mel jacobson on tue 23 apr 02
kelly's post just reminds me:
teaching throwing is about consistent technique.
if you hire me to teach you to throw, well i will do that.
you will not have the stage...i will.
it is not about letting students have their own ideas about
throwing...they know nothing about it. they have only
some notions. the techniques that have been acquired over
50 years are the only ideas that have merit. often you
have to push students to do things correctly. those must
be consistent, muscle memory concepts.
they all start with the legs.
they must be in the proper position to support the arms.
very few teachers of throwing ever think about the legs.
centering should be done with the left thigh muscle.
the left elbow should be planted against the left thigh.
this is how you get a student to pull 15 pounds of clay, very
fast...in weeks. this is how you get 100 kids centering in two
days. legs. think about how to teach 100 kids...get them all
on the same page, at the same time....
when you teach math...do you let the students solve the problem
with the wrong answer?...oh, nice...it does not matter.
that is the new age idea....nothing matters, well, except the
students feelings. bs.
students want consistency, they want direction, they want
the teacher to guide and direct them. then comes success.
but, it is their own success, based on solid principles.
when they have their own success, then comes excitement
and future development.
i coached my entire life...both divers and swimmers.
one of the most complex muscle memory tasks in the world.
kids would fight me, tell me how they wanted to dive.
i would say...`no, you will do it our way`. they would fight, stalk
out of the pool, cry. there was only one way to do things...consistent,
do it by the numbers task oriented, muscle memory skill. soon they
would come around. soon they were doing it in the correct manner.
then the smiles would come, the honor of doing the job well.
of course their scores would tell. 7 7 6 7 7, then 7 7 8 7 8
my god, they are getting to be champions.
no more 3 3 4 3 5. if anyone thinks that teaching and coaching
are easy...well you are nuts. but, the greatest coaches and teachers
are the one's that want the student to have his or her own success.
they did it, they own it. forever.
it is the same thing teaching the muscle memory skills of throwing,
and working with clay. it takes dedication, and sometimes very
tough love. we are not talking art, creativity. that is the problem,
the confusion of what we are teaching. the first stages are all
about skill, materials, physics of the clay. screw art and creativity
in the early stages. how can they be creative with materials they
do not understand? it is just accident.
everyone in my class threw almost the same. they did it according
to a plan. no one had to throw clockwise...i taught them how to
use both left and right hands. the older kids became the best teachers
in the world. they showed by example. total success. this is how
you get it.
it is amazing when a program is based on skill and dignity. same
in the pool, if you cheat you lose. only one sign in the hopkins high
school pool.
it was small.
on the wall.
Dignity, skill and honor.
Champions
every kid knew what it meant. work, work, work, skill, skill, skill..
then the dignity, of being a part of something, of value. followed
by a state championship. the kids got the trophy.
i have very firm ideas of how one gets to the end of a skill.
bad habits, hands in a wrong position will not allow you to
solve the physics problem of throwing. it is complex...if you
have barriers, it just makes it more difficult.
kelly had about every bad habit one can acquire. i could not
in conscience let her leave that class without correcting those
habits. she was not happy. but, then, i was not about making
her happy, i was her teacher. i was about making her a better
potter. now she is.
i did the same thing with tom sawyer. changed a great deal
of what he was doing. had to get after him. that is hard when
you are a guest in his home...but, that has to be gotten over.
he hired me to make him a better potter...not tell him what he
wanted to hear.....others had already done that, and that
is a shame. total bs. rich or poor, old or young, skilled
or non skilled...they get consistent, skilled, dignified instruction.
many of you know well my bias`....sit in a big chair, talk about
art and creativity, as if it fell from the sky....tell the students
to `feel the clay, it will tell you secrets`.....bullshit.
it is a complex physics problem, with a great many muscle
memory skills attached. when a student understands that,
and has a teacher....they leap to it.
the smiles are ten feet wide.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Michele Williams on tue 23 apr 02
Mel,
I loved reading your post. I studied to teach English and through life
circumstances and knowledge that I would be so dedicated to the students
that I would never have a home life, I never took a teaching position. But
you are right. The gifted students in the senior class their teacher
abandoned to me for my student teaching stint had never had to work for
their grades. Suddenly, I made them work. I didn't let them slide by on a
pretty phrase when their grammar was poor, spelling was weak, concept vague,
etc. I made them rewrite, something they'd never had to do, apparently.
There was moaning and groaning all over the place. I told them they'd never
know what good writing was until they learned to produce it themselves, that
they'd read the best writing in history and just think the author had good
ideas. If they never knew how hard it is to make five sentences breathe for
the life of the subject, they would never know when their project was going
to die for lack of good presentation.
At the end of the course, they honored me with a silver platter for a
wedding gift, engraved with each of their names (the engraving alone cost
plenty--there were 34 students) and this line, "To Michele Raymond, who made
us work to learn and learn to work. Thank you!" I think that said it all.
I invited them, and they came to the wedding, all of them. That said even
more. They introduced themselves as "Miss Raymond's student, she's tough,
but she's the best teacher, she's going to be great." People looked at me
sideways at being described as tough (especially on a wedding day?) but it
was true.
Teachers have to be more than guides. If a student is to do something well,
he must work at learning how "well" is done. Well done does not come from
half-baked efforts. If clay teaches nothing else, it teaches the truth.
It's centered, or it's not. It's that simple. It balances, or it doesn't.
A teacher who does not teach is not a teacher. Exposure to learning and
teaching are not the same things, and that is something today's school
districts do not understand, taxpayers don't understand. Failing, trying
students do understand it. We fail them in every way when we do not first
assure they understand the basics, the very first facts upon which all other
understanding must be based. Some company is making a cheapo portable wheel
to which we can add a "centering tool". So the students don't really have
to learn to do it. Is it a convenience? Yes. A service? No. It's a
disservice to allow students to have success they didn't earn, don't
understand, can't repeat for themselves. I wish it were not on the market
because people are falling for it.
Mel, you are right. It's not easy to stay when the student is rejecting
facts, moaning about having to make more effort, griping about repetition,
whining about difficulty. It's not easy to hear parents whine about our
toughness, our own consistency. What was it Jesus said, about the
roads--one is wide and easy, and most go that way, and the other is narrow
and difficult, and few go that way--but the narrow road has the big reward.
Well, when a teacher points a student down that road and keeps him on it,
there are always rewards. That's why we do it that way.
So if you wanna gripe about how quality is achieved, go ahead. Just don't
gripe when you can't find or produce quality later!
Mel is Mayor. He just told us why. Long live the Mayor!
Michele Williams
chris clarke on tue 23 apr 02
I thought Mayor Mels post on teaching was interesting.
Too many times we worry about how students feel, god forbid
we hurt their sensitive side. Can't discourage. The way they do it is
okay, even though they're WRONG. Most foster creativity. Bla.
I love to watch new people who don't want to listen in my kickboxing class.
Come in thinking they can box. They stand on a "tightrope"
windmilling their arms about the bag. The instructor corrects them, good
fighting stance and hands at your face. They don't
want to learn good form but still expect results. I want to do it my
way, I know how to throw a punch. They stand wrong
and kick that bag with a floppy fish leg. In a few years, if they stay with
it
they can expect pins in their knee because of bad form.
I'm not sure if which way you turn the wheel is
as important as learning the beginning stages really well
before you move on. We had to center with one hand.
Had the throw cylinders before we threw bowls. Had
to throw good clean forms before we could purposely throw
off center.
chris
good fighting stance and left elbow securely on left thigh
temecula, california
chris@ccpots.com
http://www.ccpots.com
Lois Ruben Aronow on sun 28 apr 02
Thanks for your post on throwing. It gave me a good whack in the head
of something I tend to get lazy about - posture!
I took a workshop with my clay hero, Takeshi Yasuda. Rather than the
old "tips and tricks", we spent days working on posture, seating, and
wedging large amounts of clay. It really woke me up! The point was
both to build confidence and to practice good habits that will,
ultimately, save your back.
I notice, personally, that when I sit close to the wheel, with my arm
braced into my thigh/hipsocket, and my navel pulled into my spine, my
pots also stand up taller and look braver! =20
Thanks for the reminder that the posture and form of the potter is
reflected in the posture and form of the pot. And thanks, Mel, for
all your hard work in Clayart.
--------------------------------------------
Lois Ruben Aronow
gilois@bellatlantic.net
=46ine Craft Porcelain
http://www.loisaronow.com
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