Interim Report

Half way point

A lot hours have gone by and it seems like I am making headway with the students.

In general, if I were to summarize what competencies I taught them, they would be limited, but important ones:

Sketching
Diagramming
SketchUp (thinking in model)
How to cut chipboard

and most importantly, scale usage. Thinking with an architectural scale.

I decided it would be a good idea to give the students a status update on how they are performing in my class. Though grades mean nothing as it isn't for credit, I am supposed to keep tabs on who is in need of improvement and who is stellar. So I am going to give them a slip of paper with participation and quality of work summaries tomorrow. When I hand them out, I am going to speak to them for a good 2-3 minutes about what I think of their work so far. I am doing this because when I was in studio, I was not so much a fan of getting my grade as I was trying to figure out why I got it. Obviously this isn't like studio in the strictest sense, but I figured it was only fair.

I wanted to give the students an outlet for feedback on my performance as well. Call me new aged, but I think it is good for me to get the reinforcement when I need it and the constructive critique to reassess the material I am covering. Frankly, as seen on these feedback forms, some students find the class much harder than others. Some find it more boring than others. But on the whole, they seem to like how I teach, which is refreshing because I am trying it out. But the shallow thing is they like me for the wrong reason. They think I am funny.

But the key is to get them to come in, sit down, and listen. There will be no examinations, at least, unless I want to hand out a pop quiz. The gist of this class is an overall exposure to content I think may be less obvious to cover over the year. I got the job because I told them in the interview it isn't about random facts and vocabulary as much as it is about how to think.

The main question I come back to in this class is why was it designed this way, could it be better, and how? In essence, that is the bare bones of design. To be able to look at something with a qualitative analysis. This isn't something people learn everyday. It is a new way of looking at things.

That being said, the students dislike SSR, Sustained Silent Reading. This is mandated by the coordinator -- a 30 min reading session in the beginning. I was told I was either to provide reading or have students make selections of their own for reading. Because I think it isn't good to have students reading any old thing, I focus on newspapers that may have words they don't know. This reinforces what English they should know in order to get by in the world and also is relevant to architecture. But they hate the 'boring articles.' I will try to make these articles more interesting...but I found myself over the past weeks taking far too much time researching articles.

Long term assignment issues are obvious and not presenting much promise. The coordinator gave me a tall order when she said she needed designs for a shed as well as an office area desk/shelf. Each student had very unique solutions, but I am not aware of how to have all students actively doing work when only one concept is selected. There is nothing more disheartening than doing hack work for a design that isn't even your own...

On the whole, the three weeks has gone very quickly. I hope it sort of slows down, because I am enjoying myself. The students and I have gotten into a good rhythm.

More later.

First Week Summary and Reflection

Getting passed my nervous stomach and logistical worries, the first week can be summed up in a sentence. Teaching for 6 hours a day, everyday, is taxing. It is taxing because I am a one man show, having to figure out what worksheets I need, what presentations, what lesson plans to employ. The issue is I am writing or winging it as I go along forward.

Typically last week I was feeling stressed even as I left the school at 3.30 because I knew I needed to sleep at 10, which after traffic, gives me about 5 hours of whatever time. Now that is no different from most working folks, but I needed to get my act together as I was stringing along. This weekend, as I write this entry, I need to plan out the whole week at the very least. That way I don't feel a nervousness that just never passes.

So the first day was a throw away day -- 3 hours was an orientation of all classes together. I gave them a syllabus, went over an icebreaker called 'There is a Building on Your Back.'

I find that when I do not have every second coordinated, I not only lose my focus, but the class does.

As for the students, well, they are high schoolers. They are complainers at times, but for the most part they are not disruptive and stay on task. The class has a flux still, so I am unsure who will be in the class for the long run.

The major assignment that I gave was getting them familiar with the design process....having a client (the program coordinator) come in and discuss her wishes for a storage unit and desk for the school's greenhouse. I needed to explain communication is key for architects, showed them how to field measure, and then asked them to draw the building to scale. Scale is universally seen as a difficult thing to teach, but with some of their previous exposure, it appears I may have pushed them to become that much more comfortable.

I also introduced sketchup to them.

In addition, I went into the theory of right side/left side of the brain. Even going as far as to cplaim semiotics in a way with pictures of chairs. Explaining form and function.

They are receptive to illustrations/images.

I was given the directive to begin the day with silent reading. I give them reading assignments out of the book or from articles related to dc architecture.