r/ArtEd

Grades K-8

well, thinking about going back/leaning heavy towards it. being an art teacher is something I always wanted to do since I was a kid, but got discouraged the older I got. ended up dropping out of school and jumping from trade to trade, now I’m working in maintenance for a warehouse.

the older I’m getting the more it’s weighing on me that I didn’t achieve what I wanted, so I’m getting my GED, going to the local community college and then transferring to a 4 year. I’m nervous about it, I wasn’t exactly an A student, other than in art class. so I got a few questions:

people I work with keep telling me I’m gonna be losing money, teachers don’t make anything, etc etc. so, am I dooming myself to poverty like everyone is telling me?

whats a day in the life of an art teacher? how do you guys cope with the work load, deal with unruly students, the lesson plans(like do you guys plan months, weeks, or days in advance?)

lastly, I have a lot of tattoos. mostly nothing bad. I have a small naked pinup on my wrist, it’s the only one that worries me. have I doomed myself from ever getting a job as a teacher with tattoos on his arms?

thank you for your time.

I'm a high school student right now, and I'm feeling the pressure to figure out what career I want. Honestly, the only thing I enjoy is art. I love making things. I thought being an art teacher may be a good idea, but I'm ofc weary of a few things. Is the pay awful? Like I said I'm in high school and the cost of living is only going up...I want to have a good plan. Is it worth it to be an art teacher at this time? I don't plan on ever having kids or getting married, so I would be the only one dependent on my salary. I live in the U.S if that helps lol

hii i recently graduated college ! my major was in studio arts bachelor’s! for years while i was in school i kept contemplating where i would want to be ! i went to school thinking i wanted to be a animator but end up wanting to become a architect. but finally i decided i want to become a art teacher for early child education! i been doing my research on accelerated programs . but i feel the only best route would be to go back to school for my master in art visual teaching or childhood education! but unfortunately pratt university and city college rejected me !

i wanted to know if the only best route is get my masters and get my initial certification, do the amount of hours of teaching and learning from other teachers . i’m not sure what is best to do when i been getting rejected by grad schools , so i been feeling ill never make my goal !

any suggestions and recommendations? also to mention i did graduated from hunter college !

I am teaching a very small group of children with autism. I was told that I would have clay but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I was thinking of making salt dough so they can make little medallions with some leather string I have.

Does anyone know a good air dry recipe?
Any tips would really be appreciated

I have been applying and interviewing like crazy. The interviews I’ve had feel like they went well, maybe some stumbling a little bit but that happens. I keep getting told they’ve gone with another candidate usually with more experience or just never hear from them again. It’s pretty discouraging, but I’m have to remind myself that I’m trying my hardest because I really want this. Any pointers for interviewing or how to handle rejection would be greatly welcomed.

I am an art teacher and I would really would love to help my preschoolers put on a play! However, I don’t feel confident enough to guide them in making their own story / play from scratch, so I am looking for some children’s stories as suggestions!

I’m leaning more towards classic stories and fables, or nature-centered stories. I want all students to have a chance to be involved equally, so leaning away from main characters.

Do y’all have any favorite stories, or even songs, to suggest??
Thanks in advance!!

Has a non-stinky fixative been invented yet?

The previous art teacher (high school) left behind multiple boxes of artist grade pastel sets. Truly gorgeous and the students love to use them but the process of fixing them is AWFUL.

We have to go outside - wind blowing around the papers and aerosol glue - then they have to off-gas for a long time. Blech. Even the students are like “ew - this is (scrunchy face)”.

I am sensitive to solvents after a lifetime of exposure - would rather not deal with them - but understand the necessity. I have a budget and think it would be worth using it so that the kids can use these pastels.
Totally open to recommendations and anecdotes!! What has worked / not worked for you?

thank you!

TLDR: Have you found an alternative to Krylon Workable fixative for pastel drawings?

I'll be a first-year PreK–8 art teacher this fall, and I'm honestly not sure where to start with curriculum planning. I want to use studio habits of the mind approach, I just finished reading the book.

My initial idea was to have each grade explore the same broad themes throughout the year (identity, community, nature,) but have each grade create different types of projects and at different skill levels obvi

Is that a good way to start? how do you plan an entire year across so many grade levels without feeling completely overwhelmed lol

High school Art 1 & Drawing 2-4

Last year my kiddos ran out of space and were disorganized by having one sketchbook that contained drawing assignments AND notes/handouts on random pages.

I'm thinking about having them DIY a binder with cardboard - both sides with rings or brads to separate notes from sketchbook.

I was thinking this can also aid in comprehension via notebook checks; i.e. make sure they took the notes and get the concept before artmaking.

Has anyone done an art notebook like this, specifically NOT a sketchbook or separated from the sketchbook? I feel like other subjects have success with notebook checks, so why shouldn't we when there is so many topics to cover? The majority of my kids have never had an art class before, so i feel like having their own self made art dictionary and guides could be beneficial.

Hi all,

I'm a former graphic designer turned teacher and I am trying to make a habit, as a midlife thing, to get back to drawing consistently. I only have one goal--to create a mural in my city of Philadelphia. Problem is, I'm pretty rusty. Honestly, I was never very good at anything but realist art. I have some pretty solid charcoal drawings from my college days--and I have a good grasp of composition from my time as a designer, but when it came time to create a style outside of copying life, I struggled. I am looking at finding classes online to get myself moving again. I think either Proko or Schoolism seem to be the best options right now. I know a lot of you all have suggested the Drawing Fundamentals taught there, but after perusing a lot of the lessons, I think I have a decent grasp on most of what is taught. I can still draw from life pretty well. What do you all suggest for the intermediate artist--someone looking to grasp strong figure drawing from the mind, or cross-hathching, or environments?

Hi, I hope ya'll are good. I have been drawing for almost three years or so and I would probably refer to myself as an "experienced beginner". I am currently doing Drawabox Lesson 5 (halfway through homework), and I practice my gesture/figure drawing whenever possible. I wanted to find out if Proko's Drawing Basics Course had been in any way significantly benificial to you? I want to clarify that I know you could become an artist just using his free content when learning how to draw, and this is something Proko and his colleagues have said themselves. However, I recently have been able to afford the course thanks to the current sale.

For those who have tried or taken his course, what were the benefits (I am aware of the extended lessons and structures, which are an incentive for me) that you found from the course. I know it won't turn me into Yusuke Murata, but I am wondering if ya'll think this is the course with a solid foundation for beginners who are looking for an art education that isn't watts ateliar or calarts. I'm from a very poor country with high unemployment so this seems like a good opportunity. Are there other courses you think have equal value as this one (I hadn't had the funds when Excal had his course out on a sale).

Any advice is appreciated, thank you. I still intend to do drawabox and read my loomis books!

I have ADHD and my hardest struggle with teaching is the overstimulation from the kids. I teach k-6 and the random noises, volume, chairs scooting, and constant questions leave me drained by 12. I started a new rule at the end of the year where they are not allowed to ask question for the first 5 minutes after direct instructions. I told them they need to use their noggins because I have them repeat to me what they need and what they need to do. I tell them to use their peers and if they are still confused they can ask after 5 minutes. This helped a lot because many times they figure it out on their own and I’m not surrounded by kids asking me a million questions.

The volume with my 1st graders are the WORST, even if they aren’t screaming it’s just so loud. I wear ear plugs that muffle it a bit but that’s all I can do. I tried the website with the little bouncy balls that volume detect and it worked until the novelty wore off. I’ve tried having the whisper but it immediately gets loud again. I put them away from friends and they scream across the room, I put them next to their friends and they’re causing trouble. Even students in the class say it’s too loud but then they go and make it louder 2 seconds later…

6th graders are always up and wandering and never want to stay in their seat which drives me crazy.

I tried putting felt on the bottom of all the stools and they all slowly fell off, it was nice for a while.

I dim the lights and let the natural light in on days where we don’t need the overhead, I play music that they like which lowers the volume a few decibels.

Does anyone have any tips that have helped you?

Hi all!

I'm going into my 11th year teaching art in a public school district. I know public education can be a hot topic, but I genuinely still love teaching. I've been fortunate to have a successful career so far—strong student feedback, distinguished evaluations, solid AP results, and experience across elementary (1 year), middle (2 years), and mostly high school.

I have both a B.S. and M.A. in Art Education, and I'm already at the highest lane (Master's +54), so a doctorate wouldn't really increase my K–12 salary.

What I'm wondering is: for those of you who transitioned from K–12 teaching into higher education, what was that path actually like?

I've always imagined that maybe in my 40s I'd enjoy teaching future art teachers at the college level. Alongside teaching, I maintain an active studio practice (painting and photography) and run a wedding photography business, so staying connected to making art is important to me.

I'm curious about the realities:

• How difficult is it to get a stable faculty position in art education?
• Is a Ph.D. or an Ed.D. generally expected, or are there other pathways?
• How competitive is the market, and what does the pay/stability look like compared with K–12?
• If you could go back, would you do it again?

I'm in Colorado, so I'd especially love to hear from anyone familiar with universities here. Are there online doctoral programs in art education that are well respected and academically rigorous—not just degree mills—but also reasonably priced?

I'd really appreciate any honest insight or advice from people who've made the jump.

I want to know, in the secondary world, (Middle/High School), are there a lot of teachers only at a specific level only because the other option wasn’t available for whatever reason at the time?

I’m asking mostly because every time I meet someone who has said they have done both in-person, (MS and HS), they tend to say that they preferred one over the other. I don’t necessarily see the same situation with teachers that have worked ES and MS or ES and HS.

The main reason I’m asking is because I’ve been interviewing at MS and HS at various districts and trying to judge the best opportunity for me personally, (relocation, school culture, financial/income, and where I would fit in the best). Overall, I would say I do have a preference for HS; however, it feels harder to make a decision with all the other factors on which way I should go.

Hey everyone,

So I will be teaching highschool art for the first time and I know that it takes a lot of organization and picking up in order to keep a successful classroom flowing and steady.

I wanted to start the year off by (within the first 2 weeks) assigning duties/tasks for students, so they feel and become responsible for our classroom too. I have also been noticing that kids are interested in helping too- actually yearning for it in the past couple of years.

What are some tasks & duties that would be manageable? Some of my classes are block classes as well, so more can get done.

Thanks yall!

I’m thinking about throwing in the towel. I’ve taken the art praxis 10 times and failed every time. The closest I got was the 8th at 152. Every other time it’s been 140-145, I think I’m done. This test has killed my motivation to make art let alone teach art.

Estoy creando una red social enfocada en historia, memoria y conocimiento. Me gustaría conocer su opinión.

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La idea es que una simple curiosidad pueda convertirse en una exploración completa.

Por ejemplo: Alguien ve una publicación sobre el Imperio Romano y no solo encuentra un post, sino también información relacionada, personajes, lugares, documentos, películas, documentales y otras historias conectadas.

Actualmente estoy construyendo la aplicación y me gustaría preguntarles:

¿Qué funcionalidad siempre han querido ver en una red social y nunca han encontrado?

Puede ser algo relacionado con:

La forma de compartir contenido.

Cómo deberían funcionar las comunidades.

Cómo mejorar las conversaciones.

Privacidad.

Organización de información.

Experiencias de aprendizaje.

Cualquier idea que crean que haría una red social más interesante.

También me gustaría saber:

¿Les interesaría una red social donde el tema principal sea aprender, descubrir y compartir conocimiento, en lugar de solamente consumir contenido rápido?

Cualquier opinión, crítica o sugerencia es bienvenida. La idea es construir algo pensando en las personas que realmente disfrutan aprender y compartir temas con profundidad.