Lesson Plan: Classroom Rules
Submitted by: Stephanie Katele
Suggested Grade: 6th-8th

Description

Establishing classroom rules is one of the most important tasks of a teacher and his or her students in the first days of school. By having a discussion about classroom rules and consequences that create a positive learning environment with the class, students can contribute to forming a way of classroom procedures. In this lesson, students will discuss what makes a classroom run well and then create a poster that lists the classroom rules. The teacher then can see where the students are in their artistic development.

ISFA Standards

• 27.A.4b: analyze how the arts are used to inform and persuade through traditional and contemporary art forms.
• 26.A.4e: analyze and evaluate how tools/technologies and processes combine to convey meaning

Objectives

• The student will organize colors and lines to create an eye-catching classroom rules poster that uses lines and color (26.A.4e).
• The student will understand how art can be used to convey a message by using design to illustrate his or her ideas of classroom rules (27.A.4b)

Motivation

The first day of school, ask students what rules they have had in their classrooms in the past. What was the point of having these rules? Stress maturity. Would anything get done without rules? Is safety an important thing to have in the classroom? What about respect? If students seem to be getting off track, guide their way back to positive rules. Discuss consequences for rule violations. Ask what some inappropriate consequences would be for certain rule infractions. Where else in our lives do we have rules? What purpose do they serve?

Timeline/Activities

Day 1

• After the discussion above, write a few of their ideas on the board. Now show some examples of posters that use lists (CPR poster, how-to’s, etc.). Discuss what visual elements make these posters work, meaning that the viewer can look at them and know exactly what the point is.
• Explain that the students are to create their own poster of rules that they think the art classroom should have. Point out that the art classroom is slightly different from most classrooms in that there are usually more materials. Ask students to take that into consideration.
• Have students pass out markers and 9”x12” pieces of drawing paper. This is for students to create their own poster for rules. The poster should have a title and the list should be organized in some manner (i.e. numbered, bulleted). Patterns and shapes are encourages. The poster should be “eye-catching”. Explain. Is the heading bigger or smaller than the list? Is it centered? Is it all capital letters? What colors draw attention? Is there a variety of colors? Write some of these on the board for inspiration. Remind students of the white background and to take that into consideration when creating the poster
• If there is time, start a discussion of why students chose the rules they did. The posters will be collected and may be organized by the teacher under “respect” and “safety”. Each appropriate rule usually fall under one of these.
• The teacher could create a poster or respect and safety rules and another with excerpts of the student’s rules.
• Rules may also be posted as a border around the classroom, close to the ceiling so it is safe and all students are able to see it. It then becomes more than a decorative element.

Materials/Resources

• Markers
• 9”x12” paper

Vocabulary

• Eye-catching: aesthetically pleasing

Assessment

ART RUBRIC- This is how you will be graded

Understanding

-refined and sophisticated awareness of the color and line employed in work (5)______
-good understanding of elements and principles as shown in work (4)________
-competent understanding of artistic qualities, but not applied well (3)_______
-improved understanding of artistic qualities, piece lacks proper use of elements and principles (2)_____
-lack of understanding of the assignment and material covered (1)______

                                                                                                                               + ______

Creativity

-explored several different options and took risks (5)______
-unique and creative, but not daring based upon previous work (4)______
-piece shows development of creative idea without sense of completeness (3)_____
-no risks were taken, e.g., piece looks similar to examples (2)_______
-no creative work involved: work was not finished adequately (1)_______

                                                                                                                               +______

Effort/Participation/Behavior/

-put as much effort and thought into the work as possible, participated in discussions (5)______
-showed enough effort to make a piece that fulfills the assignment but does not challenge the student, participated in discussions (4)_______
-some effort, gave up early, little class participation (3)_______
-minimal effort, did not learn how to complete processes covered (evident in work), allowed others to carry on with most of the discussion and group work (2)_______
-no effort displayed (1)______

                                                                                                                           +______

Craftsmanship

-piece must show exceptional craftsmanship and attention to detail (5)_______
-piece lacks exceptional craftsmanship, e.g., frayed edges, smudges, but complete (4)_______
-average craftsmanship, piece incomplete (3)_______
-piece reflects student’s indifference to the assignment; incomplete (2)_________
-work was not completed or not done according to the assignment (1)_________

                                                                                                       +_____

                                                                                                                      TOTAL______

Multiply total (out of 20) by 5 to compute percentage       ____________

A=   90-100%
B= 80-89%
C= 70-79%
D= 60-69%
F= 59% or lower