Amor De Cemamica
By
Jeanna Sammons
Students have a high level of interest in art from other cultures, but suffer from a lack of opportunity to experience the creation of art in their Spanish class. After informally questioning my students about their interest in art from Mexico, I found that many students have a great desire to learn about pottery and how to use a potter’s wheel, but have never had the opportunity to do so. In order to implement a ceramics unit into my classes, we would study the history Mexican pottery, and discuss the techniques used by the people to create various pieces of pottery. The students would then complete an assessment relating to the lecture. Then the students would create pieces from clay using the potter’s wheel, fire, glazed in the style of the Mexicans, and fire for the second time. They would then be assessed, once again. A comparison of assessment scores would be done to see if students learn more from the hands-on activity or lecture. The data would be graphed and the rate of improvement would be recorded. The research question guiding our project would be, “Do students understand concepts relating to the history of pottery from Mexico better through hands-on activities or lecture?” The resources needed would be potter’s wheel, clay, glazes, tools, and other ceramics equipment to complete the pieces. Test scores will prove the success of the project. I know all positive outcomes will come from this project because the students will not have this opportunity otherwise.