For April's Stepping Stones in Arts & Activities Magazine, I focused on how to deliver paint instruction without the use of a sink.
Not every art teacher has a comfortable environment to
deliver his or her art instruction. Many
teachers travel from room to room, school to school, set up a temporary space
and pack their supplies in car trunks or mobile carts. With painting being a key material to teach
in a visual art curriculum, many teachers learn ways to adapt to their
situation.
In my situation, I have a room, but no sink. Although I’ve
been teaching for a number of years, this is my first year in this environment
and I am quickly learning to adapt to the situation, even in emergencies. In my years of teaching from a cart and
traveling to different schools, I’ve learned that many times instruction does
not always go as planned, so we must be flexible and understanding.
No matter what your situation may be, here’s a few tips to
help with painting instruction in most teaching environments.
Art on a Cart: In
the past, I would push a cart from room to room. Although the situation was not ideal, I
refused to take paint out of my curriculum simply because of
inconvenience. Since storage was an
issue, I used paper plates as palettes and recycled butter containers as water
bowls. When I developed a better method
of storage, I started using plastic cups with lids to store my paint and
prevent waste. If a room had a sink, I
asked students to fill the water bowls to a line I drew on the bowl and gave
them the responsibility to pass the water out.
If the room did not have a sink, I needed to adapt. If you have space within a cart you’re
pushing, consider a water jug with a spout for quick refills, and an empty
bucket for dirty water. With a lack of storage
space, I had collected 5 gallon plastic jugs with handles to fill with clean
water. At the end of each class, I would
have students take the dirty water buckets to the bathroom to dump in the
sink.
School to School:
If you travel from school to school, you may have carts or classrooms. I would highly recommend keeping your paint
supplies at each school, and making sure you have a space to keep the supplies
without worry of them disappearing when you’re not there. Make sure you communicate with your administration
about the importance of your co-workers leaving your materials alone when
you’re not there. So many times
educators feel they can use the materials because it’s school property, when in
fact, art teachers not only purchase consumable materials from their own funds,
but order just enough for their own classes.
Classroom Without the Sink: Since I am new to this situation, I would like to share what I have
done to work with what I have. One way
to keep water in the room was to purchase a portable sink. The sink holds a 10 gallon bucket of water to
run through, and another bucket to dump out at the end of the day. As nice as this is to have, I learned quickly
that it does not last for more than two painting classes. Have a table or cart set aside to hold a
water jug or buckets of water, as well as a bucket for dirty water and
brushes. Become acquainted with the
layout of the school and find any water closets or bathrooms that are close by
for refills. In my case, I have a water
closet a few doors down that I use to refill buckets in the morning and wash
brushes in the afternoon. I have also
assigned classroom helpers in each class to help in refilling the buckets and
dumping the dirty water if needed. For
spills, I asked for donations of paper towels from the parents and staff. Hand washing is done with sponges that I keep
in the room that are pre-soaked. In any
case, being prepared helped in preventing many painting catastrophes.
Mobile Instruction:
Some mobile units have sinks while others do not. In these cases, I would use the water jug
with spout for faster distribution of water for paint projects. Find your closest water source (ex. hose,
nearby bathroom, or water closet). If
you’re in an outside unit and you have worry of the carrying of water buckets
in colder climates, communicate with your custodial staff on how water is
needed in your situations.
With any situation where you deliver your instruction, keep
open communication with your administration, co-workers, and custodial staff on
your needs for your teaching. Painting
can be fun, but in some circumstances very challenging to instruct. Just be flexible, understanding, and open to
new possibilities with your paint projects!
