I am trying to rethink my ceramics/clay unit and allow more of them in the planning. Allowing exploration of the media is an essential part of every unit. I observe what they know how to make, what their interest are, how they combine solids to make new shapes, whether they know how to use water to soften the media. I also pay very close attention to what their interests are. Are they making animals? are they making foods? In second grace kids are primarily still having a very exploratory relationship with clay. They wrestle with it, they make it too wet and make mud, and all of it is fine. Some kids do not learn from being told the clay turns to mud with too much water, some kids need to use too much water, are mud, experience frustration with this mud and THEN learn to not add too much water. Both routes are perfectly acceptable forms of learning. I say this because I was always that child who needed to learn for herself. I still remember drawing heads on top of legs for months and months until one day I noticed, all on my own, that legs did not stem from my head but that a whole body was there. This learning, at times, I find MUCH more valuable than one in which you are told, "hey, did you know a body is between your head and legs?". So I will gently warn and I say gently because I do not go all out with this warning, maybe because part of me still values this incidental learning much more over simply being told, what's fun in that?!!
I tweeted: "Giving students time to explore the new media allows then to brainstorm ideas and allows me to see what skills i need to teach @APSArts #apsarts #artsed"
