Not allowed to do free choice as an elementary art teacher.

Hi all, so this is my 12th year teaching and the Thursday before we left for spring break, my admin informed me that I am no longer able to do free choice the last 10 mins of class when students are finished with the required steps of the day. A little info is that I meet with 1st-5th for once a week for an hour (already longer than even high school classes in our district), and K twice a week for 30 mins. Typically, my admin is amazing and let me do my job without micromanaging. So this is a new development. So typically, a normal day would be me introducing an artist or concept, giving them independent work time, and as kiddos finish up and clean up, they have only a few options to pick from that are art related - free draw with or without how to draw books, drawing tablets, playdoh and legos (sculpture), or reading a book. I tried to emphasize that my free choice area was deliberately chosen while keeping art in mind. After my observation (where only 3/4 students even finished that class period and did free choice), I got told that it should only be a reward. I also got told that I should be pre-teaching the next lesson, which I 100% disagree with because kids forget over the week. I guess I am just looking for suggestions on how to handle kids that finish early, have their work checked by me, and are stuck with 10 mins left. I have done things like reflections at the end of projects or exit tickets, but this is more difficult with younger grades that crash out at the idea of writing when most are struggling to read. One of my ideas was next year, have students create sketch books where they need to complete x amount of drawings from a list, so it is purposeful. But I also believe that these students need the ability to be creative on their own without being told what to do. This is exactly the reason why I hated art as a child. Thanks for any help! submitted by /u/toxicglowsticks [link] [comments]