Page 122 - The Decorative Painter Winter 2014

teacher's corner
In the Teacher’s Corner
Teaching the Beginning Student...
What do I do?
COOkIE TRENT tda TDP Committee
Who defines the “beginning student”? You? Your student? Both of you together? It is very important that everyone agrees on what constitutes a given skill level. This will allow everyone involved to easily manage the expectations of you and your students.
How do you, as a teacher, define the beginning student? Is it the student who has never held a brush? Or, if you are teaching an acrylic class, is it the student who has previ- ously only painted with oil or watercolor? You might find yourself teaching different levels of beginning students in the same class...how do you manage that? How do you make each student feel that they are successful when there are varying skill levels in your class? How do you keep the “newbie” beginner from feeling rushed, and at the same time keep the oil painter interested? It comes down to communication and teaching technique.
COmmunICATIOn
Providing your students with a class supply list might be the best thing you can do. The list should include a brief class description, class beginning and ending times, skill level, preparations that should be completed before class, and the type of brush required. Usually decorative painting requires a short handle brush, but unless this is specified some of your newbies might come to class with long handle brushes. You really don’t want your beginners poking their eyes out with long handles while they are painting!
Many students like to take notes during class and as
a result can fall behind during class time. By providing handouts, your students can focus on painting instead of writing. Helpful handout suggestions are class instructions, brush types, brush care, and a glossary of terms. Limit your handouts to what a beginning student will need for your class. During class, you might want to introduce the newbies to the different parts of the brush, while acknowl- edging that the oil painter already knows it and reminding them that it’s a good time to review. It’s important that
everyone is on the same page.
TEACHInG TECHnIQuE
The length of your class is very important. If it’s too short, a student might leave class disappointed and with
a feeling of failure because they weren’t able to finish the piece. Will this student take another class from you? A good rule of thumb regarding class length is to make sure that you are able to paint your demo piece in the first quar- ter of the total class time. In other words, it should take you forty-five minutes to paint a demo for a three-hour class. If it takes you any longer, your beginning students will most likely not finish their piece.
Beginning students will require more of your time, and they will paint at a slower pace than you do. Remember the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant?” (with the answer being, “One bite at a time!”)? The same holds true when teaching. Break the class into “bite-size” pieces, completing
it in four stages: 1) Explain to the class what you are going to do; 2) Demonstrate what you just explained; 3) Observe your students as they paint; and 4) Provide positive feedback. If you feel a student’s work needs to be corrected, ask permis- sion first. Some students do not want their teachers to touch their work, so be respectful of their wishes.
The beginning student will most likely have lots of ques- tions that start with “Why?” For example, “Why are you do- ing it that way?” When this happens, repeat the question to the class, and give the answer for all to hear. Give an explana- tion with your answer! Don’t ever simply say, “That’s the way I was taught,” or “Just do it that way.” If you’re not sure why you are doing something, find out the answer.
As you teach, become familiar with your students’ learn- ing styles. Are they visual, auditory, or tactile learners? You might have to adjust your teaching style to accommodate different learning styles.
Last but not least, don’t overwhelm the beginning stu- dent–especially the newbie. It has been suggested that the
human brain retains only three items from each class taken. For this reason, choose wisely the three pieces of information you most want your students to take home. Talk about these three points at the beginning of class, reinforce them during class, and then review them toward the end of class. Good luck with your classes!
In the next issue, In the Teacher’s Corner will discuss copyright laws and obtaining permission to teach other artists’ designs.
To learn more about becoming a teacher, look into SDP’s Teacher Development Program. Information can be found at www.decorative painters.org/tda.php.
decorativepainters.org
120 The Decorative Painter • ISSUE NO. 4, 2014