Lessons and Community Building at the Start of the Year (Ep. 534)

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to slow down, build trust, and establish the routines that make a creative classroom thrive. In this episode of Art Ed Radio, host Tim Bogatz welcomes Janet Taylor back to the show to share practical beginning-of-year challenges, from personalized name tags and paper wearables to handmade sketchbooks, collaborative design prompts, and low-risk material explorations. They also zoom out to explore the bigger purpose behind these strategies. By giving students structured opportunities to collaborate, problem-solve, document their work, ask for help, and learn from failure, teachers can build a supportive studio environment where students take creative risks and help one another.

Janet Taylor is back on the show now. Janet, how are you?

Janet Taylor
Hi, good morning, Tim. I’m doing well—although I’m tired. There’s no tired like the start of the school year.

Tim
I was going to say that the start of the school year is difficult.

Tim
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like sickness is happening everywhere. Is that happening in your neck of the woods because everybody in my family and I think everybody in my kids’ schools are sick at this point.

Janet Taylor
Yes, yes. Like kids are getting sent home left and right. I’m like, what the heck? We’ve only been in school for like two weeks and the germs are flowing. So good times.

Tim
Yeah. You know, not much we can do about it. But I feel like it’s been a while since you’ve been on the podcast. This might have been like the longest we’ve ever gone without having you on. But I know you have some great back to school ideas, and so I wanted to talk to you about those. And these are not necessarily like first week activities, which is fine because like some people, this their first week of school. Other people have been in school for a month now.

Janet Taylor
No.

Tim
But these are good sort of beginning of the year activities. So can you talk about those? Like can you describe some of the things you do, the activities or the challenges as you call them? can you talk about what they are and what you do with your students?

Janet Taylor
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
Sure. I mean, I’m going to tell you, I guess, a little bit of the start of the school year because I think it’s kind of important and maybe beginning of the semester, but you can also, like you said, use these like intermittently throughout the year. You can kind of sprinkle them in when you need a little bit more, but I’ll talk a little bit more about kind of setting the stage. and I just wanted to share also that art teachers always feel at the beginning of the school year that they don’t have time to do some of these fun
activities or I don’t have time to really spend doing some of these things, right? And I get it. Like you want to get to the good stuff. The kids want to get to the good stuff. but I will argue that like, you know, first of all, and we can I know we’ve talked about this in curriculum. We can talk about it in another podcast, Tim, but like you don’t have to get through anything. Like we are so lucky to not have to have like to teach to a standardized test, right? So

Tim
Mm-hmm.

Janet Taylor
I always say like slow your roll a little bit at the beginning, you know, I think it’s really important. I tell my students like they’re like When are we getting to metals? Right? ‘Cause I teach mostly metal smithing. And yeah. And they’re like, I want to get to sawing. And I’m like, Do you think that without me knowing who you are, that I should put a torch in your hand? I don’t

Tim
I was gonna say to start handing over the sharp tools.

Janet Taylor
I don’t think so. And they’re like, good point, good point. I’m like, right. Okay. but also like this the good stuff, right? So really digging in and spending the time to set things up. And I will probably reference this a lot. Like I feel like I’m I’ve been thinking about this. I think I’m kind of sneaky. I’m kind of sneaky at how I set things up.

And I want really want my activities to be really purposeful, but also like I want them to have fun and be engaged. And once we get that, once we get rolling into the quote unquote good stuff, then I feel like they’re set, you know? So, you know, I run into less behavior problems. I run into less classroom management issues, you know, because I’m already setting that stage. So I will just preemptively say that. Okay. So I’m going to walk you through a couple of the ways that I start my semester. Now, like I said, I teach mostly jewelry metalsmithing. So I’m going to share some of these activities obviously can be used with any classroom. And depending on the course I’m teaching, I might spruce it up and we can talk more about that later. But okay. So first of all, I start off with name tags. Okay. I know I feel like this something I’ve been doing since I started teaching. And

Tim
Hm, yes.

Janet Taylor
sometimes you think like, my gosh, how many more name tags can I teach kids how to do? Right? Like like is this like Yes.

Tim
Right. Like it it feels very cliche when you’re two decades into your career, but still good. Still good.

Janet Taylor
But st still good. So I say, overdone, like, heck no. Like you can always establish a good name tag, okay? So first of all, it’s like a super calm activity. So that’s great. The kids are already quiet. They don’t know well, I mean, depending. But like my kids are pretty quiet in the beginning because they are thrown in. They don’t know each other. They’re from different grade levels, etc. So they’re already like shy and uncomfortable, right? So it’s a little independent. And I literally teach them like

Tim
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
Okay, we’re going to draw a stick letter, you know, just a line, right? And then here’s how you draw a block and a bubble letter. And I teach them like I go through this whole story on how to make it, and the kids are like crazy engaged, even though I think they’re probably rolling their eyes in the back of their heads, right? You know what I mean? Like I think that’s what it is, but when I watch, they’re like super engaged, you know? So I think that they are craving some of that step by step creating to feel safe in the beginning, right?

Tim
Right.

Janet Taylor
Okay. So I go through all that. I teach them how to like lay it out on the name tag. And then I really get to see like their creativity kind of unfold. And I get to know their names. So like as I’m walking around, like names are my kryptonite. Okay. and especially this I’m going to can I tell can I can I be vulnerable for a moment?

Tim
Yes, please.

Janet Taylor
Like as soon as kids leave my class, like at the end of the semester, end of year, you know, and you go to summer break and you come back and I’m like, I know those kids. They’re like, Hey, Mrs. Taylor and I’m like, Hey, you know It’s like the names just are like gone. There’s no more room in my head for all these names, you know. So I feel a little bit embarrassed about that, but you know, okay.

Tim
Right, right.

Tim
Okay, so I just a quick aside. That happened to me my first few years of teaching, I feel like those names imprinted on my brain. But then the further along I got into my career, they just zoom through. So like if you ask me about my students from two thousand seven, I remember all of them. But you know, like but later later on

Janet Taylor
You can see their face, you can hear their voice. Yeah.

Tim
Like you said, they just they do not stick. And so I don’t know if that’s a getting old thing or too many names in your brain thing, but it absolutely happens.

Janet Taylor
Yeah. A little bit of both. Yeah. Okay. So that’s a great way to kind of help with that. Cause I’m visual, right? So we’re all visual. And so I think that helps to like visually see them working on their names and put their face to that. So I always start with that. And then sometimes okay, so then I do like some sort of fun challenge. Okay. And we’ll talk more about other challenges, but

Janet Taylor
This the one I just did and I do it a lot with most of my classes. And this the paper pair-up. And now sometimes I like throw this in the before the name tags and it doesn’t work the same way. And sometimes I don’t do it at all and I regret not doing it. So I put it back in and I feel pretty good about it. So the way it works is you have five sheets of white printer paper. Five sheets, that’s it. And kids have to collaboratively together in a pair.

Tim
Okay.

Janet Taylor
create a paper wearable. And so I tell the kids, like in my class, right, we have tape and glue and we talk about hot and cold connections. We have some brass fasteners and they can do organic things like that. but they cannot use like pencil or marker to embellish it in that in any way. Yeah. They have to be like super creative on textures and really blow me away. Now I also, you know, there’s some kids that just go all in and are amazing. And then there are kids that like make a chain loop, loop chain, you know, like what you made for when you were in kindergarten. You know what I mean? Yeah. Exactly. Right. and I’m like, okay, so I up the stakes and I say, this a contest, right? Like we are going to vote across all of my classes. Not just this class, but all the classes. And you want the prizes. And they’re always like, well, what are the prizes? And I’m like

Tim
Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say back call back to elementary school for that one.

Janet Taylor
I have some things up my sleeve. And in my back of my head, I’m like, I’m not sure yet. Like I have to go to the dollar store, you know, see what I can find. so anyway, that usually gets them really excited to engage. And then I just constantly am like pushing them to do more and more and more with it. I’m like, is this wow? That kind of thing. Okay. So then after they make their wearable, then they take photos of their wearable. And so I talk to them about taking photos. And so this the part, right? Like they’re

Tim
Right, right.

Tim
Okay.

Janet Taylor
being creative, but also learning—in a low-risk way—how to do some of the things we’re going to do later in the semester. So they take photos and then we put it on a collaborative slide deck. The collaborative slide deck, they have one slide. The template mimics our growth portfolio we use later in the semester. So there’s that. Okay. Then we go into sketchbooks. Okay, so even my ceramics kids, everybody gets a sketchbook. I use five sheets of white printer paper. Five must be my magic number. because like in jewelry metals, we’re not draw you know, if I’m doing drawing and painting, I might have a nicer paper, right? But like we’re just kind of sketching ideas. So I don’t need to spend the money. they have one piece of cardstock. We fold that in half and I usually give some sort of constraints around it. So usually I’ll say, okay, we’re going to pick a color palette. Now I have slides for all this. I’m just talking through it right now. I realize that

Tim
Apparently is.

Janet Taylor
Hopefully this making sense to you all. But they pick two colors only and they’re like small rectangle sheets. Okay. So they can only pick two and they’re like, what? I can only pick two. And like, yeah, you have to pick two. And then they cut and tear and like move things around and they have to really play. I’ve got cool hole punchers that do different shapes. I’ve got funky scissors that cut different patterns, and so they’re really just like playing around and then I pull out the magazines. So they spend a day kind of playing first, then I bring out the magazines. Because otherwise, if you bring out the magazines right away, it’s gonna be like a bad, like 1990s teenage girl wall with the pictures on the wall, right? You know what I mean? Just like cut slap, you know? and so then we talk about like how to use those pictures. We talk about focal points, composition, all that stuff. But

Tim
Yeah, yeah.

Janet Taylor
I will tell you this, collage is like the number one engagement. I mean, prove me wrong, okay. The kids, you bring out magazines, they are like hunting through things. They are pulling through things, they are cutting and tearing and rearranging and looking. And I’m just like the energy just changes from project to project. It is amazing to see that. So if you’re looking for a high engagement, a little bit of a mess, right? But high engagement activity collage is where it’s at. So I always do that with my sketchbook covers. then they photograph we laminate that, okay, with tape. You know, kids are like, I thought you were gonna put it through a laminating machine. No, we use packing tape. We laminate that, I teach them how to do like book corners and things like that. We fold that in half, and then, you know, in ceramics or, you know, if you’re trying to get a little faster, you can get one of those long arm staplers and just kind of staple.

Tim
Okay.

Janet Taylor
But I like to teach the kids how to do a pamphlet stitch. So I have like this whole system with stations and stuff, and I teach them how to do that. And it is amazing how many kids have never even held a sewing needle. yeah, and have never done that. And I always talk about like, well, this a great life skill. Like you tear your pants, now you know how to do that, right? Like the apocalypse happens and somebody gets bit in the neck, you can sew them up, right? So, you know, that kind of stuff. So they love that. And then then

Tim
Right.

Janet Taylor
It feels like really precious to them because it’s like they made every part of that sketchbook. So that’s where we’re at. And now we’re starting metals now. It’s been a little over two weeks. So we spent like two weeks really doing all of these things together.

Tim
Yeah. Yeah.

Tim
Okay, so let me ask you then, like you said this the good stuff. You said this sort of teaching some skills that they need. So if we can back up from the details and just look like big picture, you know, I’m curious as to why you’re willing to dedicate that much time to these. Like, why do you do these challenges and put so much into them?

Janet Taylor
Mm-hmm.

Tim
And and following up on that, like what do you get out of them or more importantly, what do the kids get out of doing these types of things?

Janet Taylor
Right. So I mean, gosh, there’s so many reasons that I do this. and I guess in no particular order I can kind of list off a couple things. So first off is really scaffolding procedures in my classroom, right? so kids come in, I have an agenda slide on the board, there’s a bell ringer, name questions. Every single day we start like this and

Tim
Mm. Yeah.

Janet Taylor
They also are like, when are we gonna not do this anymore? You know, but I’m like, I just joke. I’m like, I don’t know your names. Like, I told you I’m really bad at that. But I always say, like, around the room, your name, your pronouns, and you know, like if you were a color, what would you be and why or you know, something like that, right? we have like a turn it in bin. So in my classroom, every kid gets a bin in a cabinet, and they that’s where we laminate their name tag on the bin. Right. So it’s kind of again creates that ownership in the classroom. on my table, I have class turn it in bins. So when later in the class, if they’re finished with an artwork, they put it in there, right? so in the meantime, until they have their name tag on the bin, that becomes the safe place to keep your stuff. So they are acquainted with that process, right? how to access some of the main materials. So on my tables, I have set up on each side of the table little pegboards with tools.

Tim
Mm-hmm.

Janet Taylor
And they have like a little basket with glue sticks. They have scissors. They have rulers. So just like the bare minimum is there and they’re getting used to using that, right? then after the name tag, they have their bin. Now they know every day they come in, there’s the agenda, then they go get their bin. So it’s like really I know it sounds crazy to like do this, but it’s really baby steps, right? But that’s why I say it’s like sneaky because they don’t even realize I’m doing that, right?

Tim
Yeah. Yeah.

Tim
Right.

Janet Taylor
You know, or like document your artwork. Now you know how to document your artwork. Later we’re going to post it to this and you know how to do all that. the other one other main thing is setting up my expectations. So every day I say very you know, I for the first week I go over the agenda, I explain exactly how to look. Okay, go get your bin. I say, Okay, every single day I’m talking about my three main rules. So

Tim
Right.

Janet Taylor
that’s a big one to me too, by the way. A lot of people like to toss in like all these rules and syllabi and all that stuff. And I never talk about any of that stuff. I pick two to three rules that I know are very important to me. So my in my classroom, it’s don’t touch tools if you haven’t been taught how to use them, right? Like if you’re curious, you can ask and I’ll show you, right? But you cannot touch them ahead of time. it’s don’t talk when I’m talking or other people are talking, right?

Those are a big one. And then we have like a phone, phone caddy kind of situation in our classroom. So that kind of stuff. and so I’m setting up. and then also like I’m very hard of hearing. so I talk to the kids about that and how I need them to speak up. And a lot of times I’ll ask them to repeat themselves. My classroom gets kind of loud. There’s vents, all sorts of things. so I repeat that a lot in the beginning. Then by the time that I have Overkilled that, you know what I mean? Beaten that dead horse. The kids are like, they got it, you know? then I can really dig into, well, now I’m setting up the expectation that I expect you to collaborate. I expect you to find tools on your own. I expect you how to clean up, right? in small, low-risk ways before we get into the higher risk, more important things, right?

Janet Taylor
Safety is so important in my classroom. If they don’t know how to do these things first, then the safety’s not gonna happen, right? I also like to build community and trust. Like I said in the beginning, I’m not gonna give them torches until, you know, I know who they are. But that goes like together, right? They also need to start to build trust in each other and get to know each other so they know who to ask when they need help. and and so they’re doing this again, like very low risk.

Tim
Of course.

Janet Taylor
It’s scary to ask each other. It’s scary to especially if you’re like doing a name tag and yours is not very good and somebody else is doing this amazing masterpiece. It’s intimidating, right? Yeah.

Tim
I was gonna say that can be really intimidating, especially if kids coming in for the first time. Yeah.

Janet Taylor
For the first time. And so, you know, kind of building that trust and letting them kind of grow in a way and ways that set like level the playing field, like the challenge, the paper challenge. I think that’s a pretty level playing field. Like how many kids have done that, right? And then you know, I’m always gonna throw in a little assessment in there. so

Tim
Right.

Janet Taylor
I’ll admit I still have not put a single grade in, so I’m not talking grading, I’m talking about assessment. I like to see who’s following instructions, you know, who is really patient. Like when I teach them how to stitch, I’m I go very slowly. And that motor skill and that following instruction is really important in my classroom later on, right? And so I really need to see who is maybe stepping up and helping somebody right next to them if they see them struggling, you know.

Tim
Mm-hmm.

Janet Taylor
while I’m talking through, you know? and I like to see who has a good eye, even if they’re not super creative, maybe they have a good sense of design or something like that. So just all of that kind of stuff really does play into me and the students understanding where we’re going, you know?

Tim
Yeah, right. Right.

Tim
Yeah. And so let me ask you then, ’cause I’m just thinking about the idea of collaborating and you know, the motor skills like you talked about and all of that the that goes in like what kind of skills are you wanting students to develop as you’re doing all of these things? Like how how do you, you know, show them that those are important and and how do those skills help them down the line?

Janet Taylor
Okay, well, you know, I like to zoom out first, so I’m going to tell you that I always think about like the big picture of these kids. I mean, I mean, you know, they sit in classes all day long and I’m not this I don’t know, Maybe I shouldn’t say this out loud to a live podcast, right? But like, you know, I don’t know how many teachers in different subjects are really teaching these kids how to be like amazing human beings, right?

Tim
Fair. Yeah.

Janet Taylor
and in the art classroom, we have just such an opportunity to do that. So I think about like the self monitoring kids have to be able to do, right? the collaboration, they have to work together. I kind of like force them in a way, but like I said, sneaky, right? advocating for themselves, that’s a big one. You know, kids learning and growing to ask for help when they need it. how to push beyond your first idea, right? When you think you’re done, what is that what does done look like?

Janet Taylor
like and how to problem solve around things that you know obstacles and knowing that it’s okay to fail and where do we go from here? This how we learn, what do we do next? Right. and then like how to appreciate other people’s perspectives and like what they can bring to the table. So like you’re working in a pair or you’re working at a table later in the semester even, you know, this kid’s really good at this. I know that they can help me with that, you know? So finding that it’s okay to have strengths and weaknesses and kind of find

Tim
Yeah. Yeah.

Janet Taylor
how to work through that together. so those are just like really essential life skills, right? I mean, that’s what we use all the time. And kids really do need practice in this. And it is amazing to watch. Like I just saw a kid, like, you know, my they’re now a junior. I had them as a freshman and they were so quiet when they came in and just seeing how they blossom in your classroom alone because you set up these expectations, right?

Janet Taylor
In terms of the semester, I would say you know, I’m really looking for ways that kids can start to access their own education and kind of empower that autonomy and their creative thinking, right? so I told you that like in the beginning, everything I teach is part of something, right? but part of it is also like what I value as an educator, what I value as a human being, right, as a creative person.

Tim
Right.

Janet Taylor
And I want my students to see that and hear that all the time. Like this what I’m asking of you because this what I value, right? and then also future enrollment or levels, right? This a big one. like I said, I’ve noticed that my kids, my advanced kids, are making like really incredible artworks. Now I’ve been at my school for I guess four years in the district for five. so I’m now seeing like

Tim
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
the benefits of what I’ve been working so hard at. Yes. Yes. So exciting, right? but you think like, okay, I’m not, I don’t think I don’t think I’m like the most amazing teacher, right? But I do think that the way I’ve structured it for them is giving them the opportunity to really feel empowered to try things. And I think that’s now why they’re making such cool work. They come in as advanced kids each semester.

Tim
I was gonna say the fruits of your labor have become apparent.

Janet Taylor
They already know my expectations. They come to the class because they know that this a space in their day where they get to do these things, you know? so I always joke that there’s like a method to my madness to my kids, you know, and they’re like, When are why are we doing, you know? And I’m like, just wait. And then I’ll bring it back in a lesson. I’ll be see, there’s like a method to my madness, you know, and they’re like, okay. so I think it’s it’s like, you know, one.

Tim
Yes. Yes.

Janet Taylor
One is like all these big encompassing things, but like it really does trickle down or vice versa, right? Yeah.

Tim
Okay, now you mentioned earlier about at the beginning of the year trying to establish a particular environment. And so I’m curious to know like what kind of environment are you trying to put together in your classroom and when you accomplish that, when you are able to put that together, like how does that having that environment help you throughout the school year?

Janet Taylor
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
Yeah. So okay, this what I really like. And I’m going to tell you that it’s not for everyone. I get that. I really like a very busy, buzzing classroom. eventually, right? It’s not like I said, it’s not day one. They’re sitting like working on their thing, right? but I want students to be able to get up and access the tools and materials when they need.

Tim
Okay. Yeah.

Janet Taylor
I tell them that from day one, that we are gonna get there. I the whole point is that you guys should feel that this a studio. It’s your studio and we are creating within it, right? I prefer teaching to small groups. I prefer to always meet kids where they’re at. That’s just my preference. because it’s more exciting to me. Is it more exhausting? Probably, yes. Absolutely, you know. Like I said, I told you I’m very tired right now. but the like you’re repeating a lot of the same stuff, right? But when you start to work through some of that, it’s like kids start to be like, I had this happen the other day, even with stitching, stitching the you know, the books, right? Another kid was like, Can I show because I was like helping another group and I was like, You guys just wait for a minute, I’ll be right there. And then a kid goes, Can I show them how to do it? I’m like, Absolutely, you know?

Tim
Mm-hmm.

Tim
yes. That’s awesome. Yes.

Janet Taylor
Like magic, you know? So to me it’s it’s a that’s what that’s what it’s about, right? is kids taking ownership of their own creativity, kids helping each other, having these organic small groups where you can actually talk to the kids. I mean, I can’t tell you, I was teaching the whole class, I always do in the beginning, right? We’re doing the name tags, we’re doing these things, et cetera. And, you know, by eighth period kids are like falling asleep. And I don’t think I’m that boring.

Tim
Mm-hmm.

Janet Taylor
Right? But they’re tired. It’s a long day. And I will take it as a compliment. Maybe my very thick Chicago accent is actually just calming and relaxing to them, you know. But I just I don’t like that feeling, you know. I want the kids to feel good about what they’re doing and all throughout the day. So the small groups for me or the one on one, it really is where it’s at.

Tim
Absolutely.

Janet Taylor
And that’s my goal. And so that’s why it’s so important to me also to like really set the stage so that when we’re moving and shaking, I don’t have to worry so much about what this kid is doing. They’re like engaged because they know what’s next. They know something is there for them next. They know that they’re supposed to go to this other group to learn something else, etc. You know?

Tim
No, I think that’s really good. And I love the idea of like you said, just teaching in small groups. Like you said, it’s exhausting, but I feel like you build such good connections, not only with the kids yourself, but between them. Like the kids who are working in the small groups together, it can be so good for them. okay, and at the beginning you shared a few activities that you love to do at the beginning of the year, but I know you have a bunch more. So can I ask you about a few other

Janet Taylor
Mm-hmm.

Tim
projects and just have you explain them real quickly. Can we do a speed round, basically? Okay. All right. I was gonna say I’ve never done anything speedy with you on a podcast, but we’ll we’ll give it our best shot here. Okay. So tell people about the partner design challenge that you do.

Janet Taylor
Yes. Sure. It can we do speedy? Are am I speedy? No. We’ll try. Okay.

Janet Taylor
okay, so this tends to work more in advanced classes or kids that are a little bit more established just because or who know each other, just because you have to be kind of outside your comfort zone and kind of work through a little bit more problem solving. so this students work in pairs. wait. Can you sorry Tim, can you say that one again? The partner design. I was thinking of the unimaginable item. I was describing the wrong one.

Tim
Sure. Okay. So okay, so to start out with, can you tell us about the partner design challenge?

Janet Taylor
Okay, so this great to introduce kids to each other. So students work in pairs as clients of each other, basically. they ask each other questions, interview style. then those students go back as the artists, right, individually, and they research artists and then they start sketching a wearable. Now, I think you could do this with any type of art form, right? But I use wearable, obviously, for what I teach, but also like kids really are in. are connected with wearable items being very personal, right? And so having them kind of come up with what something wearable would look like for that person. What kind of gift would you gift them basically without knowing them? So it’s really ideal if the kids don’t know each other. So you might want to, you know, kind of preemptively like, you have to find somebody that is not somebody you know because you’re really going to ask them and try to create something for that person.

Tim
Okay, I feel like this one has gone crazy on Instagram a couple times, but tell us about the extension drawing.

Janet Taylor
yeah, extension of you, me. Okay, so this all about close listening and telling a story and then drawing that story. Basically, it’s like a a replacement part of somebody else. So basically the kids are interviewing each other, but it’s not interview, right? So I try to steer away from that in this one because kids will say, what’s your favorite color? What do you like to do? Right. and then it’s kind of like meh, you know, kind of just surface level.

Tim
Right. Right.

Janet Taylor
So instead, the student has to tell a story about like a memory that’s really important to them, or they have to tell a something they were really proud of, like a very proud moment. Or they have to talk about what their superpower is as a human being, not what they wish their superpower was, but what is their superpower, you know? Okay, so they have to pick one of those three prompts and they have to really think about it.

Tim
Okay. Great. Okay.

Janet Taylor
You know, and then come up with this memory and talk about it. They have to talk for X amount of time that I set a timer. the other person is close listening. So we talk about what that looks like. They have to jot down notes, etc. Then the person jotting notes can the listener, right, can ask clarifying questions to get more information. Okay. From there, they have a sticky note or a little cut piece of paper, the square or something like that.

Tim
Mm-hmm.

Janet Taylor
And they have to draw this new what am I saying? Like this new part, like it could be a head or a hand or it could be a leg, but with the information that person has given them. So it’s like a creative, you know, prompt. Then this really hard to describe on a podcast. Then the other person will hold up the replacement part kind of like a forced perspective.

Tim
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
So it’s like if they drew the head, then it would be over the head of the person, the other person standing back, and then you take the picture. So basically you have the picture of the person with their replacement part over that part. Did it did that did I do a good job of that? Yeah. Well, if they, you know, if they are like, what the heck are you talking about? You can head on over to my Instagram and you can find it there. So

Tim
That makes sense. I think that I think that makes sense.

Tim
Perfect.

Janet Taylor
That’s always fun and then they we do like a collaborative slide deck for that and then they present out about the other person, which is fun. Yeah.

Tim
Very cool. I like that. Okay, tell me about the unimaginable item.

Janet Taylor
Okay, so I actually created this back in COVID times, dare I say. but it’s been a fun one still. this one I like to do with more the kids after they’ve been warmed up, they know each other. So maybe later in the semester, if you’re looking for a quick brain break, something creative, it’s more of a creative design challenge. So you give them like a fun prompt, each group or each pair that is working together. It might be something like create a treadmill for a worm.

Tim
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
Or design a coat for a chili cactus. yeah, something like that. Something really unimaginable, like silly, right? Creative. Then the students work in pairs or small groups to determine. I have like a worksheet, one side, one part says limitations and one part says choices. So the idea is for them to really think about, you know, you can’t just create whatever. You really need to think about what works and what doesn’t. So for example, limitations.

Tim
I like it.

Janet Taylor
Like, how are you gonna get the worm up to the treadmill, maybe, for example? Right. I had a kid like make a little ramp. I mean, it was cute, right? or like how are you gonna get the coat on a cactus if it’s like really spiky? You know, what does that look like? You know? because it’s still there’s airflow and it’s chilly. Okay. so that’s like the limitations. They have to come up with this, right? And then the choices would be like, what kind of materials are actually beneficial? What kind of materials are actually

Tim
Yeah.

Janet Taylor
Obtainable, right? so that kind of stuff. So it really gets them thinking, and then later you can apply this to artwork, right? When you have an open thing like, well, okay, you guys want to create all these things, but what are the limitations? What are your options, you know? then they design, they basically just sketch out this option, you know, and then they present it out. And it’s really cute. They like really talk about it. They’re like, Yes, well, you know, we had to design the fluffy around the spikes, you know what I mean? It’s very fun to hear them talk. They’re very serious about it.

Tim
Right.

Tim
I was gonna say I love the idea of just ridiculous prompts but then serious presentations about them. So that’s good. Okay, and then I think a lot of teachers have done this or at least heard of this, but tell us what you do for the task party.

Janet Taylor
Yes. Yes. It’s very cute.

Janet Taylor
Okay, so Task Party was developed by Oliver Herring back in New York City. And basically you just take a ton of again fun creative prompts and you cut them up and put them into a bag. And kids work in small groups or pairs, and they have to keep picking out a prompt and completing the task. The task, right, not the prompt, but the task.

Tim
Yes, yes.

Janet Taylor
They have to complete the task and they have like X amount of time. So let’s say a class period or something like that. Some tasks take a long time, some tasks are really fast. So they have to keep picking and completing the tasks throughout the entire time that you allot. Okay. Then they do the task. They have to document the task. And then we create again a slide deck to kind of prove the evidence that they actually did it. So some of these are really fun. They’re like We had kids like one of the prompt was create a protest sign and stage a coup, you know. And the kids did like, they got cardboard and they made these signs that were like moms against dabbing. And so then they would like walk around they had to, you know, protest. So they’re like picketing with these signs doing this around the classroom. And someone was recording that, you know what I mean? And so then they take that and put that on the slide. And then it’s a great way, to get kids to think outside the box about what What is art? You know, how can they use different materials? How can they think of art in a different way, maybe in a time-based way or whatever? some other prompts could be like draw twenty-two eyes and wear them or something like that. Or one was like, make a sweater for someone and have them wear it while one of the kids knew how to knit and took pencils and yarn and like knitted a tiny little sweater and then they made like a little person out of wire. You know what I mean? So it gets them really creative, but also like

Janet Taylor
That’s a great one. I usually use it with my advanced kids, like in the beginning of the year when I want to show them all the kind of garbage that I have in the classroom that they could create with, right? So they can get like basically hunt through and I just say, you can pick anything, but you have to ask before you go ahead and take anything, right? So that’s a great way to do that.

Tim
Yeah. That’s awesome. I love that. any others that you wanna share? Like can we do a bonus round? I assume you have more ideas.

Janet Taylor
Yes. Of course I have more ideas. I always have more ideas. Okay, so a good one for using photo. Now again, phones I know are an issue, but you know, this a good way to use a phone perhaps. so one thing you could have them do is in the very beginning of class, you’re trying to get to know each other. You can ask them to pull up a photo in their camera roll to share with someone else and basically you could either have them just like share the photo and talk about it and that could be a get to know me, like a very quick activity. Or you can show them that photo and that person has to write a story without any information about that, like any context about that photo. and so those are great because that really teaches kids how to look and tell a story and how imagery can tell a story without you having any knowledge about it, right?

Tim
Mm, yeah.

Janet Taylor
so that’s kind of like an eye opener for a lot of kids because you can do it like right away, you know? also like a great, you know, scavenger hunts are always great, especially with photos if you’re teaching elements and principles. You know, you can even do like a pretest. Do they even know what the elements of line are in real life? You know what I mean? Go around the school, find line, take photos, that kind of thing. in ceramics, I usually teach them how to build a robot with clay.

Tim
Yes.

Janet Taylor
Right. So that’s always funny. I always don’t tell them I’m building a robot. I just say like, okay, guys, grab clay. Okay, squish it, you know, roll it. And then I show them how to roll it and then pat it on the table. You’re gonna make a little cube and then, you know, take this. And so basically we do that and then we’re talking about like how when you add arm limbs, right? Arms, legs, that kind of thing, how the clay doesn’t stick and hold. Okay. So see how that so it’s really just like low risk them getting used to the material.

Tim
Right. Right.

Janet Taylor
that they think they know, but they really don’t, you know. another activity that I like to do, sometimes I do this like later in the semester too, is like a little pictionary with clay. so I

Tim
Yeah. Yeah.

Tim
We always call that sculptionary, just FYI.

Janet Taylor
Okay, I need to rebrand it, apparently. so that is basically right, I literally pull out the Pictionary box with all the prompts and then they have to create those little sculptures in their groups and they can collect points for that kind of stuff. So

Tim
Yeah, I love that. Anytime you just have like a day that you need to fill some time, like that is a great activity. So I appreciate that one.

Janet Taylor
Yeah, yeah. So of course I have like a million more, but those hopefully should get everybody started.

Tim
No, I feel like those are a lot of great ideas that if you’re still looking for things at the beginning of the year, you can definitely incorporate those. And if you’re just looking for things later in the semester, just a lot of really, really cool things here. So Janet, thank you for coming on and thank you for sharing all of these with us. We really appreciate it.

Janet Taylor
I’m always happy to be here, always happy to share.