Strategies for Starting the Year (Ep. 431)

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education University. And I’m your host, Tim Bogatz. As a lot of people are headed back to school, I wanted to take some time today to talk about different ideas for the beginning of the year or different things we can do with our classes to help our kids make some art at the beginning of the year, make them feel comfortable, hopefully even make them feel successful to start the year. And I know everyone has different goals for their classroom for the beginning of the school year. Some people want to get routines and procedures down immediately, others just want kids to enjoy coming to the art room, having a great first experience. Some people want to have a mix of fun activities and discussion of what the school year will look like in the art room. But I’m hoping that some of our ideas we discussed today can be helpful for you no matter where you are on that spectrum or where you are with your goals at the beginning of the year.

Janet Taylor will be my guest today. And she has been collecting and sharing a lot of her best beginning of the year ideas on her Instagram account. We’ll link to it in the show notes, don’t worry. And of course, we could go through things with quick, half-hearted explanations, but if you listen to this regularly, you know that’s not how Janet and I roll. We’re going to go in depth, we’re going to fully explain our ideas. We’re going to share our reasoning behind why we do what we do, probably go off on a couple of tangents, but really give you a good idea of everything that we are doing and why we are doing it. I’m going to get out of the way and get the discussion going with Janet. Janet Taylor, welcome back to the podcast. How are you?

Hi, Tim. I am doing just fine. Period.

That’s fair. You know what?

Great. I’m doing great.

You were going back to school this week, and so just fine, period, is good enough. How are you feeling about the start of the school year?

Well, up until this point, I’ve been a little bit in denial, let’s say. That would be my word I use. And it’s really funny because I shared this on Instagram, a little reel about my denial of my summertime and how I always think, oh, I’m going to get all this stuff done in the summer and I never… But this summer I literally felt like, I was like, “Okay, I am going to get these things done,” and then I just didn’t. I just couldn’t do it. I found myself not being able to physically bring myself to go to school and do the things I need to do. I posted this on Instagram about this, and it was so funny how many teachers, veteran teachers especially, were like, “Yeah, that’s how I was this summer. I just was in this-”

Yep, just feeling the same way.

Yes, just being present with their families, being present with vacation or whatever it was they were doing. And they were like, “Yeah, that’s the same.” And I was like, “Okay, maybe this is the year for that.” But in general, I’m really excited.

Good, good.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been in denial. I’m moving forward into excitement. Last year I think we were talking about this, that I said I was going to give myself some grace, slow my role a little bit. I wanted to give myself time to grow the program, to not do all the things and be all the things all the time, just take it as it comes. And well, now it’s like my second year moving into this new school. Last year was a new school for me; this year it’s not. I know I have returning students that I’ve already made relationships with, which really excites me, right?

Yes. Yes.

And I have my space, which was glorious when I walked in there last year, but it’s even more so getting to be more me, so that feels good to come back to, you know?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

And I think having that motto of slow my role and give myself grace did actually very well for me last year and helped me keep that more stable mindset as we moved into this year. This summer, I think I felt like I could take off from not worrying about things because I was already in this better mind space. I don’t know, ask me next week when we chat again. I might be a totally different story, but yeah.

Yeah. No, it’s good to have a little excitement. In the podcast today, though, I want to talk about hands-on activities, art making activities for the start of the school year. And I’ve talked a lot on the podcast about making sure that you’re not just reading your syllabus the first day because everybody reads their syllabus the first day, and you got to do something a little bit different. But I just love your perspective on that. For you, why are hands-on activities important to do at the beginning of the year?

Yeah. I teach high school, and I remember earlier on in my career that it was an expectation, you know?

That you read the syllabus. You had to do that. And I just dreaded that myself. I still do. I don’t want to do that.

I don’t even want to go over this. Why would the kid want to if I don’t even want to do it?

And they’re not listening anyway, you know?

No.

They go from class to class hearing the same thing, and it’s like the Peanuts teacher.

Oh yeah, wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like sometimes when I’m talking like that, I myself as that even. There’s no way kids are going to want to be there. And so basically I want them to be at school, right?

I want them to get excited about what they’re going to learn. I want them to have really tactile out experiences right away. I think that’s a very sensory thing and a good core memory, I feel like. I think you can do activities first day at all levels, right?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I’m just speaking from my high school experience. I get that there are constraints for what you have to unload at a time. But I have come to adopt the philosophy that if I’m making art on day one, I am going to also teach my procedures and expectations in small, little chunks along the way, right?

Yep.

I start off with my non-negotiables that for me that are more overarching for the semester but are still important on day one like don’t talk when I’m talking or when others are talking. You are not allowed to talk.

That’s rule number one for me, don’t talk while I’m talking.

That’s just it. That’s first thing. And then I teach jewelry metals mostly, so there’s a lot of crazy tools and stuff in there so I always say, “If you don’t know how to use something or haven’t been told that you can use something, even if it’s a bin of cut paper,” you know?

Mm-hmm.

“You need to ask first.” That is a rule. Right?

Yeah.

And then I usually show them… I have a projected daily agenda, so I always say, “You walk in here. Here’s my agenda. This is what it looks like every day you walk in here. We go through X, Y, and Z. That’s that.” Really short and sweet. And then I feel like the rest of that stuff comes when you are actually teaching stuff and modeling it. And then kids are actually experiencing it in the moment. And we know-

Rather than just hearing about it. Yeah. Yes.

Right. We know that they learn best by doing. Yeah, it seems like why talk through all that stuff and instead get in there. And I want to focus always on when they walk in, they’re usually pretty scared, right?

Mm-hmm.

I really think they’re nervous. Arts you think would be the place where they’re like, “Yes,” but I think a lot of them are scared of what they can’t do or comparisons and that kind of stuff, right?

Absolutely.

I always think too when you start off always doing things that focus on creativity, some sort of social collaboration or building that fun environment, relaxing them and ways to level the playing field, right?

Yes.

Jewelry medals, I look out because I think most kids don’t have that experience, so that’s a pretty good, solid start, right?

Right.

They don’t know what they’re doing. But letting them figure out ways to… Or showing them ways that they can shine in different capacities in art class, that it’s not just about, oh, who can draw the best or the most realistic drawing?

I think you and I are aligned on that. We’re going to talk about our specific activities that we do. But mine are very much about those things where, like you said, leveling the playing field, making sure that it’s low pressure because kids are scared when they come in. I’ll talk to a little bit later about what I do to ease kids in and make them feel comfortable on the first few days of class. We can chat about that a little bit more in just a minute.

But I want to ask you, when we do get to know each other activities, those can be important, but they can also be really cringe. People can really, really hate them. How do you let kids get to know each other? How do you let them interact but do it in a way that seems authentic and seems like part of what you would otherwise be doing rather than the really cheesy icebreakers that nobody wants to be a part of?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, as I move into my institute days this week, I’m thinking a lot about how we’ll be sitting there like, “We’re going to model today. Turn to your partner and shoulder talk,” or whatever. And I’m always like, “Oh. Oh, no.” All the things that we don’t want to do ourselves, I’m like, “I don’t want to make my students do that,” unless it’s, like you said, in more authentic ways to how and what we teach.

For sure students, we could do a lot of fun, creative activities that could break that ice and just be a fun game that are related to art or related to creativity. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. That’s really fun to do and just get the kids excited about being there. Right?

Yeah.

Me personally, I also really like to be thoughtful on what it is I’m doing to make the time that I’m teaching them really matter, because I feel like a semester with them feels really fast. And if I am taking up too much time in the first month, that’s a lot of time away from getting them ready to actually be sawing and cutting and soldering and doing those things, so I want to make sure that whatever activities I put forward are those low risk, fun art making, but also scaffold skills that I eventually need them to be utilizing, right?

Yeah, that’s a great point.

Yeah. If I want them to document their artwork, which we’ll talk about, then in the first activity, I’m going to ask them to take photos of their artwork and put it on a collaborative slide deck or whatever it is, right?

Mm-hmm.

And also, I really have found… Again, this is just in my years of what works for me, is that when I do those activities that relate directly to what we are going to be learning, it is a way for me to assess. You know how I love assessment. And I know everybody freaks out when I say that. Just don’t turn off the podcast right now. But seeing where their baseline is, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Even in the creativity department, you can see… Or imagination you can see can they think outside the box? Do they need extra supports? What is that going to look like as we move into more technical types of things, right?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah.

I like that. Only you, Janet, would think about first day activities like, you know what? This is a great opportunity for assessment.

Okay, I’m just going to say… You know I always say this, but it’s like that’s the thing about assessment that everybody freaks out because they only think about rubrics. I’m not even thinking about rubrics. I’m just like, assessment is just what we do and is what you’re already doing. Okay. All right, that’s my point.

No, I think that’s good. And no, we talk about that with finding a baseline. But so many people do that portrait project with what’s a self-portrait look like on day one? What’s it look like at the end of the semester? That’s exactly what we’re talking about, just in different forms. And so even though I poke fun, it is legitimately something that you can start thinking about and start doing.

Okay, we need to get to the exciting part of this podcast, which is our favorite first day or beginning of the year activities. Not necessarily the first day, but over the course of the first couple weeks when you’re seeing kids. I asked you to bring a few of your favorites. I have a couple of my favorites. Would you like to start talking about your first favorite activity for the first days of school?

Sure. Okay, this is what I call extension of me or you because it’s like a drawing prompts, but also a collaborative discussion kind of a thing. Sometimes I’m like, “I hate that title,” so I want to change it to replacement parts or… I don’t know. I’m always coming up with a place to change the titles. But unless it has alliteration, it’s just not good enough for me.

It’s not good enough for you? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. But anyway, so this is an adaptation that Matt Nolkowski and I had done years ago, which is a post-it portraits and where you can hold a little post-it, give them a post-it. They can draw the portrait of the person across from them, hold it up, take a photo and a… Gosh, my brain is not working. The force perspective with the photos, right?

Yep.

Okay. In this one, kids are given a blank square with a symbol on it that puts them into a pair that they’re not expecting, right?

Yes.

And you could have them interview each other, but I decided instead, I wanted them to focus really on close listening and give… Because they’ll interview each other, and they’ll be like, “What’s your favorite color? What sport do you like?” And then they’re like, “Basketball.” And then that’s it.

And then the conversation’s over and they’re looking around.

It’s just done.

What do we do next?

Right, right. What I have them do is actually prepare a storytelling. I don’t give them time to really prepare, I just have them think about it. And I usually have maybe three different prompts to choose from to get them to think about a story to tell. One might be what’s your superpower if you had one? Or it could be what’s something you did over the summer that really shows who you are? You know?

Mm-hmm.

More in depth kind of things like that. And then the partner would tell that story and while the other person is doing some close listening. We talk about what close listening means, what it looks like. And why you’re using it is because that person is then going to draw a replacement part that’s imaginative when they’re done and hold it up and take the pictures, right?

Yeah.

And then as a teacher, because you know I joke about assessment, but I learn what technical skills the kids are coming in with, what kinds of styles of drawing that they’re interested or that most engage them. I see their imagination, their ability to maybe follow directions, that’s a biggie, how they actually work in partners and how they problem solve taking the photo. Because a lot of times it’s cute because they’ll take the photo, and then the other person will run over because they want to see what it looks like. And then they’ll be like, “No, no, let’s take it over here instead,” or whatever. Yeah, it’s just a fun thing to do. And they get to know each other very quickly at a deeper level, I’d say, which is nice.

Yeah, it’s not just surface level conversation. I like that idea. That’s a good prompt. My first idea is very much about making the kids feel comfortable. It’s maybe not as hands-on as some of the other stuff that I like to do, but I think it’s important. I like to do a quiz about the teacher. And this has been on the Art of Ed website. We have a video that people seem to enjoy the idea. But I actually stole this idea from my wife who’s a history teacher. And basically, we just come in first day. And the kids don’t know anything about me, but I give them a 20 question quiz that’s all about me. And this is the way that they get to know me. And so just have them guess how old I am, how long I’ve been teaching, where I went to school, favorite types of art, things like that, but also just ridiculous questions like how many pairs of shoes do I own? And what did I have for breakfast today? And it’s not a serious thing at all, but it’s a good way for them to get to know me and it’s a fun one. Whoever gets the most right, I’ll give them a prize the next time. It’s just a different way to introduce myself. That’s a fun one that I like to do with them.

And then along those same lines, we were talking about kids coming in being scared or feeling very uncomfortable, very nervous, and so I like to do a couple things to put them at ease. I give everybody a note card and I have them write down just answers to a few questions that will introduce me to them a little bit where… And just asking, “Hey, what year are you in school? Why did you sign up for this class? What do you want to learn? What do you struggle with? Or what are your challenges when it comes to art?” Things like that. But again also some ridiculous questions too about their favorite snack or what they like to do on the weekends or whatever. Just have them write them down.

And then I will also ask them for recommendations too. I’ll say, “Hey, tell me your favorite thing to watch on YouTube. Or what is a song you think I should listen to? Or what is a movie you think I should watch?” And so I get to know them a little bit through those answers as well. And when there are connections there, and I can talk about those in the next week, “Hey, I listened to that song you recommended. It was really good,” gives us a good conversation starter. That’s a fun one.

And then at the bottom of that note card, I have them ask questions. I have them write down questions for me. And they can be about anything. It can be about anything about me, anything about the class, anything about the school. And then I just read them and answer them anonymously out loud for everybody. And so that gives kids a chance to ask, “Oh, hey, do we have to do this in class?” Or, “How do I get to the lunchroom?” It can be anything that they’re nervous about or scared to ask about, they can just submit that anonymously and I’ll answer it. And it really helps everybody. And so that’s, like I said, not quite as hands-on, but I think it’s something that’s worthwhile, and it’s definitely helpful for the kids. I don’t know, that’s a lot of ideas rolled into one, but just a lot of chatting and writing on the first few days to let them get to know me a little bit more about the school, a little bit more about the class. And I get to know a little bit more about them as well.

Yeah, it’s fun. All right, next idea from you Janet. What do we got?

Okay, before, actually, I should preface and say that I do spend a lot of time getting to know their names. It’s not like we just jump in and I’m like, “Okay, here’s the project we’re doing today.” But we do go around and I ask questions or whatever. Because yeah, that would be weird if you just started on day one without even… Right?

Right. Right.

Just like, “Okay, now we’re going to get together and you’re going to ask some really good, intense questions.” Okay. Then another one I love to do in the first week-ish, I guess, is called paper pair up. I feel like I’ve talked about this one before, but a great reminder because it’s really good for art survey class that covers a lot of different materials. Or for me, again, I teach jewelry metals and ceramics mostly now, so a lot of 3D stuff. For jewelry metals, it’s great because what I do is I’ll put them in groups of three. I find that three works really nicely for this.

And I do want to note a little bit about grouping because people always ask, “Well, what about the kids that don’t want to be in a group? Or what about the kids that don’t work well in a group?” And I will say this: That happens. I’ve had a kid who was like, “I just want to make my own thing and I don’t want to be in a group at all.” And I always talk to them about the importance of working in a group, but I’m never going to force them to be in a group, especially in that first week when they’re already not comfortable, you know?

Yeah.

You really have to build that environment first. My little bit of advice on any of this is, I don’t know, pick your battles, right?

Mm-hmm.

What’s most important? Most important to me is that my kids are creating and enjoying it. That’s it. Anyway, in this, we talk briefly about design, wearables. Because basically they are making a wearable 3D piece that is completely out of paper. And so we talk about… Because jewelry, it’s perfect for cold and hot connections translated into paper clips, brass fasteners, tape glue, folding techniques, things like that, so we talk about that in design. Again, I always have to add my little tidbits of advice. With any project or any assignment or any activity, I used to show all these pictures for inspiration, right?

Yeah.

To get the kids thinking, and being like, “Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do.” And I stopped doing that. I really just give them one to three images tops and keep… My slides are only five slides long, you know?

Okay. Yeah.

And it’s very succinct because I find that when I show them a bunch of ideas, then they just create that idea, right?

Yep. That-

Or they want to-

That’s a problem from kindergarten all the way up. Yes.

Yes, right?

Yeah.

As an adult even it limits my creativity, I think. Anyway, when I just give them two ideas, then it gets them understanding the idea. But then once they start creating, then I feel like if I can give them ideas or let them research then, it tends to be like their gears are working and they learn how to modify or adapt for what they’re interested in as opposed to copying it, right?

Yes.

Okay. I usually give them one to three days to create. It really depends. We have a hybrid block schedule, so it depends where it falls, if they have a block day or not, to create their wearable together. It’s really fun to watch because you can see how they approach creating, which is interesting to me. And I do briefly talk about it so that they understand that there’s no right or wrong way to approach this, about how some kids love to draw things out, sketch them out first. Some kids will get the papers and start folding and playing and manipulating the paper. Some kids will look at the fasteners. Some kids will start placing paper on top of their body in places to see what they want to wear, you know.

Right, right.

It’s really fun to watch them physically problem solve together. And then they create that and then they take the photos of it, because, again, documenting artwork is important in my classroom. And it’s really fun because they also are… It’s white paper, and then the ceiling is white, and so they’ll be using their phone and do this terrible photo with white paper on the white ceiling with all the… And you’re like, “I can’t even see this.” And then they go out and I show them ways to photograph them. I wait until after I see what they can do. And there’s kids looking out the window, you know?

Yeah.

In this mystical way. And you’re like, “Okay, I feel like you get points for that photo.” But anyway, the main point of this is really fun. Sometimes if the kids finish really fast with one, I’ll be like, “Well make a set.” You know?

Yeah.

You did a necklace, now do a ring that goes with… Or whatever it is. Some kids do some really imaginative stuff. A group made a full apron with pockets that had chef tools in it all out of paper. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. Fun.

Just different ways of thinking. But it’s a contest. I think that’s also a great way because kids get really excited about games, right?

Mm-hmm.

It’s a contest, but low risk. They get digital ribbons on the slide deck. All the students vote. Not just within their class, but all of them in all of my classes. And so that’s just fun when you put it on display too and they have an award for whatever it is and it’s not me picking it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s fun. That’s fun. No, I love all of those ideas. And I have seen the photos of your kids doing those things, and they make some great work, so I really enjoy seeing all of that stuff. My next idea, just some favorites, drawings. And this goes back to what you were talking about earlier, about learning what kids are interested in, learning how they draw, what level they’re running around in, and just what they’re interested in, what they’re doing in art, what kind of experiences they have, but also a little bit about them and their interests.

I’ll try and explain this quickly, but I usually just give everybody a piece of paper, and we’ll do two lines down, two lines across; divide your paper into nine sections. And then I will hit up nine different themes and just have them draw for those. And a lot of times, draw me a picture of something related to your favorite food or your favorite person or your favorite place. And like you said, it just lets them learn… Or lets me learn a little bit about them. And then I’ll add in some other things where it just takes some creative thinking like combine any two or three animals to create a new animal, just whatever creative drawing prompts that you might like. And just give them five minutes per drawing to do whatever. But it just moves quickly. And I just tell them, “We’re not worried about how good these drawings are, how realistic you make them,” because again, they’re nervous, they’re worried about drawing skill, and so I emphasize that point, that these are quick drawings. We are having fun with these and just doing some enjoyable drawing for the first day.

And you can stretch that out as little or as much as you want with whatever prompts you want. But just asking them, like I said, to share some of their favorite things to do on the weekends or draw a picture that relates to your favorite music or your friends or your pets or whatever. And like I said, just learning a little bit more about them with some low pressure drawing. You can see where they are, you can see what they’re interested in. And it’s very helpful, very simple to do. That’s a fun one as well.

And then I guess I have one more that I was hoping that you could talk about. I’d ask you to chat about your sketchbook design because I know a lot of people do sketchbook covers, sketchbook designs. A lot of people are interested in doing that, so can you just talk us through what you do for Sketchbook Designs at the beginning of the year?

Sure. Those other two activities are more collaborative. And if you’re looking for something a little bit more independent, hands-on project, I think sketchbook covers are a great thing to get kids loosened up and relaxed. Sketchbooks have a special place in my heart for every class and every media, but I’ve done some pretty elaborate units on them. And then I’ve stopped doing that as much because it just takes up a lot of time. But if that’s what you can do, then go for it. But again, sometimes they’re store-bought ones, sometimes they’re hard bound ones, sometimes they’re handmade ones. Just sketchbooks are just so versatile, and I just love that so much. And when they’re really elaborate artworks that students put into it, it’s just such a deep sense of ownership over their sketchbook, you know?

Yep.

And even the quick ones, they still have a lot of ownership, I feel like. But the purpose of that sketchbook kind of changes a little bit. It’s more about the learning and having a place to house that learning versus having it more precious, you know?

Mm-hmm.

It depends on what you’re interested in using it for. But quick ones that I do with my classes in a drawing and painting one class, we did a unit that was all exploration on media and techniques. And so we would do small, little pieces in their sketchbook. Okay, here’s a worksheet on shading. Before we do it together, explore it on your sketchbook page, then we’ll do it together. Now here’s another additional small piece of paper. I want you to explore and play with those same mark making or shading techniques or the different materials that we’re covering over the unit. And then at the end of that unit, they take all those pieces and create a collage out of them. We talk about composition and things like that.

I just wanted to share too on that point, the previous teacher that was there before me, there were a ton of leftover, unused sketchbooks that they didn’t really use in the same way that I use sketchbooks. It was more like, okay, let’s draw this. And then there was just a lot of leftover blank pages. And so I just pulled all those, I trimmed them a little bit, and then each kid, we folded them in half, made small sketchbooks. And each kid then hand-stitched their own. I didn’t even spend any money on it, which is really nice.

Yeah, that’s perfect.

In jewelry metals, we focus a lot on design and composition in the beginning. Excuse me. I have some colored cut paper pieces. I give them real small pieces, and they have a palette that they have to choose from, color palette; maybe two colors in a neutral or something like that. I talk a little bit, not much on elements and principles. It’s more about learning how to problem solve the space, moving the pieces around, looking at positive and negative space, things going off the edges. How can you add marks or texture? Because in metals, we do a lot of texturing, things like that. That’s usually pretty quick too and fun and really low risk because some of them turn out really cool, some of them are not that great. And it’s fine, you know?

Yep.

But we always laminate sketchbook covers. I always do it with packing tape; I have that down. The kids are always like, “How did you do that so fast without wrinkling it in bubbles.” It’s like, “Well, 15 years of laminating sketchbooks comes in handy.”

I was going to say.

I also, especially with jewelry metals, like to teach them how to hand stitch, like a pamphlet stitch. And I’ll do it in small groups. Kids that are ready, I’ll do it with a group of five. I’ll walk them really slowly through. And then they become the experts. And that’s how my class is set up anyway. I like to also integrate some of those modeling and teaching expectations right away. “Okay, well, awesome. Now you’re really good at stitching and you have this. Can you teach another?” Sometimes they’re like, “No, I don’t.” And I’m like, “I believe you,” you know?

Yeah.

“That you could not do that.” But I always say, “Well, can you do it with, do you think, two of you together can do it?” And they’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, totally. I can do that.” The hand stitching, I’m just going to put this out there too, does take some time. It’s amazing to me how engaged they are with hand stitching and flip books. But they really struggle following direction. The speed at which I have to work through that with them is phenomenal to me. It feels like a snail’s pace, you know?

Yeah.

But jewelry metals is really pretty technical. There’s a lot of technical stuff and following directions, so I think it’s really interesting to see that baseline so I know how fast or slow I need to teach each of those skills. I like to see that even in the small group with me leading them they’ll help each other out, which is really nice. And I can see those leaders right away. And also, their fine motor skills, right?

Yeah, I think that’s really cool. No, I love the in-depth explanation for all of that. And I appreciate you going through that with all of us. Now, Janet, to wrap it up, I always love to have guests give advice, as you know, so I would just appreciate any of your best advice for teachers out there about the beginning of the year. What is one thing that teachers should worry about at the start of the year and one thing they should definitely not worry about at the start of the year?

Well, this is easier said than done, right?

As I say them, and I’m reinforcing it for myself as I go back to school too. But okay, what I think the most important thing to actually worry about… And I don’t want to say worry, but to make a priority, right?

Yes. To prioritize.

Yeah, to prioritize is really just about creating your warm and welcoming environment and setting the stage and taking that time to really observe your students and address their needs in real time. I always say it doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been teaching, the first day of school with students feels like kindergarten for me. I’m so excited. I probably talk way too much. I’ve had too much coffee. And they walk in, they’re like, “Ugh.” And I’m like, “Hi. Here I am.” But I think it’s just that piece, is as soon as the kids come in, I feel like I’m relaxed again. It’s like, yes, this is right. This is where it should be. I feel like that should always be the priority at that point. And then going into what not to worry about on that is to not worry about being perfect, right?

Mm-hmm.

Your classroom doesn’t need to be perfect, you, your lessons, they don’t need to be perfect. What needs to happen is that you are excited them to be there, you are really welcoming and learning about them and making them feel comfortable. Because with that, all those other things fall into place, you know?

Absolutely. Absolutely. No, that’s great advice. And I think you’re so right; if you can just make kids feel comfortable, help them be excited about what’s going to happen in your classroom and just put your authentic self forward, the rest of those things are going to take care of themselves eventually. I think that’s some great advice on what to concern yourself with. Not what to worry about, but what to prioritize at the beginning of the year. Thank you, Janet.

Thanks, Tim. Appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you to Janet. I appreciate her coming on. And as always, I appreciate her sharing all of her ideas. I just want to send best of luck to everyone as you’re starting this school year. I know it’s always a mix of emotions as you go back to school. You’re feeling all of the feelings all at once. But I hope that things are going well for you as you’re back working with students. And I hope that the podcast today can give you some ideas that will be helpful to you as you are working toward your goals for your classroom at the beginning of the year.

Art Ed Radio was produced by The Art of Education University with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. Now, if you are a Now Conference fan and you want to join us at the end of January for the Winter Now Conference, we are running super early bird pricing right now where you can get $50 off your registration. Use the code winter99 at checkout for $50 off and you can attend the Winter Conference for just $99. You can find everything you need to know about the conference and register for that low price at theartofeducation.edu/now. We hope to see you there.