Frankiegirl

I used to run a Ceramics for Adults on Saturdays in the months of January and February. This really was not a class in that I did not have a series of set lessons. I would always start the first day with a 5X7 questionnaire card, asking basic contact info, experience levels, followed by questions about what they wanted to accomplish or do in the class. This always followed an introduction to the studio and equipment that included slab rollers, extruders, potters wheels, banding wheels etc. The first session I also introduced/demonstrated throwing a cylinder on the wheel. Following sessions would include construction with slabs, extrusion, and other coils where the demonstrations would include pieces they had mentioned in their questionnaires. The last session (6th) would be on glazing and they would glaze their pieces for glaze firings. They requested in the last years an extra day where they could see everyone's finished work. This class worked out very well, but in the end I guess you could call it an open studio. It earned enough money to help keep up equipment and add 4 wheels to the mix along with an extra extruder and several other pieces of furniture and tools.

I'm 46 and I'm currently in my second throwing class called "Learning to Throw" at Dunedin Fine Art Center (FL). As a student, I would appreciate more structure in the classes. It seems to be an anything goes as far as what you build or how you build it. I would appreciate more focus to get the skills needed and allowing creativity IN that process. It seems the creativity comes first and the skills may or may not follow. My issue is that the skills are needed in order to allow the creativity to really flow and be fully realized.
 
For example, I would like to focus a couple of sessions on just cups, then plates or bowls, etc. Demos of the tools used, amount of clay, pitfalls, etc. for each shape followed by supervised practive time for that shape. Everyone is working on different items in the class which means the instructor has zero focus and structure... I feel more that I'm paying for wheel rental with an occasional two second assist rather than a "class" that will give me a solid foundation for different shapes, tools and styles. I don't necessarily know the questions to ask and therefore without structure, am missing a lot of foundation information.
 
Just my opinion.....