Pottery Class

I had to stop and remember what it was like to be 13 again as my students arrived for their first pottery class last night...

I had one (brave) boy and six (giggly) girls. (There will be one more boy next time, but he had to play in a make-up football game last night.)

I realized that thirteen year olds are seemingly much more sophisticated than we were back when...especially the girls. They each had their own color coordinated cell phone with them and they are certainly much more technologically advanced than we were then. Of course, we didn't have access to i-pods, text messaging, etc. in my day. It was all that we could do to run the record player without scratching the record! (Am I dating myself?)

I noticed that they wanted to get to the final product with their clay even though I kept emphasizing patience and care in working slowly and carefully. This, to me, is all part of their fast-moving generation where instant gratification is the norm. So, this will be a challenge to me as I attempt to teach them to explore their creativity in a well-thought out manner.

As they worked on their pinch pots and built small bowls with coils (picture is of their work), I enjoyed their teenage chatter. It brought me back to a time long, long (did I mention "l-o-n-g"?) ago....

During the class, one of the conversations led to my mentioning my age. Their was a group gasp as they said "59 years old????!! You don't look THAT OLD!"

After the shock of being "that old", I guess that I was a little flattered?

When class was over, the little boy's mom was a little late in picking him up so we had a chance to chat as I put things away. I asked him if he minded being the only boy in a class full of girls.

He had a wide grin on his freckled face as he said, "No, not really."

"There are some really cute girls in this group, aren't there" I asked.

"YEP", he said as his face turned red.

Ahhhh, I guess that some things never change... : )