Clay Portrait Sculptures

I believe that I've spoken on this before, but the 8th graders just finished up their lessons on portraits.  After finishing up weeks of notes, watching sculpting videos, drawing from grids and viewfinders, and really figuring out the correct facial proportions, we took it from 2D to 3D with sculptures. The students started with a block of clay (they were surprised at how much they each got!).  They were given demonstrations each day, but the students most impressed me by helping each other out. As the one art teacher in a classroom full of students who need help (clay requires more help than other projects), it was nice that the students who were finished offered to help "tutor" the students who were still working.  They are so impressive. Now, if I can figure out how to keep students from throwing clay... It happens once or twice every time that I work with clay.  Thank you to Barb Nassar for this lesson. She was my student teacher supervisor years ago and I learned this from her. I have used this lesson for almost a decade now! "If it ain't broke"... you know the saying.