# data[].attributes.headline
        Module 2 - The Culture of Schooling : Students with Learning Difficulties 

# data[].attributes.subject
        Module 2 - The Culture of Schooling : Students with Learning Difficulties 

# data[].attributes.body
By: Hanane Bouziane

# data[].attributes.headline
1. Identify Student Challenges in Art Class

# data[].attributes.subject
1. Identify Student Challenges in Art Class

# data[].attributes.body
The student has difficulty following directions during art activities, often needing frequent repetition or rephrasing of instructions to understand and execute tasks. They are easily distracted, frequently losing focus or getting sidetracked by their surroundings. Additionally, the student struggles with oral responses, showing reluctance or an inability to answer questions about their artwork or the art process. Their comprehension of key art-related vocabulary is poor, and they have trouble recalling or organizing the sequence of events when asked to explain their work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The teaching profession is full of Herculean tasks. Some challenges remain consistent every year, and others are unique to certain school years. Whatever the challenge, art teachers face them head-on with strength, perseverance, and creativity. Let's take a look at eight challenges art teachers faced across the board this past school year. Keep reading for the innovative solutions art teachers brainstormed and implemented to meet their students' needs!

Here are eight challenges art teachers faced this year and how they overcame them!

1. Student Misbehavior

Art teachers love their students. However, if you've been a teacher since before the pandemic, you know it has greatly impacted student behavior and social-emotional development. Teachers are seeing students recover from the social impact, but many are still struggling. Quite a few students show apathy in school, addiction to their electronics, short attention spans, and limited social-emotional skills. Let's take a look at a few of these!
Excessive Screentime
Have you noticed your students lose focus and give up more quickly than in previous years? You're not alone! Many art teachers struggled to retain their students' attention and get them to follow through on assignments with good faith effort. Give students a choice or opportunity, and they tend to turn to their screens as a way to cope with difficulties and escape the mental stress of school. In fact, Gen Z spends about 9 hours a day on their devices!
Chicago high school art teacher Janet Taylor shares how she was able to engage her students and draw them off their screens and back to artmaking:

Break tasks down into small bites.
This prevents students from becoming overwhelmed and mentally checked out. It gives easy wins throughout the class period and a sense of accomplishment!

Emphasize choice in the curriculum.
Giving students choices increases engagement and encourages them to choose art over their screens. It allows them to select things that interest them.

Understand student needs.
When students feel understood, electronics become less of a power struggle. Students (even teenagers!) still aim to please, especially teachers they like and respect.

Poor Craftsmanship
You aren't alone if you feel like some students just don't care about creating high-quality, finished artwork. Many students struggle to understand why they need to cover the entire paper or canvas, not fold their artwork, or turn in more than a sketch.
Jackie Meyers, a fourth through sixth-grade art teacher in Oklahoma, found these two approaches helpful to combat her students' apathy:

1. Emphasize experimentation over finished products.
Lead students through experimentation with materials and art tools instead of focusing on quality and completing projects. This allows students to review proper techniques and skills without the pressure of creating large-scale artwork.

2. Show contemporary art.
Analyze artwork from current artists alongside artwork from their sketchbooks. Ask them if they notice any rips, folds, or uncovered canvas. Students will be more invested if they see examples of finished artwork with relevant subject matter.

Lack of Social-Emotional Skills
This year, many art teachers noticed their students struggling socially due to the after-effects of the pandemic. Thinking and acting independently and collaboratively is difficult!
Elementary and middle school art teacher Mariana VanDerMolen incorporated these elements to help her students develop their social and emotional skills:

Incorporate visual journaling with a social-emotional focus.
Give your studentsvisual journaling prompts to help them work through difficult emotions. Include social experiences in the art room so students can continue to develop those skills. If you've noticed this problem in your classroom, check out the Social-Emotional Learning in the Visual Arts course or the Social-Emotional Pack in PRO Learning.

Create low-risk collaborative experiences.
Students can feel pressure and anxiety when forced to collaborate for a grade. Design academic interactions to bolster their social skills without it impacting grades. Try think-pair-share, group brainstorming, and collaborative centers.

2. Substitute Teacher Shortage

Most schools have felt the impact of the national teacher and substitute shortage. Art teachers came together this year to develop creative solutions to keep schools functioning. Elementary art teacher Joshua Chrosniak's school in Ohio combined classes and covered each others' classes. While these are not ideal solutions, they allowed Josh to show his school administration and colleagues that art teachers are adaptable team players.

3. Chronic Absenteeism

Some students thrived with virtual learning during the pandemic. Coming back to face-to-face learning is a continual struggle for them. This year, schools continued to see the effects of the pandemic on student attendance numbers. When students are chronically absent, it's hard to find the time to build relationships and get them to make up work.
North Carolina middle school art teacher Rebekah Hower resolved this problem by doing these two things:

1. Flip key aspects of lessons.
Record short, easy-to-follow tutorials and post them to your digital classroom. This way, students who are absent can make up their work without taking up too much of your time during class. Students can even do their work at home if they want to!

2. Digitally organize and post lesson plans.
Organize lesson plans in your digital classroom by week and day. This way, students who are absent can easily find the lesson they missed according to the day they were absent.

4. Feelings of Inadequacy

First-year art teachers face several challenges. One prevalent issue is self-doubt. Even teachers who transitioned from teaching a different subject question whether or not they are good art teachers.
Texas elementary art teacher Meagan Cross transitioned to art after 16 years in kindergarten. She staved off feelings of inadequacy using these methods:

Follow other art teachers on social media.
A simple way to see other art teachers' methods is to find art teachers to follow on social media. Check out theTop 10 Inspiring Art Teacher Instagram Accounts to Follow to curate your list of inspirations.

Ask for student feedback.
If you ask, students will let you know what you're doing well and suggest changes. Most of the time, feedback is incredibly encouraging, and students will remind you you're on the right track.

5. Large Class Sizes

Putting on an art show when you have hundreds of students is a daunting task. Don't worry! There are ways to celebrate each student's artwork without sacrificing your sanity.
Instead of putting on one large art show, Meagan Cross came up with these creative experiences:

Pair art shows with musical performances.
Instead of orchestrating an art show for your students by yourself,try pairing up with another teacher's event. A great teacher to partner with is the music teacher. If they host performances for every grade level, ask to host that grade level's art show at the same time and place. It can increase attendance and give you smaller, more manageable events.

Create an interchangeable gallery wall to display student artwork.
While wall size limits the amount of artwork you can hang up, find a wall where you can hang at least one piece per class at all times. Changing out the artwork once a week is more manageable compared to cramming artwork from every student on the wall after each project. If art shows were a struggle for you this year, check outthis article to help you decide whether or not you really need one!

6. Small Classroom Space

If you have too many students crowding your tiny classroom, you aren't alone! Another challenge for art teacher Meagan Cross was the lack of classroom space. If your students can barely move around the art room, design a more conducive artmaking environment for next year.
Meagan solved her small-classroom problem using these four methods:

1. Get rid of all the "hoarded" items.
You or the art teacher before you may have collected a ton of potential art supplies. Prioritize the items you and your students will actually use in the next year. Find new homes for everything else!

2. Invest in stackable bins.
Storing and stacking supplies vertically will create more space.

3. Prep all of the supplies ahead of each class period.
Color-coordinate the tables and supply bins to minimize the number of times students get up to get supplies. Fewer students wandering means a less chaotic environment!

4. Avoid ordering too many supplies.
If you can space out supply orders, you can keep only what you need on hand.

7. No Sink

The mess of the art room is a challenge even when you have easy access to water for cleaning supplies. It's even more difficult not to have a sink in your art room at all!
Meagan Cross didn't have a sink this year, but this is how she overcame the challenge:

Keep two pitchers for cleanup.
Keep clean water in one pitcher for students to rinse supplies like paintbrushes. When the water is too dirty, dump it into the "dirty" pitcher and refill it with clean water.

Ask for donations of wipes and paper towels.
Baby wipes are expensive, but they make cleaning without a sink much easier. Put them on yourteacher wish list and share it with parents and other stakeholders.

Have a cleanup caddy.
If you have dirty supplies and need more water to clean them than the pitcher can hold, put them in a caddy with a little water in the bottom. The water will prevent paint or other materials from adhering to the supplies until you can get to them later.

8. Loud Noise Levels

The art room is a place where teachers want students to relax and communicate with each other. However, sometimes the communication gets overwhelming and loud. When you're overstimulated by the noise levels or have to keep it quiet for the classrooms next door, find a way to manage the volume.
Here are three ways teachers managed noise levels this year:

1. Use ClassDojo's voice meter.
Several sites have volume meters. They will alert you and your class when the volume is too high.

2. Review expectations and implement rewards.
Students need constant reminders of appropriate behavior, including voice levels. When simple reminders don't work, try giving classes an incentive.

3. Use volume modes.
Pair verbal signals with visual reminders. Use the analogies of movie theatre mode (no talking), restaurant mode (soft talking), coffee shop mode (small talk), and supermarket mode (friendly conversation).

While the challenges this year were daunting, art teachers faced them head-on. They addressed students' behavior by building relationships, integrating choices, and shifting gears on projects. Many art teachers made sacrifices to deal with the shortage of substitute teachers, and others created flipped classrooms to help students with frequent absenteeism. New teachers fought off feelings of inadequacy by looking at veteran art teachers for advice and inspiration. Even having challenging behavior issues and no sink in the art room didn't stop art teachers from thriving this year! Art teachers aren't just creative when it comes to designing projects. Use these creative solutions next year to start the year strong!
What challenges did you face this year? How did you creatively overcome problems in the art room?
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Challenges This Year and How Art Teachers Overcame Them

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
8 Challenges This Year and How Art Teachers Overcame Them Professionalism % %

# data[].attributes.body
Continue regular monitoring and provide standard instruction.

# data[].attributes.body
Conduct Informal Assessments:

Observation: Closely observe the student during various art activities to identify specific difficulties.

Oral Questions: Ask the student to explain their understanding of instructions or describe their artwork to gauge comprehension.

Work Samples: Review the student's artwork and any associated writing for patterns of errors or areas of struggle.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Peer and self assessments; whole class evaluations; formative and summative assessments; teacher feedback; exit tickets; quick checks; verbal feedback... The list of ways for art students to receive feedback or evaluate their artwork can seem endless (and sometimes confusing) but these learning activities are critical for engaging and purposeful art lessons. Without succinct feedback, time to reflect or evaluate their artwork, students can often miss (or forget) important elements of the lesson outcomes, or even not understand how to achieve them. Using a range of feedback activities in art lessons can help to ensure all students are on board with the lesson aims and how to achieve or exceed them.

Reflecting on my teaching recently, I felt that I was stuck in a bit of an 'assessment rut' and was using the same WWW / EBI (What Went Well / Even Better If) feedback activities over and over again. This is where students identify successes and targets in each other's work and can be an effective formative assessment tool and a good way to peer assess artwork - but! It often comes in the same repetitive format of students writing down feedback or giving it verbally.

So, since I am a loud and proud Teaching and Learning geek, I thought I would do a bit of research.

Here comes *some* of the science...

Peer assessment has been noted as a potential learning strategy for engaging students in knowledge construction and skill development via comprehending teachers' assessment criteria, learning from viewing peers' work, and making reflections. Topping (1998) defined peer assessment as a learning strategy whereby students evaluate or comment on the value or the quality of the work or the learning outcomes of their peers who learned with the same learning content. The objectives of conducting peer assessment activities are to improve the students' learning outcomes, stimulate their higher order thinking (e.g., meta-cognitive awareness), and increase their autonomy. For example, several studies have reported that peer assessment activities are effective in terms of enhancing students' autonomous learning ability. Moreover, the effect of engaging students in the role of a reviewer on their reflections has been pointed out. On the other hand, the benefit of receiving feedback from peers in improving students' learning outcomes has also been reported. For instance, Nicolaidou (2013) found that students' feedback could gradually become more comprehensive and correct by inspecting peers' comments in the learning process. Other researchers have also found that assessment training can result in a significant decrease in the discrepancy between student and instructor ratings of example projects; that is, the students' meta-cognitive awareness might be improved.
Chiu-Lin Lai, Gwo-Jen Hwang, I have shared a huge list of engaging art entry tasks, art starters and art plenaries here. Enjoy! Here I have collated a range of fun, creative formative and summative assessment activities that engage students and are designed to be more tailored to art lessons. These classroom assessment ideas are designed to empower your students and promote a positive learning environment - you do not want to demoralise anyone's hard work! Finding assessment activities that are meaningful to you and your students is really important so try things out, change ideas, swap elements etc. and see what works best for you. The art assessment ideas here are NOT all of my ideas, I have seen these in other lessons and found some online - I hope they are useful!
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.02.011.

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131515000639)
Self assessment ideas for art lessons

Fill your emoji face 😶

Students are given a blank emoji face (included in the resources) and draw in the emoji which best reflects their work from the lesson. There is space on the handout for students to write a sentence explaining why they chose their emoji.

This can easily be adapted to whichever project you are teaching, and you could guide students to make sure they use appropriate keywords in their sentences.

Reflection Points Quiz 📈

Students are given a guide (on the board) explaining how to earn points based on their work. Eg. You earn a point each time you have mixed a secondary colour. Students do some mental maths and add up their points total.

I usually give prizes out for the top scores, or ask students to explain to the rest of the group how they earned their points. I have found this to be a great art plenary activity.

Good / Better / Best 🔴 🟠 🟢

Students evaluate their artwork and explain how they have made their work 'Good', 'Better' or 'Best'. I usually have the lesson outcomes explaining how to reach the different stages and make sure students use appropriate keywords in their answers. Eg. My work is better because I have... My work is best because I have...

This can be extended by asking other students to agree / disagree using thumbs up or down. This works well when students can explain their reasoning and use the appropriate lesson outcomes in their answers.

This can all be verbal, written or you could choose different students from the class to feedback to the rest.

Nando's Spice Level Evaluation 🌶️
This is the same as Good, Better and Best, but students use the Nando's Spice Level instead! I have found this to be more engaging with my older art students.

Peer assessment activities for art lessons

Speedy Feedback 🗣️ 💬

Students have a small amount of set time (usually 2minutes) to give their partner as much feedback as possible about their work. Explain that they should use the lesson outcomes and have to talk for the full amount of time.

After half the time has passed, students swap and the other person talks. I love this as a plenary activity in art as it really makes the students think quickly on the spot! It is great if you have a few minutes at the end of the lesson spare too. 😆

Points Quiz 📈

This is exactly the same as the points quiz plenary above except students swap work and award each other points. At the end of the activity they explain to each other how they earned their points.

Usually I will hold up one or two pieces of work at the end and have the student explain how they reached X amount of points. Prizes for the top three points scores is always a bonus!

Head Heart Bin Bag 🧠 💚 🗑️ 🎒

I have mostly used this activity at the end of an art project as it is a really good exercise for students to reflect on all of their work throughout, rather than just one lesson or one piece of work. Students have to choose either Head (something that has made them think), Heart (something they have felt / an emotion), Bin (something they did not enjoy) or Bag (something they will remember to use in future).

After some thinking time I ask the students to feedback to the rest of the group. I love this reflective activity because students always think of things I wouldn't have considered!

I have shared a huge list of engaging art entry tasks, art starters and art plenaries here. Enjoy! These art assessment ideas are ones I have used myself and have found them to be effective in my classroom. If you would like a copy of the presentation which includes all of the slides and ideas, just leave a comment below so I can share it with you. If you have any other fun art assessment ideas, let me know in the comments too! I would love to try more out.

2 Stars 1 Wish ⭐ ⭐ 🎈
This is a really simple evaluation technique that is great for an art classroom as it makes sure students really look at each other's work. Students write down two things they like about their peer's artwork, then one thing they want them to work on or improve.

Whole class assessment ideas for art lessons

Secret Superstar 🤐 🌟

This is a really fun activity that is completely student-led and a lovely way to finish off a lesson. Assign one student with a 'secret job' to find the class superstar. I usually give this job to students who thrive off doing jobs around the classroom or need a bit of time away from their desk.

Explain that they will choose a Secret Superstar from the class and they will feedback to the rest of the group why they chose them at the end. Give them tips such as working hard all lesson / producing excellent work / being independent / helping other students etc. If the rest of the class agree with the chosen Secret Superstar, there are rewards for both students.

The student can subtly move around the room looking at other students working throughout the lesson.

At the end of the lesson, tell the class what has been happening and ask the first student to explain why and how they chose their Secret Superstar.

Keyword Bingo 🙋‍♀️ 🙋‍♂️
Fill out the blank Bingo sheet (included in the presentation) with keywords from your project. The rest is easy and fun - play Bingo! Prizes for the winners is always a good idea too.

Gallery Wall 🖼️ 🖼️ 🖼️

I have used this before with my GCSE art classes and had good outcomes and discussions from students, but of course give it a go with any of your classes. Simply ask students to blutack their work to a wall and host a group 'crit' or discussion. Asking students to write their thoughts on Post-It notes is a good idea too.

I tried this and had students write their own name first so there were no silly answers 🙂

Thanks to @MissLyleArt on for this suggestion!

Good Better Best 🔴 🟠 🟢

Same as above except students evaluate pieces of artwork shown at the front of the classroom.

Students explain how the other student has met 'Good', 'Better' or 'Best'. I usually have the lesson outcomes explaining how to reach the different stages and make sure students use appropriate keywords in their answers. Eg. Their work is better because they have... Their work is best because they have...

This can be extended by asking other students to agree / disagree using thumbs up or down. This works well when students can explain their reasoning and use the appropriate lesson outcomes in their answers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Peer and self assessments; whole class evaluations; formative and summative assessments; teacher feedback; exit tickets; quick checks; verbal feedback... The list of ways for art students to receive feedback or evaluate their artwork can seem endless (and sometimes confusing) but these learning activities are critical for engaging and purposeful art lessons.

# data[].attributes.body
Identify Specific Struggles:

Comprehension Issues:

Difficulty with understanding art-specific vocabulary and instructions.

Challenges in following multi-step directions.

Writing Challenges:

Reluctance to engage in writing tasks related to art.

Frequent spelling errors and avoidance of labeling or writing artist statements.

Reading and Decoding Issues:

Difficulty reading written instructions, blending letter sounds, or understanding text in art resources.

# data[].attributes.body
Identify Specific Struggles:

Comprehension Issues:

Difficulty with understanding art-specific vocabulary and instructions.

Challenges in following multi-step directions.

Writing Challenges:

Reluctance to engage in writing tasks related to art.

Frequent spelling errors and avoidance of labeling or writing artist statements.

Reading and Decoding Issues:

Difficulty reading written instructions, blending letter sounds, or understanding text in art resources.

# data[].attributes.body
Create Personalized Support Strategies:

Visual Aids:

Use visual instructions such as step-by-step picture guides or videos.

Incorporate symbols, diagrams, and images to reinforce verbal instructions.

Repetition and Clarification:

Frequently repeat instructions using simpler language.

Use gestures, demonstrations, and hands-on examples to clarify directions.

Interactive Activities:

Incorporate activities that require hands-on participation to maintain engagement and reinforce understanding.

Use collaborative group work to allow peer support and modeling.

Task Breakdown:

Break complex projects into smaller, manageable steps, providing checklists or graphic organizers.

Offer frequent check-ins to monitor progress and provide feedback.

Writing Supports:

Provide word banks, templates, or sentence starters to help with writing tasks.

Allow the use of assistive technology for writing, such as speech-to-text tools or spelling checkers.

Environmental Adjustments:

Minimize distractions by seating the student in a quieter area or using noise-cancelling tools.

Incorporate sensory breaks or fidget tools to help maintain focus.