Where it All Took Place
Cooper Home is a school within the Poudre School District designed to provide transitional services for qualified students that are 18-21. Along with Cooper Home, we worked with a group of students from Fossil Ridge High School that participated in the same art making projects. We would meet every three weeks on Mondays from 12:30pm to 2:00pm with the exception of the last two being two weeks apart. There were close to ten to fourteen students every class period and two to five aids, as well.
Class Line-up
Student #1 "Mistah J"--Tended to be one of the quieter and more focused during class periods. He would often work on his own while making light conversation but it was definitely clear he preferred to be by himself so he could focus. On occasion, he would finish things rapidly and then not want to make anything else but these were few and far between. He definitely thought outside of the box plenty of times when making art.
Student #2 "Ladybug"--One of the animated students that spent a lot of her time looking at art from pop culture icons and anime. She enjoyed talking with the others at her table and sharing stories while working on projects. There were very few issues that arose when working with her and she always aimed high for what she wanted to accomplish. Ladybug found a lot of her inspiration from popular shows, mythology, and anime.
Student #3 "Snowy"--Very quiet and reserved but added her opinion when asked for. She wasn't one of the star attenders to class but when she was able to come and learn, she was more than ready to begin working on something new. One of the biggest things that I noticed with her was that she tended to bite off more than she could chew for some projects and wouldn't get the desired result she wanted. The easiest way to really handle this was to offer her more time and help her outline the process it would require if she wanted to continue working on the same project.
Student #4 "The 'C' in Big Cheese"--More of a solo student that worked on his own but very happy to share his ideas. One of the biggest things that came with C was how he always strived to do more than the bare minimum and make things outside of the box. There were some occasions where his art making would lull but that came with his planning as paint dried or he worked on a sketch for how he wanted something to work.
Student #5 "Air K"--Hung out with the talkative bunch but spent more time listening than talking. Even though we was with the social group of people, Air K wasn't one to speak all the time as he preferred listening to what was going on. He talked a lot about basketball and made a few pieces based upon the sport while including other interests during the projects.
Student #6 "Gypsy Danger"--The ringleader of the socials with an "take-charge" personality. Gypsy did an excellent job during projects and despite her avid social discussions during class, she would talk with others about the art they were producing and what they were thinking about. There were moments when the conversation would veer to a topic outside of class but it would always lead back to what they were working on.
Student #7 "Mystique"--Quiet, dedicated, and passionate and not all that social. She was unable to attend the first four weeks of class but it was clear what kind of student she was when we were able to work with her. Mystique worked diligently on a project one of the aids made so that she would have something to work on along with a spare pot with the same intended purpose (should someone's explode in the kiln). The only downside was not getting to know her as much as we had with the other students.
Student #8 "April O'Neel"--Another from the social group that spent quite a bit of time working TMNT themed ideas. Her work rarely involved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle squad, but it was clear that the thought had crossed her mind. Her work tended to have more of an abstract quality to it compared to others, but she was always able to describe its meaning.
Student #9 "Serenity"--One of the students that had the most trouble but strove to overcome the problem. The biggest trouble she had was that her hands would shake making it difficult to handle tools that required a steady precision. What we found was that the best way to handle it was to keep things open-ended in the sense that projects didn't have to rely on precision or that they would have an option designed for minimal precision. There were still instances where she would get frustrated but it didn't stop her from giving up.
Student #10 "Fleur"--Reserved and diligent with overflowing kindness and curiosity. She spent most of her time working quietly talking here and there with one of the aids or another teacher, but when she did talk she made sure to keep the conversation going and talked frequently about what she was doing and activities outside of the class. One of the biggest difficulties that we came across was that she had a hard time speaking so we had to listen carefully and get close so that it wasn't lost in the din of the class discussions. One of the teachers found out that she could use sign language when she was taught her name and did her best to learn a handful of sign language to help Fleur.
Student #11 "Andre the Giant"--Quiet, imposing, and clever. He rarely spoke outside of a few, short sentences that were direct and to the point, but it was clear that he was processing everything around him. It was reflected in his art and other practices during the classes. We found that the best way to interact with him was to ask him a question with two possible answers attaching those answers to our hands. That way he wouldn't be required to formulate a verbal response if it was long or we would ask questions that only required a single word answer.
Student #12 "Hispana"--Energetic and bubbly compared to other students. Hispana would jump from one topic to the next spending only a few moments on one idea before moving on to the next. The best way we found when talking with her was to do our best to stick with the train of thought and questions as they came. It wasn't terribly difficult and she was more than happy to clarify something when we asked about it again.
Student #13 "Goldie Rabbit"--Quick of tongue and boundless in energy. Goldie spent quite a bit of time talking with other tablemates during class and would jump from those conversations to talking with teachers and back to the original discussion. She would always ask about how her artwork was coming along looking for feedback from other students and teachers. The biggest quirk we ran into was that some of her conversations would get a little awkward based on some of the related subject matter to the lesson. The best solution we found was to let her get it out of her system due to the rate she switched discussion topics.
Student #14 "Deadmaus"--Silent and contemplative. He didn't speak at all as he relied on an iPad to form sentences that were then read back to us through the app. When interacting with him, it was clear that he only listened to those that he was familiar working with, so we would do our best to help his aid when it came time to working on projects. She was more than happy to help out but he was one of the students that didn't have the actual capacity to focus too long on one set activity and would spend more time playing with the materials enjoying art in that function than worrying about creating something permanent.
Student #2 "Ladybug"--One of the animated students that spent a lot of her time looking at art from pop culture icons and anime. She enjoyed talking with the others at her table and sharing stories while working on projects. There were very few issues that arose when working with her and she always aimed high for what she wanted to accomplish. Ladybug found a lot of her inspiration from popular shows, mythology, and anime.
Student #3 "Snowy"--Very quiet and reserved but added her opinion when asked for. She wasn't one of the star attenders to class but when she was able to come and learn, she was more than ready to begin working on something new. One of the biggest things that I noticed with her was that she tended to bite off more than she could chew for some projects and wouldn't get the desired result she wanted. The easiest way to really handle this was to offer her more time and help her outline the process it would require if she wanted to continue working on the same project.
Student #4 "The 'C' in Big Cheese"--More of a solo student that worked on his own but very happy to share his ideas. One of the biggest things that came with C was how he always strived to do more than the bare minimum and make things outside of the box. There were some occasions where his art making would lull but that came with his planning as paint dried or he worked on a sketch for how he wanted something to work.
Student #5 "Air K"--Hung out with the talkative bunch but spent more time listening than talking. Even though we was with the social group of people, Air K wasn't one to speak all the time as he preferred listening to what was going on. He talked a lot about basketball and made a few pieces based upon the sport while including other interests during the projects.
Student #6 "Gypsy Danger"--The ringleader of the socials with an "take-charge" personality. Gypsy did an excellent job during projects and despite her avid social discussions during class, she would talk with others about the art they were producing and what they were thinking about. There were moments when the conversation would veer to a topic outside of class but it would always lead back to what they were working on.
Student #7 "Mystique"--Quiet, dedicated, and passionate and not all that social. She was unable to attend the first four weeks of class but it was clear what kind of student she was when we were able to work with her. Mystique worked diligently on a project one of the aids made so that she would have something to work on along with a spare pot with the same intended purpose (should someone's explode in the kiln). The only downside was not getting to know her as much as we had with the other students.
Student #8 "April O'Neel"--Another from the social group that spent quite a bit of time working TMNT themed ideas. Her work rarely involved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle squad, but it was clear that the thought had crossed her mind. Her work tended to have more of an abstract quality to it compared to others, but she was always able to describe its meaning.
Student #9 "Serenity"--One of the students that had the most trouble but strove to overcome the problem. The biggest trouble she had was that her hands would shake making it difficult to handle tools that required a steady precision. What we found was that the best way to handle it was to keep things open-ended in the sense that projects didn't have to rely on precision or that they would have an option designed for minimal precision. There were still instances where she would get frustrated but it didn't stop her from giving up.
Student #10 "Fleur"--Reserved and diligent with overflowing kindness and curiosity. She spent most of her time working quietly talking here and there with one of the aids or another teacher, but when she did talk she made sure to keep the conversation going and talked frequently about what she was doing and activities outside of the class. One of the biggest difficulties that we came across was that she had a hard time speaking so we had to listen carefully and get close so that it wasn't lost in the din of the class discussions. One of the teachers found out that she could use sign language when she was taught her name and did her best to learn a handful of sign language to help Fleur.
Student #11 "Andre the Giant"--Quiet, imposing, and clever. He rarely spoke outside of a few, short sentences that were direct and to the point, but it was clear that he was processing everything around him. It was reflected in his art and other practices during the classes. We found that the best way to interact with him was to ask him a question with two possible answers attaching those answers to our hands. That way he wouldn't be required to formulate a verbal response if it was long or we would ask questions that only required a single word answer.
Student #12 "Hispana"--Energetic and bubbly compared to other students. Hispana would jump from one topic to the next spending only a few moments on one idea before moving on to the next. The best way we found when talking with her was to do our best to stick with the train of thought and questions as they came. It wasn't terribly difficult and she was more than happy to clarify something when we asked about it again.
Student #13 "Goldie Rabbit"--Quick of tongue and boundless in energy. Goldie spent quite a bit of time talking with other tablemates during class and would jump from those conversations to talking with teachers and back to the original discussion. She would always ask about how her artwork was coming along looking for feedback from other students and teachers. The biggest quirk we ran into was that some of her conversations would get a little awkward based on some of the related subject matter to the lesson. The best solution we found was to let her get it out of her system due to the rate she switched discussion topics.
Student #14 "Deadmaus"--Silent and contemplative. He didn't speak at all as he relied on an iPad to form sentences that were then read back to us through the app. When interacting with him, it was clear that he only listened to those that he was familiar working with, so we would do our best to help his aid when it came time to working on projects. She was more than happy to help out but he was one of the students that didn't have the actual capacity to focus too long on one set activity and would spend more time playing with the materials enjoying art in that function than worrying about creating something permanent.