What can teachers do to "connect" with their students?
 
I got this interesting question from a new teacher, and it got me thinking about it. Beyond the normal, "Be fair, even-handed, humorous, flexible..." and avoiding the pitfalls of "wanting" to be "liked" by your students, what do seasoned teachers do to bond with their students?

Wanting to be "liked" by your students is a black hole and makes for a chaotic classroom full of entitled brats. It should not be a goal, but a by-product of great teaching and strong classroom management.
 
I asked in an art teacher's forum, "What "little" things, extras, unique stuff do you do proactively, that you feel have a positive impact on your classroom, learning environment, level of respect, and do in fact have kids connecting with you?
 
For me there are three things I can point to:
 
1. I do recognize my students on their birthdays with a small trifle of a gift (Sticker, arty pencil, whatever I can get in bulk for free or really cheap) and the summer birthdays get on the last day of school. They all like being remembered.
 
2. When we are in "working mode," and the bulk of the period is focused on projects, I put on a quiet but popular playlist of music and sit with my students to chat about "what's going on" and try to make some personal connections. I ask about recent vacations, favorite subjects, hobbies, etc.
 
3. I never reply to a student's question with, "because I said so." Respect is a two way street, if you want it, you have to give it. This is why my classroom rules also include the reasons why they are rules.  I remind them often that the art room is a safe oasis in school.
 
These were some words of wisdom other teachers replied with.
 
Blair: I teach Jr. high. I try to go to games and performances of my students. I have made signs at games. Harder to do now that I have little ones myself, but they like seeing fans in the stands. I do a beginning of school activity. I write a letter to them about me and read it to them and have them write a letter to only me about them. I ask questions about their interests, family, friends, music, pets, art background, etc. I let them know I will be the only one reading it and whatever they want to share big or small is up to them. I also take this information to help with project themes for the class.
 
Sheryl:  I compliment a new haircut, ask how they are feeling, ask if they miss my class and let them know I missed them. I totally fuss over them and how tall they got over the summer.
 
Deayna:  Learn their names the first week. Make eye contact, smile and greet them by name as they enter. This initial personalization opens the door for that connection (I've often heard comments on how some teachers still don't know their name by the end of their class).
 
Stephanie: Greeting them daily. Also when they are upset, simply ask if they are okay and if they need a few minutes outside or to the bathroom to get themselves together. If they got in trouble in another class I reminded them I am different and my class is a new start. Showing empathy and listening to them is everything!

Jennifer: Express a sincere interest in what they are interested in. I know it's hard for some adults to listen to a kid talk obsessively about Pokemon or some band you've never heard of, or joke about memes, but I think taking the time to listen, express interest, try to decode' their generational in jokes, and learn about kid/teen things you don't 'get' really shows them you don't dismiss them as 'kids these days'. Also, anything can be interesting if you act interested; we try to teach this to kids who are in a learning setting, and by expressing interest in their interests, we can not only connect with them, but set an example of what it means to be an engaged and interested person.
 
Ian: I think they like that I talk with them like they are adults. I see some high school teachers act very authoritarian and many students don't respond well to that. Just talk to them like they are people.
 
In all of this I see the thread of "respect" as a theme. When we respect them, they respect us. If you do something special that others may find helpful, please comment below.

This week's sessions were titled "Pop-Ups" in the morning, and "Delicious" in the afternoon. Though my more general classes like Painting, Drawing, or Sculpture tend to be full, my specially focused classes are always a bit smaller. I know this from experience, and though some may say, why run special classes for less income, my answer is that I get to dig deeper into a specific theme and try some new ideas to explore with an group of kids that really want to explore that theme as well. I like to have fun too, it's not always "about the money." (I also offer free scholarships to area kids whose families are in financial crisis.)

For "Pop-Ups" my focus was on paper engineering. (The "E" in STEAM/STEM education). We started with pop-up cards to loosen up, and ended those with a flower-based pop-up that we re-interpreted as a splash, flame ball, explosion, or flower based on THIS youtube tutorial.

We then did a pop-up house based on THIS video. We folded a sketch page into 4 parts then drew ideas for the 4 rooms they wanted in our own house. Pool, ball room, gym, art studio, bedroom, kitchen... (no one did a bathroom) ;-)

I had some patterned paper I got from Nasco I made available to them for carpets and wall art. Construction paper scraps were also helpful.

Our final big pop-up project is one I had seen before and never tried. Essentially an image created with many layers fitted within accordian folded paper. We created a sketch knowing that we needed 4 layers, background, foreground, and two central middle ground areas to give us depth. These were then layered into accordian folded paper as shown.

I pre-beveled paper to make folding easier by laying 4 pages on the edge of a paper cutter board, using the grid, pressing along the cutting edge with the blade up and away. This gave a light crease that was easy for students to re-crease quickly. We could have measured, or used the width of a ruler to draw lines, but with time as a factor, I did this and it worked really well.

If I did this again, I'd find a clearer plastic, ours was slightly foggy, but it could have been smudges from hands... We also did our images on the plastic with sharpie and painted to backs with white opaque paint to make it stand out. It may have been easier to cut out elements and put them on the plastic with double sided tape (which I didn't have) but these came out well. There may be many ways to do this project, feel free to share your tips in the comments.

The second class, "Delicious," was a bit more challenging. Taking a theme of food is a good one for kids, (Since their lives revolve around that and electronics.) We started the week by making a plaster plates and a favorite meals on top. I like to use aluminum foil as an armature, then wrap that in plaster, as well as a plastic plate.

​My unique take on this is that we don't paint the plaster, we cover it with colored tissue paper. I used acrylic medium for glue, but you can just use watered down white glue, Mod Podge, or any water-based glue. Coat the area with glue, add small ripped pieces of tissue, and more glue on top. Overlap paper to cover the whole object. At the end you can add some details with paint markers or acrylics. Tissue can be cut to add patterns on top as well. The best reason for using tissue is that it does not flake off the surface like paints do, and it seals the surface with a bold color that looked great on these sculptures. It is also a technique from Japan, used for centuries, though usually over clay. 

While we waited for plaster to harden, we had an overlapping project of making "stuffed food pets." They thought about and sketched on if they were a food, what would they be? Lots of humorous conversations and images. We came up with 3 ideas each and then decided which would be easiest or doable as a fabric "stuffed creature." We created paper patterns from copy paper to keep the sizes manageable and the felt we were using comes in that size too. (Also from Nasco in bulk) 

We used accenting colors of yarn to sew, awls to help make pilot holes, foam core scraps to protect tables, and fat needles that are easy to thread. Everyone struggled in the beginning, but quickly learned and helped each other. All, ages 7 through 16 did well. We added some elements with hot glue along with googly eyes I had leftover from last year. Be sure to not use hot glue directly on the eyes because it's too hot. I squirt a bit on paper, mix it with a popsicle stick and then apply it while still sticky. That seemed to work well.

Wednesday, we tool a field trip to a local cup cake shop to draw. These were later re-outlined with Sharpie Markers and either painted with watercolors, or tissue paper applied with a glue. (The technique is described above with the plaster food, so it works on paper and canvas as well.)

Our week "Delicious" ended with Sharpie monoprints. We folded our sketch papers and drew within the shapes it created, filling them up with foods we liked. Then covered that with plexiglass, and used sharpies to color in our designs and trace contours last to avoid smearing.

Using rubbing alcohol on paper we ran it through a press to transfer the images. We found that you must wait for all the alcohol to be absorbed by the paper before pressing; puddles left unpleasant runs. We did a second "ghost" print for fun too by spritzing the actual acrylic plate.

This could be done with transparencies if plexiglass is not available. 
I am sure this would work well with water-based markers. We may try those next week.

We did this project earlier in the summer without the use of a press, and though it worked, these images were much more saturated and crisp.

For more of my STEM/STEAM resources, check HERE. Use discount code 3YPBN853 for 30% off most resources.  The same resources are available through Amazon without a discount. 

Week 3 featured two classes. The morning session was cartooning (Evidently I am now a character) and the afternoon was "CrAzY Art" where we do many things that are generally discouraged in school. Our catch-phrase is "Create art that will make people doubt your sanity!"

Cartooning is pretty straight forward. First we create a list of eyes, noses, mouths, head shapes, etc, then roll dice to build characters. Then we do comic strips on copy paper I preprint with cells. Next we do a comic book cover, this time using foam dots to raise some elements in relief. As they finish that we do flip book animations.

We finished the week with old fashioned animation cells in the Disney method. Students created a background scene, drew a character, traced it with sharpie, colored on the back with acrylics, and gave it a final coat of white to make it opaque.

CrAzY Art Week is always intense as we try to manage the potential mess. Every time I have run this class, it's full, so kids love the chance to experiment. Every day however starts the same, I call it the "Daily Canvas." Each day we did a different painting technique, let it dry, added a layer of masking tape, and painted again. Every day for 4 days. We unwrapped our paintings on the 5th day revealing these awesome abstract works.

​1. Alcohol and watered down acrylics
2. Pour Paintings
3. "Clean" fingerpainting (Paint under plastic wrap)
4. Bubble printing

Another project involved students wrapping their left foot in plastic wrap, stepping in acrylic paint, and walking around a giant canvas.  Later this canvas was cut up and used to make portfolio bags for all the work to go home. The girls taught the boys how to braid their handles from yarn.

Color Theory & Sports Cards: We painted block-out white on the players only, then colored in their bodies to match background colors and textures, making them "invisible." We kept the shadows to give a hint about what we had done.
​
They really enjoyed "defacing" collector items and making people "invisible." By the end, they were really great at mixing subtle shades helping each other make shadows that had a "tint of purple" and other colors. I only made white and primary colors available. They mixed on a sheet of foil.

We also drew with 3 ft. long pencils and colored in with "brush claws."

See week 1 HERE, and week 2 HERE. 

This week our themes were "Art Buffet" in the morning where we do a little bit of everything (Painting Drawing & Sculpture) and the afternoon was "Sculpture." Camp runs Monday through Friday, each class is 3 hours with a 1 hour lunch break in between, and a mini-snack break at the halfway mark for each class.

​For our first session of Art Buffet, we asked the question, "If you were a bird, what would your house look like? How would it show off your personality?" After some brainstorming and sketching the results were delightful and varied. We had purchased some bird house kits from Oriental Trading, and used those as the base of our designs. 

We also explored opposites, creating a brainstorming list as a starting point. We talked about how a good illustration fills the space with foreground, middleground, background, and overlap. Students created illustrations in their choice of drawing media, and these were the basis for lenticular images. There are plenty of tutorials available on how to create these, we kept it simple for our camp program.

We also did observational drawings of shells, arranging them in a diagonal line, and coloring with oil pastel. We did the bubbles and waterline in white, then painted the sand in browns, oranges, and yellows, then the water in cool colors. Salt was added to the sand for texture as well as some splatter for the older students, and drawn marker dots for the younger crew. This lesson was based on one by Tabitha Seaton and her blog The Lost Sock. 

The Sculpture class worked on several projects, sometimes overlapping a bit. While one project was drying, we'd work on the other. We had a full day of plaster work outside.

First up was a project "If I could Fly." Student s made a list of their personal likes, interests, and strengths, then decided what kind of flying animal that might be. Some were rather traditional, like a bird or plane, others went the fantasy route with Pegasus, angels, dragons, or fairies, and one little artist decided she wanted to be a flying watermelon slice! 

We sketched and planned before making armatures from aluminum foil, masking tape, and foam-core. This was covered in plaster. The plaster was covered with colored tissue paper to seal the plaster. We did that with a half and half mix of acrylic medium and water painted on the plaster and again over the tissue. I have also done that with watered down glue, or even acrylic floor wax! It's a japanese technique usually used over clay forms, but works great over plaster.

When creatures were complete, they were embellished with painted patterns based on Oaxacan examples of alebrijes sculptures. 

Our second sculpture was based on my Bonsai Tree project. Because time was short we opted to create a base by folding 25 wires over a 4 inch dowel that was about 1/2 inch thick. This dowel and folded wire was taped tightly in masking tape, then covered with foil which was pressed around the tree to create a strong base. It was the base that was covered with plaster, and later painted with thinned acrylic paint. The lesson is detailed HERE. We used buttons for leaves because... to be honest, I had a ton of them sitting in my basement for years. They looked great!

Our last project was called "Grab Bag Sculptures." When you got a ton of left-over "stuff" in the room and you don't want to throw it away, bag it and have the kids "create" something from it. They were told it could be functional, decorative, non-objective or a particular thing. We had a catapult, confetti launcher, lily pond made from a balloon that exploded and more. It was a fun challenge and kept students busy for about 1 hour. I had some silly prizes based on students judging their own work.

I made pencils, markers, glue, scissors, and tape available for use, but they could only construct with items in their bag, including the bag. Each bag contained essentially the same stuff.

Art teachers have tight budgets and are very careful about their purchases. Supplies like paper and paint generally come first and support resources come somewhere after that, often from personal funds.
 
Scholastic Art has come across my desk from time to time, and my first impression was that it was thin. Given the opportunity to actually review a set of 6 complete editions has put it in a new light. My assumption was that Scholastic Art was just the main titled zine, but in actuality, each edition is accompanied by a large poster and a teacher's guide (Which I had not seen before.) It is in this teacher's guide where the "meat" can be found.
 
As I look through the main magazine, it uses primary source images. We see what a Hopper, Hockney, O'Keeffe, Rivera, or Wiley actually look like, not some cartoon illustrations. This is important with a national push for students to use good primary source materials and references. Each edition connects deftly with art history, with clear commentary, vocabulary in bold text, helpful "side" information in the margins, and a back cover that ties the contents to an art related career. Each edition finishes with a featured lesson that ties all the content back together, and is open ended enough that teachers can adjust the lesson to their middle school or high school population.
 
If that was it, 1 lesson, 16 pages, and good source material it is something I might consider if I had a strong budget and wanted a little extra... and that's what I had previously thought about Scholastic Art, but there is more.
 
The magazine comes with a double sided, full color, folded poster featuring works within. When it features the work of a specific artist, a quote by the artist is on the poster below the image. (I like to have students write their interpretation of the quote and share for a few minutes) The poster should be laminated if your able. If there is no laminator in your school, Staples and other office supply places can do it for you. If you show them a school ID and speak to a manager, you may be able to get a discount or free lamination. If you bring a school tax ID form, they may be even more likely to do it for free because they can claim a tax credit for helping you.
 
The magazine also includes a teacher's guide that is very detailed with clear ties to National Standards and elements like hand-outs and other supplements that will be helpful for lesson planning. As I look at the "How To Read Art" Sept. 2016 edition, I see 7 to 8 detailed lesson plans organized by: Preparation, Procedure, Discussion, and Assessment followed by a rubric when appropriate. The side margin cites Core Art Standards, Anchor Standards, Objective, Essential Questions, Enduring Understandings, Vocabulary, and materials you can download or photocopy including links to videos. The last page gives additional information about the poster images.
 
The teacher's guide also include an "Elementary Teaching Guide Insert." These appear to have been developed by teachers in the field with their names and schools noted along with some in-class images.
 
The online portion of Scholastic Art includes links to past editions, videos, skill sheets, hands-on projects, posters, and art history on demand. Additionally there are links to core visual arts standards with a breakdown of high school and middle school levels. www.Scholastic.com/art
 
Now that I have had a chance to see Scholastic Art as it is intended--Magazine AND resource materials, I think I have missed out on something good. As a NJ Art Educator, we are still working with NJ Standards, but are moving toward the national model, so I can see where this would be a real help in planning and converting information.
 
TAB/open studio teachers may dismiss the use of Scholastic Art to do lesson planning, but I think if one of their stations included a library of Scholastic Art Magazines, students could do a research based, self directed unit. Lessons are fairly open ended enough for students to give projects their own personal/expressive twist.
 
Final Thoughts: I think it's an excellent class resource I have missed out on. There are other GREAT resources out there with peer created content that I will continue to subscribe to, but Scholastic Art seems to be a beefy steak that you could add to your buffet of teaching resources.

Pros:

• Extremely Varied content and media across editions from 2D, 3D, Photography, and Design
• Clear ties to contemporary and older genres of art
• Clear and helpful information tied to National Standards
• Material clearly designed to be copied for students in the teacher's guide
• Primary Source Materials
• No fluff, waste, or ads
• The information does not really "expire" so you can use them for years

 
Cons:

• The "thin feel" of the student edition may put people off who don't dig deeper
• Not for lower elementary levels (Under 4th grade)
• Lacks STEM connections (Though a good art teacher can tease them out)

 
Judgment: Two Thumbs Up!
 
HOW TO WIN A FREE CLASS SUBSCRIPTION:
A Winner WAS selected. Congratulations Megan!

Every summer I get to experiment lesson ideas with my summer camp students. Without the constraints of curriculum, observations, I get to work with an enthusiastic group of creative kids and CREATE! My program includes students ages 7 through 16 with varying levels of skill and is in it's 23rd year at The Firehouse Gallery of Bordentown. 

I bookmark ideas I see all year that grab my interest, then create a large file of "stuff" to try out. Above is a self portrait project with the hair being blown watercolors. Simple enough, but more expressive looking than I thought they might be. 

After finding some white umbrellas on sale from Oriental Trading Company, I decided to have students paint a design that would work on a round surface. Below you'll see fanciful fruits, Spongebob and underwater characters, as well as two explorations of deep space with shooting stars on one and nebula on the other. These were created with thinned acrylics and permanent markers. 

We explored "Spirit Animals" below and did some oil pastel resist images on paper with India Ink and steel wool bits to reveal the images.​ Students wrote a list of their characteristics and decided what animal best fit that description.

The image above is a sample of a color exercise. Students cut out a symmetrical shape they felt was personally expressive (This one an actress) and colored in the negative space with opposite colors. This was set aside and worked on while other projects were drying to keep "downtime" to a minimum.

Below are drip self portraits. We colored the canvas in a favorite color, used a brush to "draw" the portrait into the wet paint, then dripped onto those brushstrokes. Using brushstrokes in wet paint meant we did not have to draw in pencil first, and no pencil lines would be evident in the final work.

I got a donation of plexiglass and was able to do some monoprints with students. I photographed them, and we traced those images under the glass in water based markers with dampened paper, and later in permanent marker with rubbing alcohol sometimes sprayed onto the paper, and sometimes spritzed onto the plate for different effects.

This last project was to use up the extra rubbing alcohol, so we did expressive patterns on canvas with permanent markers, spritzed them with the alcohol and used straws to move the fluid around. We then added a layer of patterns on top to contrast with the bleeding colors. Though this might not end up an actual project in my classroom, it may be a technique I can employ for certain effect within a larger painting unit.