CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

At our field site there are issues in classroom management related to structure. Since the environment is rather unorganized and type of free for all, the students encounter frustrations in looking for specific materials they wish to use as well as projects they have began and are missing when they return the next day.

The organization of materials is also accompanied by a lack of structure in terms of learning lessons. Students have total freedom to explore a variety of mediums and to work on most projects that their imaginations can think up, which is successful in the sense that they are supported and encouraged to follow the flow of personal creativity. But even with the small class size it is hard to answer every student's questions when they are all working on different projects. This freedom also makes it hard to monitor the progress of every student since they can start and stop projects without warning or explanation. Sometimes it is a struggle just to get students to work; often there is at least one artist who will sit unproductively during a class period.

I think it would be great to encourage the class to think of one art form, as a group, that they would really like to learn about and simultaneously create projects in similar mediums so they can get feed back from each other in the process. I would hope this resulted in the class building a stronger creative community through the process of learning a new art form as a group.