I have been assisting Beth Notaro and Barbara Heffernan from KAA with their Wednesday evening art class at Carver Community Center. I led an instruction both weeks to a group of 10-12 students of varied ages in constructing pinch pots. Many of the students had never experienced making something from clay. Only one teenage student claimed to have experience making a pot. I invited him to help me teach the others, which went over very well! He did indeed know how to do it and I could tell he felt good getting to help his much younger peers. Since recognizing how much the older students like to help, we have been involving them more often as peer teachers. The best way to learn something is to teach it! Plus, pressure is on not to exaggerate on ability...old Ms. Heather might make you prove it!
We also rearranged the classroom a bit to allow more storage and space for the varied ages to spread out but still be involved in the class. That involved turning open coat lockers on end to create book shelving, making two separate workstations, moving the Lego table to the center of the classroom, and adding a demo and teacher's tables. I am adding artwork to the classroom walls at the request of "Ms. Beth." So far, that includes a Pinterest-found quote "Believe there is good in the world" cleverly positioned in a corner and painted two colors to define "Be the good;" and a whimsical tree of my own design, also positioned in a corner, with branches flowing up onto the ceiling. We are planning lessons for the students to make leaves and other objects to install onto the tree mural. The students are also helping with the painting of the new murals.
At the museum I have began re-work of an exhibit case in the Indiana room (2nd floor bedroom) that displays the Seiberling family members. It's hard for me to stay focused on just that case as there are two other cases in there that need a little love as well. I've communicated some ideas and learned a lot about what is involved in creating small museum exhibitions. Stew, the curator, shared this video with me and I am sharing it here for my peers (also to save it for my own later use!). I think it's a great resource and it wasn't hard to recognize the art and design elements at work in the examples the video discusses.
I am also creating new education program binders for the museum. Dave, the director, shared the files with me and my hope is to organize program content neatly into binders, list the visual art standards that the programs meet, and research how to better promote the programs. There is also a past scout program in the education files, so I am going to learn about scouts!
I have saddled myself with quite a bit of work this semester, but so far I am not as overwhelmed as I have been in semesters past. I think it is because my "after school" work is now my regular work, which is allowing me more time to wind down in the evenings before bed. Here's hoping that trend continues and helps me feel healthier! I'm no longer a strung-out on caffeine graduate student!
