The June Mailbag: Differentiation, Creative Ruts, and Students Who Keep You Guessing (Ep. 520)

Welcome to the June mailbag episode of Art Ed Radio! Host Tim Bogatz is joined by Amanda Heyn, AOE’s Director of Community Engagement, to dive into listener questions that are hitting close to home for art teachers heading into summer. From navigating classrooms with wildly different skill levels to making the case to administration that your booming ceramics program needs more support, it’s a fun and interesting conversation. They also tackle the difference between burnout and creative stagnation, why that distinction matters, as well as suggestions for working with talented students who just don’t care.

Full episode transcript below.

Resources and Links

• Come join the Art of Ed Community!
• 4 Ways to Differentiate in the Art Classroom
• 8 Things to Do When Teaching Is Taking a Toll on You
• Learn more about (and register for!) the Art Ed NOW Conference
• Advocating for Art Education (Ep. 443)

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.

Welcome to June. Welcome to the June mailbag for art teachers—and welcome to summer! We are very happy for you. Joining me for the mailbag, as always, is Amanda Heyn. Amanda, how are you?

Amanda: Great! I’m so happy that it’s summer.

Tim: Yeah, and your kids are home for the summer?

Amanda: They are home. We’re trying something new. Usually I rent an office for the summer, but I’m hoping they’re old enough that I don’t have to do that this year. We have an amazing nanny who just graduated with an elementary education degree—which is the dream—so they will be supervised. But I will be here. We’ll see how it goes!

Tim: Perfect. Best of luck! Well, one of my kids just graduated—I was going to mention that. She has an internship slash job this summer. A paid internship. She makes it very clear she’s not going to work for free, which is very much a generational thing. I’m proud of her for that. And then my son is doing cross country camp, cross country training, and summer school, so he’s going to be pretty busy. But they are both old enough now to drive themselves wherever they need to go, which makes my life so much easier in the summertime.

Amanda: So amazing.

Tim: For those who are new to the podcast—welcome! My name is Tim Bogatz. I was an art teacher for a very long time, both at the elementary and high school levels. Now I work full time for The Art of Education University. I host this podcast and also help run the Art Ed NOW Conference, which is coming up in just a couple of months. Amanda, would you like to introduce yourself?

Amanda: Yes! My name is Amanda Hein. I’m the Director of Community Engagement at AOEU. I oversee the team that handles all of our media, the conference, and the community. I was also an elementary art teacher.

Tim: Now, Amanda, I’d love for you to tell us about all the exciting things coming up in the community over the next few weeks.

Amanda: Yes! There is a lot happening this summer in the community. If you’re not there yet, get your typing fingers ready: the address is community.theartofeducation.edu. It’s completely free to join. June’s theme is “Treat Yourself”—for all of our Parks and Rec fans out there. We do not, unfortunately, have fine leather goods. But we do have a new event called Tuesday Treats, which is just an art-making hangout. Come hang out with us for 30 minutes and bring whatever you’re working on. During the school year we do Art Club and Pop-Up Studio in the evenings, and those are still happening—but we thought people might want to come hang out during the day in the summer too. When you get into the community, look on the left-hand side, go to Events and Replays, and RSVP. We would love to see you.

We also have Art Club on June 11th at 6 p.m. Central, with a new sponsor: Make Do!

Tim: You have to be excited about Make Do.

Amanda: I could not be more excited. For those of you who don’t know, Make Do makes cardboard cutters that are extremely safe for kids, plus a cardboard fastener system—little screws that work beautifully. My own kids are obsessed with cardboard making. We actually had a Make Do birthday party where it was just a cardboard fort party. I’m a huge fan, and I’m going to fully fangirl about having them at our event. Please come hang out with us!

We also have a Lunch Bunch live stream at 11:30 a.m. Central on June 26th—come eat lunch with us! And I almost forgot: Pop-Up Studio is Wednesday, June 17th at 6 p.m. That’s an hour of making art together. We also give away a prize at Art Club and Pop-Up Studio, if you need a little extra incentive.

Tim: I love it. And just a couple of other exciting announcements: The Art Ed NOW Conference is coming up in just a few months. Oliver Jeffers—illustrator of The Day the Crayons Quit and about a million other books—is going to be our featured presenter. The full schedule is up on the Art of Education website, so check it out and register. And next week, Austin Kleon is going to be on the podcast. He has a new book out called Don’t Call It Art, and I sat down with him for an interview that I cannot wait to share. He is genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve ever talked to. Make sure you tune in next week.

Amanda: A lot of exciting news!

Tim: There really is. Okay, do you have any stories to share? Or should I start story time?

Amanda: Go for it.

Tim: So as I mentioned, my daughter just graduated, and she was actually a speaker at the ceremony. She did a great job—very positive, very uplifting. We’re very proud of her. We also had a somewhat elaborate graduation party, because my wife loves planning graduation parties. But honestly, the best part was that everyone got to see my pollinator gardens all over the yard. I was able to give out plants and seeds to people who were excited, and my daughter—who is really into sustainability and the environment—was very happy that we were doing a little education and outreach at her graduation party. What about you, Amanda? What’s going on in your life?

Amanda: Well, the poison ivy is out of control and I’m just ignoring it. I’ll deal with it eventually. But I did plant a perennial herb garden that I’m very excited about. For anyone who, like me, has to relearn this every year: “perennial” means they come back year after year. I planted lavender, sage, chives, lemon balm, mint, oregano, and rosemary. And we’ve got our raised garden beds going with tomatoes and other vegetables. But what I really want to talk about for story time is Vaseline.

Tim: Is this because of the social clip we put together?

Amanda: Yes! So we talked about the communal Vaseline tub last time on the show. I said it was gross, and then people got very upset with me because apparently this is a very common thing that I just didn’t know about. For anyone else who was horrified: it’s not that horrifying. It’s usually teacher-controlled, and they dole out tiny bits of Vaseline with clean Q-tips. So I apologize to the Vaseline tub community. I did not understand. Sounds like a wonderful service to provide for your students!

I also have to mention that my older son is working on a samurai helmet made out of cardboard and a custom face mask made out of plaster strips—for school. I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be awesome.

And can we give people a sneak peek of the kickoff for the Art Ed NOW Conference? My blazer arrived this week.

Tim: Yes, let’s do it. So for those who aren’t familiar: the first day of every Art Ed NOW Conference is the Art Making Kickoff. The first half we play a game, the second half is an hour of art making that everyone is welcome to join. We’ve done Family Feud, The Price Is Right, the Pyramid, trivia—all kinds of things. Amanda, would you like to tell people what we’re doing this summer?

Amanda: Yes! And I want to give Tim full credit because this was his idea. In the spirit of The Great British Bake Off, we are doing the Great Art Ed Make Off! Tim is obviously going to be Paul, I’m going to be Prue, and Jen is going to be Noel—because Jen is Noel in her soul. We are also going to share how you can bring the Great Art Ed Make Off into your own classroom. I am so excited.

Tim: It is going to be awesome. Amanda has already deep-dived on costumes and plans. We cannot wait.

Amanda: Okay, now let’s open up the mailbag.

Tim: Our first question is from Bree in Connecticut. Bree says: “I got hired at a new school and just found out they do not allow teachers to have microwaves, mini fridges, coffee makers, or any other appliances in their rooms. Apparently teachers have tried to sneak them in and gotten in trouble. Is this weird? I’d appreciate insight into why this might be a rule, and advice on how to make it work for my morning and afternoon coffee—and my lunch.”

Amanda: I think that policy is very understandable. Many schools have it because of liability issues and energy costs. If every teacher has a refrigerator in their room, that’s a significant energy drain. And even if you would be completely responsible with an appliance, you have kids in your room. You can’t guarantee safety around things that get hot.

Tim: Yeah, and Bree asked—is it weird? I honestly don’t think it is. It happens in a lot of schools. I’ve been in older buildings where if someone tried to run a microwave in their classroom, they’d trip the breaker for the entire hallway. It may feel like a lack of trust in teachers, but it’s really more of a liability and infrastructure issue.

Amanda: I’ve actually never worked in a building where I was allowed to have an appliance. I just used the microwave and fridge in the teacher’s lounge. I’m also a very weird adult who doesn’t drink coffee, so that was never a problem for me personally. For lunch, I’d say: pack a sandwich, use an insulated lunch bag, and head to the lounge if you need to heat something up. Or invest in a high-quality thermos—there are some that keep things remarkably hot these days. For coffee, I’d go with a really good insulated travel mug. And honestly, talk to the other teachers in the building, because this can’t be a problem only you are facing.

Tim: Exactly. Don’t go into the school year with a fixed mindset about it. Just see what other teachers are doing and adapt as the year gets started. The teacher’s lounge may not be your first choice, but it works. And Bree—please follow up and let us know what solution you landed on!

Amanda: Yes! We want to know.

Tim: Our next question is from Rachel in Oregon. Rachel says: “Hi, I’ve been teaching 6th through 8th grade art for about six years and I love it, but I’m really struggling with how to handle the wide range of skill levels in a single class. I’ll have students who’ve been taking private lessons for years sitting right next to students who have never picked up a paintbrush. My lessons end up feeling either too easy for the advanced kids or totally overwhelming for beginners. I’ve tried to differentiate, but it’s exhausting to essentially plan three different lessons at once. How do you manage that gap without burning yourself out or leaving students behind?”

Amanda: Such a great reflective question. And yes, you need to differentiate—but planning three separate lessons is not sustainable for anyone. My biggest tip would be to design one lesson with built-in levels of choice. For example, I once did a project with middle schoolers called Pop Art Pets. Students chose a pet or favorite animal, did a line drawing, and painted multiple copies using different color schemes—kind of like Andy Warhol’s series work. The goal was to practice acrylic painting: mixing paint, brush technique, and so on. To differentiate, I let students either draw or trace, and I let them choose to create two, three, or four copies. They could also go as wild as they wanted with color schemes—some did monochromatic, some did split complementary. They were all practicing the same core skill, but they could scale the difficulty of everything around it.

Another approach: create a base project that most students can be successful with, and then add extension opportunities. You’re not designing three different projects—you’re designing one project with different on-ramps and runways.

Tim: That’s exactly it. Figure out the core skill you want everyone to practice, start there, and then build extensions upward. Let’s say you’re doing an observational drawing. What are the essential skills—proportions, composition, detail, shading? That’s your baseline. Then think about what upper-level students can add: more values, closer attention to detail, color, background, depth. Frame it as: here’s the baseline, here are the extensions. You’re meeting different levels without tripling your prep.

Tim: Our next question comes from Stephanie in Vermont. Stephanie says: “I’ve been at my school for 13 years and I’ve always prided myself on a well-organized, project-based curriculum. But lately I feel like I’m just going through the motions. My lessons feel stale and I’m not as excited as I used to be. It doesn’t feel like burnout exactly—more like creative stagnation. I’m not sure how to reinvigorate my own practice as an artist, or whether that would even help. Have you ever hit a wall like this, and what did you do to get your spark back?”

Amanda: I would push back a little on the framing here. Creative stagnation can absolutely be a sign of burnout. Don’t dismiss it. Decreased motivation and not enjoying things as much as you used to are classic burnout symptoms, clinically speaking.

Tim: That was my first thought too. Before anything else, reflect honestly on your year—ask yourself the hard questions. Do you need a real break, or do you need a refresh? And Stephanie asked whether reinvigorating her own art practice would help. I absolutely think it would. If you have time this summer to make art for yourself—without worrying about the classroom—take it. Even 10 or 15 minutes a few times a week can make a real difference.

I want to share something from my own experience. I felt very much the same way around year 14. What helped me was teaching something I had never taught before. I learned to do batik, and I learned slip casting with clay, and I went into those projects right alongside my students. I told them: “I don’t know exactly what I’m doing here, but it seems fun—let’s figure it out together.” Sometimes we got great results. Sometimes terrible ones. But it was enough to get me genuinely excited again. Also—and this connects to next week’s Austin Kleon interview—think about your creative inputs. The things you take in can directly shape what you create. Looking for inspiration in new places can unlock new ideas.

Amanda: I’d offer a slightly different perspective: maybe take the pressure off making art entirely. Sometimes the anxiety of feeling like you should be doing something—and not being able to fit it in—makes things worse. It’s okay to just let that go for a bit and marinate in new experiences. They don’t even have to be art-related. Try a new restaurant. Go see a movie. Take a walk somewhere unfamiliar. Visit a botanical garden or a small art market. Just absorb new things.

If you do want to make something, I’d invite you to join our summer art-making events in the AOEU Community—Art Club, Pop-Up Studio, and our new Tuesday Treats sessions. You can even just come and listen to what other people are working on. Before I started running the community, I genuinely never made my own art. Now I have a full sketchbook, and I find myself turning to it even outside of community events. It has made a real difference.

Tim: I love that. And the idea of just stepping away from art-making and letting new experiences fill the well is equally valid. A little creative marinade goes a long way.

Tim: Next question is from Melissa in Colorado. Melissa says: “Three years ago I inherited a ceramics program that had been neglected for years—the kiln was barely functioning, the clay supply was a mess, and there was no real curriculum in place. I’ve spent the past three years rebuilding it from scratch, which has been rewarding, but now I’m facing a new challenge: I have far more students who want to take ceramics than I have space and equipment for. There’s a long waitlist, and I feel guilty turning kids away from something they’re genuinely excited about. How do you handle a program that has grown beyond its capacity? How do you make the argument to administration that you need more support?”

Amanda: That sounds like an excellent problem to have! But I’ll let you start, Tim—I didn’t teach at the high school level.

Tim: Melissa, I have lived a very similar experience. I know how much work goes into revitalizing a program, and what you’ve accomplished is genuinely impressive.

Making the argument to administration? The waitlist is your argument. Show them: look at all of these students who want to take this class and can’t get in. Admin always wants data—there’s your data. Here is the number of students on the waitlist. Here is how many additional sections we could run. That’s a compelling case.

Amanda: I’d also suggest layering in a case about the skills your students are developing and why more kids should have access to your room. There’s a lot of momentum right now around the argument that making things with your hands teaches skills that technology simply cannot replace: problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, the ability to adapt and pivot. Those are exactly the skills students need for an unpredictable future. Pair that argument with your hard waitlist data, and you have a very strong case.

Tim: Absolutely. One other thing I did—and I’ll say the statute of limitations has passed on this—I used to quietly encourage waitlisted students to have their parents call the administration and express their frustration. My principal didn’t love it, but it was effective.

Amanda: I don’t think that’s nefarious. I think that’s smart!

Tim: Also worth exploring: some districts will pay teachers to give up a planning period and teach an extra section. Or, if that’s not an option, could you run an after-school art club as a workaround? See what compromises might exist. And if none of that works out: keep running a great program. You’re doing extraordinary things for the students who are in your classroom, and that matters enormously.

Amanda: Exactly. You can only control what you can control. Don’t carry guilt for something that isn’t in your hands.

Tim: Our final question is from Simone in Indiana. Simone says: “When you have a student who has plenty of natural talent but zero work ethic, how do you approach that conversation? I ask because I have an incoming freshman with exactly this issue. Her middle school teacher has already given me the heads up.”

Amanda: Okay, perhaps unpopular opinion: I don’t want that heads up. I want to know about IEPs, 504s, and significant safety concerns—absolutely. But “this kid is tricky” or “good luck with that one”? I’d rather discover that on my own. You don’t know how a student will respond to your teaching style or your personality. Kids have off years. They grow and mature at wildly different rates. Social dynamics shift. There are many factors that go into motivation.

Tim: And my least favorite version of this is when you mention a student to a colleague and they say, “She never does that for me,” or “He’s not like that in my class.” So many dynamics are at play—management style, subject matter, relationships. I’m with you on this one.

Amanda: So, setting aside how I feel about the heads-up: here’s how I’d actually approach it. I’d wait and see how it goes. And I’d immediately reframe “zero work ethic” as “hasn’t found the right inspiration yet.” I’d go in like a detective. What would make this kid want to work hard? I genuinely love these students. There’s something so interesting about a talented kid who is checked out—it’s like a puzzle. What subjects excite them? What do they do in their free time? Often, a personal connection to the work is what makes things click.

Many gifted students won’t perform to the best of their ability if they’re not invested—if it’s not their idea, or if they’re being required to do something in one specific way, because their brain is already operating beyond that constraint. They’re often just bored. So I would start by asking the student: what do you enjoy working on? How could I help you be successful in this class? They might have real answers for you.

Tim: Completely agree. “Zero work ethic” is a conclusion—and you haven’t met this kid yet. Go in curious instead. Ask yourself: what hasn’t clicked for this student yet? Maybe they’ve never been given work that felt truly theirs. Maybe they’ve never had a chance to bring their own voice to a project. And honestly, sometimes just the transition to high school is enough. Being in a room with juniors and seniors can shift a student’s whole attitude. If you have the freedom to give them some choice—what do you want to work on? What do you want to learn?—do that.

Amanda: Yes. And a personal story: my own son never follows the art assignment. He was asked to write his name in bubble letters and fill the background with patterns. He wrote his name very tiny, in the corner—then filled the entire page with binary code. Because, quote, “that is a computer pattern.” His art teacher is wonderful because she lets him go with it. If she forced him to do it the “right” way, he would disengage completely. But she has let his weird ideas fly, and he genuinely loves art class.

Do I receive things from Artsonia that are… unusual? Yes. The assignment was a Japanese silk painting of an animal. He chose leeches. I was volunteering at the school and helped hang the artwork—kitten, dolphin, puppy, leeches. That last one was mine. But the detail level was incredible. He worked really hard. It’s okay to let it get weird.

I’d also say: maybe this student doesn’t need to have a flawless work ethic in art class just because they’re talented. I’m not saying they get to sit back and do nothing in your classroom—that’s not what I mean. But pushing a gifted kid too hard, too fast, before you’ve built the relationship can breed resentment. Create the best environment you can for them to grow, and let the relationship develop first.

Tim: That’s so true. Every experienced teacher—especially at the high school level—has seen students who are talented at something but don’t love it. High school is the time for students to figure out what they’re actually passionate about. That might overlap with what they’re good at, or it might not. You can’t want it more than they do. Give them space to find their own way.

Tim: All right, that wraps up the June mailbag! Amanda, thank you as always. Anything you want to add before we go?

Amanda: Come hang out with us in the AOEU Community this summer. It is going to be such a good time.

Tim: Absolutely. So many great things ahead. Make sure you tune in next week for the Austin Kleon interview, sign up for the Art Ed NOW Conference, and we have a whole summer of wonderful things coming your way. We hope to see you around!