Should an instructor touch a student’s work? As a teacher, this can be an “it depends on the situation” question.
Last week I was with my grandson who is nearing the end of kindergarten. For homework, he had to write a sentence about the story he was reading. He knew what he wanted to write, but the line given was short, and he didn’t think it would fit. I debated. Could I write the sentence he dictated to me?
I decided not to. Obviously, he was not only supposed to practice comprehension, he also needed practice in writing. The option I came up with was to write the sentence he dictated on a notepad and let him copy it on the back of the paper since the line wasn’t long enough. This is what he did, but he completely filled the back of the paper (with no lines) and creatively elongated the tail of the letter p and the top of the letter h.
I have never been a kindergarten teacher, so I was keeping my fingers crossed that I did the right thing.
Recently I have been taking a watercolor class. The instructor is an artist. His teaching method is demonstration. So on both the first and second lessons, he came to my side and painted on my painting to demonstrate a technique. I felt defeated. I had a taste of what Thomas might be feeling when his teacher writes on his paper. The art piece I left with was not mine to claim. Was the art teacher wrong?
I talked with my daughter about this, and she suggested that I ask him to demonstrate on a scratch paper. But still, yesterday he did it again. This time, he asked permission. What was I going to do? I did want to see how he would darken the tree and how he would draw a piece of grass, but again, I have a work of art that is not truly mine. I refuse to sign these pieces.
One of them I cut up into a collage. Another I’ve tucked away. It’s hard for me to totally throw them in the trash. Do I just need to relax and be a good student?
What do you think?
Here is the only painting from the class that I did all on my own. I decided to sign it.
Reflections on the Teche 