Working with your teacher
The Art Masterpiece program is designed to be a benefit to teachers and students. Most teachers want a 45 minute Art Masterpiece lesson once a month. Some teachers prefer to do them more, some less. It is important that you do what works for your teacher and use only the time allotted. Teachers have a lot of material to pack into each day and it is important that they stay on schedule.
Lesson Plans
You should then look through the lesson plans for your grade. Please choose a lesson from the current cottage. You should not be using your own lesson plans unless approved by an Art Masterpiece Chairperson.. We welcome new ideas, as long as it aligns with the current cottage theme.
Supplies
Supplies should be requested ASAP, at least 2-3 days in advance. Supplies are handed out on a first come, first serve basis. The earlier you get your request in, the more likely you are to get what you want. Fridays are especially busy. If your requested supplies are not available we will let you know and offer you a suggested alternative. We typically deliver supplies to the classrooms the afternoon before. You should return supplies to the lower left cabinet in the copy room immediately after your lesson. Please return all supplies dry and in the same condition as you received them and remember to not put any left over paper with wet paint brushes or other supplies as it ruins the paper and we are unable to use it for another lesson. Any volunteers who do not return supplies will not be able to use them for the rest of the year and will have to be issued directly to the teacher as we have had a lot of supplies destroyed last year. If the cabinet in the copy room is full please leave them at the front desk or in your teacher’s classroom and let us know where they are so that we can get them ASAP.
In the Classroom
Please arrive to set up a few mins early, check that you have all needed supplies. If you ever have an issue that you need resolved immediately you may contact us directly, you can get a contact number from the supply return cabinet or at the front desk. Be ready to start your lesson on time, lessons should be no longer than 45 mins.
- 1 min: introduce yourself and your topic/artist for the day.
- 5 min: artist biography, choose facts that the students can relate to.
- 5 min: elements of art discussion
- 30 min: art project, most of your time should be spent letting the students create
5-10 mins before your time is up walk around and encourage the students to start finishing up their project and cleaning up their desk area so that they are ready to move on to their next part of the day. It is best to have the students clean up their own area and bring everything to the back of the room, so that you can quietly clean up while they move on with their day.
Artwork
The best way to show art samples for your lesson is to work with the teacher to pull up images on the teacher’s computer in the classroom and show the artwork on the projector. Please view the artwork ahead of time. Many of the artists can be found on wikipedia or google images if needed. We are also working hard to provide student samples in our gallery section.