Designing Course Expectations that Determine and Motivate
In this job you’re never not thinking about teaching.
Last night I woke up at 4am, apparently because my brain was processing ideas for the upcoming term, and I had to write some things down.
If you don’t have Noteshelf for the Ipad, it’s a terrific app that lets you write really easily using your finger or a stylus (I prefer stylus).
I wanted to get down some ideas about the mechanics, expectations and goals of my classroom environment. Here’s what I came up with:
If you’re not making mistakes, you are not pushing yourself hard enough.
No exclusive relationships inside this classroom. When you’re outside this class, that’s a different story. In so many ways, I hope the principles from this class extend into your life beyond the art studio, and I understand that this particular principle should not necessarily apply. Just remember that during this class your commitment is to the group and not any particular person in the crew.
There’s an old saying that goes: “work smarter, not harder.” I disagree. Many people take this to mean: when there’s a shortcut, use it. But it depends on what your goal is. If your goal is to just get by with minimum effort, to find every which way to avoid challenging yourself, go for it. But don’t kid yourself into thinking you are not shortchanging your potential. If your bar is set high and your goal is to exceed your potential in every way, then you’re only cheating yourself when you try to think smart without thinking hard.
In order to think smart the right way, you’ve got to put in the time working hard. Scientists recently performed an experiment where they gave some people a hard math problem which could be solved a very simple way, but which most people could not figure out on their first try. When they gave people the math problem many couldn’t figure out the shortcut, but instead solved the problem the long way (which took more time but ensured that people learned how to solve the problem). What they did next was interesting.
They let some of the people sleep and some stay awake, and what they found was surprising. The people who stayed awake, when asked to solve the problem again, used the longer harder method; but the people who slept figured out the shortcut for doing it. By learning it the hard way, they mastered the process so their brains could take the next step and make their learning more efficient, which we’ve come to learn is a key characteristic function of sleep. So this anecdote has two lessons.
First that sleep is important, and maybe not for the reasons you might have assumed. Second, there’s no shortcut to finding shortcuts. If you want to work smarter, you have to first work harder. Aim to master that which challenges you, and be patient because learning and getting better at anything, be it soccer, saxophone, or sculpture, takes time.
