First Year Teacher

Congratulations on your Art Teaching Role!

Welcome to first year art teachers! You are in for a wonderful ride of creativity, organisation, getting to know your students and let’s be honest, a lot of learning and some challenges. There is a lot to navigate in the first few weeks of teaching in any classroom. It can be difficult to get everything organised and running smoothly, so allow yourself some time. Work out what is best for you and your classes.  

How We Can Help

Creative Kids Art Lessons creates art lesson plans for you to use in your classroom so you can spend those valuable first weeks getting to know your students and to build your confidence. You’ll also be learning how to manage art materials, navigate the whole school environment as well as how to run a successful art class.  

We provide comprehensive lesson plans that have a list of materials, photographs, and detailed instructions for each step of the project. There are artist information sheets, reference images as well as curriculum details you can download in an easy to teach pdf lesson plan format. There is a choice of two full year art curriculums with lesson plans for the whole year for kindergarten to year 6 classes.  So, that’s your planning done for the year!

Having a plan is knowing where you are for the full year in the art room. It takes a lot of stress out of the year ahead not just for beginning teachers but also for more experienced teachers. We all need new ideas!   

My First Weeks 

I remember my first weeks of teaching – we had to hand in our lesson plans for every class for the first two weeks as well as our full-term plans. I was working, with every other first year teacher, till 2 am every morning. It was a busy first two weeks to get it all done and handed in on time. At the same time, I was also teaching full days! Let’s hope your principal is more reasonable.  

I started out as a classroom teacher, and my first class was a year 6. They were a difficult class, two of their classroom teachers had resigned the year before because they had trouble managing them.  There were lots of behavioural issues, so I initially spent a lot of time on classroom management to establish expectations of behaviour. See our blog post on classroom management for how to set this up. There were lots of lunchtime ‘work sessions’ till students realised they had to meet my standard of expected behaviour. The rest of the year ran much smoother but those first six weeks were very challenging.  

 Getting Set up for Your Year in the Art Room 

Check your classroom before the year starts and if possible, get anything repaired, replaced or purchased that you will need. You will have most probably have inherited an art room so it will depend on the previous teacher as to how wonderful or otherwise your setting up will be.  

If there are lots of art supplies and not much organisation, you will need to start sorting it out. Don’t worry about having the Pinterest perfect art supply area, just make it work for you. If your storage area is overwhelming, begin with the basics. Sort out the drawing and painting paper, pencils, paints, palettes, and brushes. There are so many projects you can do with just these to begin your year.  

As you have time, sort out the remaining supplies into sections such as printmaking, sculpture, craft, fibre textiles and clay. Work out what to bin, give away, loan out or use.  

Here is where you can pull out the less than perfect supplies and set them aside for classroom teachers. If you are not sure what to keep or throw out have a look at our art materials list of supplies or ask on our Creative Teachers Facebook page for some help. We are always happy to assist. Old artworks that have been left behind can be used for your first art displays so there is something on the walls to greet your classes.  

Setting up the Art Room Furniture 

Arrange the furniture in a way that allows for easy flow in the classroom and suits your teaching style. Perhaps you like to have a mat area to read art related story books. You may prefer desks in groups or a U shape. Try the layout on paper to see how it will all fit before moving the furniture around. Mark in things that are fixed such as sinks, doors and windows. I like to cut out sticky notes to scale and then move the furniture around on the plan to see how it will work before moving everything into place. See our setting up your art room blog post for more ideas. 

Have a designated area for clean-up and a space for the students to put their completed works at the end of the class. Have the storage area labelled with basic art materials so students know where to put them back at clean up time.  

Have an area close to you, such as a desk with materials set up for each class that day.  

Setting Boundaries 

The art room also comes with unique challenges, you will need to create some boundaries with the school team. You may be asked to take on extra projects such as creating displays in the office corridor, a backdrop for assembly or a poster for a school event. In your first year the answer is NO to all these ‘fun’ extra jobs. You will need all your time to get your own work done, so politely refuse and say I am really busy getting everything set up for the school art classes, so I don’t have time for extra projects.  

Classroom teachers will also want to borrow supplies, these will come out of your art budget. Some art teachers keep a supply of old materials they don’t use, and these are lent out to classroom teachers, such as old brushes, paints etc just for this purpose. Keep a record of what is lent out and to whom, an old exercise book is good for this.  

Your Mental Health 

Maintain your network of friends and keep in touch with family. Try to maintain a positive outlook, each class is a new beginning. The Creative Teachers group on Facebook is a supportive network that can help with any queries you may have. Take some time out for yourself and do something you enjoy whether it be yoga, a walk or reading a novel. It will help to give you some down time and allow your brain a rest. 

Manage your time so that you have a start and finish time for your workday, to maintain some work life balance. Do you prefer to come in early before school or stay after classes to set up? Be kind to yourself, it takes time and practice to get a classroom running smoothly.