What Do New Teachers Need to Know About Starting the Year? (Episode 1)

Hello, and thank you for joining us on the What Do New Teachers Need to Know? podcast from the Art of Education University. My name is Tim Bogatz, and together with Janet Taylor, we have put together a series of 8 episodes directed at new teachers that share some of our best pieces of advice on a variety of topics.

Some of the discussions you will hear over the course of these episodes originally appeared on the Art Ed Radio podcast, and some are new to this podcast. Sometimes we will be answering listener questions, sometimes we will be giving advice, and sometimes we simply be having a discussion that shares our favorite strategies and advice. No matter the case, we hope that listening will be helpful for you.

As Janet and I will talk about in this first episode, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to know everything at the beginning. This is a process, and your first year is a time for learning. No one expects you to be perfect immediately, and frankly, it’s impossible to be perfect immediately. So if you only take one thing from this episode, please let it be that. You are on a journey to becoming an amazing art teacher. You’re not there yet, but we are hoping to help you with a few of those first steps along the way. Here is our conversation!

Janet, how are you?

I’m doing great. How are you, Tim?

I am also doing quite well. I’m thrilled to talk about what new teachers need to know at the start of the year, because there’s just so much that we need to know for the start of the year. But as I said in the introduction of this episode, as people are listening, I don’t want them to get overwhelmed because you don’t have to solve everything right away. You don’t have to have everything figured out immediately. It’s a process to every part of teaching to become a good teacher, to get your classroom set up, to get your curriculum figured out, to get to know your students. That doesn’t happen on day one. It’s kind of a long process for all of us to get all of that figured out. So Janet, before we dive into the questions, do you have any thoughts on that? Just the idea of kind of moving slowly and realizing that you don’t need to have it all figured out all at once?

Yeah, I mean, truly, like you said, it really is a journey that you go through through your teaching career. It’s not just a one and done, and you don’t have to be perfect on day one, right? Your students just need you to be there. You just need to connect. And I always feel like every school year, for me, even as a veteran teacher, it’s like going into kindergarten again, I get so excited. The anticipation of what it’s going to be like, and then after a couple of weeks you just kind of get into your flow, and you’re going to figure out what you need and don’t need as you go. So give yourself some grace in that capacity.

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, all these things that we talk about, whether it is connecting with colleagues or organizing your classroom or getting your supplies ready or even doing your seating charts, that doesn’t have to be immediate. Those are things that you can work toward and that you can figure out what works for you as you kind of move through that whole process. But let’s go ahead and I guess start the conversation, Janet, with the idea of setting up your classroom, because I know that’s something that is sort of at the forefront of everybody’s mind when they’re at their first starting out. So I guess to keep it from being too overwhelming for people, what would be your advice as far as setting up your classroom? What should teachers be thinking about and what kinds of things do they need to know?

So I think everybody first goes to supplies, materials, inventory of some sort. What is actually in your classroom?

What do I have to use, what is available to me?

And what is in here that is from 1972 and I have no idea what it is. I think that part is really overwhelming of trying to figure out and wrap your head around that situation. So that’s one. And then I’d say kind of how your classroom is set up is another kind of thought, whether you are sharing a classroom with another art teacher, how many tables you have or desks or what does that look like, or are you art on a cart? So that’s something important to think about. And then maybe just the physical environment of your classroom. Are you going to put decorations on your walls or do you have windows? What is actually happening there logistically?

Yeah, I think all of that is important because I don’t know, everybody has a little bit different situation. You just kind of need to feel it out. So can we talk a little bit? Let’s say you don’t have your own classroom, you’re either sharing with somebody or you’re doing art on a cart where you’re coming into other people’s classrooms. What kind of advice do you have for people who are in that situation? What kinds of things should they be thinking about?

Yeah, so I mean, first and foremost, I always feel like it’s better to err on the side of I’m a guest coming into your space, right, whether that’s with a general ed classroom or it’s another art teacher that you’re sharing that space with, there’s a wide variety of types of teachers that you’re going to encounter, right? You might have that teacher that’s like, “Come on in, I’ve made space for you already.” And then there’s the teacher that’s like, “This is all how it has to stay because that works best for me.” And then there’s a compromise in between all of that, right? So when you’re sharing a classroom, I think it’s important to find time to meet with your colleague that you’re sharing that space with.

So that could be shooting an email if you have access to that. Again, new teachers, you may not even have any of this access until you first aid institute or first day of school, but I think if you can reach out to them, they may not respond. It’s summertime and they might not want to think about school quite yet. But also just during those institute days, sometimes there’s teacher work times allotted that you can make sure that you schedule some time to talk to them. And a part of that is finding out what they need and what they’re expecting of you or of the space.

Right. Their expectations are important. You need to figure that out, what they’re expecting of you or from you. And if you don’t love that, you can maybe chat about that. But it’s good to know before you go in king of what they’re looking for from you.

Yeah. I mean, you don’t know what you don’t know as a new teacher, right? So hearing them out, maybe asking them straight up, “What do you want this to look like? What do you expect from me?” That kind of thing. But also coming in with maybe some of your own expectations and hopes, right? So those are two different things kind of what you need out of your classroom. If you’re teaching, drawing and painting for example, or painting, you might need room to store student artwork or to dry it, right? And having an understanding, a collaboration of how that’s going to work in the classroom is really important. But also hopes, I also would really love if I could hang up these posters that I just made over the summer and they may say, “No,” or they may try to find space, but those are two different things.

Yeah. That’s a very good point. No, it’s good because like you said, there’s the ideal classroom and there’s also what you’re actually dealing with. And those are two different things. And I remember going into my first classroom just thinking about all of the stuff that I wanted to do, how I want to organize it, and how I wanted to just set everything up and how I want to make it beautiful. And then I just realized I don’t have time for all of this. And so that’s another consideration there too, because you just have all these things that you may want to do, but then all of a sudden students just show up and it’s time to go, even if your room is not perfect or not beautiful.

And I have to say sharing room though, just keep in mind those veteran teachers usually have things set up for a reason. Right?

Exactly. Exactly.

So that’s a good chance for you to kind of sit back and observe a little bit and see how it’s being used before making those big decisions.

And ask too. If you see them, why do you put these supplies here? Or why do you want the green wire against that wall? Most teachers that you’re sharing a room with will be happy to discuss with you why they do things like that. They probably have some good stories and some good reasons why they’re set up the way they are.

Yeah.

So it’s definitely a good learning experience and it can help you. And I think one thing that really helped me as a teacher for organization, for classroom management, for everything was when I taught art on a cart. I had a bunch of schools that I went to and I got to see so many classrooms, and I would just talk to them about those things and say, “Hey, why do you do things like this? Tell me about how this reward system works,” when I was teaching elementary. Or tell me why you organize things in this way. And just asking them or just seeing how they do things and just making mental notes of, “Oh, that definitely works for me, or, oh, I would never do that myself.” Like I said, it was a great learning opportunity and really kind of got me to where I was as far as figuring out how I wanted to do things. And so anytime you can observe and discuss and ask questions of those teachers that you’re working with, I think is a really good learning opportunity.

Yeah, that’s a really great point.

All right, let’s talk supplies. You mentioned supplies. Because again, that’s another one of those things where you probably have dreams of what you want to teach and the lessons you want to do, and then you may get there and look in your supply closet and those dreams do not match reality. So can you talk a little bit about that, Janet? Just what do you think about what to expect when you’re dealing with the supplies that you have and some best practices on what you want to do with those?

Right. Again, if you’re working with multiple art teachers or whatnot, a lot of times you’ll have supply closets or areas in the classroom or maybe one communal one. And I would like to say this first and foremost, it’s always important that you can’t assume that those supplies are just for the taking, right?

Right.

Yeah, because art teachers, usually the way it works is that by the end of the school year, there’s a budget that needs to be kind of used up. It’s usually a use it or lose it kind of situation. And so a lot of teachers will either buy those more expensive items that they dream for and want to use it in their curriculum, or they are planning certain amounts of supplies for particular projects or assignments that they’re teaching in the upcoming school year. So you have such a limited budget. A lot of times it’s really important that if you go in and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, there’s all these linoleum blocks. I’m going to do a printmaking project.” And then you use that without asking, I mean, that will create a lot of problems and conflict with their teachers. That’s a good way to get on someone’s bad side, right? So, yeah, so I think it’s really important to ask that kind of information first, right?

So my goal is always to get a general idea of what I have and then use up what I have first. So I like to try to get really creative with projects, use up some old stuff. But there’s also sometimes in your budget you might be able to purchase things in the beginning of the school year, right? So it depends on the school. So again, some of them might request that you do it all through a purchase order through a very specific vendor. They have preferred vendors that they go through. Sometimes they have a purchase card that you can borrow or you can ask some administrator to buy certain things, and then they can do that. Sometimes you can even take that purchase card and go to a hardware store. So depending on the…

Oh, that’s my favorite. We get the school credit card and you go to the hardware store…

You’re like, shopping.

You’re like, what do we need for school, class?

It’s like, I need all of these drill bits. I definitely need them all, right, and chicken wire and all sorts of things. But yeah, so those are kinds of outlets or ways that you can maybe access or ask for that access in order to do that. But you have to be aware of the budget. And I think that’s something that a lot of new art teachers, we didn’t really learn that in knowledge. How do you use your budget, right?

Yeah. And that’s another thing with me. When I moved from elementary to high school, I was the only art teacher for the high school. And so they’re like, “Oh, hey, turn in your budget by Friday.” And I was like, “What is my budget? What do I order? How do I do this?” And I’m the only one, so there’s nobody to help me. So I actually had to talk to the secretary in the office who took care of all of that stuff, and I was like, “Can I just come in after school? Can you just show me how this is done?” I mean, luckily she was very helpful. She was lovely helping me out with all of that. But yeah, I had no idea how much my budget was, what I needed to do or anything like that. So that was a challenge.

That’s a good point to ask. Don’t be afraid to ask. I think a lot of us, especially new teachers, we feel very vulnerable, right? I should know this, I should know. No, you should not have to know this already. So just make sure you’re asking.

Yeah, it’s much better to go through the awkwardness of asking questions than making a big mistake. And so if there’s something that you don’t know, just ask. And then I was just going to say, with your point, Janet, of using up old stuff, I think it’s worthwhile the first time you go through a project, just use what you have on hand. And then as you go through that, you can learn and you can think for the future, “Oh, next time I do this project, maybe it’s better with colored pencils. Or next time we do this, maybe I want this type of paper for it.” So yeah, just for your first time through, use what you have and then think about what you could possibly order in the future for that.

100%. Yeah.

Okay. Let’s see. I think you also mentioned wall decor.

Oh, yes.

There’s people with very strong feelings about how much you should put up or how little you should put up before your students come in. What are your thoughts, Janet?

Okay. Well, I’ll tell you what I do and also what I see. How about that?

Yeah. Great.

So first of all, first and foremost, just don’t compare yourself to what you see, right? You don’t have to do it all. Remember, the space is really about you and your students, and there really is no need to go crazy on day one, right? I think a lot of us, again, we get really excited about having it just perfect on that first day. So you know that everything will be easy from then on out, and that’s not really the case anyway, so give yourself some grace on that. But I think some teachers really love to set the tone of their room, right, and they’ll set that tone or the energy of that they’re expecting in the classroom by putting things up on the wall and having everything that they need to reference available, like anchor charts and things like that.

I’ll be honest, and maybe this is an elementary, high school thing, right? As a high school teacher, I mean, all of our classrooms look like science labs, right? They’re gray and gray cabinets and boring usually. We might have some student artwork from the past up that I love to do that when that’s available, but I really do like to have very few items in my room to begin with because to me, I feel like I really want my students to come in and know, and I guess I articulate this to them too, right?

I was just going to say, that’s a conversation I have. I think I know where you’re going with this, and it’s what I would always do too, where I’d put up organizational systems, like you said, anchor charts, things that are helpful as far as organization instruction. And then I tell the kids, “The rest of this space is yours. I want you to fill this with your artwork.” I know the art room is supposed to be colorful and bright and fun, but we’re not there yet. But…

Yeah, 100%.

You are going to get us there. And just tell them, “These walls are reserved for your artwork. And so as you’re creating things, we’re going to put it up.” That’s where the decoration is going to come from.

Yeah. And they like to see that, right? They want to see their voice is existing in this space, and it creates that ownership of that environment too.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. And I don’t know, I guess when we talk about labeling and organization and anchor charts, I’d love to get your perspective on that too. For me, organization is incredibly important. I feel like the classroom runs more smoothly when everything is organized, everything is labeled. It’s easy to find stuff, it’s easy to clean up and easy to put away. How much of a priority is that for you? How much of a priority you think it should be for people, and what are the important things to kind of think about when it comes to organization?

Yeah, good grief. I feel like when we talked about organization in another podcast, I was like, “Don’t listen to me. I am the least organized person ever.” You should just see my studio right now. But yeah, it is important, right? So first of all, you have to decide how you’re going to be teaching. And again, as a new teacher, you don’t really know all of that yet, right? I mean, it really took me several years just to kind of feel, “Okay, this is how I present myself, or this is how I’m going to work this.” Right?

But for me, organized classroom means everything is labeled, drawers are labeled. I want students to know where items are items. I want them to know what they can and cannot use. So I might even label that. I guess this goes back to our supply conversation. If I have more expensive items, I want to maybe put that into a space that is not for them, right, maybe locked up or maybe just away. And I want them to know what they can and cannot use that way, right? I want to have spaces for them to store artwork or for it to be a place to dry temporarily. And I also want to think about the flow of the classroom, right? Students can move around.

That’s so important. So important.

And it’s exceptionally important when you realize that you have a student who has some special needs, right? Maybe in a wheelchair or maybe has seizures or something like that. You really need to think about that kind of piece too. And you won’t know that until you get your roster and all that, right? But I mean, I remember sketchbooks, that’s a great topic, right? Where do you store all of these sketchbooks? If students don’t have drawers, which is very common that there’s not a ton of storage for that in the classroom. Things like crates where students can put them per period in a crate or a couple crates is really helpful. So I think that’s kind of what I’m thinking about as I start the school year.

Yeah, absolutely. And this is the smallest thing ever, but if you can stand sketchbooks up in a crate where you can flip through them like their file folders or something, that’s so much easier than having a pile of 30 sketchbooks, because if you’re the 17th one down, how do you even get that out of there without making a giant mess every single day? And so, yeah, it’s just a minor thing to think about, but also important.

Yeah, I mean, I guess that kind of goes too. You think about how they’re accessing their sketchbooks or whatever, right? They come in and they’re all congregated in this one little spot, and that’s not really great either, right?

Not good for anybody.

No. And you’ll figure that out. I mean, we also did for a long time, pizza boxes, right? We’d store artwork. Any flat work would go in these pizza boxes, pull it out, and we’d have a table in the middle of the classroom so kids could come from all areas, right, versus a corner of the classroom. And again, I’m sure I did everything where it was all in a corner thinking this will be nice and organized, and then it took 20 minutes for class to start. So you figure that stuff out as you go.

Yeah, I was going to say, you just have to be adaptable. And I think that’s the important thing. You’ll find that things aren’t working and you just need to be able to say to yourself, “This isn’t working. How can we change it?” Okay. I want to ask, because a lot of teachers have stories, myself included, of coming into an art room and it’s just an absolute disaster. Okay? There’s so much there, you don’t even know where to start. What do you think people should do? How do you think they should start with that? Where do you begin if you’re feeling overwhelmed by just the amount of stuff that’s in the classroom?

Yeah. So me personally, I like to start big picture, right? Again, your kids don’t know what they don’t know. You don’t know what you don’t know. I just can’t say it enough. Your first day will be fine. You will be great. Just connect with the kids. So…

You’ll be exhausted. But…

Yes. There is nothing like teacher tired on that first week of school. Oh my Gosh. But yeah, I like to start at the big picture and think about more kind of what do I need right now? And where’s this going to go? I can put everything off to the side in the meantime, right, and well, me personally, I’m constantly organizing my spaces to make it work. I’m working with students, asking their opinions. I’m asking students who are more advanced or upper levels, or even later in the years, so you might be teaching elementary, and you could have a fifth grade class, and you could be like, “Okay, everybody, where does all the paper go?” And I guarantee the kids will know where these things usually have lived, right?

So I think it’s fine to incorporate them. It’s their studio space too, and they should learn how to do that. We actually have a great YouTube series coming out, or is out now, I think, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. And it’s all about Artfully Organized, and it’s all about classroom organization. And it also includes even considering more hazardous or dangerous items, how you’re going to store all of those different things. How do you distribute and collect materials from students? It’s a great series.

Yeah. So many great tips and tricks in there. And like I said, just little things that you don’t think about. But then once you realize, “Oh, this could actually be important,” it can be incredibly helpful when you learn those things. Okay, Janet, go ahead. Go ahead.

Oh, I was just going to say the one last piece of advice or thing to keep in mind is that let’s say you are doing a project and it’s like a hot mess of cleanup, right, which happens a lot. Maybe you run out of time or you didn’t think through that well enough. I think the key is always to be really reflective and responsive. So instead of beating yourself up about it, like, “Oh my God, that was such a miserable day.” Yeah, really being just again, kind to yourself and think about why did that not work? And was it my instruction or was it the actual physical organization that got in the way?

That is an important question. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like it.

So I mean, those are the pieces I think that help us figure out as we go and change things as we go.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. I want to shift gears. I want to talk about curriculum and I guess where you start with things. So I’d love to know kind of the first things that you think are worth teaching, your beginning lessons? And I don’t know. I’ve always been a proponent of when you are first getting kids in your classroom, let’s create something. You have an exciting classroom, you have an exciting subject that you’re teaching, let’s make it exciting. Let’s not go over the syllabus and spend forever on the seating chart and rules and expectations. I want to get right into it and eventually get working on lessons, projects, something that we do. So what about you? What are the first things that you teach? What are the beginning lessons? Where do you go at the beginning of the year?

Yeah, so I’m with you. I do not go over the syllabus. I mean, in high school we go over syllabus. That’s a big piece that you’re expected to do at some point, but I feel like oftentimes kids are coming in and out of your class too, right? They might be dropping your class, changing their schedule, things like that. And it’s just not worth to kind of go over it and then have to go over it again kind of stuff. Yeah.

The syllabus on day five is not any different than the syllabus on day one. You can get to it gradually.

Yeah. And I also like to put my procedures and that kind of stuff. I like to embed it as we’re working, so it builds that connection. Yeah, because I feel like that first day, if you’re just talking, they’re totally zoned out. They’re just like, “What is this classroom that I’m in?” So anyway, I also like to do everything hands on. I just feel like they come to an art room, they want to create, and it just really engages them directly into the culture of your classroom by doing that. Now that doesn’t mean you necessarily have to jump in to coil vessels, right, on day one. I’m not saying that.

I’m saying painting right now, the full acrylic on canvas on the first day.

Yeah. And I also have to say that a lot of times in those PDs, they tell you to institute days, they give you these ideas of icebreakers and things. I’ll be honest, I do not do any of that kind of stuff either. I like to kind of combine it all together so that it is, again, authentic to art making. So yeah, so the activities that I like to do, I basically think about things that I want them to learn upfront, but I want to embed it into what they’re doing so it’s fun.

So maybe for example, we have Google Classroom, we have Google Slides. I want them to be able to use Google Slides in some capacity. Okay? So I’m going to do a really fun collaborative project because I want them to get to know each other, and I want them to start to feel comfortable, and then I want them to create something together, and then I’ll have them post that onto Google Slides, right? So now I don’t have to teach doing that again, right? It just is part of that. And I think by now, a lot of kids know how to do it, but you never know, right?

And then they have to kind of look through your Google Classroom and find things. And I think some of that is just part of the process and they’re still creating. So that’s kind of my plan. Actually, my fingers are crossed. I’m planning on sharing a bunch of my starter activities on my Instagram account in the next couple of weeks because I know people were like, yes, what do you do? What does this actually look like?” But I like to do things where they’re interviewing each other and then maybe drawing a portrait of their partner, or maybe a medal of honor that describes their partner, something that showcases that. And what’s so great about having them work is A, they’re being social, which is really great and uncomfortable in the beginning, right?

It’s uncomfortable for a lot of kids.

Yeah. And you’ll notice which kids know each other right off the bat. You’ll notice which kids don’t like working together, a lot of information happens at, you’ll see how they create, think through your prompts, and they’re just a two-day activity, and you just gain so much information from them. So yeah, anytime there’s a scavenger hunt for tools in the room or maybe do something for photo like that. Or in jewelry, I’m planning on doing my paper pair up kind of thing where kids are creating a paper version of jewelry that kind of gives me a sense of their design aesthetic, right? Even something as simple as taking a clump of clay, rolling it into a ball, pulling it apart, trying to stick it back together without slip and score or score and slip, right, that is so tactile and engaging for them to do that. And it’s just so easy and they’re just really primed for the next day. So just any of that kind of stuff. Yeah.

Okay. And so then moving on past that, those are great first day, first week activities. Where do you start when it comes to, and I don’t even want to say projects or lessons necessarily because you may not be there yet, but what are the next steps for you?

So for me, I like to have my students make sketchbooks or sketchbook covers if they were pre-purchased. That gives them a lot of space to explore materials. I can teach some very small techniques or concepts. So it could be shading or it could be elements and principles. Even in my jewelry class, we do sketchbooks, right, and it’s amazing. We hand stitch them and it’s always amazing to me to see which kids can follow that direction because it’s not that easy, right?

Not necessarily intuitive, so…

No. But anything that they can really express themselves, it helps get them warmed up. They have ownership over it. And then they also, again, I use sketchbooks. It’s so important because to me, the process of creating is important, and I want them to know that that is an integral part of our curriculum throughout the year. Right? So then of course, we jump into the juicy stuff, more technical stuff or things like that. So, yeah. But I do want to share a disclaimer about any and all of this, right? And I know we talked about this in our curriculum episode, but I way over plan in the beginning. Me, even to this day, I’m sitting there making every single day, what is the topic? I jot down little notes about what I want to talk about. I make sure I have a learning target or something like that, and then what do I have to prep for it?

And it’s crazy how insane I get, and that’s just me, right? And that’s just how my brain works, I think, because really all over the place and I need to have something that I can stick to. But then really as we get going, it just flows. And you get into this kind of system, the kids get into it and it’s totally fine. And I feel like whenever things start to get a little loose or sloppy or things don’t feel like they’re aligning, I do come back to that planning to help me and stay my focus. So, yeah, so for new teachers, I definitely would kind of plan out at least your first maybe two to three weeks, even if it’s just generally speaking, I know I’m going to talk about this or do that. So that kind of thing.

Yeah, transition from one lesson to another, one skill to another is always good to think about. My version of what we’re planning was putting too much into one particular session, like, “Oh, I know I can’t fit this into the time allotted,” but having dead time is just the bane of my existence, is my biggest fear. And so, “Oh, if we get done early, we’re going to do this. And then if we finish that, then we’re going to do this.” And so I’d have three extra activities planned, even if they’re just games or something. But I really hated that. “Okay, you guys can just get on your phones for the next eight minutes.”

Yes. Oh, that’s the worst.

Yeah, I do not want to do that. And so I always over-planned in that direction.

Yeah. And you know what’s great about that is? If you didn’t get to everything in that class period, you can just roll it over to the next day. And that’s okay too, right? Yeah, love that.

Exactly. Or if you have time fillers or quizzes or games or just some quick informal assessments or whatever, save those for the future. You have them planned out. You know what to do. You’ll use them eventually, so it’s not like you’re wasting time planning those. Okay. Next topic, I would love to chat a little bit more. We talked a little bit at the beginning of this episode about just interacting with the people that you’re sharing a room with or people that you’re coming in to contact with. So can we chat more about how we interact with colleagues? And I’d love to know, I guess, just how you collaborate or how you talk to people if you’re in elementary, how do you work with the classroom teachers? If you’re in secondary, how do you work with people who are in different subject areas? What’s your advice for that, Janet?

Yeah, so again, I always love to be a communicator with all of my colleagues. I think that’s just a really important piece is to talking about what’s happening. And classroom teachers in elementary might have history with kids or families, so it’s for better or worse, truthfully. So sometimes you have to be careful about what you take in and how that might impact your bias or judgment. I mean, truthfully, right? But vice versa, just think about it over the years, you’re going to be that teacher that knows all the kids, and you’ll be able to give that advice back to the next level teacher. And I think you know that sometimes the teachers will say, “Oh, this kid is really struggling with this behavior,” and they come in your class and they’re perfect angels or vice versa.

Yeah. Yeah. So I don’t know, I very quickly learned to dismiss anything that had to do with, “Oh, that kid’s terrible for me.”

Oh, yeah.

Of course they’re terrible for you, they don’t like your subject. They don’t like what you teach. You and I are different people, so they might be great for me. And so I don’t know, I learned to try and not let that bias me. And I also tried to learn to not say that about kids to other teachers. I tried to not talk badly about kids because like you said, you don’t want to have those preformed notions. Kids deserve a chance to stand on their own in your classroom and kind of learn what’s going on there.

So I think setting up time to meet with them though is important. Having something to jot some notes with I think is important, right? And having a kind of clear, I don’t want to say agenda sounds, I don’t mean it like that.

If you have questions in mind that you want to ask them or specific topics that you want to talk about, don’t just go in and be like, “So how’s it going?”

Right. They don’t have time for that, right? Yeah.

No.

You don’t want any wasted.

Thanks for talking to me. I would love to hear what you have to say about this. Or I’d love to know how you handle this, have something specific that you want to talk to them about.

Yeah. And sometimes you can just send an email in the beginning, “Hey, I’m really excited to teach your class. Is there something, blah, blah, blah.” And then later those communications usually become more apparent, like, “Okay, I’m seeing this or I’m seeing that.” But I think it’s really important to hear the classroom teacher’s expectations so that you can see what actually aligns with both of you. But I just want to keep this in mind that you’re going to have a million teachers with different behavioral plans and classroom management plans, and you do not need to follow their stuff like that, right, because again, your classroom is different and you have different needs. It’s unique. So just keep that in mind that sometimes when those conversations happen, just kind of listen to what they have to say and you do what you need to do in that regard.

Yeah. Okay. Another topic kind of along the same lines that I wanted to talk about as far as just working with colleagues is just the idea of using their lessons or asking people to share with you what they have. When do you think that’s okay? Is it always okay to say, “Hey, can you share that with me?” And if you are asking somebody to share, what are best practices around that?

Yeah, so I think first of all, it’s never a bad thing to just ask. I think how you ask is important though, right? I mean, the worst they can say is, “No.” And that may be a little awkward for them to have to say no, and hopefully they’ll explain why. But really sharing work is a really big deal, and teachers take truly years to create their curriculum, perfect things, create personal handouts and other types of resources. So it’s just really important to be respectful of that. And you should definitely be asking, like you said, as opposed to assuming that you can just take it, right?

I also think that if you make something, if let’s say you have that kind of relationship where they shared something with you and you make something or tweak anything of theirs, make sure A, that you’re making your own copy of that so you’re not changing theirs, right? But also share it back. And they may not care at all. They may be like, “Whatever, I’m not ever going to look at this, this is not how you do it, not my ways.” But I mean, I think it just shows that you are willing to be collaborative in that way. So they may actually really love your changes and actually want to adjust theirs. And that may start a really wonderful collaboration between the two of you truly.

But you do need to be understanding that if they don’t want to share something, that’s kind of what you have to go with. It is what it is. I’d say if you’re teaching the same course, like drawing and painting one.

Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.

Yeah.

Yeah, if we’re both teaching the same drawing class or we’re both teaching the same sculpture class, that can be a little challenging sometimes. So just quick advice on that.

Yeah, I mean, again, it depends on how your school is run, right? Some are very strict. You have to have the same exact assignments or lessons or units, because if a kid transfers to another school in your district, they have to have the same or whatever it is, right? And others are more loosey goosey, right? So I would say if you’re teaching the same course, reach out to them, make sure that you’re collaborating with them. And if they don’t want to collaborate, if that happens, or let’s say they go the other way and go, “Just do whatever. It’s totally fine.” I mean, then what I would say is ask for at least an outline of the techniques or concepts that need to be taught so that your kids have the same foundation, even if your assignments, projects, artwork looks different.

Yeah, very well said. I think a lot of art teachers are like that, or they say, “Oh, you can teach whatever. They’ll be fine.” You can push them on that and say, “Yeah, I know I have a lot of ideas on what I want to do. Can you just share with me just general ideas on what you’re doing to make sure we’re kind of on the same page?” And yeah, I think aligning that is good, even if it’s not day by day alignment like you talked about. Just making sure that your kids have the same concepts that they know before they move on is definitely worthwhile. Okay. Another big topic that I wanted to ask you about, I know you have experience with this, Janet, is IEPs and 504s. Because I’m just thinking back to my experience as a new teacher coming into the high school, and all of a sudden in my mailbox, I have all of these copies of different IEPs and 504 plans that just kind of show up from multiple different special ed teachers.

And I had never talked to these people before, and I just see these plans and I’m like, “I don’t necessarily know what these are, and I definitely don’t know what I’m supposed to do with them.” And so I guess I would love to hear from you, because I know you’ve done work with I think [inaudible 00:43:18] 504 coordinator. Can you just give us a quick rundown on what new teachers need to know about 504 plans, about IEPs, the best ways to work with special ed teachers, with students, with parents, just everything kind of involved with that? Can you give us a rundown of what we need to know? I know that’s a big question.

It’s like a whole other podcast. Yeah, right. So I can speak as a teacher and as a previous 504 coordinator, and I’ll put this out there. Does anybody know what a 504 coordinator does or is? The IEP, we hear a lot about IEPs and in undergrad probably, or in a grad program or whatever, but the individualized education planning falls under IDA and it’s for special needs, so usually modifying or adapting, that kind of stuff. And there’s usually assigned minutes, social work minutes, or OT, PT kind of things. The 504 is just there to level the playing field for students who have disabilities. So it’s not modifying the curriculum, it’s just providing access so that everybody can get what they need. So these are wide-ranging in what can cover under a 504 or an IEP. And I just would like to say first and foremost that if you see an IEP or 504 with a diagnosis on it, it is not your job to question that or to diagnose a student at all, right?

Yes.

It is your job to see what they need in order to access their education. That is what it’s in place for. So I will say it is so essential to review these 504s or IEPs that are coming your way from, like you said, all these different avenues. And they could be from a case manager, it could be from the assistant principal, it could be from the principal, it could be from a social worker. I mean, you are inundated going, “Where, what, who is this person?” Like you said. So again, it varies by school and how you access this and what it looks like. So some schools will print out an at a glance or a summary sheet for you, which I love because that actually tells me just what I need and not all of the nitty-gritty.

Not the full plan.

Yeah, because the full plans can be like 30 pages long, right, and you’re sifting through that. Some of them will be just flagged in grade book. So that’s a pretty new thing.

Yes, I remember I had, PowerSchool was what we used.

Uh-huh. PowerSchool. Yep.

We just see a little flag on there. I’m like, “Oh, was nobody going to tell me about this? Am I just lucky that I saw this in the grade book?” So, yeah. Anyway. Yeah.

Yeah. I should go back to the variety that’s covered under, right? You might have a student with a 504 that has severe peanut allergy, and he has to keep an EpiPen. You might have a student who is blind, you might have a student who sits in a wheelchair. You might have a student who has multi needs, right, all the different pieces. So you really have to kind of gather information. So what I do, because it’s really overwhelming, and you don’t even know these kids anyway, right? Usually, especially as a new teacher, right? You’re not going to know them.

Exactly.

And it’s just like a name in your book. So what I like to do is I go through quickly the 504s and IEPs and see if there’s anything that is really outstanding. This kid has seizures. I should know about that right off the bat. This kid has peanut allergies, okay, well, we’re not doing any food in my classroom to start with, so I’ll just make a blanket statement in my classroom that there’s a peanut allergy, et cetera. But in high school, when I was a 504 coordinator, we would always ask the kids to advocate for themselves so that you might have students who come up to you and be like, “Hey, I’m in your class and I have a 504.” Or you might get an email that says, “Hey, I’m in your class and I have this IEP. Let me know if you have questions.” But I also think it’s important for you to connect with your kids. And I’m not saying to do that out in the open.

“Hey, oh, you’re a 504.”

“You have ADHD, thanks.” Okay.

Please, please do not do that.

Do not do that. Yes. Is what not to do.

For everyone listening, not the way to approach it.

No. No.

Can you tell us how we should approach it?

Yes. So what you should do again, is for things like, for example, ADHD is a good thing just to monitor and observe the kid, right? Because it looks very different in what people think of the stigma of ADHD and what it can look like are very vastly different, especially if a kid is medicated or has coping strategies. But I had a student who had seizures, I go up to her, kids are coming in my classroom. She happens to come in at the end by herself, and I just stopped her real quick by the door, “Hey, I saw you have a 504 plan, is where you’re sitting okay? Do you need anything? Is the stool too high?” And she’s like, “Yeah, I do actually need a shorter.” Perfect. And that’s private one-on-one conversation, right?

And less than 30 seconds.

Yes. Yes.

It’s easy to do, but it’s incredibly worthwhile.

Okay, I will put this out though. In elementary, most of these kids, unless they’ve had an environment where the parents talk about this, you should not be talking to them about that. Yes, do not be talking about that with them because they don’t know what they don’t know at that point. So I forgot I should say that. Yeah. Okay. After I go through and see any flags that I need to know about or students that I need to make sure I address right off the bat, I wait until I get to know my students and then the first couple weeks, then I go back through them and I actually am able to connect who that kid is and what their need is. A lot of times you might forget that a kid has 504 and IEP, and I will also put this advice, never say that to a parent.

I mean, we are human beings, right, and maybe their needs are just not apparent in your classroom or not yet. But to say that, “Oh, I didn’t know that kid had a 504” is a huge problem legally actually, because this is a legal situation. So just make sure you’re constantly going back and reviewing. And I also noticed that kids, that maybe their invisible disability starts to show up a little bit later. I’m more aware of it. That’s an opportunity then for me to connect with a case manager, counselor and have those conversations. Sometimes those people forget to put them into the grade book. I’ve had that situation where I’m like, “Hey, this kid, something’s a little bit different here. I am not sure I can’t put my finger on it? And they’re like, “Oh, yeah, did you get their IEP?” And I’m like, “No, that would be really helpful.” So definitely reach out to people and don’t be afraid, but you also don’t have to be like the 504, IEP police as far as that goes. So just keep that aware.

Yeah, I think that’s very well said. Okay. Last topic that I want to cover with you is just the idea of communication. And I think that’s something that’s big and scary and intimidating for a lot of new teachers. Communicating with colleagues, communicating with parents, just everybody that you’re going to be working with in the building and outside of the building, both. And so I guess just big picture, what do you think new teachers need to be ready for as far as communication going into their first year?

Yeah, so, and I think it’s really hard because you don’t know your school environment yet or who you should be communicating with always. But before school starts or within that first week of starting, I think it’s important to communicate with your administration and any colleagues that you’re going to be working closely with. So in elementary, you might be working closely with your principal, right? I think it’s important to reach out to them and be like, “Hey, I’m totally situated now. I’d love to have a conversation with you about X, Y, and Z, or, I just wanted to share that. I’m excited to be here. I’m looking forward to a great year.” I think any way to communicate in that way is a positive foundation, right?

Yeah.

So that can be usually, I would say through an email. Don’t expect a reply until institute or even a week into school.

You could introduce yourself to other colleagues that might be good to work with, or like I said, just share that you’re excited to work with them. And as far as administration, that could be your department chair, like I said, that you work with directly, or it could be, like I said, the principal, right? But I would say that’s a great time also to follow up with any questions that you might have, a timeline of getting keys, supplies, et cetera, again, before school starts or within that first week to make sure you’re set. The other people I think are really important to communicate with or connect with in some way in the first, I don’t know, week or two, is your building management team. So that’s your custodians that’s going to take amazing care of you. That’s any assistants like the secretaries or administrative assistants that are going to help you. Those people are actually really in charge more than a principal or administrator, right, as assistants are.

More on a day-to-day basis. Absolutely.

They know everything, so for sure.

No. So I think it’s good to talk to all of them, just ask them, “Hey, what do I need to know about the building here? Is there anything you can tell me that maybe the principal hasn’t covered or whatever.” And then I think with your custodial team, I would find out who’s going to be cleaning your room and just go introduce yourself. That can become a tense situation real quick, if they’re coming into the art room, which is likely the dirtiest room in the building over and over, and just talk to them like, “Hey, what do you need from me? What can I do? What can my students do to make your life a little bit easier when you come in to clean? Do you need chairs up on tables? Do you need to sweep?”

Yes. Good point.

Things like that. And hopefully they have reasonable expectations. But it’s good to have that conversation and just kind of see what you can do to make their life a little bit easier.

Yeah. And then usually within the first week or two, I do like to send out an introduction of myself to parents and/or students, depending on the level. I’ll send out maybe an email or a newsletter. I might set up a template that I’ll use every time, but basically it’s like, “Here’s a little bit about me.” Let’s parents know that you really care about art and their artist experience this year, right, that advocacy piece, and then what you might be working on, kind of setting up some anticipation for the classroom. Like, “Hey, I know we’re going to be doing X, Y, and Z in the class, and I’m really excited for it.” And then I usually like to put a few classroom expectations, and I really mean few short and sweet. This is what you can expect. This is what I expect and this is how it is. And then lastly, usually, again, in the first week or two, I usually follow up with case managers as we talked about if needed, or social workers or counselors, or whoever’s in charge of those paperwork plans.

Yep, absolutely. I think all of that is vital, but just like everything else we’ve been saying today, don’t be afraid to reach out. Don’t be afraid to have conversations. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice on any of that stuff with any of those people then that we just talked about. So yeah, just try not to keep to yourself in your room too much, because the more you can reach out, the more you can learn from those people, I think the better off that you’re going to be. So Janet, any other advice? Anything else that you want to talk about before we wrap things up here?

I mean, again, this is a lot of information and you’re going to start your school year with just, your brain is going to be inundated with information, right? Take as many notes as you can, jot down things where you can find things, how you can access everything, and keep that all in a folder of some sort, right, so that you can always refer back to it. I think that’s really important. And I know our new teacher podcast episodes are on the longer side because there’s so much to talk about, but I highly recommend revisiting them, listening in chunks again, because I think we’ve had comments from people saying, “Oh, I’m a veteran teacher, and these are excellent podcasts episodes.” I think just keep that in mind. You don’t need to know everything on day one.

Yeah. That’s what we started the episode with, and I think that’s a good message to close it with as well. You’re not going to be perfect on day one. It takes time to learn all of these things. It takes time to do all of these things. It takes a lot of time to really become who you are as a teacher and become your best self. And I think, yeah, patience is kind of the key word here, because it will take a while to get everything where you want it to be, but I think that’s something that everybody needs to keep in mind. So Janet, thank you so much. I love these conversations as always, and appreciate all of your advice here.

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Thank you to Janet for all of her ideas and just for that entire discussion. I hope it was worthwhile for you to listen. And going back to that first point that I made today and that point that we discussed, you don’t need to solve all of these problems at once. You don’t have to do all of these things right now. You can prioritize, you can work on things piece by piece. You can solve one problem at a time, and then you can spend time reflecting and thinking about what’s working, what isn’t, and what you can do to help yourself run a great art room. So I hope this episode can help you, and I hope you can reflect on some of those ideas. And all of this can be a good starting point on that journey that we talked about to you becoming an amazing art teacher.

Our next episode, episode 2, will be all about what New Teachers need to know about organization. We hope to have you join us! Thank you for listening!