Julius Yax
Artistic Abilities Lesson Reflections
Lesson 1: Building Coil Pots
9/5/22
The intent of the lesson worked well. Our first lesson was created to be open enough to observe the students and their abilities. We were looking at studio habits such as developing craft and stretching and exploring. It was important to see how the students interacted with the medium and how long it took on average to make something like a coil pot so we could plan better lessons in the future.
We struggled with time management and demonstration quality in the first lesson. We were so focused on creating a lesson that could be widely differentiated that we didn't consider creating an enrichment lesson for those who finished early. Because of our familiarity with the medium, we did not scaffold the demonstration enough to be understood by the majority of the class. We problem solved by bringing out materials to free-create like markers and paper and more sculptural building objects and by giving mini one-on-one demonstrations with students who had trouble understanding.
If I taught this lesson again I would practice demonstrating beforehand and write down everything I needed to show so I could appropriately scaffold instruction for all students. I would also plan an enrichment lesson for those who finished early that related to clay exploration such as creating an animal or person.
Lesson 2: Texture Tiles
9/12/22
We used a lot of what we learned in lesson one to plan for this lesson and we were better able to scaffold the lesson into sections that everyone would work on together. We were able to get active by going outside and letting students pick out the textures they were drawn to so they could stamp them into their tiles. Our original idea was to make primarily square and rectangular tiles but the students naturally made other shapes as well and we went for it. It was better than our plan in the long-run
Originally we had planned to use kiln-fire clay for this lesson and incorporate glazing into a future lesson so they could have functional and sturdy tiles to take home but when we took stock of the materials we didn't press the clay to make sure it was workable so we had to change materials while setting for the lesson that day. We decided to use air-dry clay again because the students were familiar with it and it was closest to our original plan.
If I taught this again I would make sure to check my materials are in working order before planning the lesson. I would also remember to keep the plan flexible and let the students take it where they want to go.
Lesson 3: Painting Clay
9/19/22
This lesson was a successful transition from 3D to 2D art by taking previously made 3D objects and painting them. The students got to re-interact with their previous work and decide how to decorate their sculptural forms. We gave suggestions using the teacher's example on how to tackle this activity with pattern or one-color coverage. but ultimately left it up to the students. This was also our first use of an extra enrichment activity for students to complete while their paint dried.
The original plan was to have them paint their tiles, gather again before painting their coil pots, and gather again to introduce the enrichment activity. Once they were free to paint, they painted everything at once. We compensated by giving individual demos as students got to the next steps on their own but that was only possible because of the multiple teachers.
If I were to teach this again I would only hand out the pieces I wanted to be painted during that section, once everyone was finished I would hand out the next set and so on.
Lesson 4: Color and Space
9/26/22
We fully grasped time management and working with the chosen medium in this lesson. They seemed very invested in the process and willing to put in the work of multiple steps with the creation of the scratch paper to get to the point of being able to scratch into it. A mutual trust in the process that I wouldn't have been able to instigate in our first few lessons. I didn't think about this while planning but in retrospect, it was beneficial for the extra lesson to be loose and not so dependent on following exact steps. It gave the students time to wind down and have fun with the art-making process.
What we didn't plan for was how messy these lessons were going to be. We encouraged everyone to wear aprons and be careful, and they were but there were a few specific things that made messes that could have been planned for. Like a paper plate or paper towel to lay down their paint-soaked strings after pulling or setting down large sheets of paper under their scratch paper before they were instructed to paint edge-to-edge. We compensated with extra clean-up and getting paper plates for the strings a few minutes after starting the paint pulls.
If I taught this lesson again I would be sure to plan out the potential big-mess areas and prepare beforehand by laying down extra paper or having wet sponges on-hand.
Lesson 5: Watercolor Collage
10/3/22
The students were able to watercolor their own color wheels and identity the primary and secondary colors in collage materials including but not limited to tissue paper, stationary, yarn, and magazine pages. They then used that understanding of color to color splatter with spray bottles in the enrichment activity. The students were thoroughly engaged, they were communicative and inquisitive about what color fits where; leading to a class stalemate about whether a certain picture belonged in red or orange that was ultimately decided by our professor who happened to peek in at the right time. That was a reflection of the level of rapport we were able to attain after a few short weeks in the classroom.
There were a few technical issues surrounding the paint splatter activity, the multi-media paper we were using warped much faster than it had in other activities because we were using more water with this paint application, we only thought to tape down the paper after the fact so it skewed the drip pattern for a few students. As well as the cleanup process for the spray bottles, the paint stuck to the bottom and in the nozzle and was hard to remove.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would use tube watercolor paint in the spray bottles instead of heavily watered-down acrylic because it didn't dissolve and mix with the water the way we wanted. I would also pre-tape the splatter paper down for the students so they wouldn't have to dirty their hands doing it after the fact.