In elementary, I keep my table stocked with necessary items including
pencils. I count at the end of class. If students want a NICE pencil, they
bring their own.
Leah
I say pick your battles. Is a pencil worth stressing about?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Maggie White" <mwhiteaz@cybertrails.com>
To: "ArtsEdNet Talk" <artsednet@lists.getty.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 9:22 PM
Subject: big deal about pencils?
> Hi, all,
>
> Every day my 5th-8th graders teach me how NOT to teach art. This year
> has been a really difficult transition but things are going a little
> better now.
>
> At the HS, we stressed students taking responsibility and coming to
> class prepared--like with a !@#$% pencil. I've been doing the same
> thing at the MS but wonder if I'm making much ado about nothing. I want
> them to have a regular wooden pencil, not a mechanical pencil which
> seems to require a lot of fiddling around with. If they're not prepared
> for class, I give them a five-minute lunch detention; on their third
> strike, they have after-school detention.
>
> Am I expecting too much? I pick up pencils from the floor after each
> class, and know they must lose them in their other classes as well. The
> teacher of a long-ago EEI class told us, "Just give them a pencil and
> get on with your class!"
>
> Maggie
