Taking over Ceramics

This week I took over the Ceramics class. I felt that it went pretty smooth. My pacing was right on time with what I had planned, and I was able to keep the student’s attention and not lose them when I was giving my brief history of pottery and ceramics. They responded to my questions and I felt that I got them thinking about things before I showed them what they were going to be doing with coils. When things were unclear to them, they asked clarifying questions which allowed me to better explain what they were to do.

My only concern is the disconnect the students have with the objectives being given to them right out the gate before they even know what’s going on. Before every new assignment, my CT writes the Objectives on the board and they copy them into their sketchbook/journal. She usually does not talk about them right away, but comes back to them after she explains the project. I do feel that they get boxed in before they even know what they’re going to be doing and this seems to limit their ideas. I don’t really understand why she doesn’t give them the objectives when she’s talking about them. Unfortunately, I planned my Coil Pot lesson this way, just because the students are used to it and my CT seemed hesitant to let me try a new timeline in giving the lesson. I was planning on using this more as a test to see what kind of projects/ideas I get from the students. My Powerpoint had a wide variety of coil pot ideas, and I noticed in the student sketches that the students took a lot of different ideas from the images they were shown which I was pleased to see. They did a great job at not just copying the images, instead taking elements from what they saw and incorporating it into their design.

I do feel I need to slow down a little bit. I had everything I needed to cover in notes I had prepared, but found myself skipping things anyways. I did make sure to come back to them during the student’s work time when I realized what I had forgotten to go over. My CT also suggested I leave a little more time in between questions I ask the students because it takes them longer to process things sometimes. I may have moved on a little too quick. I also noticed my CT doesn’t randomly call out on students to answer questions, she waits for volunteers. I know the students feel safe in this kind of learning environment, but I also see that the same few students answer questions all the time. She assumes the whole class knows the material, but then wonders when they don’t apply what she thought they all knew. I’m going to think about how I am going to approach this to make sure everyone is on the same page when I teach my lessons.