It’s no secret that art teachers are pros at multitasking and wearing many hats. Not only can you switch between teaching two vastly different mediums like clay and charcoal within a five-minute transition, but you also shift from art teacher to coach to parent all within a matter of hours. While you make it look effortless, we know it takes a special kind of art teacher energy to thrive. Tap into your repertoire, grab your “student” hat, and let’s explore what your professional learning can look like and how well it can fit into your busy schedule.
Continuing to pour into your art teacher side is doable and worth it! Here’s a glimpse of how you can tackle your own learning outside of the classroom with a “week in the life.”
The first step in growing as an art teacher is to find an option that works best for you and your lifestyle. Enrolling in a graduate program or course does not mean you need to sign your life away for the foreseeable future. Joining a high-quality program can empower you as an educator, open doors for your career, and leave a larger legacy for your students.
The Art of Education University offers two degree programs specifically for K-12 art teachers, along with more than 50 graduate-level courses, including studio art classes, and certificates. Each degree program and course is carefully designed for art teachers, by art teachers, so the content is specific, creative, and immediately applicable to your classroom. All coursework is 100% online and asynchronous, so you can set your own schedule and have it fit right into your existing routine.
Monday: The Sneak Peek
Use this first day to get organized as you jump back into teaching after the weekend. Just like you check your email and make a list of “to-dos” for home and school, take 5-10 minutes to do the same for your coursework. Pop into your classes and review all of the assignments, announcements, and resources for the week. Usually, there is a video, scholarly articles, and a handful of other curated resources. Click on each one so you can get a snapshot of how long they are and how long it will take you to go through them. Since they’re all designed for art teachers, by art teachers, they will be enjoyable!
Tips:
- Make a note on your calendar so you don’t miss a key deadline if there’s a due date anomaly.
- Notice any days off from school you can use to get ahead, and busy days with meetings and commitments you’ll need to take into account.
- Divide the work up by day and make calendar events or daily punchlists so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Set “rewards” for assignments that look particularly tedious or challenging, like stopping by your favorite coffee shop the next morning on the way to school.
- Plan to watch an extra exciting-looking video during your lunch period. You’ll give yourself something to look forward to, be productive, and force yourself to sit down and physically rest at school. It’s a win-win-win!
Tuesday: Draft Mode
If you’re the only art teacher in your school, you’ll love discussion board assignments! This is an opportunity to network and chat with other art teachers, just like you. It’s a great place to share thoughts, build on others’ takeaways, and gain fresh ideas from people who “get” you. Over the course of the semester, you’ll create relationships, from networking to collaboration to friendship, largely in part because of the dialogue in discussion boards. It’s a way to make digital learning and virtual classmates tangible.
Tuesday is a great day to start the discussion board process, so you get the most out of the experience. It allows you time to reflect on the course material and coherently gather your thoughts. It also keeps you organized, so you have time to collect everything you need in advance as your week ramps up.
Tips:
- Copy and paste the discussion board questions into a separate document to familiarize yourself with them.
- Dump your thoughts, links, and raw responses into the document as they come, so you don’t lose any valuable ideas and resources.
- Keep your document open as a tab in a browser window or bookmarked on your phone so you can easily access it at school, on the go, or at home.
Wednesday: Discussion Board
Because you put in the work to gather all of your thoughts and content yesterday, finalizing your discussion board responses today will be a breeze! Set aside 15-20 minutes of your planning period at school or evening at home to wrap this component up. Use it strategically as a productive break from your other responsibilities to provide balance to your day. For example, if you have a lot of prep on your feet, such as cleaning supplies and setting up stations, use this as a time to sit down and rest.
Tips:
- Synthesize your raw thoughts into sentences and re-read them to ensure they sound coherent.
- Double-check that you hyperlinked and properly cited your sources.
- Include any questions you have about the upcoming assignment, something confusing you came across, or a related problem you encountered in your classroom.
Thursday: Peer Feedback and Connection
In the art room, Thursdays are a good day to get a lot of supply prep and grading done. This way, you can spend Fridays wrapping up the week and looking ahead at planning the next one. Because this day can be heavier in the art room, it’s the perfect afternoon to do your discussion board peer responses (and a day early, at that!) Cozy up with comfy clothes and your favorite mug, and relax while you read everyone’s posts. Imagine you’re chatting with a friend and insert any answers, experiences, or perspectives you can contribute.
Friday: Check-In and Catch-Up
It’s Friday—the best day of the school week! You probably want nothing more than to mentally tap out after a long week of teaching and talking about art. Since you completed your peer responses yesterday, you’re a day ahead of the game and can use this time to unplug from teaching and learning. If you weren’t able to finish, this is your time to pop in, wrap up responses, and answer any lingering questions.
Saturday: Studio Time and Assignments
The weekdays are busy with teaching, extracurriculars, family dinners, parenting, and kid homework—and before you know it, it’s bedtime! Keep your Saturdays wide open just for artmaking and assignments. With a little proactive thought, completing your assignments can be fun, life-giving, and productive.
Tips:
- Invite your family or friends to join you! If you’re making art, have them sit with you and make art too. This doubles as memorable quality time with children or can make a unique date night.
- Use this time to catch up on an audiobook, a new album, or a show. Binge content you’ve always wanted to listen to or watch, but didn’t have the time until now.
- Go somewhere fun to complete your assignment. Bring your work with you to a coffee shop, park, museum, mall food court, or arboretum.
- Tailor your assignment to what you already need to do for your curriculum. Create artifacts like lesson plans, assessment tools, or instructional aids that meet the assignment and will be useful for your classroom.
Sunday: Submit, Reset, and Get Ahead!
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again—rest is key to being the best art teacher you can be. By Sunday, you completed (or almost completed!) your assignment. Finalize any lingering details, double-check the assignment instructions and rubric, and then submit it! Enjoy the rest of your day doing things that fuel your creativity, bring balance to your personal life, and refill your art teacher bucket.
Pursuing your master’s degree or taking a graduate course can feel overwhelming—how can you juggle it all while teaching? With the right mindset and a weekly rhythm, pouring into your professional growth is not only manageable, it’s deeply rewarding. Start your week strong by taking inventory of what’s on your plate in your art room, at home, and in your course. Strategically allot time to not only get your tasks done, but also have them do double duty: complete an assignment while exploring a new place, or turn date night into a shared watercolor session. When you choose to invest in yourself, you not only enrich your own life, but also your family and students around you!
What’s your best tip for managing coursework while working full-time?
Share the most fulfilling part of an AOEU course you’ve taken or a degree program you’ve completed!
To chat about how to balance a graduate degree while teaching full-time with other art teachers, join us in The Art of Ed Community!
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
