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I wanted to take a minute to explain the behavior expectations for when your children are in the Art room. I always express to students that the Art room is a shared space, and about 700 students use it each week. This means we have to make good use of the limited time we have together and make each class period as productive as possible, as well as take good care of our materials and equipment so everything will be ready for the next group of kids! Each classroom in our school begins the year by developing a list of expectations called an "Essential Agreement." This is IB terminology for behaviors each member of our class agrees are necessary for a functional and pleasant place to learn. I ask each student to sign their name to our Art Room Essential Agreement. This signature creates a contract between each student and the other members of the class. I explain to the students that it's like making a promise. When misbehaviors occur, I can remind each student of the promise he or she made to follow our expectations. In each class session, I select one student to honor for doing a particularly good job. Their reward is a cupcake sticker. Let me explain what cupcakes have to do with making art! It's all based on this rubric: I explain to students that making Art is like decorating cupcakes. Sometimes students turn in work that is like the first cupcake on this poster- it's not even finished. The next category is what we call the "sloppy cupcake". The student made minimal effort and did not take pride in their work. I describe the third cupcake as being "fine". It's finished, all the requirements have been met, but it's nothing special. This represents artwork that's good, but not great. The final category on the rubric is our "fancy cupcake." THIS represents the kind of work I'm looking for- work that goes above and beyond expectations! This quality of work is what I reward with a matching cupcake sticker. So if you see your child bring home a sticker like this, understand that it represents a job very well done! It's important that children understand that this reward is NOT based on talent or skill, it's earned through EFFORT. All students, even those who struggle with Art and may not have a lot of natural talent, will earn a cupcake sticker at least once each year. I make sure that every student in the class is honored one time before any student earns a second sticker. As you may know, Hendrix participates in the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program. The "PBIS" philosophy encourages good choices in our students. PBIS supports the use of a common language between all areas of a school. That common language is evident in what we call our "PACK expectations". We ask students to be "Part of the PACK" here at school. PACK is an acronym for being principled, appreciative, cooperative, and knowledgeable. Each area of our school has a system of expectations using this vocabulary. Our PACK expectations for Special Area classes are described in this chart: Each time students attend a Special Area class, the teacher records their behavior on this chart and returns it to the classroom teacher. This helps us all maintain high standards for our students' behavior in all areas of the school. Each Special Area teacher tracks the points earned by each homeroom class, and the classes work toward earning reward days. In Art, our reward days involve fun activities like playdough, painting with shaving cream, or drawing outside with sidewalk chalk! Occasionally students fail to follow the expected behaviors in the Art room. When that happens, students first receive a warning. I keep cards with a stop sign picture on them, and if a student is making a bad choice (such as talking when they're not supposed to, or mistreating supplies, or not following directions) I place a stop sign card on that student's desk. This is a visual reminder that they need to "stop what they are doing and make a better choice," as the card reads. Usually this is all it takes to get a student back on track! If the problem behavior continues, that student will lose the privilege of making Art for the remainder of the day, and will instead complete one of these "Better Choices Sheets." This form is designed to help a student think about what happened and realize why it was a problem, as well as give them a chance to explain what was going on and how the problem started. I have two versions of Better Choices Sheets- one for older students, and one for younger kids with pictures to circle instead of writing a sentence. The form has a place for me to describe to parents what happened, and asks the parent to sign the form and have their student return it to me the next day. Fortunately these Better Choices Sheets are not a common occurrence here in our Art room- students would much rather be participating in making Art! Parents, if you ever have a question or concern about our routines or expectations in the Art room, please let me know!
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