The April Mailbag: Fast Finishers, Design Ideas, and Managing Loud Classes (Ep. 512)

It’s time for the April mailbag! Tim and Amanda are back to answer your most pressing questions, all of which come straight from the Art of Ed Community this month.

In this episode, they tackle everything from rethinking high school graphic design in the age of Canva and AI to managing very talkative elementary classes. They also share strategies for handling early finishers, supporting student creativity, and building better habits that carry all the way to high school.

Plus, you’ll hear ideas for celebrating Youth Art Month, thoughts on Adobe certification, and the puppet that has become the bane of Amanda’s existence. Give it a listen!

Full episode transcript below.

Resources and Links

• • Join the Art of Ed Community
  • See more about AOE’s FLEX Curriculum
  • What to Look for in an Art Curriculum
  • Everything You Need to Know About Classroom Management in the Art Room

Transcript

Tim:

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

Hello and welcome to the month of April! It’s the first Tuesday of the month, which means it’s time for the April mailbag episode. Joining me, as always, is Amanda Heyn. Amanda, how are you?

Amanda:
I’m great! It’s getting warmer in Wisconsin—we’re finally thawing out—and that is very good for my soul. How are you?

Tim:
That’s excellent. It feels like it’s getting warmer everywhere, and I really appreciate that. Springtime always brings a refresh—a little burst of energy—and I’m enjoying that as well.

Before we dive in, we have a lot of questions today, so we’re going to try and move quickly. But first, let’s do some quick introductions. My name is Tim Bogatz. I’m the host of Art Ed Radio. I’ve worked for The Art of Education for a long time with the Art Ed NOW Conference and many other projects. I was a high school teacher for a long time, an elementary art teacher for a short time, and I’ve been podcasting and coordinating conferences for quite a while.

Amanda, can you introduce yourself?

Amanda:
Yes! I’m Amanda Heine. I’m the Director of Community Engagement at AOEU. I oversee the team that creates all the media content you see, the NOW Conference, and the community. I also started my career as an elementary art teacher.

Tim:
Awesome. For those of you joining us for the first time—welcome! That’s who we are.

Now, before we get into the questions, we have some housekeeping. Amanda, what do people need to know?

Amanda:
Yes! First, the next Art Club in the Art of Ed Community is this Thursday, April 9th at 6pm Central. Teresa Gillespie will be joining us to talk about fibers, along with some AOEU studio courses. You can bring cardboard, scissors, yarn, fabric—anything you want to weave with.

We’re also giving away a $50 AOE merch store gift card during the event. If you’re not a community member, you can join for free at community.theartofeducation.edu. Art Club is free, and it’s a great place to be.

Tim:
It’s also the first link in the show notes, so it’s easy to find. My housekeeping also involves the community—we’ve been doing Lunch Bunch every couple of weeks. It’s a 30-minute session hosted by Jen Lieven where you can relax, chat, and connect with other art teachers.

I’ve joined a couple of times, and it’s really enjoyable—even just sitting back and listening. The next one features Megan Manske as a guest. If you can’t make it live, it’s recorded.

Amanda:
Yes! And one more thing—Pop-Up Studio is happening Wednesday, April 22 at 6pm Central. It’s very open-ended, and the discussion theme is “humorous art room stories,” which I’m very excited about.

Also, Art Ed NOW still has early bird pricing through the end of May. You can go to theartofeducation.edu/now to sign up.

Tim:
Definitely worth it. We love the summer conference—it’s a great way to get inspired before the school year starts.

Alright—can I tell you a quick story before we dive in?

Amanda:
Yes!

Tim:
Last month we teased some gardening talk. I’ve been out walking my dog and going for runs, and I’ve noticed a lot of empty patches of dirt along the trails. I’ve been thinking… it would be a shame if someone were to sprinkle native flower seeds everywhere.

Now, I don’t know the legality of that, so I can neither confirm nor deny that I’ve been doing some “guerrilla gardening”…

Amanda:
Hypothetically, would one carry seeds in their pockets?

Tim:
Hypothetically, a backpack would work better—with maybe a small rake and a water bottle…

Amanda:
So hypothetically… real gardening is happening.

Tim:
Hypothetically, yes.

Amanda:
Amazing. I have a non-hypothetical story: a puppet is ruining my life.

My 12-year-old became obsessed with making a marionette puppet. Not a sock puppet—a full marionette. He sculpted a face, and it’s… delightfully creepy.

But the real issue is the mess. The puppet is 10 inches tall, but it has taken over the entire art room. There are tools everywhere—soldering gun, hot glue, wires—it looks like a Home Alone scenario.

We’re getting our house cleaned tomorrow, and I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen.

Tim:
What are the chances this actually gets finished?

Amanda:
Maybe 70%… like most projects.

Tim:
I would love to see it, no matter where it ends up.

Alright, now it’s time to jump into some questions. This is a fun one—every question today comes from the Art of Ed community, plus a voicemail from a community member.

Amanda, can you give us our official introduction?

Amanda:
Yes—let’s go ahead and open up the mailbag.

Tim:
Okay, we have two Adobe questions to start us out—one from Ed and one from Samantha.

The first question is: In the age of Canva and Procreate, where the Adobe suite is becoming less prevalent, if you have a year-long high school graphic design course, what other units can you teach? I feel like designing traditional print media is so quick and easy these days that I’m having trouble theorizing a year’s worth of assignments.

That is a great question. Do you mind if I throw some thoughts out first?

Amanda:
Yeah, go ahead.

Tim:
Alright. I think changing the mindset can go a long way here. Instead of thinking, “How do I fill a year?” or “What is my list of assignments?” I think the better approach is to think about how we can teach kids to think like designers.

A lot of that friction is gone. Designing traditional print media is quick and easy now—it really is. So it’s not as much about the technical skill anymore.

I think focusing on the qualities of design can go a long way. Ask yourself: What do designers actually do? What are the thinking processes involved?

Even if production is easier, thinking is still hard. Creativity is still hard. Our job is to help kids make sense of the world around them.

How can we help them think critically about what they’re seeing—ads, social media, online content? How can we transfer those lessons into their own work?

You can still start with foundations, but also find out what your students are interested in. What do they want to create? Maybe that’s branding, identity design, social media design, or even UI/UX.

There’s a lot of room to expand and go deeper into concepts rather than just production.

Amanda:
Yeah, and one thing you said that really stood out was helping them think critically about what they’re seeing.

That has to become a big part of any graphic design course—visual literacy. Students need to assess imagery: how it was made, where it came from, who made it, and why.

Especially now, kids are being served AI-generated content constantly. It’s important for them to understand how and why those images exist.

And like you said, graphic design is huge. It goes far beyond print. There’s branding, packaging, typography, illustration, video game design—everything around them was designed.

So maybe the trick is to widen the scope beyond traditional graphic design into a broader design course.

Also, I think it would be really interesting to explore this question with students: What does graphic design look like when “anyone” can do it?

Take photography—everyone has a camera. But is everyone a photographer? What separates those who create meaningful work from those who don’t?

That could be a great discussion.

Tim:
Absolutely. That’s a great starting point for a class conversation.

Alright, let’s move to the second Adobe question. This is from Ed:

What do you think about industry certification—Adobe tests? Will it make students ready for a career in the creative industry? Or are these just empty badges for an email signature?

I love this question.

My first thought is that these certifications are like a driver’s license. They show you know the basics, but they don’t tell you how well you actually perform in real-world situations.

So I think they’re a good starting point. They give students a goal, a sense of accomplishment, and something tangible.

They’re not the end goal, but they’re not meaningless either. When paired with a strong portfolio, they can definitely be valuable.

Amanda:
Yeah, and they certainly can’t hurt. I would say they’re more than just an empty badge.

Tim:
Alright, next question—this is from Brittany:

What strategies do you have for very chatty and loud classes at the elementary level?

Amanda, I’m going to let you take this one, because I have no idea what quiet critters are.

Amanda:
I do know what quiet critters are! For anyone unfamiliar, they’re little objects—like pom-poms or stuffed animals—that visit tables that are working quietly.

It’s a great strategy, but it sounds like Brittany needs more ideas.

Here are four:

First, start with five minutes of silent work time. It sets expectations immediately and helps students settle into focus.

Second, use the A-R-T strategy. You display A, R, and T. If it gets too loud, you remove letters. If all letters are gone, the class shifts to silent work.

Third, use a volume monitor or stoplight system. If noise reaches a certain level, consequences kick in—like silent work time.

Fourth—and this may sound counterintuitive—give students structured time to talk.

Instead of letting discussions drag on, use “turn and talk” with a clear time limit, then call on just a few students. That way, everyone gets to talk, but it stays controlled.

Tim:
Those are all great ideas.

Tim:
Our next question is from Becky. Becky says:

“Tim and Amanda—Youth Art Month question. What is the coolest idea you have to celebrate Youth Art Month at the high school level? This is my 24th year, but the first where I’ve made an actual effort for Youth Art Month. So far, we’ve done a video announcement by some of our kids sharing stats about why art is important—SAT scores, mental health, etc.—also just because art is awesome. They’ve also done student art scavenger hunts across campus and posters with trivia questions. I would love to build on these and really make Youth Art Month awesome in the future. Thanks—been listening to the podcast since the beginning.”

That’s so nice. Thank you, Becky.

So Amanda, what are you thinking here?

Amanda:
That is so nice.

Well, I’m thinking that she already listed so many good things. I was like, “Whoa, you’re doing a lot.” So first of all, kudos to you.

I think if I were thinking about what you’re already doing and how I might take it to the next level, I would think about something that’s highly visible—something that people can’t ignore, something that’s attention-grabbing.

So maybe some sort of pop-up art show that appears overnight, or a large public work—something to get everyone on your campus talking.

Another idea is to get students out into common spaces working on art. We’ve had a couple of NOW presenters who have shared similar ideas—whether that’s taping paper to the walls and having students do large-scale drawings, or doing chalk art in a common outdoor space.

Again, making the art-making process very visible, I think could be cool.

And then, depending on your school culture, I think some sort of spirit day could be fun if you think your kids would be into it. Dressing as your favorite artist or movement, or something to do with color—your favorite color, dressing in all one color, all the grades assigned a different color, neons, whatever.

I think having the students—even if it’s just kids who are in art—participate could be another way to make a statement throughout the school and bring it outside of the art classroom.

Tim:
Yeah, I like those ideas.

If I can add on to the common spaces and collaborative ideas, I think anything that you can get both art students and non-art students working on together would be really cool.

Maybe that’s just sidewalk chalk one day—just some artwork going on. Or take inspiration from elementary teachers who do school-wide collaborative pieces. Can you bring something like that to the high school, where everybody contributes a small part but it builds into a bigger piece?

I think that would be great.

And then I was also thinking about getting other teachers involved. We’ve had things where, when we’re doing an emphasis on reading, teachers post a sign outside their room with their favorite book.

Could you do something like that with art? Ask teachers to put up something about their favorite artist, their favorite painting, or their favorite museum they’ve visited—just to get people thinking and talking about art.

If other teachers create art—even if it’s crocheting or painting or drawing—ask them to display that or talk about it with their students.

Or even get your students’ art into other classrooms. Every kid has a handful of artwork sitting around—could you ask teachers to hang up four artworks in their room for the month?

That gets recognition for the students and gets art visible across the school. Little things like that can go a long way.

Tim:
Alright, next question is from Baz.

Baz says:
“Fast finishers—not just what activity to give them once they are done with their artwork, but how to encourage them in slowing down, taking more time, and putting more effort and skill into their artwork. I find giving fast finishers something to work on can often encourage other students to rush through their work to get to those activities.

I usually just let them free draw if they are finished, but there are sometimes students who are not strong in their art skills in the first place, so they just waste the free draw paper. And many of them, if not occupied, are the ones that will misbehave or distract other students. Thanks for any ideas. I love Art Ed Radio—that is how I found this community.”

Amanda, would you like to answer this first?

Amanda:
I would.

I’m going to take the elementary slant here because I assume that’s where this is coming from—maybe not, but it feels like it.

This is hard. You are using a lot of strategies that I would also suggest—asking them to go back and add details, improve craftsmanship, etc.

And like you said, it’s tricky when early finisher activities are so fun that they make other kids rush.

So here are a couple ways I approached this:

First, plan for one extra thing that students can do but don’t have to do. Most kids might get through three steps, but some get through four. That fourth step could be adding a frame, writing a short story about their artwork, or adding patterns to the background.

Second, add an incentivizing final detail—only for kids who have fully completed everything else well. Provide a rubric and then offer special materials like sequins, metallic markers, or specialty supplies.

In my classroom, the “gold marker” was very motivating.

Third, provide two to three early finisher activities that are fun but not too fun, and do not include traditional drawing.

Free draw can actually be intimidating for some students. If they rushed through a structured project, they’re often not motivated to create something from scratch.

So I like things like art room jobs, pattern blocks or manipulatives, or a classroom library. Some kids love curling up with a book or magazine.

Those are still art-adjacent but not overwhelming or overly exciting.

Tim:
Yeah, those are all wonderful ideas.

From a high school perspective, I would say build the idea of slowing down into the assignment itself.

Have clear process steps: complete the drawing, refine it, then enhance it—adding detail, improving color, building background, refining shading.

Make that part of the rubric.

Also, use check-ins—quick conferences, partner feedback, or process photos—so students are accountable at each stage.

Instead of finishing quickly and being done, the expectation is that the work evolves and improves over time.

Tim:
Alright, our final question—this is from Lily.

Lily says:
“What are key things that a student should know before they get to high school? Is there a list of things that high school teachers want students to know—or don’t expect them to know—before they get to high school?”

Amanda, I’m sorry to make you answer all of these first—but can you take this one?

Amanda:

I can.

It’s interesting because I taught elementary, so I’ll share what I hoped to send students to the next level with, and then you can tell me if that matches what high school teachers want.

Also, I think this varies depending on your district—ideally, you’d have a spiral curriculum from K–12, but that’s not always reality.

If you don’t, that could be something to suggest working on during an in-service day.

Also, if your district pays for FLEX, there are full curriculum plans available there, which makes this easier.

Broadly, what I wanted was:

• Basic knowledge of art and experience with a wide range of materials
• Understanding how to use and care for those materials
• Basic art vocabulary—primary colors, secondary colors, etc.
• Familiarity with elements and principles of art

And I promise my curriculum wasn’t boring—it’s just how I think about planning.

I also wanted students to have experience brainstorming, generating original ideas, thinking creatively, problem-solving, and failing productively.

And most importantly, a willingness to experiment without needing a perfect final product.

So I don’t know—does that align with what high school teachers want?

Tim:
Yeah, I love that.

From a high school perspective, I’ll teach them what they need to know—just send me kids who love art.

I’ll get them where they need to go. But I want students who are excited, willing to try new things, and willing to experiment.

That willingness to stick with something when it gets hard—that’s huge.

Basic studio habits and familiarity with materials are helpful, but mindset matters more.

Also, being open to giving and receiving feedback—that goes a long way.

If they know contour drawing or color theory, that’s great—but what matters most is that they’re excited to be there and ready to learn.

Tim:

Alright, that wraps it up for our mailbag. We had some awesome questions from the community, so thank you to everyone.

And thank you again to Catherine for the voicemail—you really made Amanda’s day.

We’ll go ahead and wrap things up. Hopefully we’ll see you at Art Club, Lunch Bunch, or Pop-Up Studio.

Come find us in the Art of Ed community—we’ve linked it in the show notes. It’s a great place to be.

Amanda, anything else before we go?

Amanda:
No, I think you covered it. We’ll see you next month.

Tim:
Alright, thank you.