In the two types of classes I taught at South Portland High School, both Ceramics 1 and Advanced/AP Art showed me a lot when it came to understanding learning development and assessment. With the Advanced/AP Art class in particular, development and assessment look a lot different than in a general education class. The capabilities of practically all the students are college level, and so their needs, feedback and follow through of the Studio Habits look more like a practicing artist. This meant asking them more critical questions about their work or process, and really getting them to experiment with risk taking and new methods. It also meant assessing them on a more critical scale, pushing them when they can do more, and getting them to think outside the box they create for themselves. 

With my self-created project for the Ceramics 1 classes, the Customized Clay Ocarina, I had to handle learning development and learning differences head on. For example, this project with a class full of seniors went so smoothly, with the occasional frustrated sculptors that couldn't get a whistle to sound. In my classes with more freshmen, however, struggling was constant, frustration with the project would boil over into a pause, and only a few people were successful making the whistle sound. I knew the seniors were at a developmentally higher level than some of the freshman to have more patience and care, and worked that into how I helped and treated the freshman with their projects.