i like teaching, and i'm learning a lot about the process
first of all, this is a particular situation:

i'm working at the space invaders, in denmark
where 30some students ranging in age from 20 to 40
each have their own computer.
they have signed up for a multimedia education
from a private school in a land of public funding

it's a big room with 10 foot ceilings,
macs everywhere and the room littered with burnt CDs
young folks planning parties and rendering 3d

i was brought here under open auspices:
pretty much teach what you know

so i decided to encourage storytelling
especially after i saw the proliferation of design

(these folks are continuously swapping eye candy,
hot design links
maybe it's their scandinavian heritage

so I gave them the assignment,
draw on your own stories and make hypertext of them
you have massive tools at your command
now use them to reflect your own experience.

they are good people because they listen nicely to this american web nut
and they sit down with a pad and start sketching interfaces
or they surf the web for ideas

I say just start writing,
let the stories dictate the design
worry about editing, language, design, shape and propriety and privacy later
write now

and i come to realize, this is the american way,
they tell me
and that's okay
act now think later

there's a value to that! and maybe that's what i'm teaching them - leave behind your wacom tablet and your dynamic HTML for a moment and reach into your memories, values and visions and concoct some presence of yourself in words. for just a short time, lead yourself by uttering through your fingers.

don't think too much beforehand, make art from instinct
la la la
(i should remember this too - painting helps)
i am reminded of hamlet
he was a danish prince
trapped in the designs of his mind
some students want to plan everything before they make anything
they will make plans

so as a teacher, i spoke a bit the first day,
and i spend the rest of the time wandering around and checking on people
urging them to abandon their screen geometry perplexions
in favour of spewing useless crap.

as soon as i walk away or they otherwise recalibrate their focus,
these folks immediately start designing again!
little windows pop up with icons and fonts

i don't want to keep visual people from their rightbrain
but i do want to reorient their sense of source

can't say they haven't inspired me - i learned a little flash, after effects
i put up a front page background!
and i did some incredible design work on a 'orrible dream i 'ad

i didn't know what i would be doing as a teacher
i thought maybe i would speak and let them work
it seems instead we work together
when i stop visiting them
some lose their focus

is there a better way?

- 4 may
- 2 may
- 29 april