Teacher studio: run your first class

The teacher studio is for art teachers who run classes for children. After each lesson you photograph the drawings, and each parent sees only their own child's work, the same day, in a private gallery. Nothing from a class is ever public, and children never have accounts.

This guide walks through your first class, from setting it up to lesson day.

#Before you start

• Set up your teacher page. After you sign up, tick Teach art classes under What brings you to ChainChum? (or later, press Sell and choose Teach art classes). On Classes, fill in Set up teaching: Your name or studio name, and a Web address if you want to choose one. You don't need a shop. If you already have a shop, it doubles as your teacher page and you skip this.
• Verify your identity and set up payouts with Stripe. Running classes needs both. Until then, Studio › Classes shows Verify your identity with Stripe to run classes:
  1. Press Set up payouts. On the Payouts page, press Set up payouts with Stripe and follow Stripe's steps. See Get paid: payouts and identity.
  2. Come back to Classes. Stripe often confirms your identity a few minutes after you finish; press Check again to ask now.
• A printer and sticker sheets. Avery 5160 (US Letter, 30 a sheet) or Avery L7160 (A4, 21 a sheet), and plain paper.
• A phone with a camera for lesson day.

#1. Create a class

1. Open Studio (Sell on a phone) and press Classes.
2. Press New class.
3. Fill in:
   • Class name, for example Saturday Sketchers. Parents see it on their slip and in their gallery.
   • When it meets (optional), for example Saturdays 10:00.
   • Where (optional), for example Riverside Library.
   • Children in the class: one code per child. Use the − and + buttons. You can add more later.
4. Press Create class.

Your shop now shows a Teacher badge.

#2. Print the labels

Each child has a number and a code. On the class page, under Codes, press Print labels. A PDF opens with three things:

• The roster, for you. Write each child's name by hand next to their number. It never goes into ChainChum: keep it safe.
• A take-home slip per child, four to a page. Each has a QR code, the code typed out and the address to join, so the parent can see their child's drawings.
• Sticker sheets: six stickers per child, each with a QR code and the child's number.

Before you print, pick your sticker sheets under Label paper: US Letter · Avery 5160 or A4 · Avery L7160. ChainChum guesses from your phone's region and remembers your choice.

Print at 100 % (Actual size), never Fit to page, or the stickers won't line up. The first time, print one sticker page on plain paper and hold it against a sheet to check.

Then give each child the slip and the stickers with their number. The slip goes home to a parent; the stickers stay with you for the drawings.

Slips only prints just the slips, for example if you run out.

#3. On lesson day: photograph the drawings

1. Put the child's sticker on each drawing where the camera can see it. Names go on the back, never on the front.
2. Open the class and press Add photos. Take the photos or choose them from your phone. You can pick many at once.
3. Photograph the drawing only: no children in the photo, no faces, nothing else in the picture.
4. Keep the screen open while it says … of … uploaded, keep this screen open.
5. Then send the paper drawings home.

ChainChum reads the sticker in each photo and checks the photo for faces, names and anything else that could identify a child. While it works you see Checking … photos. They land here in a moment. The page fills in by itself.

A photo with a clear sticker and nothing to worry about goes straight to that child's parent. When nothing needs you, you see Nothing needs you. Photos with a clear sticker go straight to the parent.

#4. Clear the trays

Anything the check couldn't settle waits for you in a tray. Tap a photo to see it larger; the same buttons are there.

#Needs a code

ChainChum couldn't read a sticker, or a name is written on the drawing.

• Press Tag, then tap the child's number under Which child?. If ChainChum could read a number, it is highlighted for you. A green dot means that child's parent has joined.
• Or press Delete.

A drawing with a written name says A name is written on it: it goes only to this child's parent and can never be public.

Photos left in Needs a code are deleted after 14 days.

#Needs a look

The check saw something, and tells you what:

You will see	What to do
A person's face may be in the photo	Retake it with the drawing only, Delete it, or Ask ChainChum
Something in the photo could identify a child	Delete it or Ask ChainChum
This doesn't look like a drawing	Send to the parent if it is one
The automatic check didn't run	Send to the parent if it's a drawing with no photographed face

• Send to the parent sends it on. If the photo has no child yet, you pick the number first.
• Retake deletes this photo so you can photograph the drawing again with Add photos.
• Delete removes it for good. If the drawing has already gone home, you can't photograph it again.
• Ask ChainChum sends the photo to us. It moves to the With ChainChum tray.

A photo that may show a face, or something that identifies a child, can't be sent by you. Retake it, delete it, or ask us.

#With ChainChum

A person at ChainChum looks at the photo. We either send it on (to the parent, or back to your Needs a code tray if it has no child yet) or remove it. If we remove it, you get a notification, A class photo was removed, with the reason.

#5. Tell the parents

Ready drawings join Today's notice to parents. Parents hear 15 minutes after your last photo, or straight away when you press Send to parents.

Each parent gets at most one notice a day for each class: a notification in ChainChum and, unless they turned it off, an email with the number of new drawings and a button. The email never contains pictures. If more photos are ready after today's notice has gone out, they wait for tomorrow's notice. You see Today's notice went out, so these go in tomorrow's notice, on its own or when you tap Send to parents tomorrow. Tomorrow's notice goes out by itself at about 10 AM US Eastern (15:00 UTC), or earlier when you press Send to parents that day.

If no parent has joined with a child's code yet, that child's drawings wait and reach the parent when they join.

Read what parents see in For parents: join your child's class.

#6. Leave a note (optional)

Tell a parent what went well. Under Codes, tap a child's number of drawings, then Add a note under a drawing:

1. Write a short note about the drawing, up to 280 characters, for example Lovely sky. Next time, try a darker blue for the shadows.
2. Pick up to three stamps for what it does well: Colour, Lines, Shapes, Texture, Composition, Imagination, Effort or Tried something new.
3. Press Save note.

Write about the drawing, never the child. A note with a name, an age or a birthday isn't saved: you see Write about the drawing, not the child: no names, ages or birthdays. There are no grades or scores.

Only that child's parent sees the note, under the drawing in their gallery, and in Download all. Write it before Send to parents and it goes out with today's notice (1 has a note from your teacher). Write it later and the parent gets A note from your teacher (at most one a day for each class). To change it, tap Edit note; Remove the note takes it away.

#Sell the paper originals (optional)

If you keep the paper drawings, open the class and tick Originals stay with me, with one price per original (the $1 ChainChum fee is waived). Each child's own parent then sees Buy the original on that drawing in their gallery; nobody else can buy it. After they pay, a task Hand over waits in Me › Tasks: give the drawing to the parent at the next class and tap Handed over (the parent can also say they have it). Its certificate names "a student of" your page, never the child, and shows no picture.

#Manage your codes

Each row under Codes shows the child's number, joined or not yet, and how many drawings they have. Tap the number of drawings to see them as the parent does. Spotted a face or a name after it was sent? Press Delete under that drawing: it is removed from the parent's gallery at once.

• New slip: prints that child's slip again, for example if a parent lost it.
• Release (only on a joined code): the wrong parent joined. See troubleshooting below.
• Add codes: a new child joined the class. Choose How many and press Add codes, then press Print labels for the new children to print only their slips and stickers. A class can have up to 60 codes.

Your class list in Studio › Classes shows how many parents have joined each class, and … photos need you when a tray is waiting.

#Archive a class

When the class has finished for good:

1. Open the class and press Archive class.
2. Confirm. Parents are told at once and have 30 days to download their child's drawings. Then every drawing from the class is deleted.

The class shows Closing on …. You can't add photos or codes to an archived class, and its slips stop working for new parents.

Want to sell seats in a lesson too? Press Sell a lesson on the class page, and see Sell lesson seats. Teaching over a video call? See Teach online lessons: families send you the drawings, and they arrive in your trays marked Sent by the family.

#Who can see the drawings

• You, the class's teacher.
• The parent who joined with that child's slip, and only their own child's drawings and your notes on them.
• ChainChum staff, only while a photo waits in With ChainChum.

Drawings are never shown on your shop, in Explore or anywhere public, and photo location data is removed before anything is stored.

#Troubleshooting

• The wrong parent joined with a slip. Press Release on that code and confirm. That parent loses the child's drawings, the old slip stops working, and you print a New slip for the right parent. The stickers keep working and the drawings stay with the child's code.
• A parent says their code was "already used". Someone has joined with that slip. If it was them on another account, they sign in with that email. If not, release the code and give them a new slip.
• A parent sees "Too many tries". After too many wrong codes in an hour, joining pauses for an hour. It clears by itself.
• A photo is stuck in "Checking". Keep the page open; it refreshes by itself, or reload it. If the check can't run, the photo lands in Needs a look with The automatic check didn't run within a few minutes, and you can send it yourself. Nothing reaches a parent unchecked.
• "… photos are in a format this browser can't open (HEIC)." iPhone photos are HEIC. Upload from Safari, or on the iPhone go to Settings › Camera › Formats and choose Most Compatible.
• "… photos were already uploaded." The same photo was picked twice. The first copy is kept.
• The sticker wasn't read. Shoot in good light, with the sticker flat and fully in the picture. Or tag the photo by hand in Needs a code.
• I ran out of stickers. Press Print labels again. Stickers for the same child always work.

Still stuck? Write to chainchum@dataexpansed.com.