Flipping, Before and After
On a February morning in 2012, I awoke teetering on a corner of the mattress. The extra blankets I’d layered across the whole width of the bed the night before were now piled atop Xedo, our 20-pound Boston Terrier. A case of cold knees couldn’t rustle me up from my slumber but the country music from my alarm clock finally did. I dragged myself from bed and headed for the bathroom to begin my morning routine. First I shaved with a blade. Then I got in the shower, hoping the refreshing water would wake me up and re-awaken my excitement for work.
I pulled on khaki trousers and comfortable shoes, I told myself I much preferred this work attire to the stiff, high-maintenance suit I used to wear during my prior employment. I walked to the car with my backpack in hand and wondered what had changed.
Only a few years ago, I woke each morning excited to go to school and another opportunity to teach. The school had an incredible community with supportive, caring teachers and good-natured students. What more could I ask for?
As I drove to school I thought about the coiling lecture I had planned. We were more than a month into the semester, so most of the basic instructions had been covered. Now students were actually beginning to work with clay, so they needed a certain amount of re-explanation, and a step-by-step live demo.
Sometimes my lecture and demonstration took up the entire class period, with no time for students to get their hands into the clay. So four times each semester, for each of my three classes, I was explaining how to coil. Though I had seen improved products by repeating the lectures, I found it hard to maintain my own enthusiasm. Plus, I could sense the students shifting in their seats, eager to either mush around some clay or get the heck out of my boring classroom.
Fast forward September 2014.
I’m in the same bed with the same 20-pound Boston Terrier, still taking up all the good space. However, my enthusiasm for teaching had returned! I woke with country music on the radio and a “yeehaw” attitude to go with it. The shower did what showers are best at, washing away dirt and drowsiness. It didn’t need to do anything else. I looked forward to another day to talk to students, get to know them and answer their questions.
Catherine was working on her head project (the most difficult of all the projects I require students to complete) the day before and I noticed the eyes needed some adjustment. As I drove to school I found myself planning out my suggestions for Catherine about improving her head sculpture’s eyes.
I didn’t have to think about the day’s lecture because I didn’t lecture anymore. I didn’t have to repeat talks on how to do projects. What I did have were new opportunities to help all my students during class, not just the ones who asked questions or made trouble. Free from the need to lecture, I could walk around and comment on everyone’s work, and actually engage students with questions and issues they had outside of ceramics per se and just talk to them.
My entire program changed; my passion for teaching returned.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me:
If you have changed how you teach I would love to hear your story?
Have you had these kind of mornings?
How I Got Into Teaching
The lobby of the old hotel had been converted into office space. Gray desks were arranged in evenly-spaced rows making the most efficient use of the space available. All the men sitting at the desks were in casual green camouflage uniforms that differed only by name tags and the degrees of adornment on lapels consistent with their assignment. Outside the building the streets were teeming with vehicles of all sizes and shaped. Cyclists carried loads their two wheels looked impossible of supporting. The foliage fought to gain back ground lost to the road.
I sat at one of those desks inside, processing paperwork.
I graduated from high school not knowing what direction I wanted to take my life. Then I got drafted and ended up at a desk. Sitting there, I didn’t know what I was looking for but I knew it wasn’t this.
When my service in the military was up, I returned to the United States. I also returned to school. I took one ceramics class and was hooked. I signed up for a second class, and the instructor made me his lab assistant. I taught beginning student, learned to fire the kiln, improved my own skills and enjoyed every moment.
I continued working with clay after transferring from the junior college to a university. After graduation from the university I decided to make a living doing pottery. It was difficult to make a living as a potter, so I returned to the university to get my teaching credential. About the same time I was finishing my credentialing program, I was offered a job with the State of California that I just couldn’t ignore. I worked for the State of California for 32 years.
Near the end of my state service career I had begun thinking about retirement and what I was going to do next. I considered real estate, but soon realized it was a poor match. I hated selling. In that search I had found an opportunity to teach ceramics, evenings and weekends, at a local university. It was in their Recreation Services Department, so there would be no grades – just a place for stressed-out students and locals to come for a little fun and enrichment. I had been doing that about six years before I decided to leave state service.
The side job teaching ceramics was great fun but my wife wasn’t pleased. The pay was paltry, it was a long drive to get there, and then I had to pay for parking. If I did the math, I was pretty much paying them to allow me to teach. I never actually did the math. But because the job helped me get my high school teaching position, at least my wife now looks back on that time in a rosier light.
The job that I love to this day came about when my daughter’s high school ceramics teacher needed someone to take over his class at the end of a semester. I stepped right in.
Starting a teaching job with only fifteen days left in the semester would have been a big mistake had it not been my daughter’s school. The ceramics class was small, and I was just teaching ceramics. No committee assignments, no coaching, no clubs, just one subject.
More importantly, I was surrounded by a lot of teachers who loved what they did. These folks had been teaching for a long time and most of them looked forward to coming to work each day. I was a new guy and they were there for me, guiding me, answering my questions and allowing me to teach.
After the 15 days they asked me if I wanted to teach part time. I knew they only had one ceramics class so asked what I would be teaching. Introduction to Art, 3-D Art and one Ceramics class. It sounded a little intimidating. The Intro class was mostly drawing – not my strong suit. Still, it was a great opportunity to give up my real estate disaster. Plus, I had a summer to prepare with lots of support from the other teachers. So I took the job.
I ended up spending a few years teaching all three classes but eventually got enough students interested in Ceramics that pretty soon I was teaching only that.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
If you are teaching ceramics now – I would like to hear how it started for you.
If you are new to teaching or it is a second career I would like to hear your story.
What Went Wrong?
In my story “Flipping, Before and After” I talked about how at some point in teaching ceramics I lost some of my excitement about teaching and woke up hoping to find inspiration from anywhere, anything, so that I could feel happy again about teaching. The repetitiveness of it all had worn my initial enthusiasm down a nub.
So you might ask, hey, if you were so happy to become a high school teacher in the first place, what went wrong? I was indeed working at a great school – CBHS – with good students and teaching only one class – ceramics – so how could that be a problem.
The first thing I realized when I retired was that I needed to feel productive. During the first few years of teaching I was learning so much and challenged so often that I got my productivity fix. By the second year I had plans for Introduction to Art but also for Ceramics. I had also convinced the school to purchase a few more potters wheels (we started with only two).
Class sizes were growing so I needed to premeditate more about what I was doing. I ended up focusing on four ceramic techniques in the class: sculpting, coiling, slabbing and throwing. With limited wheels I decided the best way to operate was to rotate students through the techniques.
As the classes grew I also found that some students wanted to take the class more than once. So I started a Ceramics II class. These students were in the same classroom with Ceramics I students but working on different assignments, and at times I also had them help the Ceramics I students.
Though the combined class worked, it was difficult when I was demonstrating / lecturing to keep the Ceramics II students engaged or at least, not disruptive. They had already learned all the things I was teaching the Ceramics I students and though they were supposed to be working on their own projects, it created some classroom management issues.
As time passed my focus for Ceramics II students in addition to doing more complicated pieces of ceramics was to be leaders. A bunch of forms and agreements later it was finding its place but I still felt I was missing some of the students. I was not giving them what they needed to learn the craft of ceramics.
Until year four I was doing all my teaching by demonstrating / lecturing and then walking around class and helping out students who were struggling or managing students who were having trouble keeping on task.
In year five I introduced the Read-Watch-Do system. I read somewhere that some students learn better by reading than watching a demonstration and vice versa. The article suggested you give them the information in both formats. I was showing them but not allowing them to read what I wanted them to do.
So I took a summer and wrote out all of my lecture and then took lots of picture of what I was teaching. I put all these materials in a three ring binder. (You can find these documents on the Ceramic Handouts Page). The first time I used the written-out lessons I had the entire class actually read a section together one day. The next day I would demonstrate what they had read.
Only after both reading about the technique and watching me do it were students allowed to get their hands in the clay. This made a difference that I noticed.
When I was demonstrating I assumed the students were both watching and listening. They were looking at me when I talked so that was a good sign, right? Not really, it turns out. Students who’d read may have connected a point in my demonstration / lecture to a point in the text and were looking up because, hey I recognize that word. Others kept their eyes in my general direction because they knew something was up. There was this binder thing they had to read, so Mr. B was definitely cracking the whip… for some reason.
I’m sure for some of my students, the internal dialogue went something like;
Mr. B in the front of class talking but I have no idea what he is talking about. Why is it that every time we have practice we need to run around the field? We play soccer, not track. What did coach mean with that story about how he could kill someone with a straw? Whatever. What’s Sarah wearing? Wow, what was that thud? It broke my nice image of Sarah. Mr. B just threw clay on his desk and then kept talking. I wish he would just talk so I could concentrate on my daydreams.
Maybe a few concepts were sinking in better since I implemented Read-Watch-Do, but I was still lecturing. Presenting the same thing three times a day, several days a week. It became just as much of a grind for me as it was for the students. That’s when I started waking up feeling blah about teaching. Something had to give.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
I know I am not alone when I say I ran out of steam five years into teaching. Have you ever lost your enthusiasm for teaching, even though you just knew teaching was still the right career for you?
What do you think happened?
How Flipping Flipped My Attitude About Teaching
In April of 2013, one of our school administrators asked me if I wanted to go to an ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) conference in San Antonio Texas, in June. Our school was going to become a One-to-One school (CBHS) starting in August. Every student was going to be required to have an iPad as one of their standard learning tools.
It was at that conference that I ran into the concept of flipping the classroom. My simple definition of flipping is – A flipped classroom is one where what is normally done in the classroom is done at home and what is normally done at home is done in the classroom. Flipped Classroom.
Most of the information I got at the conference and later read about flipping classrooms was related to academic subjects, where the teacher has moved his or her lectures to the students’ home via videos, and then the classroom time is spent doing exercises to reinforce or practice material covered in the videos. An expert (the teacher) is available to help during the class period. The teacher changes roles from lecturer to tutor.
When I read about flipping I thought it sounded like a great idea, but how could it work for Ceramics? At the time I learned about flipping, my students had no homework. How would I break the news to them that suddenly they’d have ceramics homework? And how would I adapt our classroom activities for the home in the first place?
If for no other reason than my own sanity I felt that flipping was worth a try. I’d used quizzes, repetition, having student read my lectures before watching me demonstrate the techniques, and yet the same crazy-making questions kept coming up.
“How come the clay keeps falling off my bowl?”
“How come my bowl just broke?”
“Why can’t I load this piece of ceramics in the kiln? Glaze on the bottom, why is that a problem?”
The ISTE conference made me realize that if I wanted students to Read, Watch, and then Do, just imagine if they did all the reading and watching at home and then when they got to class we just got to “Do”! I knew making the change would be a lot of work, but the advantages were clear:
- Now almost all of my class time would be spent “Doing”.
- I would eliminate the need to repeat the same lecture 4 times a semester and 3 times a day.
- Since there would be more time in class to “Do” students should be able to “Do” more projects.
So what, exactly, would I do to move the at-school portion to students’ homes?
I’d make videos, that’s what. Students could watch the videos on their iPads. The possibilities continued to pile up;
- Students get to choose when to watch the video or read my handouts.
- If my lecture is going too fast they can rewind; if too slow they can fast forward.
- Students become responsible for their learning.
After the ISTE conference, I spent the rest of the summer teaching summer school, and with lots of help from the video production students, I also made videos of all my lectures.
When next semester started I felt ready. I ordered extra clay and glazes because I knew the students would be making lots more.
To launch the iPad One-to-One program our school purchased a Learning Management System (LMS) (Schoology) so that all the class material could be loaded into the system and available to student via their iPad. So I spent another month getting all my handouts and videos turned into assignments on the new LMS. I even added a video to orient students (and their parents) to the concept of flipping. I also added videos to give a tour of the classroom and introduce the ceramics tools. I was good to go. Each assignment gave them an opportunity to ask questions via the LMS, so I expected even those questions could be answered before they got to class.
In my Flipping Video I explained that students would not need their iPads in class because all the reading and watching would be done at home. This would mean that much more time to work with clay.
I couldn’t wait for the first day of school.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
Do you also dream big? If so what are your dreams?
Do you see any potential flaws with my plans?
Flipping My Classroom and Flopping (a little)
Once I had loaded all my Ceramics videos to our school’s Learning Management System (LMS), I started to dream about the first day of school.
Students would come to class having done all the reading and having watched all the videos at home, and knowing exactly what to expect. I saw them walking into class and me handing them clay and they could get right to work. The tools and tour video would have shown them where everything was, so all I would need to do is begin learning their names and getting to know them, as I walked around answering questions about the finer details of the craft.
That is not exactly what happened.
The week before school started we were told the LMS wasn’t quite operational and not all the students had their iPads yet. Plus, the school was having some problems with the WiFi system.
Being flexible, I adjusted, revising my first few days of class to teach the students how to use the new LMS system and at the same time get through several of the first assignments. This new plan had carved out two days of class time for watching videos and skimming handouts. It just happened that our school started on a Thursday. So Thursday and Friday would be no-clay days, and then starting Monday it would be no iPads and only clay.
I got myself a projector and screen and as students arrived, I got them watching videos and touring the new LMS, promising that after those first few days they would be doing ceramics for real.
The projector and screen worked just fine. We got through several of the assignments so the students were beginning to learn much of what I normally lectured on by watching me on the screen.
Week two started and they had clay in their hands. I was walking around class and being a tutor, just like I’d envisioned! Some of the products were even better than in prior years. But some of the students had not done their homework, not read the handouts or watched the videos, so I had a new dilemma. Their excuses were similar to “My dog ate my homework!” but with a new age twist:
“My WiFi at home isn’t working!”
“My iPad keeps locking up!”
“Your handout wouldn’t load!”
Adjusting one more time, I allowed groups of students with similar issues to watch the videos in class. I answered the questions that came up most frequently for the entire class. I allowed myself to answer the same questions many times and not be too concerned about having eliminated the need to do this.
As the semester moved forward the excuses continued and my need for flexibility continued. By the end of the first quarter I had abandoned the hope that iPads would never be used in the class. I got more comfortable with the idea that if students didn’t do the homework at home I would give them time in class to do it.
And that is where I was at the end of the first quarter: a little disappointed my new and improved flipped classroom hadn’t rolled out perfectly. But you know what? I was no longer giving lectures. This in itself was an epic win.
On top of that, some students were actually way ahead of the planned workload. Also I was using the feedback from the assignments to plan revisions to the videos and many of the handouts.
The flipped classroom was beginning to work its magic. It was only going to get better in the future.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
What kind of excuses are you getting from your students?
How does the idea of no lectures sound to you?
What’s on That Screen? Oh, Never Mind
It is week 3 in my Ceramics class. It is early August in Sacramento, still hot from summer and students are still getting used to being back in school. Class has been going great. Students come in, get to work, and I walk around helping them with problems they are having.
Music is always on. I let a different student select the Pandora station each day. I get done with my walk-around and am checking our LMS to see if I need to grade any completed assignments.
I see a young man with his hand under his desk. The desk are simple structures, a large flat wood top and four legs. No drawers so they can all bump up to each other creating one large rectangular structure for students to work on.
According to my seating chart the young man’s name is John. His eyes are down looking into his lap. He has kept one hand on the desk holding onto a tool – apparently to convince me he working on his ceramics.
I get out of my chair and begin walking in his direction. His hand comes up from his lap as he realized I am coming in his direction. He is now focused on his project, diligently attaching clay to the outside of his bowl.
“So John,” I say as I get to his desk. “Are you confused about the no-screen rule?
“No Mr. Boriskin, I understand the rules,” he says with an amazing straight face.”
“So why were you using your cell Phone just now?”
“Cell Phone?” he says with a completely innocent face.
“John, I may be old but I’m not blind. No cell phones, OK?”
“OK, I’s sorry, it won’t happen again,” he says and I believe him.
My students live in a plugged in world. Getting them to unplug and just work with clay is a challenge but when they get there I believe they really enjoy it. My few rules are not that difficult but often challenge them.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
Do you every have problems getting students to put their electronic devices away?
How come I can’t get them to think Ceramics First?
The Truth Foundation has been keeping statistics on human perceptions for the last 50 years. One of their surveys focused on teenagers ages 17 and 18. Their questions were designed to find out what drove them, what was most important to them.
Though I hoped Ceramic’s class would show up, it didn’t. Of the 10,000 teenagers studied in four areas of the country (two samples were taken from Los Angeles California) this was the statistical outcome;
In response to the question: What two words best describe what is most import to you in your life today? The following responses were recorded;
1963
Area of the Country Boys Girls
New York City Girls/Cars Boys/Dancing
Oklahoma City Girls/Football Boys/Cheerleading
Los Angeles Inner City Girls/Cars Boys/Clothes
Los Angeles Beaches Girls/Waves Boys/The Beach
1983
Area of the Country Boys Girls
New York City Girls/Cars Boys/Dancing
Oklahoma City Girls/Football Boys/Cheerleading
Los Angeles Inner City Girls/Cars Boys/Clothes
Los Angeles Beaches Girls/Waves Boys/The Beach
2003
Area of the Country Boys Girls
New York City Girls/Cars Boys/Dancing
Oklahoma City Girls/Football Boys/Cheerleading
Los Angeles Inner City Girls/Cars Boys/Clothes
Los Angeles Beaches Girls/Waves Boys/The Beach
2013
Area of the Country Boys Girls
New York City Girls/Cars Boys/My Phone
Oklahoma City Girls/Football Boys/My Phone
Los Angeles Inner City Girls/Cars Boys/My Phone
Los Angeles Beaches Girls/Waves Boys/My Phone
What is interesting is that not much has changed in the 50 years they have been studying these students.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
If you are looking for the “Truth Foundation” it doesn’t exist. I just made this up. But my questions to you is do you often wonder why students don’t find your subject the most important thing in their lives?
I know it helps me to try and remember when I was 17 (which was a long time ago). What was most important to you at 17? Was it the class you now teach?
Empty Bowls
Service Learning projects are ones that both provide service and allow the students to learn. The 2nd project I do each semester in my class is the Empty Bowl Project. For this project I throw the bowls to create the basic shape and then students add their own touches with additional sculpted clay. This project gets students working with a larger piece of clay, teaching them how to handle a bowl without distorting its shape and continues teaching them how to attach clay to clay at the same time it helps support River City Food Bank.
The bowls made for this project are then donated to the food bank for their “Empty Bowl” fundraiser. When most of the bowls are finished, the director of the food bank gives a presentation to the students called “The Faces of Hunger.” It opens like this;
Hi, I am here from River City Food Bank and want to thank you for all you do for our organization by making these beautiful bowls. I am also here to answer any questions you may have about what we do at the food bank, but first I have a question for you…
The students are allowed to continue working on their projects during this presentation. Sally had really wanted to talk to Judy about what was going on with John, and the food bank presentation was taking away from her gossip time. Still she was polite and listening and wondering what the question was going to be.
“What do you think the people that come to the food bank look like?”
There was a slight murmur in the class as the students thought this out.
“Yes,” the director said and pointed to Camille, a very hard working student in the back of the class.
“Well, like the people we see on the street with shopping carts,” she said.
“Yes,” the director said “we help people who may be homeless, or as we like to say, between addresses. But who else do you think we help?”
“The people on welfare who run out of money,” John said.
“Yes again,” she said. And then she put up several large pictures of people. Some were young, some were old, some had children and some were dressed very nicely.
“The fastest-growing group of people that come to see us are the elderly. Many receive Social Security, but it just isn’t enough to pay their bills. We also see a lot of single mothers who work, maybe at fast food places, but they just don’t make enough to cover the cost of housing, the car they drive, and the food their children need. During the recession, we saw State employees who had forced furlough days and could not afford to make ends meet when their wages were cut.”
I could see the surprise and maybe a little fear on the faces of the students. It wasn’t what they had expected. The director provided more information on her organization then left. After she was out of the room, I could see the students talking about what they had heard.
Every time we finish this project and the director speaks it reminds me how glad I am that we do this project each semester.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
Nonprofit organizations across the country use this “Empty Bowl” events to raise money. There might be one in your area that could benefit from your bowls and at the same time give your students a project that helps them learn the craft of ceramics.
What do the faces of hunger look like in your area?
Pulling Handles for Mugs and Giggles
I was getting my students seated so I could do my demonstration on pulling handles. I knew this demonstration always seemed to generate giggles but I was determined to get through this one without any.
“Please find your seat for a quick demonstration on Handel Pulling.” I was giving this demonstration to the class even though the handout and video on coiling covered this process. The live demo was necessary because I kept seeing students not able to make a good handle.
“I am giving this demonstration because some of you appear to be having problems with making handles for your mugs.” I could see the nods from students in the class. As the students got back to their seats I started the demonstration.
“What you need to pull your handle is a small piece of well wedged clay, about one half pound.” I held up a hardball size ball of clay. Students continued to get in their seats and began to focus on my demonstration. “If the clay is not well wedged, you cannot create a smooth handle.”
“Start by throwing the wedged clay onto the wedging table until you have made it into a spike.” As I was throwing the clay on my desk the noise finally got the remainder of the student’s attention.
“The clay should now look like a spike, like the one used to connect the two railroads.” I noticed a lack of recognition so said, “If you read the handout on coiling I have a picture of that spike in there. It was the spike that was used to connect the first Transcontinental Railroad.” I paused to see less than a complete connection. “It’s a spike and if you are interested look up the Transcontinental Railroad.” I said so I could move on.
“After you have created your spike, round the spike by squeezing it with your hand.” The clay was now in a rather phallic shape and I was squeezing it to make it round.
“Now while holding the clay in your non-dominant hand with an inch or so of clay sticking out of your hand, pound it down to create a thicker area on top. We will use this thicker part of the spike to hold the clay as we pull the handle.”
In the back of the room a boy turned to the boy next to him and whispered, “I always pound mine with my dominant hand.” They grinned.
One girl near the back turned to the girl next to her and whispered, “I never heard it called a spike.” Generating more grins.
“Now holding the top of the spike, begin to wet the clay by simply dipping your hand in the water and wiping it on the outside of the shaft of your spike. As you do this, turn the spike each time about a quarter turn and then pull again.” I was dipping my hand in a bucket of water I had on the desk for the demonstration.
This action now caused more students to grin as I continued to wipe the outside of the spike.
“It is important that as you pull your hand down the spike that you don’t tighten your fingers around the spike. Squeeze just a little and keep the same circumference all the way down. It is also important to make your pulling motion all the way down the spike. Stopping will create thicker areas that will cause the handle to break.”
Two girls near the kick wheel whispered about the pulling motion.
“After you get a smooth round surface you can begin to increase your pressure and as you do this you will see the handle get longer.”
“That’s what Johnny always says,” whispered one girl in the back of the room.
“Continue wetting, pulling and turning until you get the handle the thickness you need for your mug.” By this point the clay was round and a good foot and half long.
“At this point you want to make the handle flat, not round. To do this you hold the clay in one position and put pressure with your thumb and after making a slight dent pull the dent to the bottom of the clay. Get it wet and repeat this pulling until you get it flat as you want for your mug.”
“I don’t want to make it flat,” whispered a boy to his neighbor.
“When it is flat, you’re ready to break off enough for your handle,” I continued working hard to ignore the whispers that were just loud enough for me to hear.
I then broke off the amount of clay I wanted for the handle and there was a gasp somewhere in the classroom followed by an almost inaudible, “please don’t break it off.”
Ignoring all the whispers and grins in the class I continued, “When you break off the handle put it on a project board in the shape of your handle remembering to leave the dented side to the outside. When you attach your handle to the mug the dent is where your thumb will sit.”
I continued ignoring the side conversations going on all over the room and droned on as though clueless, “It is best to let the handle sit for 10 minutes or so before you attach it to your mug. When you’re ready to attach your handle, lay the handle on its side and cut the ends evenly so they can attach to the side of your mug. And as with any attaching, make sure you scratch the surface, add water, press and then compress the edges.”
At this point I held up the mug with the handle on it.
Somewhere in the back of class I then heard, “Don’t try this at home!” at which point the collective grins and giggles turned into a peal of laughter.
And the moral of this story is; not everything in the flipped classroom needs to be hands-on!
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
How do you teach handle pulling?
Do you ever have these issues?
Doing Evaluation in the Flipped Classroom
The shy young girl sits down in the funky wooden chair next to the old desk, both of which are covered in clay dust. I sit in the rolling chair at the desk ready to give her a grade on her first project, the seat and rack marker (see video)
On the desk is my computer (also covered in dust), speakers for the class music, and an extra pair of glasses. The grading is done on a document that the girl has submitted electronically so the girl and I will review it together on my computer screen.
“Have a seat,” I says working at making her as comfortable as possible. First evaluations are usually my first opportunity to meet one on one with students. “Let me explain why I do evaluation the way I do.”
I can see the girl is really not very interested in knowing why I do them the way I do but it is important to me to have this discussion. She more than likely took the class for an easy “A’ or because she had done some ceramics and wanted to try it in High School.
The classroom is very different from the rest of the classes on campus. The desks that were here in the 40’s are still there with their old wood chairs. The desks bump up to each other creating three long desktops with chairs on each side. Students sit in these rows facing each other.
This is also one of the only “flipped” classes on campus. Though her normal “I’m above this” posture gets in the way of admitting, she actually likes the class.
She was also a good student who did all her homework. This meant watching videos of what they were going to be doing and reading all the handouts before coming to class. My instructions tell students that they needed to either read the handout or watch the video – or if they really wanted to learn ceramics do both. She was interested in ceramics so she did both.
She also had to do her evaluation as homework, where she was required to self-grade what she had done before it was graded by me. She was enjoying the class atmosphere as the hands-on work allowed for a low buzz of conversation, so long as it didn’t interfere. She was sitting next to a good friend, and the class gave her lots of time to catch up on all the social issues at school.
She also liked the process of working with clay, it was fun to see forms start as lumps of clay and then emerge into something recognizable. The first assignment was very simple but did involve all the steps in the ceramics process.
I continued, “I think the most important person to evaluate what you do in this class is you. I hope you are having fun with ceramics. The way you will get better at this craft is by thinking about what you have done and figuring out how to do it better. So that is why you have to evaluate yourself before I evaluate you and give you a grade.”
I could tell by her look that she knew this. The evaluation sheet did make her look at what she had done and think about how it could be better. But the sheet included numbers to put in boxes that sometime confused students. Most students struggle with giving too high a grade. She looked like she was one of them who was thinking, “Do I really deserve the easy “A” her friends told her she would get.”
It was awkward having to look at her work and see how well she did. This had always been done by others and then she could complain about how they just didn’t understand. That was the routine for good or ill.
“There are also two other reasons I do evaluation this way,” I continued. “First, it gives me an opportunity to sit with students one at a time and get to know them.”
The girl was thinking of all the teacher that talk about how they want to get to know her but lots of them never even learned her name.
In this class the first assignment actually had the “get to know my students” goal baked right in. The Seat and Rack Marker was a little sculpture that required she sculpt something that would allow the instructor to get to know her. She liked drawing and reading so she had sculpted a paint brush and palate and then a book, and was proud of how real looking they had turned out.
I continued,” The second reason I do evaluations this way is because I think teachers, parents and bosses, later on, don’t always make it clear what they want from their students, children, or employees. Then you work real hard to give them what they want and it is disappointing to find out you worked really hard on the wrong thing.”
I could tell she was thinking about how her parents did this or other teachers. I figured I was getting through.
“My hope,” I continued, “is that by going over what I have written on the sheet you will learn what I am looking for. My experience has been that at the beginning of the semester what you put down and the final grade I assign you often differ, but by the end of the semester most students come up with their projects, we look at them and put in the grade they have written down.”
Once again I could tell she was thinking about the criteria I had on the sheet and how it was a little confusing and made it hard to put a point value on each. The sheet had 5 places she needed to fill in worth a maximum of 20 points each.
“Your two sculptures are really good so let’s go over how you graded yourself and talk about how I grade it,” I said as I opened her electronic evaluation on my computer. I could also tell that she felt good to hear her sculptures were really good.
“So the first criterion talks about doing the homework and getting started right away. You are turning your projects in before the due date so you must have done that. It also says that you put some thought and creativity into the sculptures and I now know you like art and reading, so that’s great!”
Once again I could see a grin on her face and a look of appreciation. “So you gave yourself a 19 but from my perspective you did everything I expected so this would be a 20”. I knew she had put the 19 in because some students are shy about giving themselves 20 out of 20. I could also see she was starting to understand how I graded.
“The second criterion says that you learned to attach one piece of clay to another and you put a quarter inch hole in the Seat Marker.” I then spent time looking carefully at her sculptures. “There are no spaces between what you attached and the hole is just the right size. So we agree that this should be a 20.” This must have been easier for her to understand and she had given herself a 20.
“The third criterion is how well it was glazed, including the need to use more than one color. You used lots of colors and it looks great and you can see a few places where glaze is to thin or where there is overlap,” I continued.
“Glazing is really very difficult and you have done a great job. So there is one suggestion I can make and that is, always paint the glaze on whatever is in the background first and then move to the rest of the piece. Tis way if you get glaze on someplace you don’t want it, you can wipe it off and continue.”
She had marked herself down on this one, only giving herself a 14. Glazing was not like painting and she had been disappointed with how the glaze didn’t show up the way she had painted it on.
“I am not a hard grader, I am looking for effort more than anything, so I would give this a 19 not a 14.” Her smile confirmed that worked for her.
“The last two criteria on every matrix are Effort and Craftsmanship. The grade for effort is my opportunity to let students know if I think they are focused in class. You are focused and I never need to remind you to get back to work so for me this is another 20”. She had marked this one as an 18. What most students do on this one is confuse effort with success. Another smile confirmed she was happy with the 20.
“And the final criterion is craftsmanship. This is where I will normally spend most of my time. I will look at edges and seams to make sure you smooth them out and other opportunities for you to make your piece look more finished.” I then looked at all her edges, pointing out a few places where she could have smoothed them out a little better, explaining all the different times in the process she could use to make the project look more finished. “This is a beautiful piece and just be a little more careful with edges. So this is a 19 and your total grad is a 98.”
“Cool”, she said “it did help to go over what you were looking for, thanks.” I thought I could see her processing the process and thinking something like – it was easy enough to earn the A but now I know all the elements that go into an A. It’s not a simple A, that’s for sure.
“Ok you can now put your first sculpture on the seating chart and leave the other one on your rack.”
She left knowing more about what I expected and in return I had gotten to know her a little better. A flipped-classroom win!
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
Did it sound like a flipped-classroom win or just a win?
Do you have ways that you use to get to know your students? If so I would be interested in what you do.
I am text block. Click edit button to change this text.
Explosions
The students were lined up to put their pieces of ceramics in the kiln and I was loading in each piece. The kiln was in the old boiler room and the walk from the class took a few minutes to get there. The boiler room was now storage for janitorial supplies, chairs for assemblies and the kilns. The kilns were up against the wall. Both lids were open and I was taking each piece and checking it before I loaded it into the kiln. It was a cold February day and students were pushing into the room to keep warm.
“Sally, this piece is not ready for the kiln,” I said.
“But I need to get it in – it’s for my boyfriends, it’s his birthday!”
“Sorry, but if we load this now there is a good chance it will explode and that would not be good,” I said, thinking how many times I had explained this concept to the students and feeling a little irritated. “Look at the color, it is still gray and hasn’t turned white yet. It’s still cold to the touch. It’s not ready to be fired.”
“But I left it out all day yesterday!” Sally said with desperation. It was her boyfriend’s birthday and she apparently didn’t have a back-up gift.
“It normally takes a few days for clay to dry and in cold weather it takes longer.”
Disappointed and frustrated, Sally takes her piece of ceramics back and the next student advances to the front of the line to get his piece put in the kiln.
“John, why do you think I’m not taking your piece?” I ask.
“Too wet.” John says and takes the piece and leaves the boiler room.
Back in class I ask for everyone to sit down so I can talk to them about what goes on in the kiln.
“I know we haven’t had an explosion yet but if your piece is not dry it can explode in the kiln. So first look at the color of the clay, then feel the piece. If it is cold it is not ready.” I see the complete lack of interest as I try in vain to explain the reason I will not load cold or wet pieces.
A week later I am rushing to load the kiln because I have a meeting and though I check the pieces I put in the kiln it was a quick check. When I return on Monday I find the sorry results of my rushing.
There had been explosions in both kilns. In the bisque kiln a sculpted head had exploded. Heads are the hardest to check because they were often thick, and even though the clay looked the right color, it could still be holding water on the inside.
But what was most frustrating was that there had been an explosion in the glaze kiln. What that meant was that a student glazed a piece of ceramics that had not been fired for the first time (bisque). This explosion was particularly bad, as the broken ceramics had also stuck to several other pieces of ceramics.
Now what! I was thinking.
As I returned to the classroom an idea was forming. When I got back I took all the ceramics that had been affected by the explosion and put them in a box. I put the following label on the box.
Open Casket for Dead Ceramics!!
Do Not touch – sharp edges can cut you!!
While unlading the kiln I had cut my finger on a sharp piece that had been stuck to a shelf. I then sanded down the shelf to get rid of the sharp edge.
I further decorated the box with a RIP sigh and then began to put together my activities for the day. On the board I wrote:
Take a seat so we can
- Review the Stages of Clay
- Have a service for the Dead Ceramics; See open casket on the front table. Do not touch the pieces in there. If any of them are yours see me after the service.
I found pieces of clay that represented the stages of ceramics-making and put them on the front table with labels as follows;
Clay from the ground (or in our case from the recycle bucket).
Wedged clay ready for use.
Thrown clays (or clay that has been used to create a project) including thrown clay that has now been trimmed but is still drying (gray and cold).
Clay that is dry and ready for the first firing (white and no longer cold).
Bisque fired clay – ready to accept glaze.
Glazed ceramics ready for second firing.
Finished ceramics.
Then I went to my computer and found a good Gregorian requiem. In my class students get to use my computer to select music each day from Pandora. Well, today I would be making the selection.
The stage now set, I was ready for students to enter the class, take their seat and then proceed in front of the display while my Gregorian requiem played.
The service had some impact because for the next few weeks both the students and I were more careful about what we allowed to go into the kiln.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
Do you ever have explosions in your kilns?
What kind of system do you use to prevent explosions?
Slabbing Projects – What are they making!
The ceramics class I took over came with a slabbing machine. When I was looking for a good project to use this machine, I thought a vase might be good. I wanted the vase to be about 10 inches high and at the top the clay would have to move in and then out, kind of like the top of an hour glass. It would require the students to slab a good size piece of clay, (they would also have to wedge this clay) and then attached the two ends. They would also be attaching the top and causing the clay to move in and then out of space. The vase would also be useful – something to put flowers in and great gifts.
There must have been something in the air in 1995 because in 2012 I had a very interesting group of students. Given the opportunity to make something nice for their moms, all they seemed to want to do was make bongs!
By this stage in my life I barely remembered bongs. They were a vague lost memory form a long time ago. I couldn’t even remember what they looked like. Honestly.
It turned out one of my Ceramics II students was making bongs and I was clueless. The student was making simple, straight cylinders, with a small cup on the top (vases). His project used the technique I wanted him to master and though the students was not very artistic and his craftsmanship was questionable, he was making a lot of these vases.
One of my colleagues showed me an article about teaching ceramics. A ceramics teacher had given two groups of student’s two different assignments during the semester. One group was asked to make just a few carefully crafted ceramics pieces. The focus for the first group was well crafted pieces of ceramics. The second group was asked to make as many pieces as possible. Their goal was to use up as much clay as possible and make as many pieces as possible. At the end of the semester the students who were making a lot of pieces also ended out with the better crafted pieces. I probably read this article at about the same time I read about needing to do something 10,000 times to get good at it. Ever since I read those articles I am always happy to see students working to make lots of pieces, even if they are not that well-crafted. My belief is the repetition will eventually get them to make better crafted pieces.
Back to the vases or as it turned out bongs.
So there I was, happy to see I had finally reached this student, even thought I had not explicitly assigned “lots of pieces” as the focus of this assignments. Then I got a call from the dean’s office.
The dean had just kicked two kids out of school, which is something you can do at a private school like ours. One of the students had been my prolific “vase” maker.
I went to the deans’ office to find out what has happened. Well, he had been distributing drugs at school and when they searched his car they found a bong made of clay. To my severe distress, he had actually made it in my class.
My productive student had a little side business going on. I had failed to notice how he had often left glaze off certain parts of the vase. Those were the areas he later drilled through in constructing his bong.
Other students in the class were also making vases that looked a lot like bongs. So – always learning how to adjust — I confiscated all the vases that looked like bongs and offered students the opportunity to go see the dean if they wanted them back.
One parent did call. She was sure her daughter was not making a bong and was angry that I had sent it to the dean (her daughter never went to the dean and eventually I destroyed all the vases).
So now students learn to slab making houses – much harder to smoke out of them.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
What kind of slabbing projects do you assign?
Do you have problems with other inappropriate ceramics projects?
Checking In
I was doing Self-Assessments today. I do this about a month into the semester and it’s an assignment that requires students to look at how they are doing in the class. Frank was up next and he also had his Empty Bowl to grade. I knew that Frank had taken the class because his girlfriend was taking it. She liked art and thought it would be fun. Frank liked his girlfriend.
As Frank sat down I was looking at my computer to see what Frank had written on his Self-Assessment. Frank’s girlfriend had already gone through this review and I assumed she had talked to Frank about what to expect.
“So Frank, how is the class going?” I said as he sat down.
“Good…I like it,” he said a little unsure of himself.
“So did you do much art before this class?” I asked.
“Not really,” Frank said continuing to be unsure.
“So let’s see, you said the thing you are most proud of was your Seat and Rack Marker,” I continued. “I liked the footballs you had on your project but as I remember they had a little trouble sticking – we saw some separations.”
“Yeah but look at this Empty Bowl, the footballs I put on are sticking a lot better.” Engaged in a real two-way conversation, John’s insecurities started to slip away.
I inspected his Empty Bowl and nodded. “I know you play football, but are there other things that are important to you? So far every project you have done has included footballs?”
“Well, football is the most important.”
“OK. Then you said what you needed to work on was glazing, is that correct,” I said knowing the football conversation wasn’t going very far.
“Yeah. I am not much of a painter.”
“Hey I get that,” I said. “My wife is my worst critic and every piece of ceramics I have ever done she usually finds some problem with it. No matter how well it is crafted the glazing is the part that stands out and gets the most criticism. I like to make things but when it comes to glazing I just want it done. So what I do is try and make it simple. You might want to do the same. Select a couple of colors and make sure you are careful about painting them.”
“All right, that sounds like something I could do.” Frank said. He wouldn’t magically become an accomplished painter in Ceramics class but at least he had one new strategy form this conversation, keep it simple.
“On the Self-assessment form you marked number 3 – Involved but gets distracted. Do you mind telling me what your greatest distraction is?”
“Well,” Frank was uncomfortable talking about this kind of stuff and was just sitting there trying to come up with a good explanation.
“OK, let’s see if I can make this a little easier for you. You took this class because Becky took this class and you like her, right?” I said, breaking the awkward silence.
“Well yeah but.” –he stammered.
“Hey that’s OK with me. You do your work, you were honest with your Self-Assessment and you are not distracting Becky. So the only thing I could ask is that you allow yourself to be a little more careful and take a little more pride in what you do.” I went on. “You are getting your assignments done and that is fine, but if you give it a chance you might even start to enjoy yourself a little more.”
“But I am not artistic,” Frank said.
“Frank, I don’t expect you to be artistic. I teach a craft. What I want you to learn is the craft. If for some reason art gets in there great, but no art is required to be successful in this class, OK?”
“OK”
“So the one thing I want you to do, is use a little more concentration. I wish I had a good football analogy but I don’t. But I am sure you are concentrating when you play so just try and be a little more like that in class. Enjoy yourself, but try and get a little more focused.
“Will do, co – I mean Mr. B,” he almost said coach.
Frank got a 95 on his Empty Bowl (not all the footballs were attached as well as he thought) and he went back to his seat to be close to Becky. Thanks to the additional time I have to talk with students with the flipped classroom, Frank also learned this important lesson; it was indeed possible to have a conversation with a teacher. Even about girls.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
You have any “Franks” in your class?
Do you ever see them turn around and start to really enjoy the class?
A Tragedy at School
Since I flipped my classroom, most of my days at school are spent enjoying my interaction with students, faculty and other staff. I have the freedom to do this because I don’t lecture anymore. Sometimes I need to solve problems, most of which get resolved rather quickly. I wake up almost every day looking forward to going to work.
It was a Monday evening. I was enjoying time at home and looking forward to school the next day. In the evenings I often check our LMS system to see if students have submitted assignment or have sent me questions to answer. I also check my regular e-mail. That evening I got an e-mail from the principal telling us that one of the students at school had taken his own life. “A suicide death presents us with many questions that we may not be able to answer right away. Rumors may begin to circulate, and we ask that you not spread rumors you may hear. We’ll do our best to give you accurate information as it becomes known to us. In the morning, we will be making an announcement to our students. In keeping with the recommendation of the American Association of Suicidology we will not be holding an all-school assembly or dismissing school or creating a memorial at school. We will share the facts with our students and try to emphasize that there are alternatives to suicide, and that help is available. Our counselors will be available to meet with students and with any of you who would like additional support.
I didn’t know the young man who took his life but was able to use our LMS system to see his picture and realized that I had seen him around campus. I couldn’t imagine what he had been going through and now, what his family and extended family at school must be feeling. I didn’t sleep well that evening and was wondering what I should do the next day. As a parent, I couldn’t imagine anything more painful than to lose your child and to have it happen this way.
I was also concerned about how to deal with it in class. What do I say to my students, do we still work, what should I do differently? I realized I couldn’t change what had happened but I was concerned about the students at school and what the suicide would mean to them.
My drive to school is only about 10 minutes. As I approached the school the buildings looked the same but the pace seemed to have changed. As I walked to my class all the students’ heads were down. There was none of the regular playfulness. I saw a few students using their cell phones and few in small groups talking quietly. I saw a lot of hugging and some tears. Several student sat by themselves, lost in thought.
A colleague approached me and said, “Rob, we are having a meeting in the Performing Arts building at 8:00. No bells will ring and school will be delayed until we are done with the meeting. Mary will share more information on what happened last night.”
“OK,” I said, feeling not only my own numbness but the numbness of the school.
“Here is what we know…” is how Mary started her presentation. She gave us the facts and information she had on how best to deal with the tragedy that we were faced with. “Be honest with your students and be willing to listen… We need to be there for them and let them know about the services we can offer.”
She then talked to us about what services we were making available, not only our counselors but counselors from our sister schools in the area were coming to help. “If students need to leave class, let them, but make sure you know where they are going. You might want to send them in pairs.”
She talked a little more about what the experts in the field advise teachers to do and then said, “It is very sad but sometimes these kind of events trigger copy cats. We need to be even more vigilant with our students and look for any signs that look troubling.” She then talked about the day before and what others had noticed. That is, nothing had happened on that Monday that would have signaled a reason to concern.
I left the meeting with three things to do. First, be honest. There would be no way to start class in the normal way because it was not a normal day. Second, listen, let students talk, and try to create an atmosphere for them to talk if they want to. Third, be assertive and if someone looks in pain don’t wait for them to ask for help.
As my class was about to begin I made one more decision, and that was to not have the music on. It just didn’t seem right.
As the students began walking into class most were talking with each other but they went to their shelves and got their ceramics to work on. I asked everyone to take their seat. When they were all seated I said, “I want to take a moment to remember. For any of you that don’t know this is what we know about the tragedy that happened last night in our school family,” and then I shared with them the facts as I knew them and asked if any of them had any questions.
I had a lot of trouble talking, my own emotions were so raw and the collective pain was getting to me. “My heart goes out to not only his family and friends but to all of us … This hits all of us and it will hit each of us differently. The counselor’s office is available if any of you need to go. Some of you may be reacting now, like I am –“At this point I found myself unable to talk for a few minutes. “And for some of you it may come later. Make sure you don’t try to get through this alone.”
Each class was a little different, but for most of the students there was a need to move on. I asked each class about the music and they all agreed that it was a good idea not to have it. As I gave my presentation I kept choking up. I believed my pain and tears were appropriate and so I didn’t attempt to conceal them.
At times the pain made it impossible to talk and in my last class as I was struggling to tell them what had happened I got stuck. Alena left her seat to stand next to me to help me get through it. Her act of kindness toward me represented all the reasons I love what I do and where I am.
The next day we once again talked about what happened. Life does need to go on and so with support from all the students in my class, the music returned and we continued to learn ceramics.
Have a question or comment add it in Contact Me.
Have any of you had a suicide at your school?
How did you deal with it?
Recent Comments