Teaching a 12-year old....advice

[lunesse]

I have a great 12-year old taking a class with me, beginner lampwork, 1 hour a week. She has had 3 hours so far, and 2 hours practice time with me not giving much instruction.

She is REALLY impatient. And of course, I get this. She's 12. She wants to try everything. The patience to make a round bead is hard to find. I taught her how to make a twistie by making lines on a cylinder on the end of a rod, and pulling it out and twisting, and as soon as she is done putting the lines on she grabs it and pulls, which means of course, most of it is left behind and not much happens. So she tries again, and does the same thing.

So my question is, any tips to try to get the "slow down, patience, give the glass time" thing to stick? I don't feel like repeating myself over and over.

Every week I have her make a round bead with no tools, first off. My husband suggested a timer, maybe, saying her first bead, just making it round, she needs to take 10 minutes...and lessen it as she gets better. Good idea, bad? Any other ideas for teaching kids, who rightly are impatient with youth? Anything you were taught as a beginner, no matter what your age, that you think would help her slooooooow down and take the time to work through the hard beginning ramp up period? I don't want her too frustrated. She HAS gotten better even only 3 hours, but I can just see where she will be blocked if she just plunges into everything and doesn't let it heat up in its own time, and move in its own time.

[rainygrrl]

Originally Posted by lunesse

So my question is, any tips to try to get the "slow down, patience, give the glass time" thing to stick?

Hi Lunesse,

I offer this for your consideration...

I am so many years older, and after several years off and on at the torch I am still working on this concept myself. For what it's worth, I would suggest that you continue to coach but let her get frustrated. Frustration and boredome are not bad things for kids to learn to deal with, and I think it would be a good life lesson. If she's intent on learning this she will eventually listen to you. Or maybe she wont, but she'll come back to this later. Alternatively, she might forget glass and move on to the next interest very quickly--soccer, violin, speech team, who knows? There are so very many possibilities with a 12-year-old!

In my opinion, you can introduce her to this wonderful art form, but not ensure that she loves it or excels at it. And, above all--keep her safe.

I guess that's at least 3 cents worth... As I said, this is just my opinion and for consideration.

[princessb]

gosh what a challenge!

pulling stringers worked for me. it helped me to learn when to pull, which helped with when to twist.

[kbinkster]

Do you tell her to count out loud before pulling? That might help.

[kbinkster]

Oh, and you might also want to tell her important things when she can look away from the torch and look you in the eyes. Engage her so it has a better chance if sinking in. Maybe have her repeat the instructions back to you. Of course, the excitement of glass can override even the best instructions.

[Kevin Kluth]

I would show her examples of her finished work when she took her time with it versus the results when she is impatient.

[KayTStudio]

If it was my kids at 12 years old I would set up a metal 'drip' pan under the torch, give them some less expensive glass and have them build up a ball then heat until it dripped off the rod.

Heat the middle of the ball not where it joins the rod and maybe it can help her realize how long it takes to really heat it through.

[SuzyQ]

My daughter is 12 and she is very much the same way. She doesn't want to hear it, she needs to do it and learn why it won't work. This applies to almost everything she is learning. She gets quickly frustrated and hates it. But she will step back and take the necessary steps when she actually feels it and knows why. She doesn't get it from words. She gets it from experience.

Here is what I would try: First let her warm up by doing any random thing she wants. No judgment or corrections, just let her melt a blob and have at it. Once she has made her warm up wonky move on to a task like pulling stringer. I would make 3 for her to see. A quick skinny one, a medium one and a very patient thick one. Then tell her to try to master each starting with the skinny one we all know she can do. Have her make 10 or so of each so she doesn't get bored. Then I would take those stringers and make dots on a round bead. I would let her experience the difference between working with a skinny thread and more appropriate ones. By actually doing it she will learn why one should be patient. I would take the same approach to every new task. Figure out a few approaches to the technique and let her figure out what is the best one.

[jaci]

Teaching is one of those things in which its not necessarily going to all sink in in the beginning. IF you dedicate the first 10-15 min as a warm up, and the last 10-15min as a fun do what you want time, and teach in the middle, more than likely the fun time will be time to work on what you just taught her more than anything. Make sure you have a set warm up exercise, and that it does not change. She will likely blow through them carelessly, but at least she is becoming more familiar to the glass. SO that being said, just move on, into something fairly simple but requires the patients thing. Say layered triangle beads, or something fairly fun and interesting, raised not melted in flowers/stringer/dots, show her how to make the flowers so she thinks she has something cool to work at. Start her out in a flame that is a little too hot and watch her get frustrated and try and figure it out when it keeps melting in. If she realizes that she is actually going to USE what you are teaching her rather than just practice it impatiently than maybe she will take the time to go back (in her head) and re-learn step one, patients.

Teaching is also one of those things where you teach they learn. Well you hope they learn. Sometimes some concepts will just not sink in for years of practice... we talk about having that ah-ha moment here all the time you cannot dwell on it, move on and keep teaching. some of will make sense.

OH and a journal of what she has done might help. Something that she can put the beads into, or sketch the bead she was trying to make, and then put a picture or actual bead (plastic pockets are awesome!! Just cut up baseball protector pockets and tape/staple them to the page) Then note what she was supposed to do, and what happened and WHY.... Why is the big factor, the she knows HOW to correct it. At least this way you know she IS learning it, even if she can not execute it properly yet. Eventually on her own time she will go back and master these things on her own time. BUT you get the "I know she learned it" peace of mind.

Maybe an incentive of sorts would work, or at least a timeline of events as far as classes goes.. IE we learn first xyz, then you get to do xyz then we do hollows, then we do wings.. whatever. See what sparks her interest. You dont have to give it a time frame, just a whats next kind of thing, as something to look forward too. Sometimes that is its own reward! (put something fun like make sock monkey beads on it one week or fish)

Not that a bit of "maybe your too young for this, I think if you can't understand heat control that you should wait a few years until you are more patient" wouldn't hurt either... if she really likes it, why not.

[AVTrout]

My son is 12 and very much enjoys working on my torch. So much so, in fact, that every time I torch he asks if he can torch, and when I say no he gets bummed out. He's ADD but for some reason, very good about working with glass. I often feel bad telling him no he can't torch because I'm torching and I've set myself a quota to reach. I only give him 104 glass, no silver, nothing expensive. We have tried 90 and 96 but his patience runs short on those glasses: "Is this thing ever gonna melt?" I agree with whoever said to let her get frustrated. My Grandma often said that "showing is better than telling".

[lunesse]

Thanks everyone. I think that the schedule I do is sort of like Suzy suggested....her round bead, no tools is warm up, try something new in the middle, the last 20-15 min are up to her, whatever she wants.

I like the idea of the different stringers and dropping dollops. I use COE 90, so she might be impatient, but she doesn't know that other glasses are softer. She was checking out the boro frit last night and I said "believe me, you WON'T like it right now."

And I told her why.

Thanks, these are good ideas. The folder sounds good, too. I gave her the Corina book to borrow and to look at at home, I know I was inspired by reading, I felt I knew more and could accomplish more when I had time to reflect and revisit ideas, but I don't know if she is looking through it much or not, I can ask her parents. I know the frustration is good for her, but I don't want her to just give up thinking she CAN'T do it, when a little tenacity and patience would make a difference.

I am doing my best to keep her safe, remind her always that that is FIRE in front of her. I'm terrified she's gonna drop glass right on the front of my torch...but she has to learn somehow! I have a lynx, but I DO have an old minor, I could switch it out...a pain, but doable...do you think learning on the minor would be easier for any reason?

[Mr. Meker]

What torch do you use?

You might consider getting her a hot head.

Another thing that I did when I learned was to take 2-3" pieces of color and stick them on pieces of clear. Good for the shop and good for the student. Make sure she can make them straight and well sealed. Show her patience by making her flame anneal each seal. If you snap one by hand, and it breaks with a clean seam at the join, she is doing it wrong. This is easier on a HH than anything else. If you don't have or don't want to spend the money on an HH, look at my thread "Cheaper Hothead?". You can probably find one easily if you look around. One of the dealers has one.

One last idea, teach her how to cut glass with a file or carbide knife. This shows how weak a small flaw can make it.

If she gets a small burn, that will definitely slow her down. I get more careful after each one. Not that this is something to try for.

[lunesse]

She actually did get a small one, picking up a stringer right after putting it down with tweezers. I said "wait a couple minutes to pick it up to use....." nope. I think it was good for her, yes.

Meker, you mean stick them on perpendicular, like a hat tree or something?

[parisgal]

I went from a Minor to a Lynx fairly early in my beadmaking time, and I would say that a Minor might be easier. That soft, bushy, and less hot flame doesn't need the same understanding and placement control a Lynx does.

That said, I'm not entirely sure that it's enough of a difference to make it worth changing.

There, was that wishy washy enough?

[Mr. Meker]

Like when a piece gets too short to use by hand, stick it on a piece of clear or a longer piece of the same color so you can use the rest of it. Its very common to do when using boro. Parallel, like the cap on a pen.

[Melanie_M]

I've taught various classes and tutored students on and off for years, so here is my best advice. First you need to determine what type of "learner" this student is. There are three types (ways) of learning: visual, auditory, and kinetic - or learn by seeing, learn by hearing, or learn by doing. Some people use a combination of two. Impatient students are usually those that are kinetic learners - if they see it done, they want to try it to figure out how they can do it.

Most of the glass classes I've taught have been geared toward visual learners - watch the teacher make a piece, then try to do it. This method doesn't work as well with kinetic learners. If your student is a kinetic learner, start her next class by asking her to make a perfect round bead in 15 minutes, but tell her to ask questions while she is making the bead. Stand behind her and give her a bit of coaching, i.e. "yes, that is right, add the glass to the center and then use the flame to even out the shape. Watch how you hold the mandrel", etc. etc. Use as much positive reinforcement as you can - tell her everything she is doing right and then suggest small changes as she goes that will help her make that perfect round bead. As another learning session, giver her a rod transparent glass and then a rod of opaque glass and have her try to make a bead stand out of each. By bead stand I mean heat the glass to the point that there is a hot ball of glass on the end of the rod, turn the rod so the hot ball lands on the heat shield on the table near the torch and leave enough stringer that you could use the stringer to hold a bead. This exercise takes practice, and patience, and will also teach her the difference in consistency between transparent glass and opaque glass. Plus once she masters the skill, she'll have little bead stands for her beads. I actually do this practice each time I sit down at the torch and make little mini tear-shaped ornaments for my mini holiday tree.

[Mr. Meker]

I agree with Melanie, but be sure not to nag. That is not a good way of teaching.

[ben david]

a BIG NO to timers or other external "controls".

... focus attention back on WHAT IS HAPPENING and why she didn't get the results she wanted/expected.

We had the same thing with beginning (adult!) furnace working classes.

The mantra repeated by the instructors was - "look at the glass":

How hot is the glass? Is it evenly heated?
How can you tell? Is it glowing? Is it moving?

The rest of it was direct action cues: Twirl your punty! Keep it centered! Flip it! Hold it vertically!

Don't forget the sketchbook - let her look at books, then sketch out the steps necessary to achieve the result. People improved rapidly when they planned the whole process before - glass and gravity wait for no one! Let her plan a bead, then you function as an assistant would in furnace work. Prompt her to tell you what to do - that way she has to think it through.

[metalbone]

I tried teaching my 6-year old last year, and had to stop that session because twice she reached to touch the bead because the glass was not moving the way she wanted it to. Fortunately I stopped her both time. So now when she wants to make a bead, before we start, I tell her Rule Number 1 is no burns, and frequently remind her to not touch the bead, and keep her hands away from the flame. Plus I watch her every move like a hawk. I want to avoid an inadvertant burn, which happens to even the most experienced during those "duh" moments.

So while you are teaching your 12 year old, don't forget to start her off with safety reminders.

[Mr. Meker]

The best way to learn safety rule number one is to get a tiny burn. You should start with the color recycling I was talking about. You can't run before you have walked.

[lunesse]

thanks again, everyone, these are all fabulous ideas. I will let you know how we progress. today we have one hour of class, then one hour practice, open torch time.