LIFE HACKS FOR THE ELEMENTARY VISUAL ART TEACHER

LIFE HACKS FOR THE ELEMENTARY VISUAL ART TEACHER

STANDARDS-BASED PLANNING GOT YOU DOWN? • Where am I supposed to put these enormous NCAS posters? • I am tired of looking up standards and typing them into curriculum maps, unit/lesson plans, rubrics, and other assessments! • I know it’s best practice to post a standards-based learning target, but it just takes too much time and energy!

THERE’S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!

HACK #1: MAKE A MASTER LIST IN MS WORD • Copy and paste the NCAS from the Adobe Acrobat Document you can find online into Microsoft Word • Clean it up – remove unnecessary line breaks, use one font with a consistent size and format • Now it’s ready when you are! Copy and paste with ease.

HACK #2: USE MINE Visit my Teachers pay Teachers store to get master lists that you can use to make your own forms. They’re FREE!

LEARN HOW TO MAKE & USE DROP DOWN LISTS • You’ve seen them before, now it’s time to harness the power of the drop down list – check out this video • Streamline your curriculum mapping and lesson planning • A little bit of cutting and pasting on the front end saves you loads of time down the road

HACK #3: MAKE SOME TEMPLATES • Once you’ve got a master list in MS Word and some drop down list knowhow, you can put it all together in a way that fits your planning/teaching style. • Idea #1: Make curriculum map templates with embedded standards to guide your gradelevel planning • Idea #2: Make lesson or unit plans with embedded standards to keep your lessons and units aligned to the standards

HACK #4: USE MINE Visit my Teachers pay Teachers store to get templates for curriculum maps (K-5) and lesson planning with NCAS already embedded in drop down lists. They’re ON SALE for $1. 00!

HOW DOES IT WORK? • The state standards pertaining to the elements and principles of art are listed in the first column. • Fill in your ideas for a unit or lesson that addresses the state standard. • Choose one or more standards from the drop down list that you want to incorporate.

WHAT ABOUT LESSON PLANNING? Using the same basic tools, I created a lesson planning template that can easily be modified to meet my needs and whims.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

ARE YOU TIRED OF WRITING AND REWRITING LEARNING TARGETS ON YOUR WHITE BOARD?

HACK #5: REUSABLE LEARNING TARGET POSTERS

WHAT YOU’LL NEED: • Standards printed on paper • File folders • File Folder Wall Pocket & • Laminator* • Color coding sticker dots*

TWO KINDS OF LEARNING TARGET POSTERS: NATIONAL CORE ARTS ELEMENTS/PRINCIPLES STANDARDS WA STATE GLES

ALRIGHT, THAT WAS PRETTY HELPFUL. WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?