Management Strategies for Kindergarten (Ep. 360)

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.

Back on the show today is Ishel Brimhall, who has been working with AOEU in a variety of ways lately. You can see some of her articles on the website. She’s done some art-making that you can find on Instagram and YouTube, and you heard her on the podcast last month talking about incorporating theater techniques into the art room. That was a really fun episode.

And Ishel had another article published last week called Four Strategies to Effectively Manage 30-Minute Kindergarten Art Classes. That’s a dilemma that we don’t talk about a lot on here, and just how you deal with short classes. We don’t talk a lot about how we deal with younger kids. So, I’m looking forward to this conversation today. I thought those strategies that she shared in the article were really good. And I thought it might be a fun discussion to not only talk about that article, but also talk about how those strategies might work with older students as well. So, a lot to cover today, and I’m looking forward to this one. So, let me welcome on Ishel now.

Ishel Brimhall is back on the show today. Ishel, good to see you again. How are you?

I am so great. Thank you again for having me back on the podcast. This is so much fun.

You were so excited last time, I was like, “Hey, we have to do it again.” So, here we are.

Fantastic.

You had another great article that I wanted to chat about that was all about, I don’t know, strategies for managing really short kindergarten classes, like 30-minute classes, so-

Yes. 30 minutes.

Well, in kindergarten. For those of us that have been teaching high school for a while, that’s frightening in and of itself, so-

Can you imagine?

I did it once upon a time, and I’m probably okay not going back. But, so I guess, can you just set the stage for us?

Mm-hmm.

What are the main struggles that you’re dealing with when it comes to kindergarten classes?

Sure. So, with kindergarten classes, we are teaching students who have just been potty-trained, some of them.

Some of them are barely five years old, and it might be some of their first times in a classroom, even in a school. Some of these students maybe have not had the opportunity to go to preschool. So, they’re learning everything all at once. So, some things that you have to kind of manage when you’re working with kindergarten students is, I would say the short attention span is the number one thing you got to look for.

So, ages, I think five to seven, Psychology Today or something came out with their attention spans being about eight to twelve minutes long. So, I know that I read that, but I’m almost inclined to say, as a teacher, it feels shorter than eight to twelve minutes. It’s maybe two to five minutes of keeping them with you before moving on to a next step or something like that.

Something else you have to manage is helping students learn to regulate their emotions. So, five or five- to six-year-olds have a lot of emotions in very small bodies. So, it can be very easy for one emotion to take over the entire frontal cortex or their entire brain. So, teachers need to be good at managing relations or managing relationships of students, and putting out fires very quickly, and even preventing these emotional bursts. And then the last thing I’d say you have to manage is just helping students use the tools.

Sometimes I’ve had some experiences where students are interested in maybe licking the paintbrush or tasting what paint or chalk tastes like. They’re very curious explorers, and sometimes you have to direct them to a more safe path of not eating the art supplies or doing other destructive things.

Fair, But I will say-

Does it happen in high school?

I was just going to say, I have a lot of freshmen-

Do they eat the chalk?

… who lick paintbrushes. So, it’s not abnormal. No, but that actually, you mentioning that brings me to an idea because as I was reading your article, I was thinking to myself like, oh, these ideas kind of work for high schoolers as well. So, I guess I was kind of thinking as we talk through these things today, as you’re sharing some of these strategies, I wanted to compare and contrast and see if some of these ideas might work for middle schoolers and high schoolers as well. So, I guess before we do that, compare and contrast, can you just give us a quick summary or a quick rundown of the article itself and what you wrote?

Yes. So, the article starts off with talking about attention spans and everything that I just mentioned that you have to manage in a kinder classroom. But then I go through in the article a few strategies and things you can do that will just set you up for success every time. The first one is to use a hook or something exciting to get students’ attention. The next one is to kind of sprinkle fun into the rules or use songs or rhymes. The one after that is to always plan ahead and also prep ahead. Preparation is key before they even enter the room. And then the last one talks about special affirmations that we do in my classroom for my students.

Okay. So, I want to dive into all of those because I think they’re all good. I think they’re really valuable, really worthwhile. Like you said, the first one is all about using an exciting hook and getting the class started off right. I love that idea. I do that all the time in high school, either with a story about an artist, or a cool video, or just a new material or a new technique that kids can use that is always really exciting for them, captures their attention really well. Can you give us a couple examples of what that would look like for kindergartners?

Absolutely. It’s so funny. It really is very similar. Starting off the class with a video immediately grabs the attention of all my students and especially if I dim the lights even a little bit. I have them gather on the carpet. We sit close, and we listen to this video or watch it.

Sometimes I like to start off the class with something very interactive. So, I have a puppet, or a paintbrush, or I’m holding a skeleton. And I just sit there and have them ask questions or babble about, “What is going on? What’s happening in the art room? This is…” I like to start off with something a little mysterious sometimes or something that just grabs their immediate attention. This can also be interactive where I have students draw, help me draw something on the board. So, I ask a question: “Is there anyone sitting quietly who knows how to draw a circle?” And of course, every hand reaches up immediately to get to the chance to draw on the magical whiteboard, the big teacher whiteboard. So, that’s always fun. But then sometimes I like to also read to my students. It’s very, very nice to begin a class almost on a calmer level with having everyone sit-

I’d say it’s very calming to like have them-

… and read. It’s so calming. So, I love reading a book that has to do with our project, or even just a book that has to do with art, and then we start whatever our project is. I love starting class that way.

No, that’s good. And yeah, I don’t know, I think the fun thing about kindergarten compared to middle school or high school, the older kids are just way too cool to be excited about things. And so-

They don’t gather on the carpet and-

No.

… watch us start?

They’re not sitting in their seats raising their hands or anything. But you can tell when they’re into things. You can tell that they get a little bit excited about stuff. It’s just not as blatantly obvious. But that’s all right.

That can be true.

When ideally.

I did my student teaching at a high school. And I really enjoyed my time there. I knew that I knew that I wanted to go into elementary. But I did see a lot of similarities. And I remember being my normal, bubbly, kind of silly self. That’s really meant for fifth and lower, in my opinion. But my 9th graders and 10th graders, they would just kind of giggle either at me or with me. And I think it’s still even just adding a little bit of silliness into their too-cool-for-school attitude, it got broken down sometimes. And they came out with, “Oh, that is kind of funny,” or, “I’m going to laugh at you while I keep doing my painting.” And that’s okay.

I don’t know, even though you feel like you’re talking to a wall, things are getting through. And they are. They appreciate good teaching still, and they appreciate, I don’t know, a personality that has something to offer. So, I think that’s good.

Absolutely.

Okay, second idea that you had, you shared the importance of reinforcing expectations, adding some fun into it, doing rhymes and songs, which, again, our high schoolers are not going to want anything to do with those things, but-

You never know. You could incorporation, you could make one of your rules into a song. Okay, wait, tell me one of your rules.

No. Here, I will say this: Debi West, who’s been on the podcast, been on the conference, been with a AOE for a long time, she’s taught forever, and she’s got all sorts of songs for ROYGBIV and the elements and principles. And she makes them super fun. And it totally works for her. I’m just saying, it’s not going to be what I do.

Not your style.

But I would appreciate hearing a couple things that you do. Yeah, and maybe it’ll trigger a few teachers here or there to come up with their own if they think they could work. Do you have a couple examples that you would want to share?

Yes. So, for kindergarten students, I know in the article I talk about rhymes and songs, but you really can just sprinkle a little bit of silliness into everything. And if you have your students laughing, I feel as though they want to listen to the next thing you’re going to say a little bit more. It’s the same with standup comedy. If you get a laugh, you have that pause where everyone’s, they’re ready for the next thing you’re going to say. Is it going to be even funnier? Is it going to be something different? Are we moving on?

So, basically, teachers are standup comedians at this point, I think is what the article should be. I think I need to write another article about standup comedy and teachers. But for my kindergartners, I have them repeat things that I say, and sometimes they’re very silly. So, for example, in my article, I talk about our glue sticks, and I love to have students twist down the glue stick because it’s just gross if it’s up and then they smash the lid on. And it’s just chaos.

So, I always have them twist it down and put the lid on. Saying that sentence is pretty boring, and a kindergartner may already be lost. I have already lost their attention.

So instead, we do things like, we pretend the glue stick is a turtle. And we twist down the head, and we say, “Bye-bye, glue stick.” And we say, “Goodnight.” And we put the lid on. And then we put it to bed on our… I mean, turning the smallest thing into something silly really helps the student remember the steps and kind of bring this rule to life a little bit more than just lecturing the rules. So, I mean, I wonder, for high school students, I wonder if you could even just have, if you were a teacher who’s interested in doing something like this, you could even just have a motto. This could go with affirmations maybe. But in my class, my students have made up mottos because they just take all of our rules and kind of mix them. And one of them is, it’s like a rap.

You just dance a little bit when you say it. It’s only two lines: “Show some respect, and try your best.” And then you do a cool pose. It doesn’t really totally rhyme all the way, but they’re trying their best. And it brings in that music background where it helps, music helps with memorization. So, memorizing your rules, if some of them are in little bars or songs can really be helpful for I think any age. And they might giggle at it. They might laugh, like, “Oh, there goes Mr. Tim again singing his rules.” But they’re laughing, and they’re listening. So, that can work.

Okay. I don’t think I’m convinced yet. But you’re making good arguments, so I like it. Okay. The third tip was all about planning ahead, doing your prep work ahead, organizing supplies. I’ve talked on this podcast so many times about how I need to have supplies labeled. We need a good home for them so everybody knows where they go, and just making things accessible for kids so they know where to get stuff, they know where to put stuff away. So, I don’t know, I guess short story, it’s really vital for any age to keep things organized and keep supplies ready to go. And so, my question for you would be, though, what does that look like for our youngest kids? What kinds of things do you need to be aware of when you’re prepping for a kindergarten class?

That is fantastic. I think there is a huge difference between even just kindergarten and first grade. In first grade, they’ve been in school for a year. Teachers have trained them well on the expectations and not touching things when they’re not supposed to. But in kindergarten, I mean, imagine a high school art class setting. You have rulers, a bucket of rulers on the table, chalk, color. You have all the materials maybe laid out. And the 16-year-old is regulating themselves enough to, “Oh, I’m just going to take one colorful pencil at this point. And maybe I’ll use that paint bucket when they’re done with that.”

They’re able to time manage themselves and just emotionally manage themselves. Whereas a kindergartner, if you have one paintbrush on the table, it’s a fight to the death to who gets it first, or/and then it’s, “They stole it from me!” And it’s a whole saga that you have. It’s very important in kindergarten to make sure you have enough. It’s even better if they’re all the same color. That can be something you don’t even think about in high school, where if they get the red glitter scissors, my day is ruined. I don’t know if you have many sophomores who cry the rest of the class because-

No, but that was something-

… their friend got the blue pencil.

… I had no idea of until I taught elementary. You have all those yellow pencils and then one blue pencil. Oh my goodness, that was valuable.

One blue. It’s better to take that out and throw it in the trash and just say, “Oh, we ran out of pencils, I guess. Darn it.” No. So, getting rid of distracting supplies can be helpful, and that means getting rid of the glitter scissors or just making sure they’re kind of more uniform. But it also means taking off everything on the table that you do not need.

For a kindergarten classroom, if they need a pencil and a paper, that is all you should have on the table. If there are scissors, and glue sticks, and popsicles, and just other items in their reach, they will be touched and used, and it’ll just create more of a mess than you want.

Another thing you can do is prep is very important, so I have everything laid out, but making it easily movable is helpful. So, that’s a tip I talk about. In my classroom, I have lunch trays that my amazing workers in the cafeteria gifted to me as a present for Christmas. It was so kind. To them, it was no big deal. But to an art teacher, heaven. Best gift ever. It was like getting a cruise. I’m so happy about these trays. There’s 16 of them, and I can lay everything out like I’m a waitress with the kindergartners and just grab everything so fast out of their reach if we don’t need it anymore. So, having things easily movable can be very helpful working with young students.

Nice. Wow. Those are great ideas. Last tip in the article was to use affirmations. I’m a big believer in building up students’ confidence, in promoting a positive environment. You talked a lot about this in the last podcast with just how you use some of those theater ideas to help build the kids’ confidence and help them really find some success. So, I guess, what are some of the affirmations that you like to use with your students? And how do those affirmations affect them or help them?

Absolutely. So, like you just said, I talk about this a lot in my theater article. And these affirmations, I not only have students repeat positive affirmations, but we repeat them in a certain way. So, I stand at the front, and I do them pretty casually. I sprinkle them into every lesson. So, we’re never really sitting and saying, “Okay, it’s affirmation time.” I just say it, and I say, “Class, class,” or, “Everyone repeat after me.” And then I say the affirmation.

But the way we do it is, for a lot of my students, this is a drama technique, honestly. This is something I learned in my theater classes growing up: inflection and tone and emotion. Putting emotion behind words make them more meaningful. If I just tell my students, “Okay, repeat after me.” Say, “I can do this,” then they just say, “I can do this.” We sound like robots.

But if I tell my little five-year-olds or six-year-olds to say it the way that I say it, and if they don’t get it, I say, “Listen carefully. I’m going to do it again.” I say things like, “Turn to your neighbor and say, ‘You got this,'” in that type of inflection, that type of voice. And they turn to their neighbor. And they say it the way I say it. And they go, “Wow. Oh, thank you. Wow. I think I do got this.” Or we say, I say, “Point to yourself and say, ‘I believe in me.'” If you use pause or more of a enunciation on a certain word, it makes the affirmation come alive a little bit more than just repeating in monotone voices. So, the way you say your affirmations, I think can really, really help.

Nice. I like that. Okay. So, I’m just thinking about tying all of this together. And in your article, I guess you talk about how all of these ideas together and just I guess running your room well in general can help kids build confidence. It can encourage their creativity. So, I guess I just want to ask you for any other tips, any other advice? What are some other ways that you can do that with your kindergarten students? How do you create an artistic environment for them where kids can really find success or really thrive?

I love that. So using all of those tips, I mean, having a clean room, me prepping ahead, being ready for them right when they enter. I mean, the moment I turn my back to find, “Oh, where are my scissors?” the moment I turn my back and look for them, I mean, high school students would sit there nicely and just wait for me to be ready.

Sometimes. Sometimes they would.

Sometimes. But with kindergarten, they might see me busy and go, “Oh, well, this is my time to explore the bottom of the chairs,” or, “This is my moment to find where the drinking fountain is.” So, I think being prepared really helps all of these tips. One thing I also do with the affirmations is I like to facilitate moments where students can praise others. Or I like to give a lot of specific praise, but I think it’s helpful to let my students help give praise. And so, something I can do after they have these affirmations in their head of, “You can do this. I can do this. We got this,” I’m drawing on the board, and I pretend to be a little nervous. And I go, “I don’t know, students. I don’t know if I can draw a circle. Can I do this?” And they usually shout back, “Yes, you can do this, Mrs. Hertz!”

And it’s a really sweet moment of giving compliments and cheering someone else on. So, that creates a community of excitement and joy. But things that I like to do is I like to give a lot of specific praise with my students so that they feel comfortable in the classroom, comfortable with me, and excited about art. So, I definitely reinforce good behavior by showing a lot of joy and excitement when students follow directions the right way. They love to get compliments. I mean, everyone does. It’s a very human thing. But especially at a young age, hearing a grown-up say something specific to you, I think that can boost confidence. And I think that that can stick with them throughout time.

Yeah, that is really, I don’t know, meaningful for every age, but yeah, especially younger ones. And I love the phrase, a community of excitement and joy. I think that’s something that we can all shoot for in our art room. So, Ishel, thank you so much for this conversation. Again, it’s been great to have you back. Again, we’ll point everybody to your article so they can read that. But yeah, I love-

Oh, yes. Shout-out to the article. I’m so excited. It’s a good one.

But yeah, I love just having this conversation with you where we can dive in a little bit deeper too to all of those ideas. So, thanks for your time, and thanks for coming back on the show.

Thank you for having me back on the show. I’m so glad to be. This is my second podcast episode so far. Doing great. Two for two. Good record.

Yes. It has been good. All right, we will talk to you again soon.

Thank you so much. Bye.

That was an excellent conversation that I really enjoyed. It was good to have Ishel back on the podcast. I appreciate her ideas and strategies and suggestions that she shared throughout the discussion today. She has a lot of good articles written and a few more good ones that are coming soon. Keep an eye out for those on the website, and we will link to those in the show notes. But I think that will do it for us today. So, thank you again to Ishel, and thank you to everyone for listening.

Art Ed Radio was produced by The Art of Education University with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. We’re going to do a mailbag episode next week. So, hit me up with any questions you have about art teaching, about today’s episode, more about ChatGPT that we covered the last couple weeks or anything else.

And also, beyond that, we are going to, sometime in the future, we’re going to do an Ask an Expert episode about ceramics. So, if you have any questions about clay, kilns, and firing, glazing, anything else ceramics-related, please send those to me as well. Everything can go to timothybogatz@theartofeducation.edu. Yeah, I’m looking forward to hearing from you. So, thank you, and we will talk to you next week.