Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.

Lesson Plans


Re: Critiques

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Sandra Hildreth (shildret)
Tue, 24 Sep 1996 20:25:20 -0700 (PDT)

Christine Merriam hit the nail on the head when she wrote:
>I observed that many of my
>studio teachers (note: not art ed professors :) ) were indeed outstanding
>artists, but, many did not have a clue as to "how" to teach!

It is most ironic that in many of our institutions of higher education, the
professors, with their MA's and PhD's, never had any teaching methods
courses. They may very well be experts in their respective fields, but I
bet a lot of you can recall some who could not teach very effectively. As
far as brutal critiques - if you don't really know how to bring a group of
diverse people together into a discussion of a topic (like a work of art),
then to preserve one's (perceived) superior position of being the expert,
telling them what they did wrong seems to be a logical tactic. I don't
think it worked very well, judging from all the unpleasant memories that
have been shared. Positive reinforcement pays off much better.

Sandra Hildreth <shildret>
Art 7-12, Madrid-Waddington Central School, Madrid, NY 13660
Art Methods, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617