Part II, Implementing TAB

Students mixing paint at the painting center. All colors are mixed from the primary colors and white in 12 cup muffin tins. The "Color Mixing Math" command chart helps those who forget how to mix a color.

This short clip shows how it all looked in a first grade class. Notice the conversations the kids are having about color mixing.

Students working at the sculpture/ collage center. A student works on a basket making activity she found in the research center, modifying the materials the text lists with things we have in the room.

      At this point in my tale I've had my Come to Jesus Moment, seen the light and decided to make my classroom full TAB. Now I needed to decide how to do it. I was just getting ready to start work at a new elementary school so it was the perfect time. A wise friend once told me that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than beg for permission so I just went ahead with my planning without checking with anyone. 

      I decided on six centers - paint, drawing, computers, sculpture/collage, origami and the research center. I left one table open for flex space or a temporary center. I organized the supplies on bookshelves near their corresponding center and labeled them all with text and an image of what was inside. This labeling really helped with students who were pre-literate or ELL. 

      Then school started. I introduced centers one at a time, starting with drawing. Each week I opened a new center. I focused on procedures at this time, reviewing expectations for clean up in every class, and always checking how supplies were put away.

Some things I learned that work well for independent learning:

- Include photos of how centers should look at each table and use them to teach clean up procedures. 

-Create and post command charts with images and text. I had these for everything from paper weaving to how to make a clay mask. These allow students to answer most questions independently. 

-Provide text resources. I was able to check out at lease twenty art books from the media center and kept these in my research center. The books ranged from paper crafts to a variety of how to draw books to text on historically important artists. They were invaluable resources when kids got stuck. 

       A little background about the school this takes place in - it was one of the lowest preforming, poorest elementary schools in a big county. It's test scores were so low that it was selected as one of four schools that the district was investing a big chunk of Race to the Top money in to reform. This reform looked like hiring new administration, all the teachers having to re-apply for their jobs and the school being given extra funding for things like SMART Boards and extra support personnel.It was very high pressure and I was observed daily during my time here. The level of student engagement was always noted, which TAB is responsible for. 

Next post: how I tied TAB to state curriculum and assessed work. 

If you are thinking about trying TAB in your classroom look here