Urgh!!! I am fed up to my eyeballs with clay projects!!!
The fifth grade has built their bowls and I am running my FIFTH bisque fire of them. They are glazing this week and I just hope that I don't run out of glaze before they finish! That would just be my luck.
I have had to give the 'keep it in perspective' speech to nearly every fifth grade class. You see, a small percentage of breakage is pretty normal on a student clay project. Some kids just don't follow instructions well enough and their bowls fall apart in the drying stage. Others might break in the transfer to the kiln because the kids made them too thin or fragile. Either way, it is devastating for the kid whose bowl broke. I do get some tears. I even occasionally get a parent calling me asking me to let their kid make a new one (grrrr! Let your child experience life's disappointments! Sheesh!) even though that would mean firing a practically empty kiln just for one child who didn't follow instructions in the first place.
What is the 'keep it in perspective' speech, you ask? Here is a sum-up...
"I know that you are very excited about the clay bowls, and you will certainly feel really disappointed and sad if yours is one of the broken ones. But I want to remind you that it will not change the course of your life if your fifth grade clay project breaks. It won't change the course of human history, either. So, it is really not a tragedy and doesn't deserve tears. The tsunami in Japan WAS a tragedy, so were the tornadoes in Alabama! Those are life changing historical events that deserve tears! If your pet dies, that is a life changing event for you, and that deserved tears, too. But, your fifth grade bowl? C'mon! No tears needed!"
After hearing that, the kids are much better about it and can mostly handle the disappointment of breakage.
The sixth grade is starting their clay projects today and I am really stressed about the lack of time left in the school year to complete them! If only the kiln was bigger and I could fit more projects into it at once! Gah! I really hope I can get them all finished before the school year ends! (13 school days left, you know)
What really gets me are the kids who come up to me and tell me; "I'll be gone for one of the clay building days, so...." and then wait for me to tell them that it will be OK an I'll help them make up the lost day. Harumph!!! I am so sick of giving up my lunch for kids whose parents decide to pull them out for who knows what reason! Sometimes it is for a wedding or funeral (when that is the case I try to be as helpful as I can), but other times it is to go on a family mini-vacay, or to BABYSIT preschool siblings while mom and dad go off to do something else. I AM NOT KIDDING! Unbelievable!
We are so tight against the end of the year, I have simply told all and sundry that, NO, I cannot help anyone who will be absent and if they miss it, I am sorry, but that is just too bad. I cannot slow down the clock and we have a hard deadline. The End.
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