Rimas VisGirda on wed 2 nov 11
Mel has some good things to say about teaching... I think that to be a good=
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teacher you have to be a practitioner and KNOW what you are teaching; I th=
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ink it's impossible to get students excited unless you (the teacher) are ex=
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cited. I don't know about all States, nor if it's still true in CA, but whe=
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n I went to school in the 60's to get a teaching credential you needed to m=
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ajor (achieve a BA) in a field -THEN go for=3DA0 a Master's degree coupled =
wi=3D
th a teaching credential... I had graduated in Physics and was working as a=
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research physicist (solid rocket propellants, yes I was a Rocket Scientist=
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) meanwhile I was also teaching part time in the Physics Dept; I thought I =
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would rather teach than be a researcher, so went back to school to get an e=
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ducation credential. As luck may have it, I didn't want to deal with the at=
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tention and discipline problems that I encountered when student teaching my=
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last semester in high school, I found the difference between
teaching college and high school to be at different ends of the spectrum a=
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nd at that time in my life I had no room for kids, but that's a whole other=
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story. I think it takes a special kind of person to deal with (groups of) =
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kids and the lower education system, and I applaud those people with the ut=
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most respect! After I quit the education curriculum I went on to get a Mast=
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er's in Art and many of my fellow art students went into education with suc=
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cessful careers in art AND education, mostly high school. I went on to teac=
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h college, I wasn't given a curriculum or guidelines or told exactly what t=
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o teach; I had to make up my own assignments and demos and rhetoric based o=
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n my own (college) experience as a student; luckily (I think) at that time =
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there wasn't the proliferation of material that is currently available... a=
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s the pumpkin thing, pottery illustrated, teaching projects from AMACO, etc=
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. etc. So I had to figure things out from I knew, and it became easy
to teach what I was doing because I was excited about what I do, and the s=
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tudents can pick up on that. The trick is not to mold them into clones of o=
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neself, you need to give them enough GENERAL information that they can appl=
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y to whatever turns them on without giving them too much SPECIFIC informati=
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on that allows them to copy you directly... I've run on much longer than I =
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intended, the reason I started this writing is because once, in MN, I tried=
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to use someone else's "lesson." I went to a lecture where the presenter (p=
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ainter) was inspirational, I found his presentation so dynamic and beautifu=
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l that I thought to apply it to a lesson in ceramics... it was a DISMAL fai=
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lure! The reason, of course, is that it was not MY lesson, I had no backgro=
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und or excitement about the delivery except for appreciating what SOMEONE E=
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LSE had done... and so it goes with all those lessons and suggested project=
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s that we can find streaming out of the internet... Regards -Rimas=3D0A=3D0=
A=3D0A=3D
Date:=3DA0 =3DA0 Tue, 1 Nov 2011 15:58:49 -0500=3D0AFrom:=3DA0 =3DA0 mel ja=
cobson lpots2@VISI.COM>=3D0ASubject: tricky art projects=3D0A=3D0Ai spent my entir=
e life=3D
working with kids and art.=3D0Aevery month some magazine would come to the=
=3D
=3D0Adepartment full of tricky art projects for teachers.=3D0A=3D0Ait remin=
ded me=3D
of the `fake` sermons that were=3D0Asent to ministers so if they did not w=
an=3D
t to prepare=3D0Afor sunday, they just read the prepared one from=3D0Athe s=
ynod=3D
.=3D0A=3D0Aover a lifetime of teaching i never used one idea=3D0Afrom the m=
agazin=3D
es.=3D0A=3D0Ai got lots of ideas from cm.=3DA0 it was a professional=3D0Ama=
gazine.=3D
=3DA0 there was always an idea, a glaze color=3D0Aor something that inspire=
d me=3D
.=3D0Athe berhends book of glazes came from cm.=3DA0 a great=3D0Alittle boo=
k, eve=3D
n to this day. (like early 60's.)=3D0A=3D0Athe best projects that kids can =
do a=3D
re those that=3D0Areal artists do.=3D0Amake stuff, draw stuff, build stuff.=
...`=3D
get em going=3D0Aand turn em loose.`=3D0A=3D0Ait does lead me to believe th=
at som=3D
e art teachers are=3D0Anot artists...have no clue.=3DA0 if they need cookie=
cut=3D
ter,=3D0Astep by step....well, they are behind the curve.=3D0A=3D0Ai worked=
with =3D
some of them over the years.=3DA0 sad creatures=3D0Athat did not understand=
the=3D
process of doing art.=3D0A=3D0Ai was blessed to work with several incredib=
le a=3D
rtists that=3D0Abecame my partners.=3DA0 verne was and still is at 82 a gre=
at=3D
=3D0Aillustrator/block printer and cartoonist.=3DA0 kids loved him.=3D0Ajoh=
n was/=3D
is still at 84 a fine painter.=3DA0 i made clay.=3D0Awe had a team that was=
inc=3D
redible.=3D0Akids loved our department.=3DA0 they flocked to us.=3D0Aall th=
ree/ar=3D
tists.=3DA0 and, of course in teaching, the big=3D0AS.=3DA0 support of each=
other=3D
.=3D0A=3D0Aa professor at the u of m called us `single medium hounds`.=3D0A=
she di=3D
d not think we taught enough academic art and theory.=3D0Awell, we did, but=
i=3D
n the context of our program.=3D0Ashe did not know what end of a brush to p=
ai=3D
nt with.=3D0Ashe played the guitar.=3D0Aall theory.=3DA0 we won.=3D0Amel=3D=
0Ai never =3D
entered my kids pots in contests.=3DA0 would not do it.=3D0Ai used to tell =
them=3D
to make `pine cone trees` and cover them=3D0Awith corn and enter those.=3D=
A0 i=3D
said...`we are so far ahead of contest=3D0Aentrants that it would be embar=
ra=3D
ssing to win a trophy.=3DA0 like a=3D0Abig ten football team playing our ni=
nth =3D
grade team.=3DA0 `give it up,=3D0Aand learn pride in what you do.`=3D0Afrom=
: minn=3D
etonka, mn=3D0Awebsite: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/=3D0Aclayart link:=3DA=
0 http=3D
://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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