Discover ways to create a solid environment that will foster creativity while encouraging your students to explore and discover your art room.

1. Connecting
the Dots:
teaching, learning and
classroom structure
within a middle school
Stacy Lord art room.
7th & 8th Grade Art Teacher
Worcester East Middle

2. Who am I?
 I’m 43 years old
 Teaching Art for 9 years at Worcester East Middle
School
 Taught at the Worcester Art Museum & Worcester
Center for Crafts
 Member of the Art Education Advisory Committee for
MA
 Published in SchoolArts Magazine
 Member of the Instructional Leadership Team at
WEMS
 Founding Member of Central MA largest one day arts &
music festival, stART on the Street
 Internal Coach at WEMS for Positive Behavioral
Interventions & Supports (aka PBIS)

3. WEMS
Where do I work?
 Worcester East Middle School located In Central MA
 Progressed to Level 2 this year, up from Level 3

4. WEMS

5. NAEA
Why are we here?
 Community
 Learn from each other Best Practices
 Share information
 Gather ideas
 To keep the wheel rolling rather than recreating it

6. Climate
for
Learning

7. Environment
Organized
Stimulating
Comfortable
Safe

8. Environment
Is your classroom set-up to engage your
students visually? Does it inspire them to
want to create?

9. Environment

10. Environment

11. Environment

12. Environment
Essentials of Classroom Design
1. To establish and maintain a safe, healthy and
positive learning environment
2. To foster creativity and facilitate critical thinking

13. Environment
Physical Layout – How does it flow?
 Constraints – Pacing
Wood 5 4
Plaster
5 4 5 4
working
7 6
7 6
7 6
3 2
3 2
Legos Medium
Center
32 1 8 1 8 1 8
3 2
4
1
Pencil, paper, rulers
rubric, finish box
Computers
sink &
Drawing
Dark gray is storage area with cabinets, books
mostly off limits to students

14. Woodworking center

15. Classroom Management
Structured
Consistent
Respectful
Fair

16. Classroom Management
Box of Irritations
 Learn to become Proactive instead of Reactive!
Instead of getting frustrated
…reframe it!

17. Classroom Management
Proactive instead of Reactive
anticipating what may happen
 Assign seats by the end of the 1st week
 Tables have numbers on them and grouped
by colors
 Multiple work centers around the room

18. Classroom Management
Inevitably
problems will arise.
How do you
manage them?

19. Innovative Projects
Engaging
Foster creativity
Encourages critical
thinking skills

20. Innovative Projects
Stages of Student Engagement
From one Art teacher point of view
5 mins 15 mins 25 mins
10 mins 20 mins

21. Innovative Projects
Chunking
 Breakinginformation down into small, bite size
pieces. Otherwise known as ‘taking it in steps’.

22. Innovative Projects
I don’t
I can’t do
want to
this
do this
I can’t I won't
draw do this
You can’t
make me

23. Innovative Projects
The Project: Animal Cartoons
 One of the strategies to help break the cycle of
self-doubt, is to get the students to let go of
preconceived ideas
Draw what you see not what you know

24. Innovative Projects
Cartoon Animals
* Images from Christopher Hart’s books

25. Innovative Projects

26. Assessment

27. The Results
What I found exciting about
this project was how we
took our time to express
ourselves. This helped
us, the students, express
out feelings. It was really
fun and creative. There’s
nothing I would change
about this project because
it was a great assignment.
Something I found exciting about
this project was that we got to do
I found this project both exciting and sculpture. The beauty of making
hard. I found it exciting because we sculptures was that I could free my
mind and do whatever I felt. Art
had to create ourselves out of
frees me from everything. That is
paper. We had to cut out hard why it’s a pleasure doing it.
things that were very tiny. The
creations we made were incredible.

28. The Results
I found exciting about this project is
expressing what I feel. This really
made it fun to watch and see what
everyone came up with. Having an
activity like this could bring people
together.
What I found exciting
about this project
was challenging and
hard but I did good
on my art because I found the project exciting
Ms. Lord inspired me because it inspires me to try the
to keep trying and best I can and once I’m done I
never give up. am very proud of myself because
I’m the one who drew it!

29. Conclusion
Climate
for
Learning

30. Thank You