Your email*




Planning [Question]

Help with teaching k-12 art

Started on Nov 28, 2012 by Artmom2
Last post on Aug 17, 2015

For the past three yrs I have been teaching k-12art. I teach 13 classes a day. 3elem classes then switch to hs. 5 th hr I teach 4dif classes, 6 th hr I teach 4dif classes, and 7 th hr is 7th grade art, 8th hr is 8th grade art. any and all advice, help, suggestions are welcome

2 Keeps, 0 Likes, 5 Comments

  • ArtKat0508 12/19/2012 at 05:46am
    How long are your classes? 7 is the most I've done in a day. I have 18 classes a week this year, 6 each day. I make a box out of a copy box lid that is labeled with each type of class I teach (I have 6 general 6th, 7th, and 8th and honors 6th, 7th, and 8th) I keep all of the lesson handouts and supplies(when possible) in these bins. So everything is ready for the whole week.


  • Hope200 02/18/2013 at 01:40pm
    I don't know how you do the 4 different classes in each HS hour. That seems impossible. One thing that works for me, teaching 7 classes a day, is to have one day as an Art History day. I show one of the "Dropping in on" Artists series and the students then have 10 minutes to do their own rendition/creation.


  • mrsartmiller 03/22/2013 at 01:15am
    Hi! this is my first post here, but a subject that interests me greatly.
    This is my first year at this school. 3/4 time position, so all high school sections are smashed into two available art periods. (50 min long) I started the year teaching separate lessons to Art 1 and then Art 2/3 and my Art 4 was considered an Independent study. It was chaotic. They are now all working in clay, so we're all on the same page and I like it much better. I plan to change things up next year. I'm teaching fundamentals of drawing to the 8th grade at the end of this year and then for my high school classes, I'll focus on 1 medium per 9 weeks to really delve into each medium. We'll rotate through various mediums throughout the course of a few years. My elementary classes are either 30 minutes for K-3 and 45 minutes for 4-6. Also, 7th-8th is combined together and I see them only twice/week (we have 4 day weeks) My schedule is nuts and I'm working really hard at the end of this year to try to smooth it all out so the scope and sequence makes sense for this new set up of classes. Would love to see how others do it as well. Teaching Art 1-4 in sep classes just doesn't work for us anymore since they cut the program.


  • paintpeace 03/22/2013 at 02:10pm
    Holy smokes. I have never heard of 13 classes a day. With art supplies? That sounds really tough, to put it mildly. I taught pre- k through eighth for 5 years ( and pre-k-5th for 6 years before that, , and it was exhausting. I remember running from my preschool class to the 8 th grade and just sat down like I had whiplash and was losing my mind. My eighth graders were very compassionate., plus they had me for pre school that many years ago.
    SO, yes, agreed, Try to do a similar project for each clump: lower elementary, upper elementary, secondary. Or heck, do the same project with everyone! Portraits, still life, landscape, famous artist copy, found object, etc. They just do it at their level. And try the project first before you teach it. I learned that the hard way. What looked easy on paper...was another story for adolescents.


  • MrsLee 08/17/2015 at 05:53am
    I teach pre school to high school art in two days each week. I teach off a cart with my supplies being in the storage room off the stage. I have clear boxes, one for each class. Some projects take weeks and others a couple classes, so I'm typically preparing for only 3 classes out of the twelve per week. I find keeping track of attendance and working through missed projects the most frustrating.