This past Saturday was the first day for Pratt’s Saturday Art School. This means a new semester of my ceramics class for 10-12 year old students. I have been promoted since last semester and I will now have a class of 15 students, instead of 8. This is very exciting. I did have to set up the room very differently from last time. Where my students all fit at one long table last time, this time around I am going to have to be walking around the classroom a lot more because all of my students are now at different tables.
We started our class with a studio tour, and we went over rules. I made sure to make lots of bad jokes, so that even though I was very serious and very forward, they knew I had a sense of humor as well. I don’t take rules lightly, because I don’t want my students to. I wanted to re-enforce this by repeating certain things through-out the day. “Put the class symbol on the bottom of your sculpture!” “Don’t touch the college student artwork!” “Do not touch anything that isn’t yours.” “Your space is your responsibility to clean up.” etc…
Our first project was a competition to make the tallest structure using only 1 pound of clay. 4 students tied at about 13 inches. Then we knocked them over and rolled out the clay to see who could make the longest. Finally I let them create a project that they could keep. Simple Pinch pots with coil handles. Enjoy.
Emma Teaches Art! 
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