August 29, 2007
Today’s Teaching
In my Arts Tech class today we reviewed chapter 2 of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (he’s such a brilliant man!) which really is about “Amplification through Simplification.” Your art (or whatever you do) could have further reaching effects if it’s less personal. I have a some really great students in the class and they have lots of brilliant things to say!
But then I presented VTS (http://www.vue.org) which I think is a fantastic way to talk about Art Education (which is now even being used for teaching doctors to be more holistic in their diagnoses of patients, lawyers to be more understanding of their clients, etc.) - and a fantastic way to watch people get more engrossed in art, and also to develop critical thinking skills.
Unfortunately I’m pretty sure the class didn’t understand what this had to do with teaching them how to use digital tools to create art better. To me, it teaches them how to decide which tools to use, and what art to make. We’re not at the using the tools area yet. Maybe I should tell them this on Thursday.
This is the age-old problem that art schools have; the students don’t understand that we’re not going to teach them trade-school stuff. My friend Aaron explained that the students sometimes cannot see the whole puzzle; and we’re handing them the puzzle pieces. Great way to explain it!
Then I went home and made a 7-year old kid cry in my Tae Kwon Do class. I told him he wasn’t ready to test for his next belt yet. He absolutely wasn’t, and he could be paying a lot more attention in class. So he cried, and then I felt terrible. I tried to tell him that this is not about him as a person, he’s just not at the point in the journey where he’ll get the next belt.
I’m trying to become more of a hardass. I think people will respect me more for it. I probably will, too. But it’s going to be difficult and painful.
The most wonderful teaching of the day was this: the little 7-year old kid, with tears in his eyes, went back into the class line and continued practicing. It made me pretty weepy. So I announced to the entire class that someone wasn’t quite ready to test yet, and they may have felt sad, but they got back in line and kept working, and everyone should give them “two claps.”
And later on, in practice, I made the little guy laugh. But I know he probably still felt bad when he got home.
The Kidz at ISU are lucky to have you as a teacher!