CaraMox on mon 6 apr 98
Cheryl:
I spent my fist two years out of grad school teaching in a local pottery,
until they realized they weren't making money and cut back everything they
felt wasn't making money (my handbuilding class was the first to go) and moved
into cheaper quarters.
some things I noticed about the running of pottery classes:
students want extra time outside of class to work, but they don't want to be
unsupervised (maybe only college students like being left alone) and if they
were going to pay for studio time, there had better be a teacher there, even
if they didn't actually teach anything.
unless the class is limited to three or four students, it is better to run it
in four month segments instead of from month to month. Some problems: more
advanced students had to wait for me to explain basics to new students (and I
always had at least one new student a month) and sometimes people would decide
on the 30th that they didn't want to take class next month, which left me with
a gap for the first month. And then everyone was working on different
projects (which they will do anyway, but why set it up that way?)
I let my students make things in their off time, bring them in to be fired (in
direct conflict with the pottery rules) because I felt the more time they
devoted to the craft, the better they would get (silly me, thinking about the
students instead of the bottom line). I found that even with that, less than
half actually did anything, and they usually did small things. And as long as
I explained clay limitations, there were no firing problems.
Tools are going to be lost. The pottery bought all the tools, and there were
few losses, mostly sponges going into the slop bucket. Chamois was the one
thing that each student was assigned, and woe to those that lost them. (I
told the throwing students about using plastic strips and those were cropping
up in the recycled clay for a month)
I spent about six months teaching out of my studio, but I found that it was
too invasive. Perhaps if I had enough space to seperate my work area from the
students, but I use every foot.
There are many more things -- dealing with problem students who won't clean
up, don't pay on time, don't make anything for six months and then cry. But I
have gone on long enough for one post. I found there were many things I liked
about the experience, and it was very different from teaching in a
college/university setting. It requires much more patience and business
skills.
Cara Moczygemba
in New Orleans
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