Student Teacher - 7/19/19

Being a teacher has been one of the greatest privileges in my life. I started as a private art tutor when I was 19 at an art and music after-school center for kids. After my employer’s triple partnership went sour, we decided to team up and continue with some of the children, operating inside her garage once a week. My students at the time were between the ages of 5 and 12. 

Shortly after, I became a teacher’s aide and part time instructor at my alma mater, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. My students ranged from 18 to 60. I was always in some sort of teaching position for over a decade before being full-time in the AAA video game industry, an hour commute each way, and a three hour night-class one to two nights a week finally took its toll on my mind and body. 

Teaching has helped me improve my articulation. I find great joy in distilling thoughts into the most succinct words and analogies and then showing someone else. With a little attitude in my Fuck Yeah, Friday fashion, I was able to reach deep into a student’s motivations and fears usually within the first few weeks, calibrating my feedback to each one’s personality. Sometimes it was, “What are you doing? I know you’re better than this. I’ve seen you do better than this!” Other times if was, “You’re almost there! Just give me a little more. Can you do that for me? Thank you!” The balance between hard and soft critiques was the difference between student motivation or discouragement. Deliver one to the wrong personality and it could impact the remainder of the class, the term, and their life.

My class usually opened with brief introductions all around followed by a short monologue by yours truly. “Why are you here? What do you want to get out of this school? What do you want to get out of this class? Are you willing to do what it takes?” The tone was very decisive on purpose. I wanted to draw a line (no pun intended). Not only in my class, but mostly inside their minds. 

“Is this what you really want? Or is this what someone else wants from you?”

Sometimes I already knew the answer, but they weren’t ready nor willing to listen. The truth is not everyone makes it. You can see it in the clothes they wear, the car they drive, and even the way they walk. Many simply don’t have the drive. They never needed it.

To see how things play out was always interesting for me. For me, class wasn’t about teaching what I knew. It was seeing how a person developed. It was about how they took what I taught them and make it theirs. Made it better. Made it different. It was also about how they handled feedback, creative blocks, and personal growth. 

One thing I learned is that teaching a five year old isn’t all that different than teaching a sixty year old. Whether a toddler, grade school, university, or senior student, the only thing that matters is the desire to master and the humility of being taught. The ability to draw similar analogies across different subject matter is powerful.

If you are seeking new knowledge, a new career, or a new lifestyle don’t get hung up on age or starting late and just start.

Don’t feel bad being a young or old student. Don’t feel bad being a young or old teacher.

We are all figuring things out all the time and will continue to until the day we die.

Fuck yeah, it’s Friday!

My art students and I in December 2002.