Help for 1st & 2nd Grade!

[Sphinxxy13]

This might be more about my behavior than theirs, but here I go. (sorry long post )


I'm teaching art grades 1-8, and they are all split classes. 1&2nd together....3&4 etc.

I do fine in all the classes but 1st & 2nd. This is a real challenge for me since I always knew I wanted to teach an older age group. (high school or college)

So a few questions:

How to deal with a child that doesn't want to do the assignment?
-Its not that he doesn't like this one assignment, but just doesn't like to do anything (other than read...which isn't a bad thing). He rushes through the art project in 5 min, and then insists I let him read for the remaining 40 min. (From what I heard he does this in his other subjects too)

Hyper children?
-Yesterday was especially stressful. I had one child that literally sat in his chair and screamed the whole class period. (not crying screaming, like playful screaming). The worst part about this is his mom is the student aid, and she did nothing. So as a new...Very new teacher I felt out of place correcting him...and so I didn't. (probably a bad move right?)

Any tips to get some of the students to try harder. I'm sure this is normal, but tips would be nice. I have some kids that are way over achievers (They end up with nicer projects than the 8th graders lol), but others will just scribble something down real fast, and say "done". How could I motivate them maybe? I don't want to be a downer, but the principal has already informed me (after sitting in on a class)..that the students need to be working on art the entire period. Some of these kids would go through 15 pieces of paper just because they rush through so fast (in order to do something else).

And tips for keeping some on task. This is just really 3-4 kids (out of 30). But if the project is to draw your house & family (using any medium), they end up drawing a football, or yesterday that particular group got a hold of a hole puncher, and their paper just had holes in it, no drawing.

BTW...I'm a floating teacher. So I don't have my own classroom, seating chart, any space to keep supplies. So all this I bring with me. And I'm not a graduate yet...will have my associates in may.

3rd grade + Everything's been running smooth, its just this one class. I co-teach the class with another girl, and she is having the same problem. So I might end up teaching this class alone if we can't get something working. She's already talked to me about only teaching 5-8 with me.

Thanks for reading, this is all so new to me. You might see a lot of questions from me on here. lol

Thank you!

[Brit]

it's okay to make them do it again if it is rushed and not good enough for their ability level. It's okay to make them do it over if they did not follow clear instructions. It's okay to say "no, you are not done". It's okay to tell the screaming child that that is bothering other people, it isn't funny, and that s/he must stop.

When I first was in a kindie room, I was so afraid of crushing creativity that I didn't want to have them do things over. But I watched another teacher make them do it over -- many times with many kids -- and sure, they weren't happy about it, but their work improved, and they were just as enthusiastic the next time.

Always make what your expectations are very clear, and model, if you're not. They'll sit there and watch you draw a house if you expect them to sit there and watch you draw a house. better yet, save student samples from year to year so you don't have to create samples. Save an "A" and a "B" and a "c" and talk about the good thing and the things that could be improved on each one, so that the kids can have something to aim for.

For the kid who wants to read and rushes through, make a point of telling him that his work must be his best. if it is really the best he can do after 5 minutes, then maybe can you find art books, like art history for children for him to read?

hope that helps.

[Sphinxxy13]

Thank you! Its our first time teaching, and even with 2 of us we are swamped. Its hard to know what to do in these situations....and like you said. Your scared of crushing their creativity...and being liked. (You'd think by 22 I'd be over that lol). But you don't want your students to hate you within the first week. We actually had an 8th grader tell us the other day the class disliked their music teacher so much they cheered when she called out. :( Makes you wonder what they say about you when your not there....