"Is this poncho a hand turkey?"

From the AEC's blog

In our offices, hand turkeys have become synonymous with bad arts education: directing all students to create the same product while following exact, teacher-directed steps. We use the example so often that “hand turkey” has become the standard noun that we use to describe arts education of low-quality, or as our director Sarah Tambucci describes it, “make it/take it” arts education.

On Thursday of this week, we hosted a day at the Children’s Museum for the educators who are part of this year’s class of our Leadership Academy. In the afternoon, the participants spent time in the Museum’s MakeShop, where they were introduced to the processes of plastic fusion and soft circuitry. The participants saw a brief demonstration of each process and then were set free to create anything using any of the materials in the shop. Most people worked alone to create wrist bands, wall hangings, or pieces of 2D art. One participant created a guitar strap for an electric guitar in his classroom that is currently strapless. One group of three had the idea to use the plastic fusion process to create a poncho because it was raining outside (this is Pittsburgh, after all).