mel jacobson on sun 21 mar 10
i just talked to my neighbor kid...ten years old.
he has been building a fort in the woods for three years.
scrap wood. (i give him nails and stuff...)
he loves to make forts out of leaves...lots of leaves.
\my god, the kid will rake for a month just get that pile.
(he drags leaves from the park across the street.) (i gave him an old
blanket to drag leaves.)
he makes serpentine, squares, ovals.
he re/arranges the leaves almost every day.
he builds forts of snow. (big winter in minnesota...he was thrilled.)
he does this, alone.
no one else will help him. a kid with energy and
a mind set.
he was not made by the schools, he was made by himself.
i always inspect his work...encourage him...tell him what a special
kid he is. others think he is a bit screwy.
he loves to tell me what he is doing...secret plans.
i keep his secrets..then see them when he is done.
he would never be considered to be `gifted` by the school.
i know he is gifted.
and, i am correct.
he has the gift of energy and mind set. he starts something
and keeps on going.
i like that little kid.
mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
rickmahaffey@COMCAST.NET on mon 22 mar 10
This makes me think of Andy Goldsworthy - a guy who is very well paid to be=
=3D
a 12 year old!=3D20
Rick=3D20
Subject: a kid that plays at work=3D20
i just talked to my neighbor kid...ten years old.=3D20
he has been building a fort in the woods for three years.=3D20
scrap wood. =3DC2=3DA0(i give him nails and stuff...)=3D20
he loves to make forts out of leaves...lots of leaves.=3D20
\my god, the kid will rake for a month just get that pile.=3D20
(he drags leaves from the park across the street.) =3DC2=3DA0(i gave him an=
old=3D
=3D20
blanket to drag leaves.)=3D20
he makes serpentine, squares, ovals.=3D20
he re/arranges the leaves almost every day.=3D20
he builds forts of snow. (big winter in minnesota...he was thrilled.)=3D20
=3DC2=3DA0=3DC2=3DA0he does this, alone.=3D20
no one else will help him. =3DC2=3DA0a kid with energy and=3D20
a mind set.=3D20
he was not made by the schools, he was made by himself.=3D20
i always inspect his work...encourage him...tell him what a special=3D20
kid he is. =3DC2=3DA0 others think he is a bit screwy.=3D20
he loves to tell me what he is doing...secret plans.=3D20
i keep his secrets..then see them when he is done.=3D20
he would never be considered to be `gifted` by the school.=3D20
i know he is gifted.=3D20
and, i am correct.=3D20
he has the gift of energy and mind set. =3DC2=3DA0he starts something=3D20
and keeps on going.=3D20
i like that little kid.=3D20
mel
John Post on wed 24 mar 10
> he would never be considered to be `gifted` by the school.
> i know he is gifted.
> and, i am correct.
>
> he has the gift of energy and mind set. he starts something
> and keeps on going.
> i like that little kid.
> mel
I love kids like that. They are never at a loss for ideas.
Today my 4th grade class was making European clay dragons.
I showed them how to use cones to make a body, tail, and spikes down
the spine. I told them that in the limited time they have, they will
have to decide where to give the most effort. They will have to
decide what features they want on their dragon, and realize that if
they spend a lot of time on wings, they might spend less time working
on something else.
One kid made a dragon with flames shooting out of the mouth and
holding an ice cream cone in its hand. The absurd juxtaposition of
those two ideas was really funny. Another kid at her table made a
dragon holding a hot dog, and another kid made one eating a pizza.
My goal for this lesson was for the kids to compare and contrast the
European dragons with the Chinese dragons that we made drawings of
earlier this year. I also wanted them to learn how to create clay
cone forms.
Creating cones isn't as easy as it appears when you are 10 years old.
I tell my students that I like to say "Yes" to them when they have a
creative idea in art. So as long as they meet the goals of the
lesson, using cones and creating a European inspired dragon, then I
can say yes to all of their impish ice cream cones and other creative
embellishments.
If I make the goal too open ended on a project the kids flounder.
About a month ago I showed the kids how to use paper resist and slip
on tiles and was going to let them come up with imagery on their own.
It was a big mistake, as they didn't come up with anything
interesting. So I changed the lesson and gave it structure, requiring
the kids to create a robot that had positive and negative shapes in it
and the creativity blossomed.
I find with kids its important to give them some requirements and let
them be creative while working towards meeting those requirements.
Kids aren't as good as adults at setting up their own problems to
solve. They can only think outside of the box, once you put them in
the box.
There are not that many little kids as driven as the gifted kid in
mel's neighborhood and that's why when we see them, we know what gems
they are.
When my wife and I talk at dinner, it turns out that we always like
the kids that drive other teachers in our buildings crazy. The
offbeat ones who they don't think much of sometimes really get to
shine when they come to art. Of course then some idiot classroom
teacher will try to hold that kid back from art to do some missing
homework. Then we usually have to go stand up for that kid with
administration and reinforce that art is part of the curriculum and
for that 47 minutes the kids belong in art.
I once had a teacher tell me, "He likes coming to your class, holding
him back was the only thing I could think of to get him to do his
work." To which I replied, "Maybe you should make the work in your
room more interesting."
John Post
Sterling Heights, Michigan
:: cone 6 glaze website :: http://www.johnpost.us
:: elementary art website :: http://www.wemakeart.org
:: youtube channel :: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrPostArtTeacher
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