Sherry mcDonald Stewart on fri 16 may 97
I was asked once to do a workshop in conjunction with a large well known
ceramics competition with which I helped out with each year. I was asked
to work with some 5th graders. After I said yes, I was told there were
90 of them! Hmmmm....undaunted, (almost) I said, ok, 3 groups of 30,
I'll take them to the arroyo to mine clay, make pots, and fire in
sawdust. I was also planning on having a botanist or biologists come
from the university to interest the kids in the ecology of this area. I
didn't tell them that part. The message I got back was, "the parents
don't want to get their suburbans dirty! And the kids don't have any old
clothes to wear! I was thinking, "they have so much money, and so little
sense...just give me money, we'll have pizza catered at the arroyo, I'll
take them on a school bus, and we'll stop by the salvation army for
decent clothes!" I should have told them no at that point, but I was
thinking of the kids..so I went on with it. It got worse!
As I was relating to the kids in an effort to break the ice, the
mothers were talking so loud they coould be heard over my small soft
voice, it was very distracting. We didn't go to the arroyo, by the way.
One mother, the ex judges wife could be clearly heard to say, "she
wanted to take them to the arroyo! Can you believe that?" I thought I
would be very appreciative if someone offered to take my kids on a field
trip to find readily available resources.
The year before they made tiles that went up at their school. A friend
of mine did almost all the work herself. I wanted to leave the kids with
a way to motivate themselves. The kids were great! We got along just
fine. Many of the pots blew up in the sawdust fire, as we didn't have
time to do a lot, and get the walls even, tho I stressed that. I didn't
feel it was a failure, to get their attention in problem solving is not
a failure. Perhaps some think so. I feel that they failed to appreciate
anfd to be supportive (parents). So, just another story!
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