In each class I teach, I have three over-arching objectives for my students. First, my students engage with the class material on a personal level. Second, my students develop their ability to clearly communicate their ideas. Third, my students learn to give and receive constructive criticism. The core of my teaching philosophy is active learning. In order to promote active learning, I use two methods. First, I utilize narratives to present concepts and skills followed by discussion. Second, I balance my narrative lectures with an equal amount of hands-on work: in-class writing, peer review, and creative projects.
My personal work as an illustrator and writer is inherently narrative and hinged on my ability to create a dialogue with my audience. With a relaxed narrative lecture format I contextualize the class material through discussions of relevant historical figures, literary and artistic movements, and events. Through these discussions I ask my students to enter into an active dialogue with myself and the material. When possible, I encourage my students to pull from their personal lives. With the hands-on projects that follow my lectures, students are able to create a tangible representation of their own experiences. By telling their own stories, each student creates a work that not only represents their own experience but insures that people of their age, socioeconomic, or cultural background can find representation.
For a brief example of the success of encouraging students to draw on their personal experiences, in the fall of 2018, I had three different students take on the topic of hair and specifically the scrutiny and prejudice many black Americans experience due to their natural hair. One student utilized assignments in Visual Storytelling, IL220, and Developing Story and Character, IL320, to document her journey in going natural. She admitted in a critique that prior to Visual Storytelling she had not felt comfortable discussing her hair journey. In other classes, I have had students delve into religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
In each case, due to the style of my lectures and classroom management, my students have known that they were guaranteed a safe and respectful platform for discussion, critique, and creativity.