Carrie or Peter Jacobson on thu 20 jan 00
Hello ClayArters: As I have taught and been trained to teach over the years
-- at work and in the community studio, not in formal classrooms -- I have
noticed that different people learn in different ways. Given the choice,
people will use the sense that makes them feel most secure, and helps them
understand most easily.
There are lots of action-type learners, monkey-see-monkey-do types (I am one
of these people, I realize). For these people, demonstrations work pretty
well. I've found, as I am sure all of you have, that cutting pots in half
vertically at different stages helps these folks see what the fingers are
doing on the inside, yes? These folks like to try it, like to get their
hands dirty. Often, it helps if I lean over them and actually put my hands
on theirs and direct their fingers, and show them the amount of pressure
they need to place on the pot and where they need to place it.
I have a secondary theory, too, that links learning with getting places. The
hands-on visual people, the monkey-see people, get lost all the time.
The second group is people who learn by reading. Instructions matter to
them. When I encounter one of these people, I lend them a book, send them to
the library, give them the Potters Shop catalogue, point them to the
photographic step-by-step chart we have on the wall of the studio. I do not
take personally their inability to learn by following examples... they read
and understand.
In my secondary theory, these people never get lost. They always have maps
and they always follow the directions.
Then there are the people who prefer to learn by watching videos. This is
indeed a third category, not the same as the first. These folks like to feel
secure before they put their hands to clay. They are people, by and large,
who have grown up watching TV. Probably watching Sesame Street, if you get
right down to it. I lend these people tapes, I suggest they buy tapes, and I
prepare myself to demonstrate the same thing over and over and over and
over.
These people, in my secondary theory, can find a place a second time without
problem, or can get home -- without a map or directions -- from anywhere.
I've also found that, of course, I can't reach everyone. My experience is
limited, my knowledge is limited, my insight is limited. All of ours are.
But I have a number of students who have been with me for a year now, and
are quite good potters. These old regulars have reached out successfully to
a number of new students who were having trouble, and who I was not
reaching.
I have taken this as a sign of success on my part, not of failure, and I
have encouraged and welcomed it. And I'd drive anywhere with these
students,,,
Hope this helps someone.
Carrie Jacobson
Pawcatuck, CT
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