Art on a Cart

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly...

In some schools, the art teacher does not have an actual classroom. They have a supply closet and a cart to service the school. This is more likely at the elementary level and can be the result of a few situations. Some reasons include:

• The school has adopted the position that students remain in one classroom and teachers rotate into that room for minimal disruptions. (These schools may actually have spaces in individual classrooms for project storage.)

• The school district has grown without building infrastructure to keep up. There are not enough rooms in the building for everyone.

• It is a temporary situation as construction on new classrooms is going on. (Perhaps you get to design the new classroom)

• The school does not value art, considering it an add-on with minimal resources.

 
Art on a cart has significant drawbacks:

• You are on someone else’s “turf.” Just as we don’t want someone coming into our homes and rearranging furniture, you will face some hostility if you impact their environment too much. They may already have too little space for their own class. How do you store sculptures? Where do wet paintings go to dry?

• When working from a cart, without access to sinks; painting and cleaning become serious challenges. (It can be done with a bucket cleaning strategy: bit.ly/3BucketWash )

• Because storage may be minimal or non-existent. Having a project carry-over to the next class meeting might not be possible. This could mean you only do “one-and-done” lessons. This may be why some art teachers fall into the trap of cookie-cutter experiences where everyone makes the same thing.

• Saving artwork for an end-of-year show is a challenge. Where do you store it all? Where will you exhibit it?

 
There are tips and tricks you can learn from others who teach on a cart. There are Facebook forums just for “Art on a Cart” teachers. Many teachers have posted their advice on YouTube, like this one: bit.ly/ArtOnCart.
 
There are positives though. If you teach from a cart, it will force you to learn organizational skills you will use forever. Lesson planning has to be precise and well thought out because if you forget something, you can’t leave a classroom to go get that critical item. In most cases, YOU are the classroom teacher’s break. They will likely disappear as you enter the room. Some amazing programs are taught from a cart, so do not turn down a job based on this, but look carefully as to why they use a cart system.
 
When I interviewed for my first job in May of 1990, I was shown a beautiful classroom in an elementary school. When I arrived the following September, I was given a cart and told the original classroom was allocated to a second-grade class. They added to the distress by saying I would also need to drive a few miles away to teach a kindergarten class twice a week at another location. It was too late to interview for another school, and I had already signed a one-year contract on an apartment near the school. I suspect they knew I was not going to get the classroom they showed me based on other conversations I had with the staff that described the administration as dishonest and toxic.
 
My strategy was to build a great portfolio of teaching samples and student work to get a job elsewhere. Art teaching jobs are scarce. Jobs at schools that understand the value of art are even more rare. Had I known I was going to be on a cart, I may have still taken the job, because I knew that to get a job at a school that valued art, I would need a comprehensive portfolio and more experience. Working in a toxic environment will also hone your skills in navigating difficult parents, dishonest leadership, and troubled students. It will either break you, or make you into a seasoned professional. My experience was not all bad. The children, overall, were lovely. I was able to help an abused child get help, and instill the love of art in quite a few more.
 
Because my first school did not value art, have a set curriculum, or care what I did in my lessons, I was able to develop art experiences I was passionate about. I took students outside to paint and make a mess. We did giant paper sculptures in the library. I made partnerships with the music and gym teacher for collaborative lessons. We wrapped students in plaster after school to make life-size sculptures. I did quite a few lessons that flopped, but the students had a great time. By the end of the year I had an amazing portfolio landing me a dream job in Egypt where we did field trips to the pyramids, painted murals on the sides of buildings, worked with a local foundry to make a giant student sculpture from molten metal, and flew kite sculptures as a final exam over the Mediterranean Sea! The skills I learned from teaching on a cart are with me today.