About designr66

designr66

Location:

Spotswood, NJ (08884, USA)

Joined on:

10/26/07

Occupation:

Design Educator

IM Contact:

designr66

Contact:

designr66@verizon.net

• not yet rated

  Education

  response to  Steve Kettmann and Jeff Minton's post Education Equalizer

  Loosen the grip

  In the Spring of 2003, I was a laid-off art director doing freelance work when I was approached to teach art at the high school in my town - Spotswood, NJ. There were two art teachers - one was a neighbor and the other was leaving after getting married . I was invited to teach on an interim basis, then was offered a contract and have been there ever since.

  In 2005, I was offered a fantastic opportunity to take over the ailing tradtional graphics program and bring it up to the 21st-Century. I was given carte blanche to teach whatever I wanted for one school year, however I wanted to teach it. After that, I would design the curriculum for all of my classes and use them as my guides.

  I chose to put my (then) 15 years of experience as a designer and art director to better use - to teach the students how to use the graphics software on the computers (my only requirement), but to teach them in a project-based environment where they could be creative and learn at the same time. The students would learn the software, but would also learn about design, history, preparation and execution - everyday experiences for skilled professionals around the world. The results were remarkable and continue to improve on a constant basis.

  I'm very proud of the work I'm doing and the progress that I'm making, but I also realize how lucky I am that I was given this opportunity to make a unique difference in the lives of these students. I have the total support of my supervisors and administration, the board of education and the parents, my family and best of all my students. I understand that this type of freedom to teach is unusual here in the US at the high school level. Rigorous testing on a ridiculous level of frequency has watered down the educational system here and the parents blame the administrators and teachers, whose hands are often tied.

  My program is very rare in the US and I'm hoping to change that if I have an opportunity to speak out more often in forums like this. But don't give up on publicly funded schools yet - just use the ones that work as a model for the rest.

  Comments (0)

  Commented on October 26, 2007 by - designr66

• not yet rated

  Education

  response to  Andrew Price's post (Porno)graphic Novel?

  Students today are more educated than their parents think

  Over the past five years that I have taught high school - first art, now design - I have found that the students often educate me more than I educate them. I have several students who have directed me towards books, movies and music. As a married father of two young children, I don't get out much anymore. The students keep me linked to the real world.

  As a design educator, I find that I am responsible for establishing links to the past with these kids - and sometimes that means referencing the present and surmising about the future. That said, we sometimes appoach that razor line between appropriate and inappropriate subject matter. However, I've been very careful not to teeter over to the "dark side". I'll be of no use to my students if I'm kicked out into the gutter.

  The proper way of introducing this material to an interested and advanced student would have been to show it to her, tell her where she could get her own copy and leave it to her to make the decision of whether or not to own it and bring it home. Exposure to this material isn't detrimental to anyone - but giving it to a student who is under 18 can surely be viewed as creepy at best.

  Also, I have constant contact with several of my student's parents. If obtaining a personal copy wasn't an option for this student, then perhaps asking permission of the parents would have been a more appropriate choice. No matter their age, these students are still children and most of the time need to be handled as such.

  I don't believe that dismissal was the correct answer here. As a society, we are too quick to suspect malfeasance on the part of our authority figures - politicians, teachers and priests alike. The truth of the matter - that most teachers do what they do because they enjoy teaching - is too boring for people to handle, so they jump all over the smallest infraction in judgment.

  As a simple rule of thumb, be careful whenever you are considering introducing anything even slightly controversial in your classroom or to your children or their friends. The truth of it is that most people can't handle it - they weren't educated all that well.

  Comments (0)

  Commented on October 26, 2007 by - designr66