Joyce Lee on sun 17 feb 02
Okay, okay...... seven of you who teach Kindergarten through Twelfth =
Grades .. I've received your lists of concerns which bounced off =
Karen's&Doug's Grand Clayart Syllabi Informal Discussion posts .... =
almost all from lurkers who aren't quite prepared to put themselves out =
there..... since apparently and sadly they aren't even always certain =
that they're really welcome on Clayart (even though the mayor is =
rightfully proud of his career as a high school ceramics teacher, and I, =
his substitute, hold a K-12 credential and have at some point taught =
most of those levels, though admittedly not in clay). =20
They're wondering if NCECA sees them as anything more than a Paying =
Customer, which...... right or wrong..... they seem to think is the way =
it is. Sooo, if it isn't true,
somebody perhaps will want to clarify NCECA's attitude to, for example, =
a sixth grade teacher, or ... let's really get it out there ... a =
kindergarten teacher, who is a potter and uses her knowledge and talent =
to enhance her classroom teaching. (Note: they refer to themselves as =
"teachers," not as "instructors" or even "educators".....) She also =
craves some more or less adult conversation with other potters who =
accept her for who and what she is and share her hunger. IS there a =
place for him at NCECA? And, if so, where? What about the high school =
ceramics teacher? Is there a place for her? If so, where? I know that =
NCECA offers Student Shows from high schools, maybe even from younger
students. I am among those who always enjoy seeing student work so I =
rarely miss these. QUESTION: Is there any other way K-12 Educators are =
highlighted? In breakout sessions? Presentations? Is it ALL meant for =
college and university level instructors?
AND....... this question is for me, not from another claybud ..... if =
NCECA does not offer specific programs for K-12, why not? AND WHO DOES? =
I've also received questions about offerings for the Studio Potter, in =
light of the considerable expense and time such conferences now cost. I =
know that there are some..... Tool Doctors being a notable one..... =
great idea, by the way! If any of you missed David Hendley's, Vince =
Pitelka's and Jack Troy's (all clayarters) presentation at Denver, you =
missed a SHOW! Clayarters made a spectacle of ourselves, as usual when =
we're out to support our own. DavidVinceJack were all we could have =
imagined them to be. No "In" jokes that left most of their huge audience =
feeling ignorant and "Out" of it. The attitude was one of "we did it =
and you can, too." The only potters they put down were themselves, and =
that was joking, of course. Rousing approval from all. =20
As I'm writing this, I received a moving and heartfelt post from one of =
the Big Guys ...... one of the Biggest of theBig Guys .... who spoke of =
his growing awareness of the "exclusiveness of cliques," "the "elitism =
and snobbery of institutionalized clay" that "prohibits the =
dissemination of both information and knowledge" ..... and mentioned =
that this elitism sometimes surfaces on Clayart.
Much to my sorrow, I know he's right. We must correct that.... at the =
same time allowing EACH of us to speak our piece.
Not easy to do.
Enough. My brain is whirling its few remaining cells into ...... the =
need for a cup of tea.
Joyce
In the Mojave wondering where the heck she's coming from..... a =
struggling studio potter herself ..... who finds her most comfortable =
niche in the Clayart Room....=20
Andi Fasimpaur on mon 18 feb 02
At 09:07 AM 2/17/02 -0800, Joyce Lee wrote:
>Okay, okay...... seven of you who teach Kindergarten through Twelfth
>Grades .. I've received your lists of concerns which bounced
>off Karen's&Doug's Grand Clayart Syllabi Informal Discussion posts ....
>almost all from lurkers who aren't quite prepared to put themselves out
>there..... since apparently and sadly they aren't even always certain that
>they're really welcome on Clayart (even though the mayor is rightfully
>proud of his career as a high school ceramics teacher, and I, his
>substitute, hold a K-12 credential and have at some point taught most of
>those levels, though admittedly not in clay).
>
>They're wondering if NCECA sees them as anything more than a Paying
>Customer, which...... right or wrong..... they seem to think is the way it is.
I've cut a lot of Joyce Lee's very thought-provoking post because I wanted
to chime in... I don't believe that the fears which Joyce passed on to the
list are isolated. Nor are they, in my opinion, completely unfounded. I am
not as familiar with the history of NCECA as some on this list, but I have
been to the last 3 conferences and am registered to attend this year's
conference in KC.
There is a great deal going on at the conference, and no one could possibly
attend everything on the schedule. That said, I have not noticed much in
the way of programming which directly addressed the concerns of K-12
teachers. That does appear to be improving. An Ohio ceramic artist named
Kevin Tunstall has been very active with NCECA trying to promote awareness
of K-12 issues. He helped organize the K-12 exhibit in Columbus in 1999,
was in Denver, and I also ran into him at the Adam's Mark in Charlotte.
From what he has told me, NCECA has become much more responsive to K-12
concerns, and this can only improve as more K-12 educators speak up about
their involvement and their needs.
In a recent conversation with the NCECA publications director, I got the
impression that she intends to spend her tenure in office working to "raise
the bar" of NCECA's publications by making them more scholarly. Her goals
for the publications seem to include giving them a more formal academic tone.
While I applaud her ambition and wish her every success, I cannot help but
fear that this direction will further the perceptions that K-12 teachers
already have as expressed in Joyce's post, that K-12 instructors are
welcome as paying participants, but that the 'Education' to which NCECA
refers is at the college and graduate level.
Best Wishes,
Andi.
Cl Litman on mon 18 feb 02
There is a K-12 group of teachers who have worked very hard and generally
behind the scenes for a number of years to ease NCECA into more support
of the K-12 scene. They started meeting quite a number of years ago at
the 'connections' sessions. Their first success was having NCECA support
a room annually for the K-12 slide show. A few years later they now have
support for the juried show that takes place. I don't know what they are
working on at the moment but I do know they would love to have help. Bob
Feder is the first person that comes to mind (he's an adjunct at the
community college I went to). If you have an old NCECA program, look
back at any of the names listed for the K-12 slide show and get in touch
to see if the group is still active.
One of their biggest problems with making progress is that although many
teachers attended those first few connections sessions, not many wanted
to attend the business meetings and do the networking required to
convince the board that there is a real need for K-12 support and
programming at NCECA.
Cheryl Litman - NJ
cheryllitman@juno.com
On Sun, 17 Feb 2002 09:07:49 -0800 Joyce Lee
writes:
> Okay, okay...... seven of you who teach Kindergarten through Twelfth
> =
> Grades .. I've received your lists of concerns which bounced off =
> Karen's&Doug's Grand Clayart Syllabi Informal Discussion posts ....
> =
> almost all from lurkers who aren't quite prepared to put themselves
> out =
> there..... since apparently and sadly they aren't even always
> certain =
> that they're really welcome on Clayart (even though the mayor is =
> rightfully proud of his career as a high school ceramics teacher,
> and I, =
> his substitute, hold a K-12 credential and have at some point taught
> =
> most of those levels, though admittedly not in clay). =20
>
> They're wondering if NCECA sees them as anything more than a Paying
> =
> Customer, which...... right or wrong..... they seem to think is the
> way =
> it is. Sooo, if it isn't true,
> somebody perhaps will want to clarify NCECA's attitude to, for
> example, =
> a sixth grade teacher, or ... let's really get it out there ... a =
> kindergarten teacher, who is a potter and uses her knowledge and
> talent =
> to enhance her classroom teaching. (Note: they refer to themselves
> as =
> "teachers," not as "instructors" or even "educators".....) She also
> =
> craves some more or less adult conversation with other potters who
> =
> accept her for who and what she is and share her hunger. IS there a
> =
> place for him at NCECA? And, if so, where? What about the high
> school =
> ceramics teacher? Is there a place for her? If so, where? I know
> that =
> NCECA offers Student Shows from high schools, maybe even from
> younger
> students. I am among those who always enjoy seeing student work so
> I =
> rarely miss these. QUESTION: Is there any other way K-12 Educators
> are =
> highlighted? In breakout sessions? Presentations? Is it ALL meant
> for =
> college and university level instructors?
>
> AND....... this question is for me, not from another claybud .....
> if =
> NCECA does not offer specific programs for K-12, why not? AND WHO
> DOES? =
>
>
> I've also received questions about offerings for the Studio Potter,
> in =
> light of the considerable expense and time such conferences now
> cost. I =
> know that there are some..... Tool Doctors being a notable one.....
> =
> great idea, by the way! If any of you missed David Hendley's, Vince
> =
> Pitelka's and Jack Troy's (all clayarters) presentation at Denver,
> you =
> missed a SHOW! Clayarters made a spectacle of ourselves, as usual
> when =
> we're out to support our own. DavidVinceJack were all we could have
> =
> imagined them to be. No "In" jokes that left most of their huge
> audience =
> feeling ignorant and "Out" of it. The attitude was one of "we did
> it =
> and you can, too." The only potters they put down were themselves,
> and =
> that was joking, of course. Rousing approval from all. =20
>
> As I'm writing this, I received a moving and heartfelt post from one
> of =
> the Big Guys ...... one of the Biggest of theBig Guys .... who spoke
> of =
> his growing awareness of the "exclusiveness of cliques," "the
> "elitism =
> and snobbery of institutionalized clay" that "prohibits the =
> dissemination of both information and knowledge" ..... and mentioned
> =
> that this elitism sometimes surfaces on Clayart.
> Much to my sorrow, I know he's right. We must correct that.... at
> the =
> same time allowing EACH of us to speak our piece.
> Not easy to do.
>
> Enough. My brain is whirling its few remaining cells into ......
> the =
> need for a cup of tea.
>
> Joyce
> In the Mojave wondering where the heck she's coming from..... a =
> struggling studio potter herself ..... who finds her most
> comfortable =
> niche in the Clayart Room....=20
>
>
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>
Lee Burningham on tue 19 feb 02
Howdy,
NCECA is for everyone playing in clay. Come to one and find out how it can
and will affect your life.
As is Clayart, whether you have the MFA, the ivory tower university
position, the studio blue collar potter job, the artsy-fartsy occasional
potter of "one of a kind masterpieces', clay student at whatever level, or
production potter/artist in your own studio.
Get over the labels! We are all in this together and none of us will get out
alive.
I read Joyce's missive after finding out about Peter's death and I can only
say that the labels we all use to define and separate ourselves from each
other do nothing to enhance the collective of clay.
Celebrate the differences! Feel free to build up and expand the ceramic
universe,.... BUT,......
DON'T DO IT AT THE EXPENSE AND BELITTLEMENT OF EVERYONE OR ANYONE ELSE.
They're wondering if NCECA sees them as anything more than a Paying
Customer, which......
We are all paying customers.
She also craves some more or less adult conversation with other potters who
accept her for who and what she is and share her hunger. IS there a place
for him at NCECA? And, if so, where? What about the high school ceramics
teacher? Is there a place for her?
QUESTION: Is there any other way K-12 Educators are highlighted? In
breakout sessions? Presentations? Is it ALL meant for college and
university level instructors?
AND....... this question is for me, not from another claybud ..... if NCECA
does not offer specific programs for K-12, why not? AND WHO DOES?
NCECA offers all kinds of K-12 programs in breakout sessions, slide rooms,
topical discussions, AND the annual k-12 student show. This k-12 show is
open for all teachers whether or not they are members of nceca. You kind of
need to show up to see what is going on and how it can help, motivate,
inspire, and diversify your teaching in the classroom. It just might be that
one of the other discussion groups will do much more for you than just
hanging out with other k-12 teachers. Of course, rubbing shoulders with the
likes of Otto and Vivika Heino, Ken Ferguson, Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner,
et. al., hasn't hurt the students coming through my classroom at all.
Drop me a line and I'll be glad to answer any specific questions about my
involvement with NCECA and why I continue to go back every year, and take
high school students along with me. What I don't understand is why everybody
doesn't do it.
Lee Burningham
Box Elder High School and Damn Proud of it!
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