August 17, 2009

Art Room Bulletin Boards - No-No Board

Argue it if you like, but students do need to be told NO! It will not stiffle their creativity!! We as teachers are there to instruct our students, and I've personally found a "No-No" board extremely helpful. Some students don't realize that blue clouds are just lazy clouds....that the sun is not a person & does not have a face....or that their mother did not pick up a stick and call it her child! So, this is my board...and I go over each point with my students EVERY YEAR!! My forth graders love my theatrical presentation!! ha ha

9 comments:

  1. I like it, but I make Gumball trees....with hearts :) it's my art style!

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  2. Love this. I should have started my year out with these. I just today was asking a student if there were things around him on the playground (in his self portrait) or if he was just floating in white space. I did tell each class NO STICK FIGURES, to many moans and groans. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  3. This is disgusting!!!!! If my child had this in their class I would pull them out immediately! Why don't you try inspiring your students with what they CAN do instead of shutting them down with what they CAN'T do!!!!! Make a board with good examples that you can encourage them to follow instead of just telling them that they are wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a teacher and I would never use this!!

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  4. Evelyn, I am an art teacher who also has a no-no board in their classroom. This is a way of setting boundaries, no different than that of the rules of a regular ed classroom. By posting examples of what we don't want to see in their artwork, the students then know that they can't take the "easy" or "safe" way out. We do teach them the correct way to draw the assorted "no-no's", and even though I can understand your concern about "shutting them down" this is not true. With this board, the students are forced to be more creative in order to find a solution to what they are making, thus encouraging higher thinking skills.

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  5. I use one of these as well. I am a first year art educator and I got the idea from my mentor teacher during student-teaching. I only have my middle schoolers for 6 weeks, so going over this on the first day saves SO much time I would have to spend teaching the positive behavior, however I do encourage the positive behavior with things like, "Oh, Sally! I love the way you made that superhero look so realistic!" There are times when you just need to nip things in the bud. I like the idea of "No-no", my poster simply has a big, red "NO" in the center. Too harsh? I just like to think it lets them know I mean business!

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  6. I HATE suns in the corner. I say the sun is not a piece of pizza, that NEVER happends in real life! HA HA!!

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  7. But, I've seen many blue and gray clouds in the sky....why scold the students for reflecting what they have seen?(I beginning my 25th year of teaching art. Limits and boundaries can serve a purpose but hopefully not crimp creativity and frustrate our students.

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  8. Diana, I have a couple things I need to address with your comment. #1 I do not scold my students. I never said I did that...you did. If you believe telling a child no about something is scolding, then maybe you need to redefine things. If I screamed at or pointed out infront of other kids...maybe that would be scolding. But me telling the kids at the beginning of the year I don't want to see blue clouds and white skies is not scolding(plus, I tell them the right way to do it..and the whole thing is done way over the top funny...I have a whole skit I do with it). # 2 Where I live we have blue and gray clouds also(and I never said anything about gray clouds)...however the sky is not totally white with dark blue clouds. I do encourage my students to reflect on what they see...and they've never seen blue clouds with a white sky. I want my students to think....and honestly...most kids do blue clouds white skies because it is the easy way to do a sky..not because it is what they think it looks like. Much easier to color a little loud then to have to color around a whole picture worth of objects. #3 I think it is awesome that you've been teaching for 25 yrs...I'm sure I could learn much from you. However, don't forget to question your own practices so that you can make sure you are providing the best education to your students possible.

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  9. A wise teacher once said to her class, "Anyone can make a [fill in the blank], but it takes a real thinking student to make it the correct way.]

    What is disgusting about guiding your class along the right paths especially in a friendly, funny manner? After all, we are supposed to be TEACHING them. Are we afraid to use the word, 'no?' What a wake-up call the students will get in the real world if we don't.

    Let's all guide our students[with yeses and nos] and let them enjoy the wonderful art that results!

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