Along with being dedicated educators, teachers must also be pioneers of constant innovation to keep students engaged in learning. Ceramics teacher Sara Rempel introduced a new and unique lesson to kick off the year in her Ceramics 3 and AP Studio Art classes.

“I decided that I’m teaching three dimensions” Rempel said, “and I wanted the students to start looking around for the [design] elements and principles just in their environment.”

Inspired by her ambition to instill thinking in sculptural perspectives within her class, Rempel’s advanced students spent a portion of their class time observing the architecture outside of Manhattan High West and taking snapshots of those that captured their particular attention. They analyzed the photographs to find their own inspiration from the structures around the building.

“We talked about how the line and the color and the design and…the landscaping all go together to create a composition kind of and it was the reflection of the windows. It was just kind of a real life ‘this is where the elements and principles are used,” said Rempel.  

Those taking part in the class have had a positive reaction to the new teaching style as well as the hands-on relationship between the classroom and outdoors.

“I enjoyed [the lesson] a lot,” Senior Berit Hogan said, “there’s a lot of architecture around the school.”

Rempel also felt that the students’ responded enthusiastically to the lesson.

“I think [the students] liked it. It was better than doing a drawing, like we went out and took pictures…I want the students to start thinking three dimensionally rather than you know just flat. So we would just draw on flat paper then.”

The objectives of the new assignment include being able to find components of the material being taught in class in the students’ outside environment, studying how aspects of three dimensional architecture can be applied to ceramics, and gaining inspiration from the world around them.

Rempel hopes to use the photographs in future class projects.

“I’m going to show them how to stretch the clay out to create some of those lines and decoration, paint it and carve it and you know just different ways to bring the building into a clay piece maybe,” said Rempel.

Lessons learned from this assignment will be used by ceramics students throughout the year.