[Woodcarver] unteachable students?

[maricha]

susan,
you are a treasure. you have reminded me of many times of the same
situation, when a brain blocks what the teacher is trying to show you yet
much much later, it clicks, and you remember as you said what it was all
about.

some of my students are from 3 years to 90ish .... my grandchildren are easy
to teach with soap and paddle sticks or spoons and seem to pick up quickly.
have had to battle to keep a creative community centre open for people in
the community who want so desperately, that the centre means a spark of life
to them. they the politicians wanted to close them down, but when some of my
students, wrote letters telling us what the centre meant, how could i let
them down... so all these months i've been trying hard to keep the place
going, because it is like their blood transfusion... for example of my
students was in a car accident 2 years ago, unemployed, etc etc. and in one
month in the woodcarving class, she saw the light of not only feeling
better, but a means of earning a living.  she was so devastated with the
prospective closure, that how could i refuse to help, her and so many
others, some even in more complicated and sad situations. at the moment
after a lot of meetings and hard yaka (hard work) the council and
politicians have decided to stay .hooray..

so your teaching the unteachable is a wonderful tonic,.
have also decided to experiment what i have just learnt from you all and the
expressionism workshop... applying it to wood/clay for the wonderful elderly
people that come and their strength, eyesight etc is not as it was.
this experiment is perhaps a bit daring but feel very strongly that it could
work...

that is,  getting the relief carving, all painted in white for the top
layers, black for the backgroun and a grey for the different levels.
working from a photocopy of black and white, putting it up side down, they
can draw first the white paint, then the next student, paints some more
white, going clockwise, and the third student, also painting white on her
next door student.... thus allowing each other to help one another, and take
away that exclusiveness away or that don't touch my work, yet respecting
each others work.  the next step getting each one to go back to their own
work, painting in the black bit of their relief still life.  then carve the
black painted area out first, all upside down, so that their artistic right
side of the brain is not fighting with the left side of the brain, by
putting in names and symbols which only confuses the carver.  once the level
desired is reached, and the wastage removed, then we go to the shapes, for
examples, apples, oranges etc.then lastly the grey areas, or the refining
parts.  hope i am not carrying on here and ranting and losing you all.
but by doing this black and white exercises, i feel it minimizes
destructions and the space is created much quickler and efficiently. this is
the first step of 5 stages in this method of  passing on skills  i know
there are many pitfalls but hopefully, we will work them together.

any comments would be much appreciated.

thanking you muchly.
maricha
>
> GOOD MORNING MARICHA!
>
> My e-mail box looked awfully bare this morning until a few moments ago
> when you e-mails popped into the box ... our THANK YOU goes to you!
>
> You wrote:
> to think all this started because of carving, because of the delicate
> people
> I have had to deal with, with trying to motivate and teach almost the
> unteacheable students, in my inadequateness to find a solution, you are
> helping tremendously and finging solutions..
>
> Now, this is just my opinion ... But I don't think there are Unteachable
> Students.  I think, I hope, that it is more the case that as teachers we
> can't see at that moment what is getting through and what is not.  Each
> student seems to absorb different information at different rates and at
> different times.  I know that some times you come in contact with a
> student that you just can't seem to connect with during the class
> session.  Try as you might you just don't seem to find the right words
> or right demonstrations to make your point. It is an extremely
> frustrating situation for any teacher.
>
> However, many of us 'teachers' have also been the students (and
> hopefully still are in many ways today.)  As a student I have had
> teachers that for all of my trying and their trying I just couldn't
> follow.  But some where down the line, unexpectedly, I remember
> something they said, something that they showed me that day in class.
> Perhaps it is the input of that particular time when I remember them
> that was needed for me to 'connect the dots' with the information that
> the teacher was sharing.  Example, maybe I am down in the workshop
> tracing out a pattern when it hits me that I can see the pattern flowing
> with the unusual grain of the wood ... And suddenly I understand what
> that teacher meant by using the grain to enhance the look of the depth
> of the pattern!  See the light bulb go off many weeks or months AFTER
> the class is over.
>
> When you do encounter that seemingly 'Unteachable student' or come away
> from a class feeling like an 'Unteachable' I think what becomes most
> important is the simple fact that you and they tried to find a way to
> communicate!  Just keep doing what you are doing with the hope that all
> that stuff is going into their/your brain and someday that little bit of
> added date will come along that makes sense out of it all.
>
>
> Changing subject ... Tiny little rant here!!!! ... And this is just MY
> OPINION!!!!
>
> If anyone is lurking because they feel that those that post to this list
> 'know more' than you do ... PLEASE have mercy on us posters!!!!  You
> don't know exactly what I do know or don't know.  You don't know for
> sure that I already know everything that you know!  If this is your
> reason for not posting you are assuming something that is not a fact.
> There is a lot that I don't know yet which is why I personally follow
> the list!  So if you are not posting you might be withholding that very
> little or very big or extremely important bit of information that I need
> to make the light bulb turn on!  And being a very selfish, very
> self-centered type of learner here ... I personally want that little bit
> that you have tucked away from your experiences!!!!
>
> Thank you for listening to my  rant.
> Susan
>
> Carving Patterns Online
> Designs Online Since 1997!
> Classic Carving Patterns By L.S.Irish
> http://www.CarvingPatterns.com
> http://www.WoodCarvingPatterns.com
>