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Thread: Lesson Plan

  1. #1
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    Default Lesson Plan

    so my downstairs neighbors have a nine year old daughter. she's a real bright kid and she came in and saw my studio a couple nights ago. she was instantly mesmerized and wanted to know more. i'm planning to start teaching her, but....


    where do i start????



    what excercises can i have her do as she's getting started to get a feel for the material? how the hell do i explain "surface tension" to a nine year old??

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    a drop of water on a piece of glass, and a drop of alcohol on a piece of glass.. the rounded bead of water has more surface tension than the flat drop of alcohol. (surface tension is like having a handful of cheerios (atoms/molecules) mixed with honey (attractive force between atoms/molecules) VS cheerios mixed with water.

    demonstrations and simple comparisons often help... however.. you can be pretty good at blowing glass without knowing much about the book type physics of it.

    have fun! don't underestimate the mind of a kid.

    z--seth

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    im not a teacher, but i've taught a few people some basic lessons on glass. i'd say start with the big #1: SAFETY. a 9 year old is plenty capable of working glass (lino? pino?), you just have to stress what is really important. then just show her how it works, ie. "you hold it this way and it all drips off, you hold it this way and it gathers into a ball". the great thing about kids is that if they dont understand something, they'll have a million and one questions about it. she'll have plenty of time to learn the science behind it in a couple of years, but now its not vital to her development. its like 4 year olds who start playing hockey: they dont know about geometry or physics, but they can still use them. i'd say pick up a few instructional books dealing with glass and work from there quite a bit, but again, SAFETY FIRST!!!!


    good luck! my buddy and i were just talking about how very few people get exposure to something like glass at such a young age, especially in this age of foam padded playgrounds (?!?!?!?!??!?!?!). even if she decides to be a nuclear physicist, she'll always have glass.

    oh, and let us know how it turns out!



    drew

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    yeah i really like the idea of getting her hooked on it at this age. her parents are by no means wealthy but neither am i and i managed to get a small studio running. besides, as long as i live at the house, she'll have all the access she wants. maybe a few years down the road her folks will get her a torch if she takes a liking to it.

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    Explain to her parents first about the non-responsibility of you if she burns herself good, they need to know the hazards first and formost.

    My niece and nephew can't wait to run down to my laboritory first thing outta the car, 8-9 years old, safety is the first lesson, and teach it well.

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    yeah.... A nine year old girl has the potential to hurt herself WAY MORE severely than you or I. A burn can be massive and scar permanantly. BE careful.

    I wouldn't do it because of the liabilty. If I did do it it would be after I talked to a lawyer and had a release of liabilty form drafted up for this paticular class. A lot of People get wierd after their kids get hurt. Stranger things have happened.

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    you can start the rotatiaton thing, start with honey on a rod, and how to get differnt gathers. then take penincles and show her how to tack on punties and keep them centered.

    then move up to gathers and then turtle etc.

    safty is first though , and if she digs it hit up aura for a set of glasses for her.

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    My thoughts -- 9 is way too young for someone who is not your own child...

    however, if you are intent on doing this, work with soft glass, not boro. Children's (under the age of 12) eyes are not yet fully developed and highly suseptible to increased injury from the IR from working boro.

    Keep them in soft glass, there is a lot they can do with soft glass, beads, pendants, small sculptures etc. I even have a kids program for eyewear for soft glass working (contact me privately about that). But please, don't work boro with young children!

    I personally won't teach anyone under the age of 14...

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    damn... y'all make a good point re: liability.. she may be bright, but she will almost certainly get burned.. i really don't want to have to deal with that. i guess i'll talk to her parents. my uncle is a lawyer and maybe i'll see if i can get him to draft some sort of general release form.. not really that bad an idea for ANYONE using my gear..

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    If she is a reader get her contemp lampworking to read. maybe a video or something. descuse liability concerns.

    Its not a matter of if you get burned its a matter of when and how bad. and cuts and scratches and stringer punchers , and blowing stuff up,

    i have to say i have more burns from welding but there pritty insignificant , glass has given me the really great scars.

    but yes there are some things you can teach her with out a torch , and you can always offer to show her demos and stuff.

    i dont advise people to teach kids , but i think you should support not only children as they grow and learn and provide as much as you can to inform them, but also for our industry and craft i would say it is highly important to give proper teaching and proper info. even when demoing in public there is so little known of glass work that people will take what you say seriously , so be careful what you say. and try to be as clear and explanitory as possable.

    you can do the honey on the rod trick it works and helps start the road, there are also plenty of exercises that she can learn until you and her feel confident that she can saftly cut on a torch.

    make sure she and who ever else has glasses.

    ask her to pick color combos for you. show and explain the differnt aspects of it to her.

    i personaly am not in a possition to do soft glass so i cant say go that route.

    Also clean out your shop. get all the dust and bubble trash and any thing remotely questionable out. and keep it clean. glass dust gets in the most pesky places.

    Glass is an addiction , but keep it safe and have fun.

    peace
    rob

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    one of the first things i bought was two extra pairs of glasses for anyone who happens to be in the studio. not only does it make sense from a safety standpoint, but taking away all that bushy yellow and actually being able to see what's going on inside the flame usually makes people go "oh WOOOOOOW!!!"

  12. #12
    spitfireglassworks Lurker

    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeAurelius
    Children's (under the age of 12) eyes are not yet fully developed and highly suseptible to increased injury from the IR from working boro.
    wow....that's good to know.

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    Shit...get em on boro when they learn to read...we need idols in this industry. You know any idols...other than Billy?

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    okay so this whole thing has got me thinking:


    i could really teach introductory lampworking classes. i couldn't get very advanced (yet) but i could easily have people turning out perfumes and marbles after two 1-hour lessons..


    does anybody here teach privately? i have a one-torch setup so as it is, that's limiting. i'd be able to only deal with one student at a time but that would actually make things really good for them. they'd get tons of attention and instruction. i'm thinking about working out about four lesson plans and running them on my friends to see if they "work" and after that, cleaning up my studio and sticking some signs up around town.



    now for something like this a waiver will be absolutely necessary so i'll have to get on that before i start charging people money. what will people expect to pay for something like this? $50/hour with all materials included sound alright? this is a fairly arts-y town but there is nobody here doing anything like this so i've got kind of a captive audience..

  15. #15
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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    okay so maybe i'll need to charge $100 an hour to cover the cost of liability insurance........

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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    remeber your teaching your competion as well..

    i was lucky for my cost i got torch , tools , and glass for around 30 a night.

    i would say a 50 to 100 a night might be ok.

  17. #17
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    Default Re: Lesson Plan

    how are her parents? work out a liability contract with them, tell them upfront there is a danger of burns.

    id teach her how to pull good lattichano, fillagrano, and points...its a good starting point for someone her age

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