27. A Sad Day in the Art Room

Well, today was a sad day for my 3-D class.  Their projects were fired yesterday and many broke or the glaze didn’t work.  After working for 3 weeks on this project many of my students were upset about the results.  Unfortunately, this is one of those learning experiences that is hard to swallow for many students.     They failed and not just in a small way. The pottery that was glazed didn’t get hot enough and the glaze turned out bubbly.  This was by no fault of the students.  Their grades were not affected by this.  I feel bad because they wanted usable pottery for their dorm room, but there was also nothing I could do for them.  On the other hand, two of the pieces completely blew up in the kiln.  Total annihilation.  The reason… air bubbles.  I felt bad for the kids, but it happened because of poor craftsmanship.

There were some very upset students because they thought the grade I assigned was unfair.  I gave them C’s.  Here is my reasoning: 1. If they would have taken the time to hallow their sculptures or wedge their clay properly they would not have exploded. 2. When they exploded they took out some other students’ pottery.

Now, I know that they didn’t do it on purpose.  They didn’t purposely put an air bubble in their clay to take out others’ pottery.  But the fact of the matter is they didn’t do their work properly.  Should they be rewarded for poor craftsmanship? Shouldn’t they get a grade that helps them to understand that their carelessness affected other students?  Accountability and consequences.