Read Submitted Pet Peeves!!

Pet Peeves, Pg. 1

Pet Peeves, Pg. 2

Pet Peeves, Pg. 3

Pet Peeves, Pg. 4

Pet Peeves, Pg. 5

Pet Peeves, Pg. 6

Pet Peeves, Pg. 7

Pet Peeves, Pg. 8

1)    HEY! In my art room I make my kids laugh. I teach K through 5. I love my job. My PEEVE is when kids moan and whine and complain that "You are making me work". HELLO! I find soooo many kids are lazy and do not want to "work" on fun stuff. Many of them think it is a race to see who finishes first. They say, "I'm DONE" and I say,  "Do you have grill marks on your back? Because when you are "done" you usually have been cooked on the grill." I stress to them that when you complete something, you are "finished". Most often they are not finished.

(-Submitted by Paul David)

2)    Classroom teachers who ask why I need a planning period (I get 2 per week compared to their daily plan time!) (-submitted by Katie)

3)    Barbara submits her top 20 peeves:

• Bicycle spoke suns
• Cotton candy clouds
  
• "V" and "M" birds
  
• Squirrel hole trees
  
• White space between the "sky" and the "earth"
  
• Food, drink, gum and/or electronics in the art room
  
• Wasting paper
  
• Pulling the metal strip out of the ruler
  
• Poor composition
  
• Trite images
  
• Plagiarism
  
• Laziness
  
• Clay on the ceiling
  
• Crumbling the art gum
  
• Whining
  
• Quitting
  
• Outlines
  
• Leaving the cap off of the markers
  
• Students who want to avoid getting "messy"
  
• Students who "borrow" without asking

4)    People higher up on the educational chain of command that simply place all the difficult and less smart students in art because "well, they don't need to be a good speller for that!"

My biggest pet peeve in a class is when i am either older than the rest or i am more experienced in the art topic ( my parents are both artists and my dad's an art highschool teacher) and the teacher sees i've finished fast and thinks
a) she must've just rushed through that, or
b) they give me a new project
(-Both submitted by "Purple Chicken")

5)    Teachers that think the art closet is the school supply room. Art teachers that inhibit student creativity by teaching too much, criticizing too much, praising too little, and grading the art. (-Submitted anonymously)

6)    Art Educators that CHOOSE the artwork of certain elementary students to put on display. That's the way to discourage little artists for sure. Display the work by class, and everyone gets a chance at being proud of themselves.
(-Submitted by Kim)

7)    [From the student viewpoint] What usually annoys me is when other students come to art class without even the bare essentials like a pencil and an eraser and demand that I give them mine or grab an unused pencil from my bag! It also bothers me when the art teacher is not qualified to do the job and is just given the place because there was nobody else to keep kids occupied. That was what happened in High School - the Geography teacher was assigned to teach Art to us, even though she had no connection to the subject. You might think it's ridiculus that there's such shortage of art teachers, but in Greece, where I come from, it happens!
(-Submitted by Caroline Alexiou)

8)   People who say, "It's only art how can you fail?"  "You should get an  "A" for trying." "Take art, its an easy "A". "I came everyday, I should at least get a "D". Needless to say, the students who fail, don't come to school or do anything, right?  Oh yea, the parents all have degrees from the finest art schools in the country.....
(-Submitted by 20+)

9)   Having to give art work a letter grade because the students will not work without that incentive.

Having to teach 13 different standards with no books.

Having to deal with administrators who don't give a @!#* except for ISTEP scores.

(-Respectfully submitted by Mrs. Muller, Indiana Intermediate School)

10)   I teach grades 1-5. We love to paint, but the undignified sound that the paint insists on making when the tube is almost empty is unbearable, reducing the class to hysterics....and of course the hysterics are contagious!
 
Speaking of paint, forget about squeezing out anything from the brown family into a little paint cup. Drawing... there have been days when I've actually hidden the erasers...
(-Submitted by Melanie W. of New Jersey)

11)   I'm near retirement so I'm able to take some risks with which others may not presently be comfortable. I must tell you though, as classes get larger and more diverse, and kids mimic what they see on TV and in the movies, and counselors seem to continue to use my class as a parking lot for the less intellectual in my school, I've stopped most of my whining to my colleagues. I've found Open House is the first good place for making clear to parents that I am really glad their children are taking art but it is NOT a bunny class and I did not get a degree in "relaxing" at school. I teach kids to think creatively. Most learn to love to make art. There are kind, but firm ways for faculty to come to understand that as well. When I politely stand up for myself and my subject I eventually earn respect. It is a matter of having high expectations for myself, my colleagues and the subject I love. Do you think math or even health and p.e. teachers have the self-esteem problems most art teachers do? Heck no!!!
(-Submitted by Karen R. Carrico, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School)

12)   Students who take art classes because they are good with computers and expect an A.

Students who would like to further their knowledge in computer arts but the curriculum isn't being expanded to accomodate art in the digital age.

Students who save work on a network, miss the deadline because the network was down then want credit for the work. (this despite students being told to save on zip discs etc)
(-Submitted by Sally Hunter)

13)   Administrators who love to advertise that they have schools with National Blue Ribbon status, but have since sabotaged the art programs that got them the award.
- Anonymous

14)   Anyone who thinks I just teach kids how to draw. I teach reading, writing, math, science, history, world cultures and religeons, geography, spelling, craftsmanship, visual and verbal expression, symbolism, recycling and reuse, aesthetic perception,
research, personal and collective responsibility, technology, cooperation and kindness all within my art classes. And so do you. (-(-Submitted by Dawn Kruger)

15)   Teachers that year after year "win" regional and national art scholarships/and awards for their students by photographing subject matter and letting students duplicate the photo with grid methods or projector assistance or out and out plagarism from well-known geographical based magazines. The same teachers serve
as board directors for these scholastic based art awards. How can a self-portrait be so exquisitely lit and foreshortened if the student is drawing himself? The student must use a good focal length camera with a very long bulb attachment.
(-Anonymous)

16)   Getting hired and "fired" in the space of 2 hrs, just because I asked where all the supplies were (there wasn't any at all in the room) and then asking the principal about the art budget. Her asking me to buy the supplies out of my OWN money and I express reluctance to do so! (would YOU do this?) Yes this really happened to me at a charter high school last year! Because of this, I refuse to take a job in a charter school again- talk about nerve.
(-Submitted by Jeanette Locher)

17)   Administrations that make it obvious to the rest of the faculty that your class has no importance and really does not count.

Administrations and faculty members that value remediation over the arts and constantly pull kids from your classes and then put them back.
(-Anonymous)

18)   Classroom teachers who continually send their kids late to Art class and then e-mail me-- the art teacher telling me to please have their hands washed before i send them back to their class.
(-Submitted by Angela)

19)   My Pet Peeve, is when my Science teacher, just sits there and talks In a ONE Tone VOICE! It Could Put Coffee to Sleep! I See all the other Science teachers room, and how they teach, and they put FUN Into it! Ever Heard Of CREATIVITY?!?!? Isn't Science, Supposed to Be Fun? Well, its BORING!
(-Submitted by Ex-Science Lover)

20)   My pet peeve at the moment is when the cleaner complains to the principal that my students' art work and props (for the school play) are on top of the desks that he wants to wipe! The funny part is he never does a good job of wiping them anyway!
(-Submitted by Liz Clout)

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Go to Part Seven of the peeves!