Storage Closet Of My Dreams

My happy place!

Fifth stop on the 'round the room tour in the storage closet (of my dreams)!

One of the my favorite holidays of the year isn't recognized by banks, stores, or even Hallmark. My favorite day of the school year isn't even the last day when we wave everyone off for the summer. Don't get me wrong, the last day is glorious but you arrive at it battered, bruised, and baffled that you survived. I much prefer a day at the beginning of the year when (drum roll, please) NEW SUPPLIES ARRIVE!!! Art Teacher Christmas is a very real thing and comes with all the glory of a year complete but with the enthusiasm courtesy of a summer off. As if this day could get any better, my joy was even greater because I had a newly renovated storage closet in which to organize my new treasures. Bliss!

The storage closet in my classroom used to be rather dismal place. It was overwhelmed by two large metal cabinets with doors and dilapidated shelving. Behind the cabinet doors were rusted shelves, home to a jumble of supplies that you had to excavate to find anything. I'm being totally serious when I say that it would have been helpful to wear a headlamp and dig with a shovel to reach the back of these things. Just the memory of this makes me shudder. My eternal gratitude goes to the handy carpenters working on our campus improvement project who made this change possible.

I even have behind-the-door shelves that are the perfect size for liquid watercolors and printing ink!

But let's move on to happier thoughts - my new and improved shelves where supplies are strategically arranged, easy to find, and color-coded just because I can! I actually came in before the scheduled teacher return because I was so excited to see my room and play in, errh... I mean, organize the supplies. In the end, I decided to empty almost everything out, group like items together, and put them away in a logical arrangement. Previously, I mentioned my philosophy about organization in a post on the first stop in my room tour, What Do I Keep On My Desk?. I will say it again and again, or shout it from the rooftops if they let me: I am NOT a hoarder! I also believe that you don't have to be a hoarder to be a good art teacher. But I am not so judgmental as to think you can't be a good art teacher if you are a happy hoarder, different strokes for different folks, friends.

My one argument against hoarding that I feel holds true for everyone is that it can lead to a lot of waste. I took over this classroom after several years of teachers had done extensive ordering and there were piles of every imaginable material except, oddly, crayons. Not too many of those, which is a shame because they don't go bad! Paper, paint, and markers, though? Faded, moldy, and dry. That's like getting coal in your stocking on Art Teacher Christmas. So what did I do? I sorted and selected materials in good condition and were also needed to get my classes through until Art Supply Santa comes next year. It hurts my heart to admit that some materials were thrown away because they were in unusable condition. I know those supplies did not enter the room that way but neglect is a silent killer. There were other supplies that were on the fringe - things that were still in good condition but in quantities that couldn't serve a grade level or even a whole class. This included lots of paper in odd shapes or one-off colors, individual boxes of markers when I had a new class set in my order, and my fourth gallon of blue paint that didn't stink but the label indicated it was from long ago. (Please note: I already have a very healthy scrap box for collage projects) Items like this were donated to classroom teachers and they were THRILLED to get them.* I was thrilled to have a manageable space full of beautiful materials that are inspiring and accessible.

Not in the storage closet but you can see the abundance of supplies AFTER making a donation to homeroom teachers.

So if you aren't converted to streamlining your stash then I beg you to take the time to sort and organize all that you do have. Here are tips to get you started, which echo Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying:

1. Gather all like supplies together, this can be done one category at a time if you can't disassemble the whole room.
1. Paint, brushes, palettes
2. Clay
3. Paper, by color and/or type
4. Writing utensils (pencils, erasers, sharpeners, charcoal, Sharpies)
5. Coloring utensils (markers, oil pastels, chalk pastels, colored pencils)
6. Visual aids
7. Printmaking
8. (Insert your own category from your curriculum here)
2. Assess for wear and damage, then discard the materials that you wouldn't be happy to offer to students or other teachers. Marie Kondo advocates asking yourself if an item brings you joy.
3. Find storage solutions to keep like items together and easily accessible. IKEA sells plastic storage containers with lids!
4. Return items to shelves and cupboards by proximity. This means items you and the students always need are immediately accessible. Heavy items should be stored on lower shelves even if it's something you use infrequently. No sense in hurting yourself trying to put it up or down. 
5. Labels make quick work of finding materials for yourself and others. Has anyone else noticed that all liquid watercolors tend to look like they came out of the black lagoon? I wrote the color on the lid and organized it like a rainbow (if only in name).
6. Pro tip: create an inventory that itemizes every material you have. My inventory list will include a description as a material comes in an order (Red paint, 1 pint), starting quantity (12), ending quantity (TBD). This will help me in ordering for the following year to prevent build-up and waste.

Whether you are storing a pond or an ocean of materials, an organized (storage) room is pleasing to the eye, inspiring to your curriculum design, and a signal to students that materials are precious. Art teachers can't afford waste or lost materials when budgets are shrinking and students' schedules are being eaten up by test prep. You will spend time now (yes, probably hours) but that time investment now will be made back in the days you get to go home on time and the relaxed pace of your classes because you aren't hunting for the materials you need. Or the excitement your students will feel when they get to use the treasures you undoubtedly found buried in the trash.

What are your tips for organizing materials? Is there a piece of trash that's actually a treasure we should be keeping?

Artfully,
Catherine

*One of the most difficult professional situations an art teacher has to deal with is when colleagues ask you for supplies, sometimes even in the middle of class. Teacher tip: address the situation before it even begins with an email sent to the whole staff. If you have extra materials, like I did, that are nearing the end of their natural life and you won't be able to use them before they are too tired then offer these supplies to homeroom teachers. In your offer, I suggest phrasing it in such a way that these are the only extra materials you have and everything else has been carefully ordered for your curriculum this year. If teachers ask for non-consumables then give them a time of day when it's most convenient for you to lend out those items. It is my opinion that sending a student down in the middle of class is disrespectful to your time and the students whose creativity is being interrupted. Ordering for Art is done once a year and I work very hard to estimate quantities as well as anticipating projects months in advance. Why then, are homeroom teachers given a pass on planning so they can come in at the last minute asking for paint, posterboard, etc? I feel like it establishes an unfair double standard that is passed on to students whose teachers are unprepared.