a reflection so far, on my first term. it’s been six weeks, three weeks in person. the first two weeks were remote because of the altadena fire, and my first week was a holiday on the monday, therefore i remotely recorded my first class and met in zoom the second. on week three i was feeling a little nervous, and also sick, so with the utmost of caution (and maybe some shame due to unpreparedness) i prerecorded that demo and lecture as well. it’s been a revealing time so far.
there is an existing syllabus and workflow i am mimicing, as was the advice given to me by my discipline chair. the first four weeks spent covering the 10 principles of motion design, and now i’ve moved on to midterm projects, which will last four weeks. in between, i am covering some baseline after effects to demonstrate those principles and to instill software literacy. i suppose i had no problem with it the first month, as i was really unsure how to start with my students. having the paved road of last semester’s class is helpful.
however as i’m entering the midterm phase, and seeing my students progress in software, i’m realizing that i am having a hard time because it doesn’t make sense to me. i think, after having gotten to this midterm stage, i’m realizing that my students could have gotten there sooner and with some more literacy to help them tackle this midterm. i’m already making notes on how i would approach next semester. suffice to say, though, this was something i did not think i was going to feel about teaching and this process.
i’m not surprised, and now that i’m resolved to rework my syllabus and curriculum, i feel even more invested in teaching and making sure my approach works for me. i’ve never been one to imitate or adopt a meta, and it’s unsurprising this situation is no different.
it’s really interesting to see: students that are hungry and want to learn, students who can follow along and pay attention to a demo, students who have a strong and aloof visual style, students who are great at bullshitting, both me and themselves, students who have trouble, students who are quietly and autonomously locked in. every student has so much potential. again, something i did not think i was going to encounter or feel about teaching – or, maybe i did, but not in this way.
it’s absolutely great. i feel beholden to them, and want to do my best to provide them my best. and selfishly, i want their work to look sick as hell, because the stuff that historically comes out of this class looks like trash, and i want to make sure that doesn’t happen on my watch.