Week 3: The Art of Possibility 5-8

First of all, what a great book! The light hearted and joyful expression of the Zanders makes reading this book a joy. I wish all books were just like this one. Now as I read I become more and more aware that this is not a book you read and put down but a manual you reference and then go and make a change. So every chapter I think of how I can use this practice in my own life. Here is what I have come up with for this weeks reading.

First and foremost Rule Number six should be rule number one for all teachers. I try to be sure not to take myself or my course too seriously. In the grand scheme of the world learning photography and photoshop is not that important. However, for some students my class is a doorway to a passion they never knew they had and leads to wonderful things. Taking things too seriously can make things no fun and who wants to spend the rest of there lives having no fun at what they do?

Next, I want to make the students the leaders. I admit from day one that I am still a student of photography and photoshop and will always remain that way. I am simply a student who has been doing it longer and with great intensity than the students just taking my course. I tell them that if they know something they should shout it out. If I am wrong they should shout it out. I want the students to realize that we are all in this together and they are just as powerful in the classroom as I am. This coming year I hope to take this one step further and have the students make their very own tutorial in photoshop. That means they need to create something and then walk the class through how they made in a way that everyone can understand. This makes them the leader and the expert and enables them to be that leader outside of their seat in my classroom.

Our work is never done. I tell me students all the time that the work they do in my class is never finished, it is always a work in progress. This leaves some students in distress so I do let them know that somethings just come to a nice stopping point but are never finished. As they work on Photoshop projects I want them not to think the assignment is to make theirs look like mine but to realize that the journey is the destination and creativity is not about conformity but about making something unique. As long as the student can show me they understand the given tool or technique we are learning I have no problem with them turning in something that looks different than my teacher example.

The last great thing that I have realized from this weeks reading and from my time at Full Sail is that passion is the most powerful motivator of students. If you allow students to work on something they are passionate about you will have to force them to stop (if you so choose). All of the projects that I assign are built in a way that allows students to incorporate a part of their personal life that they are passionate about. This might be a pet, a birthday invitation, or a photo retouch job for their grandma. No matter what when I allow student to work on something they care about they always work harder and to a greater degree of complexity. As this is true with my students it is also true with me. When I start to plan projects I pick something that interests me as well. Now this means creating something new each year and in turn more work but I find that I am more passionate when teaching if I am teaching something I really care about.

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