about the color you chose?” or “Which way would you prefer to do this?” I usually respond with, “Oh, well then I'll just give you a zero now.” Suddenly then, they start to care.
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I'm done, now what?
Or, can I trace it?
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“He/she's copying me!!”
“Why do we have to do this?”
“This project is for a girl/boy, I don't want to do it.”
and the worst heard in the art room is…..
“Oops. I thought the lid was on it when I shook it.”
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Haha – that was usually ME who shook the paint with the lid unscrewed!
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“Am I done?”
“Do we have to?”
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“I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I wasn't listening…”
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“I HATE ____” (insert medium: like charcoal, graphite etc. and/or subject matter: like still-lifes, landscapes etc.)
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“Do I have to?”, “Can I be done?”, “Is this right?”, “Can you draw this for me?”, “I don't know how to draw that” “I don't feel like doing this, can I just free draw?” “Is there a template for that?”, “How come they get to have a template?” (said after looking at student who has severe special needs and has to have lesson modified. Nice to know that the kids don't see each other any different, but c'mon!)
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Can I go to the nurse?
I'm done, what should I do now?
” Mrs. _, So & so kicked, licked, spit, stepped, or punched me.”
Oh Mrs_, I don't know how to do that, can you help me? (after I just showed them how)
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“Can we we started?” asked in the middle of directions… Aaarrrgh!
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Wow. What a great post!
I loved it so much I made a sign for my room:
“Phrases that make your art teacher SAD”
🙂
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“When are we doing art?” Loudly blurting out in the middle of an art history story that introduces a new project.
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Be sure and pin on pinterest! I'd love to see it.
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My least favorite comment….”I ACCIDENTALLY…cut this the wrong way…or used the wrong color…or glued this on backwards…the list goes on. Cynthia S.
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“This isn't working.” “It's ugly.”
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Is this for a grade?
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The lazy students that tell “I just want to leave this white”.
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“This is for a grade?!?!?!?!”
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Mine sucks!
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Do you like mine? Do you like this? How’s mine? How does this look? Is mine good? Is mine pretty? etc., so forth, and so on (after every stroke on the paper). My response, “I don’t answer that question, but…did you follow the directions? (yes) Do YOU like it? (yes) Well my personal opinion of it doesn’t matter; it is YOUR art, not mine, so you do it how YOU like, and as long as you follow the directions and do your best, I like that!” The lack of pride and self esteem and self worth, or whatever the heck it is, and need for constant gratification really gets to me. And maybe that is wrong, but I am not the type to pass out warm fuzzies in the form of constant verbal praise to the students or anyone for that matter. I want them to be creating it for themselves, to please themselves…There is therapy for the artist in creating art that is meaningful to the artist, not necessarily the viewer. (AND to go along with this…the student who HOLDS UP their artwork, and in turn distracts the whole class, often allowing paint to drip everywhere, and in addition, asks the questions…aaaaaaahhhh.) I try to un-teach this habit to the students on the first day before they even have a chance to do it, it makes me so crazy! Hahah! And to prevent it, when time allows, I wander around the entire room and point out interesting points and positive aspects, along with constructive criticism about each students artwork.
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One time, during observations, I had a HIGH SCHOOL student ask me if she had enough paint to fill in a few half inch squares for a color mixing assignment. Her task was to mix purple from blue and red…
*adds 1 drop of blue paint into palette*
“Is that enough?”
“Maybe a bit more…”
*adds 1 more drop of blue paint*
“Is that enough?”
UGGGGGH. Don’t even get me started when I tried to explain to her that she’ll want to use half as much blue paint as she wants purple. Because she needs to mix equal parts blue and red. Weren’t these kids supposed to learn this WAY BEFORE high school??
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