The January 2026 Mailbag: Quality Supplies, Music in the Classroom, and Getting Back in the Groove

We ring in the new year with Tim Bogatz and Amanda Heyn as they open the January mailbag and answer questions from art teachers across the country. This month: classroom music (and whether you need it at all), how to advocate for high-quality art supplies with administrators, choosing the “right” grade level to teach, why January is so hard after break, and early finisher ideas for high school that aren’t just busywork. They also talk about the Art Ed NOW Conference coming at the end of the month and other Art of Ed Community events that are coming soon!

Full episode transcript below.

Resources and Links

• • Join the Art of Ed Community
  • Learn more about Art Ed NOW featured presenter Austin Kleon
  • And find out everything else you need to know about Art Ed NOW
  • 100 Sketchbook Prompts Your Students Will Love
  • Transform Your Art Room By Assigning 3 Projects at Once
  • Find the planning calendar and the other resources that Amanda talked about

Transcript

Tim:

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

Welcome to the new year, welcome to 2026, welcome to the January mailbag, and of course welcome to Amanda Hyne. Amanda, how are you?

Amanda:

I’m great. Happy New Year, everybody. Happy confetti season. I’m glad to be here.

Tim:

I am glad to be here too. This is the right way to start off the new year and so many great things happening. Just, you know, I’m not usually full of optimism, but at the beginning of January, I try, I try. So it’s a good time of year. And I think everybody’s going to be listening to this as their first, getting back to school, which is always difficult. The first week back after break, I actually have a question coming up about that.

Amanda:

Haha! Yes.

Tim:

But hopefully we can bring a little joy to everybody with our mailbag episode. So to start things off, my name is Tim Bogats. I run podcasts and events here at the Art of Ed. And so if you have not listened to an episode before, these mailbags we do every month with listener questions. Amanda and I are both former art teachers working for the Art of Ed now. I did a couple years of elementary art, a lot of secondary art and

Like I said, working on things for the art of Ednow. Amanda, would you like to introduce yourself?

Amanda:

Sure, I’m Amanda Heyn. I’m the director of community engagement and oversee a wide range of responsibilities, including all media-related activities, the conference, and our community art initiatives. And I taught elementary.

Tim:

Yeah. Yeah. And we’re obviously very excited about the Art Ed Now Conference coming up at the end of this month. It’s a stressful time for us who are putting on the conference, but also a very exciting time. Looking forward to it just a few weeks away now. Amanda, can I ask what you’re most excited about with the conference?

Amanda:

Yes. Well, yes, I actually just got a little sneak peek of Austin Kleon for a little bit. That’s what I was doing this morning. And I’m very excited to see his talk. I’m also very excited for the kickoff because we are playing Framed. So if you haven’t checked out YouTube lately, there’s a new series there based on Chopped, which is my favorite TV show, maybe of all time.

Tim:

Mmmmm.

Amanda:

Mystery ingredients so you can extrapolate what this looks like for art mystery supplies. We’re going to be playing with everybody at the conference. We’re going to teach you how to play it in your classroom. You’re going to get a slide deck that helps you play it in your classroom if you attend the conference and obviously prizes. So I’m I’m proud. Yes.

Tim:

I mean, the prizes are the big deal. I know that’s most exciting for you, but yeah, that’s going to be a blast. And also we are doing art club in just a couple of days. So can you tell everybody about that? I’m also excited about that.

Amanda:

Yes.

Yes, okay. So if you haven’t joined to the Art of Ed community, community.theartofeducation.edu free to join only the good parts of social media. Anyway, we have events every month and we have a live online art club where you can come make a little bit of art, hang out, learn something new. And Tim and I are hosting on Thursday, January 8 at 6pm Central Time.

And we always give away a prize at art club, since I’m coming and I’m the boss, we’re giving away a lot of prizes.

Tim:

I was gonna say you’re like a tornado of prizes just blowing through. Just roll right through Art Club with a whirlwind of giveaways.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Yes, and we are going to be actually featuring one of the creativity sort of exercises you’re going to get access to at the conference and leading you through a really fun activity that would actually be perfect for back to school. So you can come, even if you’re not going to the conference, come and learn about that and get access to that to maybe do in your classroom next week.

Tim:

Yeah, great. And then also, Pop-Up Studio is coming in a couple weeks, I believe. Can you give us the details for that?

Amanda:

Yes. Yep, January 21st is pop up studio. That’s a much looser event. That’s just come bring whatever you’re working on, come hang out. As Jen, our online community manager always says, you can lurk while you work, or you can turn your camera on and participate in the discussion. Every month in the community, we have a theme. And our theme for January is teaching tomorrow.

Tim:

Yes.

Amanda:

or what the heck is up with these kids these days and how do we teach them is the less formal, the less formal theme name there. But we are going to be talking about tech during pop-up studios. You can bring your questions or things you’re doing in your classroom with tech or reservations you have about new tech. I think it’s going to be a good discussion. So definitely join us for that. Again, that’s January 21st, also 6 PM Central Time. And if you don’t know, you can find those in the community on the left-hand side.

There’s a little section that says events and replays and you can RSVP and then add it to your calendar right from there.

Tim:

Yeah, perfect. No, that’s a great explanation. And like you said, if you’re just in the community, which you should be visiting, you know, more frequently than, you probably are, that goes for me included, because there’s so many cool things going on, but then you can keep up with all of those events and all of those things to look forward to. So what else is going on? What have you been doing for the, the past month since we’ve talked to you last on the mailbag?

Amanda:

Yeah. Well, mean, the holidays, right? We’re recording this right before the holidays, but we’ve been doing some family traditions. One of our newest favorite family traditions is getting an escape room advent calendar. there are these… Yes. Nerd alert. Anybody else whose family is like this?

Tim:

Mm-hmm.

Tim:

Okay. I need to hear details.

Amanda:

We, we love an escape room and there are, there’s this brand called exit the game and it’s an escape room and a box and they’re really fun and they make an advent calendar. So every day there’s a new puzzle to open and my kids are upper elementary, well, mid elementary and in middle school and they love it. There’s a little box to open and then we do the puzzle. And sometimes there was one with little gems that you had to like,

Tim:

Yes.

Amanda:

place in different ones was my favorite obviously, but it’s a super fun thing to do after dinner together as a family and we’ve gotten them the last couple years. They’ve been super fun.

Tim:

Nice.

Okay, I’ve played exit the game, but like I’ve done a couple different scenarios. I was not aware they made an advent calendar, so that sounds very cool.

Amanda:

Yeah. It’s super fun. Like very clever puzzles. Like sometimes you have to like cut the box apart or you know, it’s just it’s fun. So that’s what we have been up to. What about you?

Tim:

Okay.

Same, my family’s tradition. One tradition we’ve stuck with as the kids get older is we do kind of a random Advent calendar. So we, there’s four of us in the family. So we each do six activities and just throw them into a bag. And then each day we will pull out a random activity that we can do together as a family. And even if it’s, you know, sometimes it’s very chill, like, you know, 30 minutes, everybody grabs their book and does some reading.

Amanda:

Come on!

Amanda:

Yeah.

Tim:

Or, you know, we’ll do, let’s get together and do a family sports night on the Nintendo switch, you know, something like that. And, you know, my kids are busy, think sophomore and senior in high school. So there’s a lot. And sometimes we have to delay things to the weekend or when we have free time or sometimes just be like, we don’t have time for this at all. But, it’s kind of fun to just randomly throw things out and, know, one fourth of the things that are coming, but.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Tim:

Yeah, just kind of a randomized calendar, which has been a lot of fun to do and just gives us an excuse to do things that kids love and do things together. So that’s been kind of a fun one for us.

Amanda:

Yeah, that’s super fun.

Tim:

And then also before we dive in, can I tell you about my trip to Austin to see Austin? So Austin Cleon, our featured presenter for Art Ed Now lives in Austin, Texas. So I had way too much fun with the Austin and Austin thing, but flew down there a couple of weeks back to do the interview. And he was just the nicest guy. I did it in his little studio behind his house and he was very welcoming, very kind.

Amanda:

Perfect.

Tim:

Great interview, which is the most important part. Like he’s brilliant when it comes to talking about making art, talking about creativity, talking about continuing to make art when you’re busy and when times are hard. And so I think that the, message is really going to resonate if you’re coming to the art ed now conference. But again, just like the, the best guy, very nice. He talked to me about my kids, you know, was very curious about them. And then decided which of his books would be best for each of them. And then like wrote them each. Yeah. Wrote them each a message, signed it. So I came home with like personalized signed copies of his books and he had some original prints that he wanted to give the kids too. So it’s, it’s very cool. So both kids have a new Austin Cleon book on their desk and a new print hanging on the wall and just the greatest guy. so I, I really loved talking to him and

Amanda:

that’s so nice.

Tim:

Like said, the interview is going to be spectacular. So can’t wait to share that with everybody at the conference in a few weeks here. Yeah, very cool. So, all right, are we ready to jump into our questions?

Amanda:

So cool.

Amanda:

Yes, let’s go ahead and open up the mailbag.

Tim:

Our first question is from Josh in North Carolina. And Josh says in my PLC, we were just talking about Spotify wrapped and music we play in our classrooms. And I’d love to hear you talk about what music is good for kids to listen to in the art rooms and why, or do they even need music? Okay. Also bonus points. If you want to share your wrapped for the year with, is that a winky face, a smiley face? I don’t know. Winky face. Thank you, Josh.

Amanda:

Winky face.

Tim:

No, I think that’s good. And I think we should share. Wait, is what is plural? Is it Spotify wrapped? Spotify is wrapped. I don’t know the correct way.

Amanda:

Are Spotify Wraps? I don’t know. But I was the child who had 100 % in every class and then also did bonus points. So I would love to earn bonus points. Tell me, Tim, what is…

Tim:

There’s not a good way to do it.

We’ll do it with our, our Spotify, Spotify is wrapped. okay. So I actually don’t have Spotify. I know, but I will share, I do have Amazon music and so they also send a sort of cheap knockoff of Spotify wrapped at the end of the year. So, I will say,

Amanda:

Great, perfect. Negative points for you.

Amanda:

Sure.

Tim:

I do not have my listening age, which I know is a big thing this year. Yeah, I don’t have mine. I will say my daughter, who’s a senior, has a listening age of 22. So I’m very, very close with that. And then my son who listens to a lot of really old like jazz records has a listening age of 87.

Amanda:

That’s the thing I was most excited about.

Amanda:

Hmm?

Tim:

So that did not work out quite as well for him, but that’s okay. But my top genre was indie rock. My top five artists in order were Maggie Rogers at number one, and then The Wombats, then Kendrick Lamar, Manchester Orchestra, and number five was The Beaches. I’m excited about all of Yeah, I thought it was a good sort of encapsulation of everything I listened to because I looked at it and I was all excited. I was like, yeah, this seems right. This seems accurate. So that was good.

Oh, and then podcasts too. Do we want to talk about podcasts also? Okay. So I have multiple basketball podcasts that I love. if anybody wants to talk me up with those, we can go into detail, but I don’t think most of our listeners are into basketball. So we’ll skip that.

Amanda:

Nobody cares.

Tim:

Then I also have a running podcast called Nobody Asked Us with Des Linden, Kara Goucher, a couple of awesome runners that I love, love listening to them every week. And then I have two, cause I like to nerd out on, you know, sustainability and environmental things. one is called shift key and one is called volts. And that kind of helps me keep up with everything that’s going on in those worlds. So.

Not the hippest, coolest, most exciting podcast, but that is what I listen to. So Amanda, what about you?

Amanda:

Yeah, okay. Well, here’s the thing. My top genre was also indie rock. And my listening age was 28. And I feel like we have, I feel like we have similar tastes. So I feel like your listening age is probably also around 30, which means we’re both cool, I think. Like cool, but not trying to be too cool. Do know what I mean? Because I just turned 40, right? So like, I don’t want to have a listening age of like 16. But 28 feels good to me.

Tim:

It feels a little young. I’m mid 40s and so yeah, that feels a little young for but it’s fine. If you want to think that I am cool, like I’m not gonna fight you on it.

Amanda:

Yeah, I do. Okay, my top three artists are also the Wombats. Tim introduced me to the Wombats a long time ago. And listen, they just released an album this year, which is probably why it’s in my top. It’s called Oh! The ocean. And if you also like songs with titles like Sorry, I’m late, I didn’t want to come. And realities a wild ride. You should check it out. I feel like it’s very of the times.

Tim:

Yeah, yeah, no, it is a great album. listened to it. That’s why they’re number two on my list. I listened to that a lot this year. So all right, what else?

Amanda:

It’s just great. It’s a great album.

Yeah. It was good. Other top artists for me included Florence and the Machine and Bourns. I actually don’t know how to pronounce Bourns because it’s like an O with a slash through it. is that like an Oomlaut? Is it like burn? Like, I don’t know. But I really love Bourns. Okay. And then my I didn’t go I didn’t write down my top five and I forget what the other two are. But my top podcasts were We’re Here to Help, which is do not listen to it with your children. But it’s just like silly people just call in similar to the mailbag people call in but with like ridiculous problems. And Jake Johnson from New Girl, which is my favorite show and then a comedian friend of his try to give them advice as though they’re like two uncles sitting in a bar like two old uncles. That’s the premise of the show.

Tim:

That’s a good one.

Amanda:

And then I love search engine, which is PJ Volt who used to do not volt PJ actually, I don’t know how you say his last name. He says it every time I’m now I’m, I’m blanking anyway, it’s PJ from reply all which was my favorite show before it went away and they just dive into like internet culture, like tech topics. Also sometimes just big questions of the world. It’s really good. So anyway,

Yeah, don’t play any of that in your classroom. Let’s talk about…

Tim:

Yeah, let’s talk about what we actually do in the classroom and the thoughts on music. So to answer, spent way too much time on the extra credit portion of this question, but going back to the actual question, thoughts on music in the classroom.

Amanda:

I mean, I don’t know if I’m qualified to answer this question because or maybe I’m just an outlier. taught elementary and I never played music in my classroom. It was so overstimulating for me in general to be a teacher that then adding the music did not do it for me. It also I think was another thing to manage. Some kids like the music, some kids don’t like the music, some kids could work with music on some couldn’t.

Tim:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I think sometimes we feel like we should play music or many art teachers do play music, but if you need to hear that it’s fine not to, it’s fine not to, you know? Yeah. And the question of what music is good for kids to listen to and why is tricky because honestly, each kid is different, but I do know that teachers handle things in different ways. I feel like there’s been a shift away from bring your own device to school, which

Tim:

It absolutely is fine to avoid this, yes.

Amanda:

I’m in favor of. My kids’ school does not allow devices, which I love. Right. They don’t even have them to bring. But anyway, I just like it. But I know some high school teachers will let kids listen to their own music in headphones during studio work time. Excuse me. Some teachers let students contribute to a collaborative playlist. So everybody sort of has a say.

Tim:

I was going to say so many schools don’t let that fly anymore.

Amanda:

Some let students listen to music as a reward. Sometimes it’s only during an art party. So it can look a variety of different ways. And I would say if you’re interested in it, think about what might work for you personally and what you’re willing to tolerate. And maybe start there and do some experimenting. But what are your thoughts,

Tim:

Yeah, I always enjoyed music in the classroom. I think one thing that works really well, like you just mentioned, is a collaborative playlist. want to shout out Jen Russell. She was the first person I heard doing this where she just lets kids, you know, add to a shared Spotify playlist, make sure they listen to clean versions of whatever music. And then each of her periods has their own playlist. She just puts that on.

And, you know, she explains it really well, like all the reasoning behind it. But basically if you don’t like the song, like your song’s probably coming up pretty soon. So that’s, that’s kind of a cool thing. me personally, I didn’t want to listen to what the kids listen to. So I just listened to whatever I wanted to listen to. Like this is what’s on. but I usually would put on oldies like music from like the sixties and seventies because, it’s catchy enough that they can kind of enjoy it, even if it’s not what they would listen to on their own. But it’s, it’s not offensive and it’s, it’s catchy and fun and worked really well and I still enjoyed it.

And there are times where I would just put on like jazz music or classical music, something without any lyrics. So it just kind of fades into the background. And you know, if you have like a very calming string quartet CD, you know, whatever the case may be. Like that can actually have a calming effect on your classroom depending on how things are going, depending on how the kids react. So I like doing that at times, but like you said, there’s nothing wrong with not playing music at all. And I think that’s fine. And you make a good case for that where…

Amanda:

Mm-hmm.

Tim:

You know, if you’re overstimulated as a teacher with everything that’s going on, you know kids are going to be overstimulated as well. And so if you don’t want to add one more thing, if you don’t want to take care of one more thing, then that’s fine. But I don’t think there’s a wrong way to do music, but I would definitely say it takes some trial and error to figure out what works for you, what works for your classroom and your kids.

Amanda:

Yep. Definitely. Yeah. And just obviously preview the lyrics. I think that’s the number one, right? Just, just think about that.

Tim:

Yep, I think that’s good. And yeah, just just try it out and see see what works for him. Next question is from Tessa in Virginia. And Tessa says, I teach advanced drawing and painting and a couple sections of AP so my students need good materials. I would love advice on how to talk to administrators about art supplies. They hear expensive, but don’t always understand quality and longevity. How do you make that case effectively?

So I like this, Amanda, how do you talk to administrators about getting good materials when all they hear is the word expensive?

Amanda:

I love this question. Good materials are expensive, right? I mean, so I would focus on what exactly better materials can do for the students. So this could be an email, you could set up a meeting, but I would approach it instead of I want these students for my sorry, I want these materials for my students, approaching it from like, I would like the students to have these materials because this is what it can do. So

Obviously, it’s going to allow them to create higher quality work. I think a side by side comparison of work created with low quality materials versus high quality materials can go a long way because if you don’t know art, you don’t really know, right? You think any colored pencil is a colored pencil, which we all know if AP students had, don’t know, rose art. Does rose art even make colored pencils?

Tim:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I don’t know. But you know what I mean versus a Prisma color or something even higher quality, there’s going to be a definite difference in the finished product. I think also making the case, think administrators do kind of like competition. so allowing your school students to compete fairly against other students using high quality materials for AP scoring might be a good tactic to use.

And then it allows them to truly build their skills in as as an advanced art student. maybe draw a comparison to other AP courses with advanced equipment. Like you probably at your school have like nice science equipment, right? Or an expensive math textbook. It’s the same thing. We wouldn’t expect students to use materials that are commonly found in an elementary classroom, you know, to make a high quality piece.

Now, can you do interesting things with low quality materials? Absolutely. Yes, you can. But that’s a different discussion and not what was asked here. And then my last tip would be give them a few solutions so it’s really easy for them to say yes. Rather than going in and saying, I need higher quality materials, what does that actually mean? What are you actually asking for? So I would like a budget increase of 10%, which would allow me to purchase the following supplies.

Or I’m starting a donors choice fundraiser, could it be shared in the weekly school communication? Or I have priced out three different plans here, A, B, and C. A is my preferred, here’s what I could get. Like do the work upfront and have a clear example of what you’re asking for. So it’s really easy for them to say like, yes, I can do that or no, I can’t or come back to you, you know, with their thoughts on it, rather than just like this general ask for better supplies, like make it as easy as possible for them to have that discussion with you.

Tim:

Yeah, that’s great advice. I would just add on to that to, know, Tessa said something about longevity. And if you can make that argument of, if I get this really nice marker set, you know, I don’t need to buy markers for my advanced kids for the next four or five years. You know, if I get this really good set of colored pencils, like it is a good way to make sure that things are lasting a lot longer. And I think that can be really effective.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Tim:

To echo a couple of your points, I think that that work comparison is the most effective. Like this is what this drawing looks like with these materials versus these materials. And if they can visibly see the difference, I think that works. I remember one time I had my principal come in just, you know, doing a random walkthrough right after I had done a budget request and I had him come try out materials. We’re like, Hey, here, here color with this colored pencil.

Amanda:

Mm-hmm. That’s so smart.

Tim:

Now color with this one and he was like, that’s like butter. Exactly. And then I had showed him like, hey, here’s the cheap acrylic and how well it covers. And then if you paint with this better acrylic and like you can visibly see the difference. he’s like, that makes a lot of sense. And so that was, that was helpful. I don’t know if that’s replicable for everybody, but just having them try those things out and just visibly see what the difference is.

And a lot of times when you some points and I think honestly just making the argument that like I am the expert in my subject area. Like I have the expertise of what my kids need and this is what they need. And you know, sometimes that argument is going to work. Sometimes it won’t, but you know, the. The administrator can trust you as a professional to make the decisions that are best for your classroom, and I think that’s an effective argument sometimes.

Amanda:

Yep, absolutely.

Tim:

Okay, question number three, this is an anonymous question and it says, I’m in undergrad right now and looking for advice from everywhere about where to go next. How did you decide what grade level to teach and how did you know that was the right decision? Or do you know? I don’t think I prefer to teach elementary or middle. There’s nothing wrong necessarily. I just enjoy more in-depth criteria regarding art.

And I just want to say thank you for the new teacher podcast episodes. They’ve made me feel so much more prepared for my student teaching next semester. That’s very nice. I appreciate hearing that for sure.

Amanda:

Yeah. Thanks for listening. We want to encourage you in your undergrad. You’re doing it. That’s exciting. So I think the question here is a few parts. First, how do you decide what level to teach? How do you know if you’ve made the right decision? And then do you have to feel guilty about preferring certain levels? That was not asked directly, but I feel like that question is embedded in here.

Tim:

Yes, I would agree.

Amanda:

So first I would say no, you don’t have to be guilty about preferring certain levels. I’m very much an elementary art teacher. I know that about myself. It’s where I feel most in my element. Could I teach other levels and be successful? Absolutely. I was great in the middle school classroom when I was doing my student teaching, but there’s something that I can’t even put my finger on about elementary that I love. Their willingness to try new things, experiment, and be silly. And a lot of them like coming to school. And I don’t know. mean, then there’s the opposite where it’s like, they don’t know how to tie their shoes or use a pair of scissors or, you know, whatever. Have I had pee on my floor? Yes. but I don’t know, I wouldn’t trade any of that, but I would assume Tim that you would probably say the opposite.

Tim:

Yes and no. Like I, I really loved teaching elementary, but I love teaching high school even more. And so I, I think it’s just something that’s inherent. which I don’t know, it feels like a cop out to answering this question, but it’s something that you just know. Like you, you just know, like I am better with high school kids.

Amanda:

Yeah, I think too, it could change. You know, I think now, fresh out of high school, I knew I didn’t want it. I’m sorry, fresh out of college, I knew I didn’t want to teach high school. Could I teach it now? Like, yes, I think I’d be more comfortable there. But even still, I don’t want to. But I do think you could be open to it shifting. But it sounds like you kind of know what you like and what you like to teach. And that’s okay.

Tim:

Yeah, and I was the same way coming out of college. I knew I wanted to teach high school. I wanted to work with kids every day, you know, not just see them every seventh day or part of an eight day rotate. I want to see them every day. I want to work with them over time and help them develop skills and create that advanced work. And being able to do that is an opportunity that only comes over time with older kids. And so I really, really want to teach high school.

Amanda:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Tim:

I did elementary first because there were no high school jobs. and I did grade elementary. I loved elementary, but when a high school position opened up, that’s where I wanted to be. And once I got there, I felt like this is, this is where I’m meant to be. So,

Amanda:

Right.

Yep. Yeah. Well, that’s a good lead into sort of how do you decide what level to teach and how do know if you’ve made the right decision? Because that can be complicated because even if you know you want to teach a certain grade level, that opportunity might not be available right now. and you know, the job market is different all over the country. We hear a lot about teacher shortages, but still in art it’s more specialized.

Tim:

Right.

Amanda:

You know, you might not be able to find exactly what you want. So I would maybe flip the question and figure out if you have any non-negotiables. So where I live, we have schools that are K2 and then three, five, and they’re split. So if that’s where you are, maybe you know, I absolutely cannot work at a K2 school, right? Or I’m open to anything else. but other things to think about are how far you’re willing to commute, right? For your preferred grade levels. Are you willing to drive an hour to teach high school? Maybe.

Tim:

Right.

Amanda:

but maybe there’s something closer to home. So it’s a multifaceted question that takes some consideration.

Tim:

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I don’t know what the job market looks like right now, but when I was applying for jobs, I was not able to be choosy. Like, yes, I can have my preferences, but I will take whatever is available. And so, you know, that’s going to play into it as well. And the job you have at first is not the job you have forever. Like there, there are options out there and there will be more things in the future. And you may get in somewhere and find that you love it and, your preferences, like you said, Amanda can, can change over time and, know, where you start is not where you’re going to end up necessarily.

Amanda:

Yep. And I would say once you start, I would try not to judge it by your first year only. Because no matter where you are, or what you’re doing, you’re going to have a lot on your plate and a lot to think about. So I would give it two years before making any major decisions about if you’re in the right spot or right grade level. But I guess my caveat would be if there’s something super egregious, of course, listen to your God, you know, but you’re going to have first year challenges wherever you are.

So I’d let it settle a little bit before deciding like, yes, this is ultimately what I want to be doing.

Tim:

Great advice. Next question is from Alex in New Mexico. And the question is why with lots of the letter Y at the end of that, why is it so hard to come back to school after breaks? I know I’ll be struggling to get back into teaching and get back to having flow in my classroom in the first weeks of January. I would love any advice for me and for my kids. For me, how do I put on an excited face even when I’m not excited to be back in front of the class?

For my kids, what are some things I can do, maybe lessons or maybe just other activities that are good to start off the semester?

Amanda:

I mean, in my notes for this question, I just put the shrug emoji guy that’s made out of, you know, I think, I think fake it till you make it. Honestly. I mean, you have to be there, right? So you need to make the best of it. I think that one tip I have is,

Tim:

That’s honestly, that’s how everybody’s feeling as we’re going back to school this week.

Amanda:

out of the classroom schedule, something to look forward to a few weeks after school is back in session. So we’ve just come off the holidays. I feel like there can be this sort of lull, whether the holidays are good for you or bad for you. There’s a lot of anticipation. How is it going to go? Where do we have to be? You know, all of that. And so there’s sort of a letdown, even if it was good for you.

Tim:

Yeah.

Amanda:

after the holidays. so scheduling something a few weeks after school is back in session dinner with a friend, a concert, a special outing. My family is going to see Hamilton in a few weeks, which I’m excited about. I’ve never, never seen it live. even getting a special treat, whatever it is so that you have something to look forward to that is not school, I think can go a long way and sort of boosting your mood and giving you something to look forward to. and then in the classroom, I would make things as easy as you can for yourself. So low prep, no stress projects. This won’t help because this is going to be released way after it’s helpful for you, but maybe for next year. As an elementary teacher, I often left projects in progress rather than trying to wrap everything up.

I that might be controversial, I don’t know. But that way I could just jump back into the middle of a project. So didn’t have to teach anything new. Now, obviously, if you’re teaching secondary, and you have a new group of students, that is not going to work for you. But if you do have a class that spans the break, that can be nice. And then I think my last piece of advice is just, it’s the start of the semester. So even if you have the same kids, think of it as a second start of the year.

Tim:

Right.

Amanda:

If you need to think about revisiting procedures, routines, easy projects, activities. Come to the NOW Conference if you need a dose of positivity, enjoy your learning.

So I think that that’s how I would tackle that.

Tim:

Yeah, I love that. I would just say, you know, don’t don’t dwell on it too much. Don’t think too hard about it, but just like what do you enjoy about teaching? You know what? What is your favorite thing to teach like your favorite material? Teach do that like get started with something that you enjoy that you love sharing with kids that you really like to put out there because that can can make you feel a little bit better about it and just simplifying to you know, just.

You know, if you want all of your classes to be working with the same materials so you don’t have to prep that much, go for it. You know, if you want to skip grading this project, you know, I’m not going to tell anybody like that’s fine. I’m going to go for it. you know, not everything has to be great. If you want to just put that off for another week, you can, you can probably do that. And Amanda, I love your idea of giving yourself something to look forward to outside of school. And you know, I have the same idea of just concentrating on things outside of school because if you’re feeling better outside of school, you’re going to feel better when you’re there. And so if that means, you know, making sure that you’re making it to the gym or making sure you’re spending more time with family or eating better, whatever, you know, try and focus on those things and included with that is setting boundaries at school. Make sure that you’re not going to show up early. Like things will get done and it’ll make sure that you’re not going to stay late because you need to get home.

And if you can focus on life outside of school, that’s, that’s going to help. And I think your students are going to be excited to, to be there for, for the most part, you know, some of your high school kids will be cranky, but some of them will be excited. But if you can find those kids who are excited and just sort of feed off that energy and kind of reciprocate that, then that can make you feel better as well. And so it’s obviously not easy to go back. If you’re listening to this on day two of your return to school, it’s not.

Easiest time to be there, but there are things that you can look forward to there are parts of your job that I know you love and Just focus on those and that’s gonna make you feel a lot better as we’re sort of getting back into the routines of things and getting back into As I said the the flow of the classroom take a little while to get there, but you can do that

Amanda:

Can I say one more thing? Because the Art of Ed actually has a whole slew of things to help you ease back into the school year. It’s called Color Year Year. And so you might have seen this at the beginning of the school year, but there’s a part two that’s out. So maybe we can link to that in the show notes. But basically, there’s an encouraging message, and there’s a bunch of free resources, including the second half of an art teacher.

Tim:

Yes.

Amanda:

planner. It has a bunch of cool stuff in it. It has reminders about community events, other free resources. And so we’ll link you to that too, in case you could use a little pick me up.

Tim:

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, great idea. We’ll make sure that that’s easy for everybody to find. Alright, our final question for the day. This is from Sarah and Sarah says, what are your favorite early finisher activities for high school?

Amanda:

Okay, I feel like, Tim, I think I’m done for the day. I don’t know. Sketchbooks, three projects at a time, jobs. I know you have some ideas. Do want to share them?

Tim:

I do have some ideas. My biggest idea is to not let your kids be early finishers. I know this always gets a million questions when I bring it up, but I always have three projects going at once. So kids always have something to work on. There’s a really old article from, I don’t know, a decade ago that kind of outlined this.

Amanda:

Hahaha

Tim:

But I always have sketchbook work going. I always have kids working on a choice project. And then I always have kids working on an assigned project. And you can decide who’s doing what on which days. But if they’re done with one thing or even done with two things, there’s still something else that they can be working on. And that takes a little bit of time to get that routine established and get them to remember, oh, hey, I have these other things that I can be working on. But as long as there are always options available, I think

That’s the easiest way to go about things. If you don’t feel like putting all of that effort into one front load, you know, three different projects at once, sketchbook prompts are great. Just have a couple printable lists of projects. I know we have multiple ones from the art of ed with sketchbook prompts, all different ideas there. Just find those, have those available in your classroom and just let the kids choose one and work on it.

Creativity challenges, anything like that can kind of keep them busy, keep them working and keep them doing creative things I think can be really helpful. Amanda, you mentioned jobs. Like what are you thinking with jobs to keep it?

Amanda:

Like in the elementary classroom, sometimes kids would love to wash paint brushes or test markers or organize stuff or pass back artwork or I don’t know, just help with the maintenance of the classroom.

Tim:

Yeah, no, I think that can work. I would say there are a lot fewer kids in high school than want to do those things, but you can still find kids who are willing to. OK, everybody still loves testing markers. So if that’s a job they can’t no matter like again, we were in our 40s. I think you and I would love to test the markers right now if we could. other jobs, if you can find the right kids, they will happily organize your colored pencils or clean your paint brushes or test your markers.

Amanda:

Yeah, of course. It’s great.

I love testing markers.

Tim:

you know, organize your papers, whatever the case may be. So that’s a good option too, depending on what kids you have and what they’re interested in. So I would say that’s an option as well. But I will link to the sketchbook prompts, of course, but also link to the ideas about three projects happening at once. So if you want to dive into that, I’ll give you an in-depth explanation of how that can be done, how you can adapt that for your classroom. So we’ll share that as well.

All right, Amanda, anything else you want to share? Anything else you want to talk about before we wrap things up?

Amanda:

If you haven’t signed up for the conference, now’s the time. It’s coming. Do that. Come hang out with us later this month. We didn’t even mention this, but we’re giving away over $10,000 in cash and prizes from us and our generous sponsors and tons of great learning. think Austin Kleon is going to have a message that will really, you we just got done talking about inspiration and how do you

Tim:

Do that, yes.

Amanda:

Stay excited for the second half of the school year and I think he’s going to really speak to that. So don’t miss it and come hang out. We’d love to see you.

Tim:

Yeah, a lot to look forward to and we would love to have you there. So Amanda, thank you so much for answering questions. Always fun to do the mailbag with you.

Amanda:

Yep, thanks for having me.