School has started again. Yesterday was my first class. A small class, thirteen students, for a collage workshop. My other class, figure drawing on Mondays, will have the usual twenty students. A smaller class is definitely a delight, a bonus. All classes are a challenge--to meet the students where they need to be seen, help them see what they need to learn. The most important thing I can teach them is self-discipline, how to work, how to see, how to overcome obstacles.
In the fall I heard an interview with an award winning professor at Harvard (CBC, of course). When asked his secret for successful teaching, he said he taught by the three P’s: planning, preparation, and pseudo-extroversion. That about explains it. Most academics, and artists, are introverted. The work comes out of ruminations of a solo mind. Teaching is a performance practice. And most students want to be stimulated by the instructor, inspired to look over the cliff. So……….another semester brings another challenge to get into the minds of students, find ways to stimulate and guide, and learn how to be a pseudo-extrovert. And maybe become a real extrovert, at least somewhat.
Posted by leya at January 7, 2004 09:33 AM