Posted by:
Katherine Douglas
K-12 Classroom teacher
East Bridgewater, MA

Topic:
Large Quantities Are Never Needed All at Once!

Message:
A limited art budget will go much further in a choice-based art room. It is never necessary to have enough of any non-consumable equipment (such as weaving looms, good quality scissors, paint brushes, palettes, brayers, etc.) because all students will not be choosing the same project on the same week. Consumable materials present a similar opportunity; because some media will only attract a few students it is possible to have smaller quantities of a larger number of materials. I can place limitations on some premium materials: For instance, I buy lots of inexpensive paper and students are free to start over and discard as necessary. But I also purchase one ream of student-quality watercolor paper and a ream of 24x36 90 pound drawing paper. This is reserved for students who are quite involved in painting and agree to work on a piece for more than one week.

In choice-based teaching, students are often invited to join in the supply search and will arrive at class with cardboard, yarn remnants or other found materials to use for their art ideas. This is a tremendous help in coping with a small budget and allows students to behave as artists do in searching out their own art supplies! The teacher does not predetermine the content of the art work--the students are able to improvise with whatever materials, scant or abundant, are at hand.

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