Health and Safety in the Art room

Lets not try to jazz it up, Health and Safety is dull, I mean really dull but it is just one of those things that has to be dealt with otherwise we could end up in a whole heap o' trouble like when Dylan in 10G slits his wrist on a lino cutter (you think I am joking?).  So here are my top 10 Health and Safety rules for the Art classroom, if you go through them with your class and display them on the wall you are covered.  (If your students decide to ignore them then there isn't a lot you can do).  It is really important that you explain the reasons for the rules to your students so that they understand the reason for them being in place.  I actually like to get my students to come up with the rules themselves then they have ownership of them and they don't feel so much like they are being imposed on them.  Also I try to make all my rules positive, so that they read "do this" and "do that" rather than "don't do this or that" which sounds rather negative.

1.  Take off outdoor clothes when you enter the classroom. (otherwise sleeves and scarves could get caught on something or dip in something)

2. Tuck bags and coats under the table or hang them on the hook if available (stops them becoming a trip hazard),

3. Clean up spilled liquids immediately to avoid slips and falls,

4.Walk sensibly around the room, (obvious)

5. Leave food and drink outside the classroom (eating with painty hands is not a good idea, tuna on you painting is also not a good idea)

6. Always wash your hands before leaving the room (not great to go to lunch with clay still up your finger nails)

7.  Walk sensibly with scissors and other sharp objects (you would be surprised how many students don't realise they should do this.)

8. Tie long hair back (don't want any nasty incidents with hair being caught equipment,

9. Wear an apron (it protects you and your clothes),

10. Listen to the teacher (not just for the teachers own sanity but because they might be giving important health and safety information such as when to leave the classroom during a fire drill)

Please note that a Health and Safety poster does not constitute a risk assessment, you still need to have an official risk assessment in place.

Take a gander at some of the hazardous things that have happened in my classroom (that really couldn't have been helped in spite of the Health and Safety advice...don't be too shocked!)

• I give extra health and safety rules in lino cutting lessons such as "always cut away from the body". At the beginning of a lino cutting lesson I always say "by the end of this lesson at least one of you will have cut yourself on a lino cutting tool" they never believe my but I am always right.
• A girl sat on an unstable stool and fell right through it! I got all new stools after that!
• A photography A Level pupil decided (against my good advice) that he would photograph an apple with a lot of razor blades sticking out of it, I am sure that you can imagine what eventually happened here,
• In a GCSE lesson where we were using bleach one student decided to take revenge on another for a break time encounter by pouring bleach all over his work, bad times.

Oh gosh, I hope all that doesn't make me sound too incompetent.  Students can be unpredictable!

To help keep your classroom orderly you can download my A4 "Keep Calm and Wear an Apron poster for just £0.50!  Just click on the Buy Now button:

Teaching drawing at KS3

Children arrive in year 7 with a whole range of drawing experience and ability, some are better drawers than me, others you wonder if they ever held a pencil before!  Dealing with such a broad spectrum of ability can be challenging, but as teachers we need to both provide manageable activities for those less experienced artists, but also push the students who are more able.  I like to begin a year 7 scheme of work in a very traditional way which both enables me to gauge the students abilities and also enables the students themselves to discover their own capabilities, sometimes they are surprised at what they can do.
One simple activity begins the term, a shoe drawing.  First I give a demonstration of how to draw an effective shoe, I thing this makes it fair for all the children, they know what is expected of them ad they will have an idea of how the shoe should look.  As I demonstrate by drawing my own shoe with the class gathered round I give the following advice:

1. Look at the shoe, look carefully at the shape and the details notice the angle that you are looking at it from, notice what you can see, think about what you can't see.  Try to keep your head in the same place. The more you look the shoe the better our brain will understand it's form.

2. Draw a very light outline of the shoe on your page, fill as much of the page as you can with your shoe drawing.  It is very important that you draw lightly with your pencil so that you can easily rub out any mistakes you make.  You will make mistakes, even the greatest artists in the world make mistakes, you are not expected to get it right first time, adjust the lines with a rubber until you are happy that you have achieved the correct shape.  Keep looking at the shoe, spend more time looking at the shoe than looking at the page.

3. Add the details that you can see on the shoe, the laces, eyelets, tread, stitching etc, look really carefully for the details, draw them accurately, don't make them up or guess, if there are five little holes then draw five little holes, take the time to draw it correctly.

4. Add shading, look for where the light is shining on the shoe, leave these areas light, look for the areas of the shoe that are in shadow, press harder with your pencil to shade these areas in dark. Try to shade neatly and evenly making sure you stay within the lines.

Remember that some children will have had no coaching whatsoever in how to draw so this will be an entirely new experience for them and some may be afraid of failure, encourage the students to try their best and not to worry about how everyone else is doing their shoe, just focus on their own drawing.

I am offering for download my original lesson plan for this lesson, including:
Learning objectives,
Learning outcomes,
Resources needed,
Suggested homework task,
Key words,
PLTs,
National Curriculum criteria,
Starter,
Main,
Plenary.

All for £0.50!! Just click on Buy Now to be directed to paypal where you can pay for the lesson plan and immediately receive the document as a pdf.

Welcome

Hi there, welcome to my blog.  I am a Secondary School Art Teacher with 5 years experience teaching Art at KS3, GCSE and A Level and teaching A Level Photography, A Level Textiles. I am currently on maternity leave and have started this blog to keep my mind active, to stay creative and to help me feel connected to my job in some small way through the sharing of ideas, thoughts, resources and experiences.
I have called this blog "Imitate then Innovate" because I feel they are inspirational words for both Art teachers, students and trainee teachers to remember when they are stuck for ways to proceed creatively.  Imitate the work of others, whether that be the work of other artists or other teachers, deviate from their idea, then innovate with your own idea.
I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I look forward to reading your comments.