How to Encourage Positive Behavior in the Elementary Art Room

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this is Katie Jarvis with managing the

mess this video is part of a larger

series that I'm creating on behavior

management in the art room this is my

21st year teaching half of which has

been in a title one school so I do not

teach rainbow magical unicorn children

in fact I've learned a lot of things the

hard way I'm creating this video for

teachers that are starting out so that

they can learn some tips and tricks to

be successful but also for teachers that

have been around for a while teachers

are lifelong Learners and classroom

management is something that you

continually need to level up on to stay

on top of your teaching game and make

your job easier in this video we'll be

taking a deep dive into how to encourage

positive behavior in the art room

we're going to start by breaking down

what you need to do before students even

enter your room to improve classroom

Behavior now the number one piece of

classroom management advice that you've

definitely heard is that you need to

build relationships with students and

where this is great advice it looks very

different in an art room when you're

seeing hundreds of students each week so

how do you build those relationships

when you've got that amount of students

well you need to make sure that students

feel

a certain way when they're in your

classroom so when you're planning things

out about how you want your class to run

what you want your rules to be what you

want your procedures to be you need to

imagine what it's like to be a student

in your class students need to feel that

you are organized they need to feel

welcomed they need to feel that they are

important and cared for so you need to

set up a plan of how you're going to

teach to students what those things are

explicitly here's what we're going to do

here's what we're not going to do you

can see my video about how I start art

on my channel check that one out next if

you have it but each week I revisit some

of these Behavior expectations and even

when things are getting rusty with a

certain rule or or procedure I will go

over them during the school year at any

time with all of my classes so that we

are sure that we are on that same note

what you need to do is the art room

teacher is defend your rules defend your

management plan when I realized that I

was having success with this was when I

had a student that was new join the

class

and the student began to misbehave one

day started to use some inappropriate

language kind of slid down in his chair

like he was just going to blow this

class period off and the student next to

him that had been my student for a long

time no means a perfect student said to

him we don't do that here

and that pressure

of me being the one that was always

telling students what to do and

correcting and yelling

that pressure went away because I

realized that my students cared about my

classroom the same way that I did

because I'd instilled that in them and

they were passing this on to that new

student

so you need to come up with a plan you

need to come up with what is your

behaviors that you're looking for what

are the behaviors you're not looking for

and make that very clear and very visual

for students you need to teach this

explicitly now if you're in the

beginning of the school year you have a

great opportunity of starting over I

love that Fresh Start every year for you

but if you are in a spot where its

behavior is just not so good you can

take some time and plan out how do you

want this to look you can do a we're

starting over the year day where you

just take back your classroom it is

never too late to pull a class back in

and get them excited about art now your

job also before they come in is to plan

amazing lessons to motivate students I

always say that if I wasn't an art

teacher I would want to be an

advertising so what I like to do is

convince my students that a lesson that

I am presenting to them is amazing it's

awesome and by the time I'm done getting

out all the directions they literally

cannot wait to get started that type of

feeling is what I want for my students

and what I want for your students so

picks projects that you are excited

about be organized and have things ready

for when they walk in so that you feel

good and you've got less stress on your

shoulders and you are ready to welcome

those students misbehaviors occur when

you are looking for artwork or trying to

figure out what class is this going to

be doing today who are you guys what

when your brain is doing that you're not

at your best you've got to be organized

you've got to have your plans set out

you've got to have your focus on the

students when they get there so all the

other crazy management things and

materials and projects that already

needs to be there when the students

arrive that's your stage for performing

and convincing them that what they're

about to do today is the best project

ever

so how do you increase positive student

behavior during your lesson well you

teach what good listening looks like art

teachers love that Mona Lisa listening

where hands are still eyes are forward

and lips are zipped but go a step

further make sure you have a visual that

you're referring to each and every class

and make sure you're telling them what

to do with the rest of their body how do

you want them to sit on the carpet how

should they be sitting in their stools

this is going to give a definition for

students so that they're clear that they

are doing what is required now when a

student is not showing you good

listening you need to make sure that you

address that one way that I make it

clear for students that it's a time to

listen is I have a sign with a yellow

zone and that's usually for when we're

doing call and response on the carpet

and I have a red zone and on the carpet

that's a time where they're looking and

they're listed if they have a question

or a comment they need to raise their

hand but that Red Zone visual is

extremely helpful for my younger

students and for my Esau language

Learners now when you have a student

that begins talking during your lesson

you need to stop and address that you've

already defined what good listening is

and they are not following that

Direction you don't want this to

snowball you have to imagine what is it

like to be a student in your class maybe

art is your favorite class and you're

sitting down in art and you're listening

to your art teacher and you can't wait

to get started but she's allowing the

people next to you to giggle and laugh

and have a little side conversation

you start to not feel so good inside you

start to not feel so good about that art

teacher and being in that class because

the art teacher is not controlling the

class so that you can all have fun

together she's saying one thing

but she's not following through

okay if you're saying this is good

listening then that's what you need to

quite require from all of your students

okay high expectations can be met by all

students all students want to learn

especially art when they come to your

class now there are things during your

discussion that you can do to help

facilitate the conversation moving about

positively anything that you can do with

different emotions students love to do

and also throughout your lesson

refocusing them back to that Mona helps

a lot I like to do something like can I

get a clap clap elbow tap now show me

your Mona and they'll do it back the

same thing and that just kind of

refocuses as we're maybe shifting to a

different slide or a different step in

the direction so they've got that good

listening back and they are ready to

move forward another thing that I like

to do and I notice this every time that

I see someone speak in front of students

it doesn't normally speak in front of

kids they will just enthusiastically ask

a question and students yell out the

answer because experienced teachers know

that we will ask a question by saying

this raise your hand if

so hands are already up and then we

State the question so we already have

that hand in the air students are

already knowing what's expected if they

know the answer they know it's not a

time to shout it out because we're

saying raise your hand if another one

that I like especially when there's lots

of questions going on in my class

especially in the younger grades I feel

like this happens is we do one two three

and then back to me so I will take three

questions or comments but then at each

and every time we move right back to my

lesson and keep things moving forward

another one that I like to do is tell

students that we are not going to do

what if questions so you might start to

get some questions of like what if an

elephant comes into the art room and

what if I cut my hand and what if I

spill some pain and it can just go on

forever and ever and you need to explain

that to your students we're not going to

ask lots and lots of what if questions

because that game literally never ends

so I usually just State this to my

students I kind of get what I'm talking

about and then we're able to move on

with our lesson and it doesn't come up

again I like to also do a strategy that

I believe I picked up from Dr Jean and

that is good with the younger kids if

you know it below it so I'll explain

that if you know the answer you're going

to blow it into your hand

we're going to hold our hands up and

then you're going to let the answer out

so it's allowing for a little bit of

think time during that lesson

now when your students are working on

projects it's probably the easiest time

to get that positive student engagement

but here are some tips that I have found

to help keep students on track and calm

during the art making process my number

one tip would be keep the lights off I

typically have the lights dimmed I have

a lot of natural light in my classroom

I'm very lucky but I keep the lights off

just to get that calm mood I help

students to get that feeling of what is

it like if we all just kind of get lost

in our art and enjoy it sometimes I set

this up by doing five minutes of Silent

art at the very beginning of the class

if you guys have had a rough time during

the lesson this is a great way to reset

your class if someone talks you simply

add a minute once they've gotten that

feeling of what it feels like to work

and be in control of themselves and

enjoying getting lost in their work they

will pull that into the rest of your

class so when you go back into allowing

them to talk quietly you'll notice that

the noise level does go down now

throughout my class if I do have

students that get noisy and I really

have set this expectation so this I

can't even remember the last time that

this happened and you'll find this too

as you get better with your classroom

management those routines and those

procedures your students will just do

them automatically they will take care

of things for you and your job will be

made easier

but if students are too loud in my class

I have a little electronic doorbell and

I have a remote control that I'll press

and I don't let students see this

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oh my goodness

that sound goes off every time that a

class is too loud it's like a noise

sensor it's so annoying and when that

happens I'll put a frown up because I

keep a happy and sag board for student

behavior and if this happens twice in

the same class we will have five minutes

of Silent art so wherever we are in the

class period we set a smaller visual

timer so do students know that we will

be silent for five minutes other things

that I do to encourage students to work

quietly

um that I've been really enjoying this

year and my students have two is podcast

so I would encourage you to already have

a quiet environment uh when you start if

you don't want to go from crazy chaos to

trying to listen to a podcast because

that's going to not work and you're just

going to be shushing everyone but when

you already have that quiet environment

that students have decided they enjoyed

that and they get that feeling for what

that is like I introduced podcasts so

for my upper grades we have been doing

who's amazing life which is a podcast

from One Tree I'll be sure to link it in

the description down below because my

students are obsessed now I do this one

with grades four through six and it's a

podcast where you are hearing about

someone's life what you don't know who

it is so it starts in their childhood

and it's in the first person so if there

is a female narrator then you know that

it's going to be a woman that you're

hearing about it could be someone that

lived long ago it could be someone that

is famous and still alive today and the

students love this what I have them do

is if they think they knew who it is

they could raise their hand or come up

to me and kind of whisper into my ear

and I'll let them know if they've

guessed correctly so students are

listening for those Clues and from week

to week they keep asking me for this

podcast the only issue I've had with

this is some students are so excited

about it that they've started to listen

to this podcast at home with their

families and occasionally we'll listen

to the same one here and then they've

already heard it but that's a really

good problem to have that students are

enjoying that they're able to enjoy the

podcast while they're working and it

cuts down on talking I do allow students

to talk during the podcast but I talk to

them about it just being necessary

talking now this is something that I

actually teach from the beginning of the

year and I call it chicken nugget talk

which is kind of a funny name but how I

came up with it is that everyone's

always you know already been at a table

or something when they're a kid and just

some weird kid will just I mean it

doesn't even matter where you are you

don't have to be in the cafeteria but

you remember a kid saying something like

if you like chicken nuggets raise your

hand and right you stopped everything

you were doing and both your hands went

up immediately and that's what happens

when kids hear a question like that and

that can happen in art there are

conversations that are chicken nuggets

they are so distracting that everybody

has to stop what they're doing and

respond now I discourage that and we

call it chicken nuggets so kids will say

hey stop talking about chicken nuggets

or I'll say oh I'm hearing too much

chicken nugget talk

and we talk about what kind of Health

talking is helpful so talking is helpful

if you're asking somebody a question if

you're quietly giving somebody a

compliment but it's spending like a

whisper voice you know what is needed

what are those necessary conversations

that you have to have that's fine during

our podcast but we keep any other Chit

Chat any chicken nugget talk to a

minimum popping back in here because I

realized I forgot to add what podcast I

enjoy with my younger students so as low

as first grade I have done this podcast

has fleas which is a super adorable

podcast about a dog named waffles and a

cat and they all have their own podcast

inside the house and it's kind of a

drooling podcast type of situation that

is hilarious has great sound effects

that kind of tends to pull them back in

with the listening unfortunately that

podcast only has one season so we

quickly kind of went through that and

now we're currently enjoying melon's

house party I believe both of these are

from one dream podcast and again I will

link that down below now you may be

wondering do I do a podcast every single

week I do think that that would kind of

lose the novelty of um enjoying the

podcast to do it each and every week

often I will just depending upon the

project plan if this is a podcast day or

not if it's a very high energy activity

like clay or maybe we're doing painting

but during one of the stuff they have to

go wash their paint first and come back

with another color and there's a lot of

movement to get different materials that

would probably be a day where I don't do

a podcast days when we're more in our

seats doing quiet Focus work doing

planning those are my podcast days and

it's been a wonderful addition to my

class this year

other strategy that you can use to

encourage positive behavior during

working time is quiet Critters I know

Cassie Stevens is a big fan of these I

sometimes do quiet contests where we do

the warm colored tables versus the cool

colors tables and if someone's talking

or one side is being louder then they

get a point we see which side wins it's

all just for fun another thing I like to

do is point out energy shifts so I say

oh I've really noticed that people are

getting very excited about painting and

the noise level is getting to be a

little bit too much or I notice that the

people that are working quietly are

producing the most beautiful

artwork because they are focused and

their hand is still and their eyes are

looking at their paper and this really

encourages students to kind of slow down

because they want to be part of those

students that are receiving that praise

so any positive encouragement you can

give any praise will help students to

stay on task creating fun projects

offering help to students when needed

also help them be engaged don't be

afraid to have students help each other

if they finish early that's also another

strategy that keeps people that work a

little bit quicker still engaged in the

lesson give them clean up jobs if they

finish early I love to have students

pre-clean because it makes our job

easier in the end

thank you when it comes to misbehavior

during cleaning up and lining up most

all of this can be avoided by clearly

giving directions teaching where things

go and what expectations are another tip

that I have for cleaning up and lining

up is also to have students give

feedback with a thumbs up I found this

down or thumbs to the side reflecting

upon how did it go for that day so they

know that you know they did a great job

or that there's things that you need to

revisit and work on when they come back

the following week I have more

information about cleaning up and lining

up and how to encourage positive

behavior in separate videos be sure to

check those out next

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