Northstar

I was invited to teach an art workshop at Northstar Junior High in Kirkland. I was thrilled to be asked and got my plans together to teach how to make an automaton. I have been making lots of automata lately and thought junior high-aged kids would get a kick out of it. I headed over to Northstar this past Thursday and did my thing.

getting started

I was thrilled to find that I was totally comfortable with the kids. I don’t even know any kids in this age rage and wondered how I’d feel standing up in front of 22 young teenagers. I was also thrilled that the kids were game to try this project and had some great ideas.

I was surprised that most of the kids wanted to work in groups on this project. They came up with that on their own and it turned out to be an excellent idea because we did not receive all the tools on our supply list. I was also surprised that a couple of kids creatively solved the supply problem (not enough wire snips or pliers) by going around the issue and making their own version of an automata. That was exactly what I hoped would happen – creative problem solving through design – but didn’t guess they would come up with a solution that would be so accomplished and elegant.