Staff Development

Staff Inservice Training Virtual-interactive + Onsite

An exploration of clay, culture and creativity—lessons learned from the classroom and the studio.

The staff workshop was the greatest. Everyone had a fantastic time! We want you to come back next year with your wheel and go to some of our other schools.

—George Vollano, Arts Coordinator, Rippowam Middle School

Staff Inservice

In-school: Full and half-day programs
Virtual Staff Inservice: Typically, 90 minutes. Virtual programs are engaging and highly interactive. Pre-recorded art-studio video used to illustrate techniques.
Robust Q & A.

About Staff

Staff Inservice seminars are taught like my college classes to encourage a deep dive into materials, processes, and creative outcomes.

Staff development is custom-tailored to meet faculty needs, regardless of whether they are currently using clay.

Presentations include samples of finished work, posters, and visual aids to build visual vocabulary. The techniques and information teachers receive will allow them to implement a ceramic arts project with ease and confidence.

Materials
All tools, clay, and related materials necessary for the workshop are supplied.

Each workshop provides a starting point for the instructor’s future work with the materials.

Program activity

Teachers will employ techniques and participate in creating their own one-of-a-kind work in clay. These can include various vessel forms: bowls, vases, and possibly tile making. When using air-dried clay, the pieces will be trimmed, painted /decorated during, or following the workshop.

I provide a variety of advanced techniques that can be integrated into the classroom.

The best way to problem-solve with your students is a hands-on approach. Through my workshop, you will learn the limits of the materials to advance their success. You will learn the science behind glazing, painting, and firing. The use of clay in the classroom provides a satisfying, tangible activity for your students to enjoy an emotional connection to their artwork, and its context in a historic and cultural dimension.

My approach to multicultural lesson plans ranges from Native American, Asian, African, Latin America / South American, and beyond. This cultural context is a vital way to connect the student to their ceramic work. Clay can be used to employ symbols and metaphors to create narrative imagery; to illustrate a poem, a folk tale, or to simply say something about one’s own life.

In my experience, teachers love making work with me and trying out the tools and instructions that they can bring into the classroom. I will address the different needs and skill levels from a high school to kindergarten classroom teacher. The tutorial includes the potter’s wheel and kiln.

Slide show / Q and A

I present a complete slideshow of the Day in Clay program and lean on 30 years of personal experiences with students in a three-dimensional medium. This is a good time for questions and answers about bringing clay into the classroom and technical aspects.

Participants leave with the satisfaction of a direct hands on experience. These include: Tile / vessel / mask making, potter’s wheel techniques, painting, and kiln safety. Following the workshop, I remain as an available resource to you by telephone or email to answer your individual, follow-up questions.

Staff Development will

Give teachers a better understanding of how-to bring clay into the classroom

Demonstrate age-appropriate activities for their students

Help teachers to adjust lesson plans to include clay at different grade levels.

Field all questions

Discuss the technical side of ceramics; kiln firing and non-firing techniques, as well as finishing pieces, use of non-toxic materials, and the application and handling of materials.

Explain how a multicultural approach is a unifying theme in ceramic art and apply it to your lesson plans.

Develop a clay-lesson in the classroom

Explain and show how various techniques are used in different cultures to produce unique aesthetic appeal. Aesthetics.

Demonstrate how to make plates, vessels, tiles/murals, and mask making.

Staff Feedback

The staff workshop was the greatest. Everyone had a fantastic time! We want you to come back next year with your wheel and go to some of our other schools.

I had the privilege of taking your class on our PD day Monday at Clifton High School and I was trying to get the ball rolling to maybe have you come to our school sometime this Spring...Not definite yet but I would just like to know approximately how much it would cost so I can get an idea of what I can do with them. Maybe a basic price list kind of thing

Thank you for putting on such a wonderful workshop that clearly had every child actively engaged and wide-eyed. I appreciate you coming out to work with the art students of Clifton, and I look forward to potentially having you do the same with our art teachers one day in the future. Thanks, and all my very best

Cliff Mendelson has been teaching us a great diversity of technique and exciting ways to work with clay. Even in my 3rd year I am always learning something new that I can bring into my classroom. This is a diverse group of non-art teachers from K to 12th grade and he managed to keep them excited while learning something outside of their normal disciplines and made it relevant. Looking forward to next year.

Free Imagery/ Documentation The excitement in the school’s art room is captured through photography. I provide a printed color poster and link to a digital photo slideshow of the students finished works that can be used in your art show or at an open house.

Day in Clay is COVID-19 compliant with school districts in the tri-state area