How I Start My Middle School TAB Classes Day 2...

Day 2

I gave an art vocabulary quiz as a pre-test (this is part of my school's goals related to our PLC's to show growth in a vocabulary more than due to my being a TAB classroom) I am not a professional test writer, since I don't give multiple choice tests often, but here it is.

Next, we set up our digital portfolios in Seesaw. I like how easy seesaw is to use, I like that parents can join and see what their student is working on (tip, parents love that you give them this option too). If you would like to try out Seesaw, click here for more instructions. Here is what my test class layout looks like on a computer screen...

Next, we went over our 3 class rules: 1. Be Engaged 2. Take Care of our Studio 3. Take Care of Each Other

After I explained the rules and their purpose, students got post-it notes and were asked to write an example of how to follow each rule. They stuck their note on the board underneath that rule. I have found that having them take this step means they internalize what the rules mean more than just listening to me.

Next, we have a discussion about What art is. If they are expected to make it, they should probably know what it is, and it's likely they have never talked about it before. I show a slides presentation that you can find here and ask them to consider each thing I ask them in their head, (they can ask questions if they want) and by the end of the presentation, they should try and decide what art is to them, or what it takes for something to be art. We then put all of their post-it notes on a large piece of tagboard and display it in the hallway to get others thinking about what they think art is.