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Beginning Ceramics Syllabus

Teacher: Megan LeSage
Frederick High School
lesage_megan@svvsd.org
303-833-3533 extension 41076

***This syllabus has been posted in Schoology for parents/guardians and students to review. Once you
have read through the syllabus, please fill out the Google Form and Submit for credit.

This syllabus is also available for public view at:

http://fhsartlesage.weebly.com

***Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have; email is the most effective way to
contact me, and from there we can schedule an appointment to Webex or to have a phone conversation if
necessary.

lesage_megan@svvsd.org

Introduction:
This course is designed to meet the needs of students working at all levels of Art, from very beginning
through advanced. The focus of Beginning Ceramics will be hand-building with clay. Additionally, students
will learn skills and strategies to develop artistic practices and enhance creativity.

Attendance:
A Days: Mondays and Wednesdays
B Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays
In order to be marked “present,” please make sure to use this link to sign in to Webex within the first 5
minutes of your scheduled class time. https://svvsd.webex.com/meet/lesage_megan

If you completely miss a Webex meeting but still want to be marked present, make sure you complete
any work assigned in Schoology on that same day, or you can email me to check in.

Fridays: There will not be any scheduled Webex meetings on Fridays. However, I will be available on
Fridays to work with you individually. Please email me to schedule an appointment if needed.
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Supplies:
Please know that we are working hard to prepare supplies for you to take home. These should be
available after we begin our Hybrid schedule. If you plan to stay remote during Hybrid, please let me know
so I can put your supplies in the front office for you to pick up.

Since we are not sure if students will be paying fees for their Art classes this semester, we will send home
what we can afford, which means it will be a relatively basic kit: a pound of modeling clay and a dowel as a
multipurpose tool.

If you have access to more sculpting supplies at home, feel free to use whatever you have at your disposal
(even Play-Doh!).

If at any point during the semester there is an Art supply that you want to borrow for a final project in this
class, please let me know so I can prepare it for you.

Grading:

A+ = 98-100% B+ = 88-89.9% C+ = 78-79.9% D+ = 68-69.9% F = 0-59.9%

A = 93-97.9% B = 83-87.9% C = 73-77.9% D = 63-67.9%
A- = 90-92.9% B- = 80-82.9% C- = 70-72.9% D- = 60-62.9%

Learning Activities (30%):

The Learning Activities for this class will consist primarily of participation in sketchbook exercises and
projects. Learning Activities grades will be reported monthly, and all students will start with 100%
participation at the beginning of each month. Failure to participate in class will be documented in Infinite
Campus weekly if not more frequently. On average, each class period will be worth 25 participation points
total. Excused absences will not affect participation grades.

Assessments (70%):
Although there will be “due dates” listed in Infinite Campus and Schoology to help students stay on
track, all assessments will be accepted for full credit until the last student contact day of the semester.

***If an Assessment is marked as “Missing,” it can be turned in at any time before the end of the
semester for full credit.***

As many of the assessments for this class focus on the process of making Art rather than the end product,
they will often be completed in a single class period. If students have excused absences during these kinds
of assessments, they can be exempted from up to 5 assessments total, meaning that these assessments
wouldn’t affect their final grade. Any additional absences during assessments will require that students
make up assessments before the end of the semester; these will be marked as “Missing” in Infinite
Campus until the student makes up the assessment.
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Student Choice Projects (Assessments):

After completing techniques and skills practice, students will be expected to complete as many self-driven
Student Choice Projects as they can while working at their own pace before the end of the semester.
Consequently, the number of final projects will vary from student to student.

The modeling clay can be reused over and over for an extended period of time without drying out;
however, students can also sculpt with any clay-like medium they have available (even food!). They can
also earn credit for designing a project, even if they don’t end up sculpting it. These opportunities will be
in Schoology as “Brainstorming” assessments.

It is an expectation that students are consistently making Art during the semester. If a student fails to
work consistently or make progress on Student Choice Projects, these projects will be marked as “Missing”
in Infinite Campus until they are completed. These will be updated on a monthly basis. All projects are
due by the last student contact day of the semester.

Students should always check with me during the brainstorming process if they are uncertain about
whether their work is school appropriate. I rarely censor student work, but as a rule of thumb students
are encouraged to avoid imagery that is violent, drug-related, pornographic, or gang-related.
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Assessments for Beginning Ceramics may include the following,

and are subject to change at teacher discretion:

Purpose Activity 100 points

Purpose Page 100 points
DIY Report Card Set-Up 100 points
Identity Exploration: Roles and Obstacles 100 points
Myers Briggs Exploration 100 points
Favorites Page 100 points
Source of Inspiration 100 points
Abstract Concepts Exploration 100 points
Storytelling Exploration 100 points
Emulation Activity 100 points
Synectics Exploration 100 points
Grit Exploration 100 points
Design Handout 1 100 points
Design Handout 2 100 points
Coil Exploration 100 points
Slab Exploration 100 points
Relief Carving Exploration 100 points
Pinch Pot Exploration 100 points
Sgraffito Exploration 100 points
Mishima Exploration 100 points
Brainstorm 1 100 points
March Student Choice Projects 100 points
April Student Choice Projects 100 points
May Student Choice Projects 100 points
Brainstorm 2 (optional) 100 points
Brainstorm 3 (optional) 100 points
Brainstorm 4 (optional) 100 points
Final: DIY Report Card Reflection (100), Photographing Work (100), 500 points
Cleaning Studio Space (100), Participation in Final Activities (200)
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All projects will be worth 100 points and graded on these 5 criteria:
(Points are broken down into “yes or no” questions to help guide students through concrete expectations.)
1. Artistic Practices (20 points total)

10 points:
Did you consistently work hard and make progress on your project each week?

10 points:
Did you ask yourself, your peers, and Ms. LeSage, “what else can I do to make this better?”
2. Composition (20 points total)

10 points:
Is the focus of your work central? (In most cases, your answer should be no!)

10 points:
Did you activate or utilize the background?
For free-standing sculptures: Did you incorporate space beyond your main subject?
3. Craftsmanship (20 points total)

10 points:
Did you take your time to apply media in a careful, intentional manner?

10 points:
Did you use media and tools appropriately and effectively?
4. Technique (20 points total)

10 points:
Did you utilize techniques explored during class? If not, what alternative techniques did you
apply?

10 points:
Were you successful in your application of these techniques?
5. Originality (20 points total)

10 points:
Did you appropriate/emulate imagery and alter it significantly from its original context?

10 points:
Is your finished artwork significantly different from that of your classmates, and significantly
different from examples provided during class?
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Beginning Ceramics will be driven by my teaching philosophy:

PICASSO

Purpose: All students must identify their purpose for anything they choose to create. I believe that asking
students to have a reason why they are creating something helps them to be more invested in it, and
helps them better understand how their work fits into global contexts.

Identity: I have found that students often struggle with identifying who they are and what interests them;
therefore, they have difficulty deciding what Art they want to create and why. Consequently, I will
incorporate some activities from basic psychology to help them develop a better understanding of their
own identities, motivations, and the role identity can play in making Art.

Creativity: Students will learn how to draw inspiration from a variety of sources. Students will also learn
the important difference between emulating and copying, and will learn new strategies for being creative.
Being creative is a skill; the more strategies students learn, the easier it will become for them to generate
their own ideas.

Artistic Practices: Grit is an essential quality for people working in creative fields of all kinds. Students will
learn the value of grit, including how to learn from their mistakes, and how to creatively maneuver around
or cope with obstacles they encounter. Failure is part of success, and in Art, the process is as valuable as
the end product.

Sketchbook Skills: “Sketchbooks” will be where students experiment with a variety of media and
techniques, and where they will show their brainstorming for projects. Sketchbooks can take any form,
including digital.

Organization: Once students have completed the activities to strengthen their artistic skills listed above,
they will be responsible for designing and managing their own projects. Students will be responsible for
setting their own artistic goals and working independently for the duration of the course. I will offer
guidance and check in frequently with students throughout this part of the semester.
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Beginning Ceramics, Crafts, Intermediate Crafts, and Visual Journaling Finals (LeSage)

The Finals for Beginning Ceramics, Crafts, Intermediate Crafts, and Visual Journaling with Ms. LeSage focus
on providing students with the opportunity to reflect on their learning, as well as to solidify their learning
by incorporating repeated retrieval practice, interleaving studies, elaborating on how their learning
transfers to novel contexts, and generating ideas instead of choosing from prescribed options (such as a
multiple choice test). Students will work on their Final in sections during class for the last month of the
semester to make it more manageable; it is vital that students attend class during this time in order to be
successful.

The Final for each of Ms. LeSage’s Art Classes will be worth 500 points:

*100 points: DIY Report Card Reflection

*Students will receive credit for reflecting on their experience, learning, and growth as an artist during this
course. This can be done in Schoology at any time during the last month of the semester.

*100 points: Photograph Work and Upload to Schoology (Monthly Student Choice Projects)
*It is an expectation that students photograph all of their projects (even their unfinished projects) and
upload these photos to the monthly Student Choice Projects in Schoology.
*Please include student name in the caption for each photo.

*100 points: Final Activity I-Final Questions (these will be done as warm-ups)
*We will do this over the course of the last several student work days of the semester.
*These will be graded based on completion rather than on “correctness” because there is rarely a single
“correct” answer.

*100 points: Contribute to Cleaning the Studio (remote students will be exempt)
*As all students have taken advantage of our classroom/studio space this semester, it is an expectation
that all students help organize and clean the space in preparation for the following semester.
*Students will receive credit for participation for this section of the Final

*100 points: Final Activity II (last day of class)

*Students will receive credit for participating in activities that take place on the last day of class. Students
must attend class on this day to receive these points.