MIDDLE SCHOOL

REMEMBERING LIKE JUDY: STUDYING THE WORK OF JUDY ONOFRIO

USING OUR OWN MEMORYWARE
DIANE SCULLY'S REFLECTION
These students worked on the 12" x 12" tile project in which mosaic was directly embedded into the clay, glazed and fired. We did make earthenware test tiles in which pieces of mosaic tiles, plates and rocks were pushed into the wet earthware and allowed to dry and be bisqued.

Teacher Note: The test tiles worked better than the 12" x 12" tiles due to the dryng factor for the larger tiles and warpage factor. Many of our larger tiles broke due to fast, "unwatched" drying time over the holiday break.

In retrospect, I think that a six or eight inch tile would have worked better. It was great to see how all of the curriculum planning pieces which our curriculum writing group had prepared worked. The students and I were able to modify and adjust some of the curricular components so that the Crafts 8 experience would be more streamlined. You always wonder who learns more when you teach something for the first time—yourself or the students.

Second semester I had my Crafts 8 class do three different lessons all centering around the art work of Judy Onofrio. We used the same approach in terms of uncovering information about Judy and her work. Upon completion of the computer work and planning process we diverged into the whole process of mosaic making. I felt that the students needed more background information and technical work in how mosaics are produced. We did a unit which allowed us to "Learn about mosaic techniques". With that knowledge we were able to move onto units: "Just Like Judy" sculptures and our group unit, the "CMS Welcome Mosaic Mural".

Click here to view a slide show of this project.
Return to Scully Middle School Lesson Plan.