During the past two months, I had the opportunity and pleasure of being a visiting artist at OurSpace.  OurSpace Artistic Spectrum of Jewish Learning is a program through Valley Beth Shalom Temple and directed by Susan North Gilboa that addresses the spiritual, communal, and artistic needs of young adults with developmental delays and autism.

I worked with Susan to create a project for the participants that would address both the theme for the year (Shabbat–the Jewish day of rest) as well as allow for an interesting artistic experience.  I proposed the idea of making candle holders out of clay.  We would work with the clay during one session and then glaze the pieces during a second.

I have worked with students in a lot of different educational settings, but this was the first time I was going to work exclusively with special needs students.  I tried to anticipate the challenges I would be met with and how I would tailor a ceramics lesson to individuals who might not like the sensation of the clay in their hands or who I might not be able to interest in the project at all.  I was quite nervous.

I decided to address these potential obstacles by leaving the lesson plan open and flexible so as to be able to change the direction of the class quickly if need be.  After the first fifteen or twenty minutes of class, when my students became frustrated and distracted with the lack of structure, I realized this was a rookie mistake.

By the end of class the students had created some beautiful and expressive ceramic pieces, but I felt disappointed in my lesson plan and my inability to fully engage every participant.  I was eager to speak with Susan and utilize her experience and expertise to plan another approach for the next class.

Susan helped me understand how important structure and direction is to special needs individuals.  I had thought that giving the students more creative freedom would take the stress off making a specific object, but in fact the opposite was true.

When I worked with the group the next time, I had a very structured lesson plan and a few more helping hands to guide the students through the step by step lesson I had outlined.  The class was a great success.  I felt confident and I think the students felt more free to express themselves creatively within the structure I had given them.

My experience with OurSpace was incredibly educational and enlightening and I think that the students may have taught me more about education than any instructor I’ve had.