Experience
In today's meeting with Cooper Home, students experimented with clay to create coil and pinch pots. The focus for this class period was to build and refine their pots so they would be ready to fire and paint for the next class period. The students were asked to consider what function their pot would serve as they built them. Teachers demonstrated to the class pinch pot building, coil building, handle pulling, and slip and scoring techniques to ensure proper connections of pieces to one another. The students explored the possibilities of what the clay medium is able to do in this class period.
Essential Understandings
Outcomes
Students will be able to:
Skills
Essential Understandings
- Artists communicate ideas by creating art in a variety of ways
- Artists will understand the clay medium and possibilities in 3-D art
Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Use techniques and tools in innovative ways to create a form
- Create 3-D art that serves a function
- Understand the abilities and limitations within the clay medium
- Understand techniques to properly build a clay form ready for firing
Skills
- Identify different techniques to build a clay pot/form
- Creative problem solving
Documentation |
Reflection
What worked well for this art experience? Why?
One of the biggest things that came from this past experience was how many of the students were engaged in creating their pots. A lot of them went with the coil-style over the pinch, which is completely fine as it allowed them to work with the options they were able to choose from (pinch-pot, coil pot, slab pot). Compared to past projects that were finished in the first hour, many of them took the entire class period to figure out the style they wanted and making them. It kept them on task with a minimal amount of problems that came up while we interacted and observed. Even though the project had little provided, in terms of varied choices, the products all took on different forms without borrowing from others' ideas. That was one of the things that felt a little lacking compared to past lessons where we had sophisticated ideas around developing their ideas, but with it being a two part project allows for a little more room to expand on ideas.
What didn't work well for this art experience? Why?
As with all things, nothing ever goes off without a hitch unless you're prepared for everything or are an expert. One the main issues that we ran into was that some students wanted to use more clay in their projects, but we wanted to make sure the pots would remain a size that would fit in the kiln along with making sure there was enough for everyone. There would have been enough but there was the need to make sure others had to option of using clay in other classes if they so wish. It wasn't a big deal or widespread issue so it wasn't a make-or-break situation. The other issue that arose was that one person didn't care for the type of clay we were using, which I believe came from their difficulty in maintaining a steady hand. She seemed to be doing well as she went on exploring the shapes that she could make but it wasn't until Nisty sat down at the table to talk about the pieces that she said she didn't like the clay. It was difficult in this situation because there were no hints or signs that this was difficult for her or that she didn't care for it, which is a bit disheartening considering we could have tried to find something else for her to enjoy rather than sitting for a good portion of the class frustrated.
What would you do differently? Why?
In the case of wanting to create clay pots, I think it would have been a good idea to try and include two or three types of clay that the students could use to create whatever they wanted to as clay sculpture depicting one of their interests. This way we could have provided the red clay, possibly the oil bake clay, and perhaps the air dry foam based clay. Each has their pluses and minuses, but it may have helped with the problem of distaste for a certain type of clay. In the instance of needing more clay, that would have to be treated in the same manner as the others and be somewhat portioned out to be equal across the board. Otherwise, the lesson worked out well across the board with the exception of time due to some students not completing their pots. That is something dealing with time available and trying to make sure they had plenty of time to work alongside the necessary demos and clean-up time.
One of the biggest things that came from this past experience was how many of the students were engaged in creating their pots. A lot of them went with the coil-style over the pinch, which is completely fine as it allowed them to work with the options they were able to choose from (pinch-pot, coil pot, slab pot). Compared to past projects that were finished in the first hour, many of them took the entire class period to figure out the style they wanted and making them. It kept them on task with a minimal amount of problems that came up while we interacted and observed. Even though the project had little provided, in terms of varied choices, the products all took on different forms without borrowing from others' ideas. That was one of the things that felt a little lacking compared to past lessons where we had sophisticated ideas around developing their ideas, but with it being a two part project allows for a little more room to expand on ideas.
What didn't work well for this art experience? Why?
As with all things, nothing ever goes off without a hitch unless you're prepared for everything or are an expert. One the main issues that we ran into was that some students wanted to use more clay in their projects, but we wanted to make sure the pots would remain a size that would fit in the kiln along with making sure there was enough for everyone. There would have been enough but there was the need to make sure others had to option of using clay in other classes if they so wish. It wasn't a big deal or widespread issue so it wasn't a make-or-break situation. The other issue that arose was that one person didn't care for the type of clay we were using, which I believe came from their difficulty in maintaining a steady hand. She seemed to be doing well as she went on exploring the shapes that she could make but it wasn't until Nisty sat down at the table to talk about the pieces that she said she didn't like the clay. It was difficult in this situation because there were no hints or signs that this was difficult for her or that she didn't care for it, which is a bit disheartening considering we could have tried to find something else for her to enjoy rather than sitting for a good portion of the class frustrated.
What would you do differently? Why?
In the case of wanting to create clay pots, I think it would have been a good idea to try and include two or three types of clay that the students could use to create whatever they wanted to as clay sculpture depicting one of their interests. This way we could have provided the red clay, possibly the oil bake clay, and perhaps the air dry foam based clay. Each has their pluses and minuses, but it may have helped with the problem of distaste for a certain type of clay. In the instance of needing more clay, that would have to be treated in the same manner as the others and be somewhat portioned out to be equal across the board. Otherwise, the lesson worked out well across the board with the exception of time due to some students not completing their pots. That is something dealing with time available and trying to make sure they had plenty of time to work alongside the necessary demos and clean-up time.