Catch Up Day

I have been very preoccupied the last few months.  My last post was ages ago and did not involve much of about art education as I glossed over a quick visit to Detroit and family raku firing in the backyard.  So many things changed this summer that I have just now started to swim instead of tread water.

This weekend was my first weekend off in a very, very long time and I have truly been playing catch up.  Since July, I have done required wedding planning with my mom (apparently she doesn't find my procrastination productive), thrown together a last minute bachelorette party (long story), attended various family gatherings including a meeting of 'The Parents' and a grandmother's 85th birthday, taught a two week ceramic course to middle school students in the middle of a Michigan Forest, bottle fed and raised two abandoned kittens, moved to a different building in my district, cleaned out and prepared my room seven days before school started, did some major house projects, created and presented two professional development sessions at the state art teacher conference, and then spent some time in Texas getting my good friend married.

Now, this was just the big stuff that happened.  I have completely by passed all the little things that absorbed my weeknights till the wee hours of the morning. You're probably reading this and thinking, "Sounds like a normal Tuesday" but for me, its been a few years, really college since I have had this many working hours and on the least amount of sleep possible.  The nice thing about being this busy is that I appreciate my partner and life even more than before and it gets my creative juices flowing.  I have finally had the burst of creative thought I needed to start writing and illustrating my children's book.

So since today is my first day off in about three and a half months, I'm using it as my 'Catch Up Day', which is a technique that I use with my students in my classroom. I think scheduling a catch up day is an important skill to teach children.  Taking the time to reflect and realize you need some time to focus on projects or tasks that are unfinished I think makes them more independent.  I share stories with my students about how I schedule a 'Catch Up Day' for my own artwork and sometimes even life in general. It's good for them to see that going back to a project that isn't finished isn't going backward, it's revisiting those skills we learned and reaffirm our ability to use them.  Plus, lots of students need to develop some grit and the ability to stick with something even if they aren't good at or like it. The students are always enthusiastic about a 'Catch Up Day' because they think I say 'Ketchup'.  I am thinking about making a cute ketchup bottle that says 'Catch Up Day' like I'm sure you've seen on Pinterest.

One of the most challenging things I've found teaching elementary art is managing those students
who do not complete their work on the day that I plan for them.  When you teach over four hundred students, managing the coursework can be difficult.  How do you organize student's work between four sections of one grade level? What happens when one student works consistently slower than the rest of the class because of a learning challenge, extreme focus, or absences?  This is probably the biggest problem I struggled with last year, my first year teaching elementary art. So since moving to a new building and having my room to myself, once again, I made it one of my top priorities to be more diligent with keeping students up to date on projects.

I think I'm a pretty organized person, and teacher overall, however we all have our shortcomings and this was one of mine.  I created several methods of helping the students manage their own artwork and for me to have small check points to ensure they are completing their assignments.

Like when I taught middle school, I created a Turn-In Center for my elementary students.  This is where I have students turn in work and fill out self assessment sheets.  I have two plastic Steralite drawer containers that can hold 18" x 24" paper.  One of the drawers is labeled 'All Done' and the second drawer is labeled 'In Progress'.  At the end of the class period when artwork was to be completed, students place their completed projects in the 'All Done' drawer and those that did not finish put their work in the 'In Progress' drawer.  At the end of the day, I go through and sort out the classes, a little more work than some would be willing to do, but it helps me take note of who is finishing their work and who is not. I place the completed work into a class folder. The class folder holds a manila folder for each student.  We use the manila folder as a portfolio for each student's finished work.  At different times throughout the year, I'll have students pass work back with the portfolios and we put all completed work inside there. This keeps me organized for when the annual art show comes along and students have to pick out artwork and write an artist statement with parent volunteers.

Middle School Turn-in-Center bulletin board.

When we are working on projects that take two or three days and are 2-D, I store the work in construction paper folders that correspond to the table colors for quick work of passing out artwork.  I take those pieces that were placed in the 'In-Progress' drawer and review them.  I make note of who didn't finish and why, looking for any correlation from previous assignments.  Then, these works are placed in the class drawer where the table folders and portfolios are stored.  They are kept separate from completed pieces.  When I start to see there is a lot of unfinished work, I schedule a 'Catch Up Day' for the class or classes that needed it.  Those students who are finished with all their assignments are given a small art project that they can take home with them such as origami, making a tetrahedron, or even small weaving assignments.

Middle School Turn in Center table.

The images pictured here are of my current turn in system, as well as the turn in system I used when I taught middle school art.  I think these are both good starting spots for anyone who is challenged by late work and gathering completed assignments.  If anything, I hope it gets you thinking about how you organize your completed projects and handle unfinished ones as well.  Now onward to my own very long list of 'Catch Up Day' projects.

Happy Dabbling.