Spraying Our Work

      I feel like sometimes I need to be reminded that my students have never done some things before and that I need to show them.  As a teacher, this should be obvious!  So, when I was talking to a business owner recently and she commented that "if I expect my employees to do something right, I have to teach them the right way to do it", I had an "aha" moment.    
     The day before I told a student to go outside and spray her work. She came back in tears.  Her artwork was splattered, stained, and ripped.  She never shook the can of fixatif, she sprayed it too close, and on top of that, the wind took hold and blew it across the football field, ripping the work in the process.  Why had I assumed that a 16 year old student, someone new to my class, had ever sprayed her work?  If I didn't show them, who would?  Well, we did just that earlier this week.   The whole class marched outside and I gave a lesson on spraying charcoal artworks with fixatif.  I have to say, they enjoyed the entire process.  I think that it was a nice change and it made them feel like professionals.    I feel so much better about it too. 
I know they the next time they go out by themselves , they'll be much more confidant.