Chapter 13 PLE

My ideal art classroom would be made up of different stations.  A supply station, work station, and a clean up station.  I hope my classroom is large enough for this (most art teacher's end up on a cart!). Students would be seated in groups of 4, with enough space to work on their masterpieces.  Groups would allow for interaction with peers, idea sharing, and brainstorming about their art projects.  I would change the groups every few weeks in order for students to share with other students that they may not see often.  A little noise from students would be fine, but not out of control.  I'm a firm believer that art and music go hand and hand, and playing calm background music while the students work will help with the creative process. 

For the CSEL case study I chose Elementary Education. In the CSEL case study students are working in groups, changing once every four weeks. The groups have different responsibilities given to each student. One group has been struggling with the material, and after teacher observation of the group,  Lisa seems to be the issue.  Lisa gets upset with the group members if not given the task she wanted, and then refuses to corporate.

Like I had mentioned, my art students would be working in groups almost everyday.  Either separately, sharing ideas, or working together to make a project.  The Elementary Education Case Study will certainly be an issue I'll have to deal with in the classroom. If my students are doing a group art project that requires responsibility from each group member, and I have a "Lisa" in a group, I would first approach her asking why she is not contributing to the group.  If her answer is that she did not get the job she wanted, therefore she did not want to participate, I would explain to her that each job in the group is equally as important and by her not participating in the group it not only hurts her, but the other students as well.  If the warning is not affective, I would remove her from the group and have her work on another assignment that's not as fun as the group activity.  There's a posibility she would enjoy this more, which would not be affective.  In that case I thought that having a station in the classroom for "alone time", where a student could "escape" if they are having trouble behaving in their group, would be more of a positive way of letting the child know that they are being disruptive. It would only be for a limited time, and they would only be sent by the teacher's permission.  If none of the steps above are successful, I would call the students parents voicing my concern. 


I found a short video on YouTube about the importance of cooperative group learning. I am a huge fan of students working, and brainstorming together. They'll learn more from each other than anyone else!