What kid doesn't want to be recognized for their hard work. In fact, what teacher doesn't? We all do and it is nice when that comes to be. So I make it a point to consider the many ways I can show off my class. I put together a slideshow to highlight the students' work to play during the end-of-quarter performance celebration. I post their work periodically on Instagram. I hold art critiques after each firing and have each student present their pieces. I bring tea to the last class to fill their wheel thrown cups and make a toast to their efforts. And this quarter I was able to offer one more way to salute them; I secured a display case in the art hall exclusively for my class.
I offered up this possibility to the class. A group of kids jumped at the chance to lead the designing and implementing of it and got right to work. Meanwhile, I went home and built a few pedestals to add some dimension to the display. (My favorite tool in the shop is hands down the mitre saw so I had a blast!)
The students selected a wide range of clay projects, cut out letters, matted signs, and put it the whole thing together. They took great pride in this endeavor, arranging, rearranging and even offering to wash the glass doors. I am looking forward to walking by this case every day on my way to class. Kudos to my students and their successful display!
Learning to make whistles out of clay is a challenging but rewarding experience. I taught over eighty middle school students in the SPPS Freedom Schools Program this summer and had each one create their own spirit animal out of the basic whistle shape.
To begin, I asked them to think about their personalities and what adjectives could be used to describe them. Then they were to consider what animal might share these qualities with them. For instance, one student described herself as "funny, comfy and smart" so she chose a Husky as her animal. The next step was to make some sketches and consider some of the different ways they could depict it.
The basic whistle shape consists of three parts: a small bowl, a flat circle, and a rectangle. Each part starts out by rolling the clay into a ball then pinch one into a bowl shape, flatten one, and flatten the sides for the third. Connect these three pieces by scoring and adding slip. The air holes go in next. This is the trickiest part. It takes patience to get them placed properly but the precision necessary makes the moment of success so exciting!
We used Air-Fire clay so we simply let the finished whistles out to dry over the weekend to harden. They used acrylics for color and then finished them with a ceramic sealant. Some students even added a string so they could wear it around their neck and literally whistle while they worked!
The end result was colorful and bright music to everyone's ears.
The students selected a wide range of clay projects, cut out letters, matted signs, and put it the whole thing together. They took great pride in this endeavor, arranging, rearranging and even offering to wash the glass doors. I am looking forward to walking by this case every day on my way to class. Kudos to my students and their successful display!
