In 2017, I applied for a grant with our local educational enrichment foundation, TEEF, to get a Bracker Raku Kiln and all the needed pieces that go with it. I was one of the lucky few whose grants were funded or partially funded. It was an amazing feeling. I have been waiting since May 2018 to introduce the fun of Raku to my upper ceramics students.
I have a small group this year, which was great for our inaugural firing. The students all made at least one piece out of the special Raku clay. We had a local Potter come and talk to us about Raku firing. Several of the students had witnessed Raku firings at the Texas Clay Festival. We picked a date, set up a rain date, and informed all the people who needed to be there. The students watched video several times and made diagrams. We were ready. It was the perfect time before we were taking g a week off for Thanksgiving.
One thing we did not expect in Texas at this time of year was that it was going to be 32° this morning. Thanks Obama. We decided to press on. We worked in the cold, checking, listening, comparing. It was cold, and windy. But we pushed on. We were able to pull one firing off. It didn’t go perfectly, and we have much to discuss tomorrow in class when we do our group reflection on the process. The second firing didn’t get up to temp. Did I mention the wind? I finally called it during 5th period and we shut it down. The kids understood.
Looking back on today, we learned so much as a group…about the bracket kiln, about how to fire (I haven’t run a Raku firing in over 12 years), about combustibles, and about all the technical things that go with Raku.
But, the most important thing that I learned today came from my students. I was disappointed. I wanted their first Raku to be amazing. And it wasn’t, at least in my eyes. But for them it was a great day. They taught me it was all a learning experience. They weren’t bummed by the wind and the fact that we messed up timing. Or that we called the second firing. They knew we could do another firing; we could finish firing our pieces tomorrow. We have more clay. There’s a whole other semester. They had so much fun today. They came together as a group. I forgot what all this was about. I forgot what I have been preaching in my tab studio for years–that it’s okay to fail and it’s okay to make mistakes and that’s how we learn. And they reminded me of that. And I am thankful for that, and for them.
TAB Studio with Mrs. B 
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Hello,
I love your blog! I am new to teaching art and teaching TAB, so I have modeled my first art classroom after your set up, with tweaks to fit my school. I am sure there will be many more tweaks to come, but at least ! have a starting point, so thank you for that! I was wondering if you could share an example of a TAB lesson plan? Even just a template would be fantastic. I have been searching my books and the internet and have found very little information concerning that.
Again, thank you so much for your blog!
~Nicole
Hi Nicole. Thank you so much. I am glad that I am able to inspire you and your TAB classroom. When it comes to TAB lesson plans, it is really hard to give a template in my opinion. I had a very simple plan that my last AP/evaluator was good with–it listed state standards, then was a day by day agenda. She (my AP) knew my teaching goals, so I didn’t need to write much other than that. I now have a new AP/Eval and we have a whole new C/O team who have brought in a common language with planning throughout the district. So,my plans are based on that. We have to have learning intentions and success criteria. So, it makes it kind of difficult since success looks different for each student and the main goals are long term, and I think it all works towards that–behaving/thinking like an artist and creating original work. I know this isn’t the answer you were looking for. My advice is to take what your admin asks of you then tweak it to fit TAB and the info you think is important.
That makes sense. I did my best to create a lesson plan and I will reach out to admin to see if it is meeting expectations. Thank you for your reply 🙂 Good luck with the new school year.
Thank you and good luck to you too! Contact me if you have any other questions.