Open-Option Class #2

After a 3 hours of action-packed fun with 6-9 year old art-lovers on Saturday, I was pumped for 3 more hours with 10-13 year olds. However, they were not as excited as I. The second class, for slightly older artists, was a version of the class for the 6-9 year olds. Theoretcially, the gallery conversations would be more eloquent and thoughtful and the project would be more elaborate and innovative. However, this was not the case.

The preteen class was quiet, unconfident, unpassionate, and unenthused. Only a few comments were made or questions answered during the gallery talk, and most of the respondent were the same few kids. They were inexplicably more inhibited, both conversationally and artistically. Perhaps their shyness is because this age group is slightly more inclined to thinking things have to be right and good. That is, they are realizing that if one cannot do something well in school (i.e. answer a question in Social Studies), he could not try it at all. Whatever the reason, the tweens were quiet as mice.

Once in the ArtLab, they opened up a little. They began to speak to one another. Still, they were more concerned on (what they thought was) social success than artistic growth. They were fairly reserved when we came around asking about their concepts and processes. Overall, their projects were good. However, there was a larger range in effort and 'goodness' than with the younger class. Some students tried harder, some tried noticeably less hard, and some were in the middle. I must admit, I expect this class' results to stand out more from the previous class', even if only because of the differences in motor skills. I should emphasize that the projects were still very good.

Another difference between the classes was Mary. Her enthusiasm and efforts dropped slightly by the time the second class started. She expended a lot of energy with the young group, and I do not see how she could sustain those efforts for 6 straight hours of teaching. Also, I think people assume that the young the students, the harder they are to teach. I believe that difficulty peaks with adolescents, and the 6-9 class would be (and is) easier to finesse than the tweens.


I am very excited to go to the next classes in April and see what new lesson Mary has. Also, I would like to see if the behavior/enthusiasm of the age groups parallels that of last week. I'll let you know what I discover.