A year ago, a teacher asked me casually in a meeting, “Do you want to teach?” “Yea, sure.” And so began my first year of teaching undergrads. I was given no syllabus, no assignments and no advice. After some panicking, I did ask a mentor for his syllabus and he was kind enough to discuss with me his theoretical approach to the classroom. Other than this, I was basically on my own. In my school, there’s no training, no support system and I guess my supervisor is the department chair, but I never spoke with her about the class or my students. Figuring that many schools are similarly understaffed, lacking resources and poorly managed, here are ten tips for new teachers.
Please note, though I am thinking of my course for this list, the concepts certainly extend outside of the art world.
1. Have a Checklist
Before the immediacy of actual students becomes real, make a list of all of the things you’ll need for the class. Then, make sure to have the tasks completed before the first day. This sounds basic, but it’s easy to forget things when you’re rushing. (I forgot an attendance sheet on the first day of this semester.) My checklist includes: an attendance sheet, the syllabus, the assignments, a camera (see #6), books, work materials/media and a new binder. Also a pen.
2. Create Interesting Assignments
A couple years ago, one of my excellent teachers in the writing department taught a class on hybridity in writing. Amazing, I know. But I missed the class by a semester and asked him if I could join the following year. “Eh, I’ve already done it. I’m changing the course again.” So, each time he has to teach this same class, he changes the topic, the assignments, the books. He wants to keep himself interested, and learn alongside the students. Taking this pointer, I made up new assignments, thinking about what would best benefit the students. For instance, I know many of them are trying to develop their portfolios and so I made up projects that applied illustration to something else, like a book cover. Or a poster. (All of the assignments are posted here, by the way.) This allows them to think about how their work can be applied to real-world concepts or objects, while giving me a great teaching portfolio and keeping us all engaged.
3. Require Reading & Writing
In the art department, it’s no secret that many of the students hate (fear?) reading and writing, which is sad. And kind of pathetic. Writing is essential for a career in the arts, as there are always fellowships, grants, scholarships and proposals to draft; and reading is critical to understand both trends and the historical/cultural context of one’s work. This semester, I required three books: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and The Fundamentals of Illustration by Lawrence Zeegan. In the future, I plan to explore other texts, but this was a great start. Every week, we had Tuesday Thinkeries where we discussed sections from the books for about an hour. During these talks, we landed on much larger questions, like what is art? Why is visual media important? How can hybrid works tell a story? Should I have a website? (Yes.) What should go in my portfolio? This was not only good for the students, but excellent for me to think about and offer any insight I can.
As for the writing, each student researches an illustrator and writes a paper discussing the importance of the person’s work and context in which she lived. They kind of hate this assignment, so a better one might be to include an imitation illustration or some other form of engagement, but the writing is good practice and often I saw pleasantly surprising results. These papers also caught me up on my history and I plan to compile them into a PDF for the students as a mini-history book for them.
4. Manage Expectations
This past semester, I tried something new. In my syllabus and on the first day of class, I told the students they needed the following: access to the internet, to check their emails, to be ready to blog, to not miss class and to do the best work possible. In fact, I had them sign a contract and hand it over. If they agreed to the terms, they’d earn at least a B. By telling them up front what I expected of them, there was no misunderstanding and I think they enjoyed the transparency. And for the students who missed more than two classes or failed in other ways, at the end of the semester I pulled out our contracts and explained that they failed to comply, so the grade was up to me. (The contract idea comes from a wonderful mentor and beautiful writer, Lynn Bloom, from my undergrad days.)
5. Establish Critique Etiquette
One of the astonishing realities I’ve noticed in art school is that critique etiquette isn’t discussed. And, for anyone who has sat in on a particularly emotional critique, this can become unproductive. I’ve seen tears, yelling, insults…general unprettiness. During our first critique of the semester, I spend five minutes outlining manners and expectations; the dynamic between the students is much improved because of it. For my critiques, I time each student so equal attention is paid. Sometimes I go over (I talk a lot) but in general, I try to be democratic about the process. Also, the student whose work is being looked at isn’t allowed to speak until the end, and the students are told to comment on the work as though it were totally finished. Lastly, we begin each piece with positive commentary and then move into the more critical feedback. This forces the students to find successful elements in each piece, and creates a positive environment for feedback. (I totally stole this format from Ander Monson’s writing workshops.)
6. Learn Names
On the first day of class, I take pictures of all the students and then compile them into a document. For the next few weeks, as I take attendance, I look at their pictures, matching names with faces. (A technique also stolen, this time from Phil Zimmermann.) This helps me to get to know them better, to make them feel important and to create more productive exchanges. Several of them have even asked me to critique their work from other classes because the professors don’t know their names.
7. Talk About What You Know
During our book discussions and our critiques, I look for opportunities to discuss with the students information that might be relevant to them. A few find this annoying but most take notes. For instance, when we start talking about websites (all of you should have websites!), I tell them what blogs they should be familiar with and what sites have good resources for online portfolios. We even talk about theories behind blogging. Then we talk about why the blogs are important and what can be gained from them. In our last discussion we even started talking about HTML/CSS v. PHP, which was basically useless, except that I pointed them to a few books. In my evaluations, several mentioned the importance of taking the time to talk in practical terms about how to be successful in a creative field. And it’s not that I’m the authority, but I do have a few years on most of them and have completed the process they’re at the beginning of.
8. Ask for Feedback
Throughout the semester, I ask for feedback in two ways. The first is on-going. If any of the students want to change any of the assignments, for instance, I’m open to it, but they have to come to me with a proposal and a good reason. And if anyone wants to see some component or dynamic of the classroom changed, they are always welcome to discuss with me. Second, at mid-terms and at the end of the semester, I hand out a little form asking for any suggestions and thoughts they might have about the teaching style and the environment. They aren’t required to write in, but I tell them it helps me learn and will save future students from any unneeded duress.
9. Don’t Waste Time on Lazy Students
Lazy students are problematic for two reasons. First, their lack of work translates to a lack of respect for the entire class. And second, the resulting dynamic is that the teacher is placed in an awkward position where she can publicly acknowledge the laziness or ignore it. By acknowledging it, the lazy student glares (I’ve found). By ignoring it, the rest of the students wonder whether they are working too hard and/or if the teacher is an idiot. Seriously. Perhaps the best way to publicly acknowledge the laziness without creating too much discomfort is to spend the appropriate amount of time talking about it. So, when one of my students showed me the exact same sketches two weeks running, I told him my commentary couldn’t evolve unless the work did. And that I grade the process as much as the finished piece. We moved on after about 30 seconds.
10. Learn from Students
While this final tip seems obvious, I’ve been in classrooms where the professor makes clear he has nothing to learn from the students. Which is unfortunate because students ask such interesting questions. Several of my blog posts have come out of our conversations (like this one and this one). The point is: students are great resources for staying connected with trends and various interests in the field and often share insights or new angles that I might not have previously considered. Teaching presents a funny kind of dynamic, where a balance needs to be reached between authority and understanding; one of the most important ways teachers can engage in a productive environment is to facilitate an ongoing dialogue, where everyone contributes ideas on equal ground.
For more resources:
Study Partner
Design Education
AIGA Journal of Design Education
Design Observer Resource Page
Design Observer // Education Topic
Tips for Teachers (from Poets.org)
