advice to photography teachers
feel free to share
1
Some personal advice from a 40-year vet, some may be helpful, some not, but I hope someone may find it useful. This is stuff I discovered for myself to follow and some may be applicable to new teachers. I still think I had a lot to learn as a teacher. I did some things well and got better over the years, but still felt a failure in many respects. All photo teachers shouldn't be like me, but some of my ideas are proven over my years of experience to work and all teachers will make your own adjustments to suit their personality.
I tried to do my best by working overtime and constantly questioning how I did things, looking for new ideas, and new ways of doing something. Only a couple of years ago I revised my way of teaching students how to operate the various parts of the camera in class. I can’t believe it took me so long to come up with a better, more efficient way, easier on me and better for their learning.
Planning is essential, each day, each week, each month. As soon as students turn in their assignment and it’s graded the film for the next one should be due the next class. Having too many students on the computers slows the class down and makes working inefficient.
Be assertive with the students, they need firm guidelines or they’ll flounder. Even the best students cannot always be trusted all of the time I’ve learned over the years.
Always continue to think about how to TEACH; it’s a fine art that is constantly being revised, you will never finish, I almost learned as much my last year as I almost did my first year.
Watch and communicate with all of the students, observe and recommend and correct mistakes, keep them on track and constantly working, there’s always more to be done, the sky’s the limit. You only on with these guys for a few hours a week and there’s so much to teach and so much for them to learn in the short time they are with you, you can influence the rest of their lives.
Think about a good grading system, where you include the entire output, how the student approached the assignment (contact sheet and folder on the computer) how they edited their work, how they thought about it visually, what they missed) and discuss the grades with the students in a timely manner so they know how they are progressing and why they got the grade they did.
How can you best teach? For example, what is the best, clearest, and most efficient way to teach film developing to help both you and the students?
What do you want students to learn, not just about photography and art making but life lessons and habits? What should a successful student leave the class with at the end?
2
Feel free to consult my “Things you need to know” poster for the advice I give to students to succeed in class.
Observe other teachers that are considered good.
Bring class together at the beginning of the block to catch up, make announcements, reiterate rules and reminders, it saves time for you.
Use the darkroom equally with the computers, have the classes just switch unless they have a need to do one or the other because of the nature of the assignment, it will save time having to sign them up, but keep track, some will cheat, make sure each student has a spot to work. Don’t neglect the beautiful black and white darkroom tradition, it’s a tradition that is alive and well, and will probably make a comeback, but it is still a vibrant medium, just like lithography it is an old process but still very viable so study the fine art of silver printing. Like many other high schools in Massachusetts the darkroom is still vital. I learned this at a conference a couple of years ago at the PRC of high school teachers and their support of the black and white photography was very high as were their students.
Reinforce everything 100 times and watch that they follow through.
Demand a lot, there’s no reason with the instructor's help that they all can do their best and aim high.
Watch and observe constantly running in and out of the darkroom, it’s crazy but it works.
Teach criticism, I personally like Ruskin's rules:
what is the work trying to do?
does it do it?
how does it do it?
what do you think?
only after answering the first three questions can you honestly say what you think.
Make the goals of an assignment clear, teens don’t do so well with freedom, only in small doses, unlike college students and adults; what do you expect them to do? What should they do to get good photographs? Explain how they should do it, and then you can grade them accurately on what they were responsible for. Visualize what a good assignment will look like, what should the pictures be like for example, how do they make them interesting, how should they shoot and approach the assignment, how many pictures should they take.
Worry more; although one can never reach every single student you have to try, leave no child behind, you do them a disservice if they don’t succeed.
Put a little fear in the student to be on time, to keep on track, to be proactive, to follow directions, to turn in work, to seek help, although you have to oversee all of this, they won’t do it on their own necessarily; there’s an old saying with teachers, “don’t smile until Christmas”; it’s a busy, exhausting job.
Continue to read the history of photography.
Use your strengths, but don’t rely only on your own strengths and likes.
3
The teacher should make sure to present an unbiased picture of photography, for example I don’t care for surrealism but I assign it because it’s an important part of photography,
I don’t care for staged photography particularly but I still discuss and assign it.
Present a broad range of photography from photojournalism to portraits to abstraction, to still life, expressive, modern issues, different styles, approaches, philosophies, subjects, techniques. A student may excel at one and not the other, or relate to one and not another. The course is on "photography" after all.
Plan assignments with a timeline, strict due dates and grading. A few years back I initiated a no late assignment policy, with an extension for an excused absence; this way, you don’t have to judge excuses, it keep everyone working together, and if a student only has a contact sheet and receives a C, they can always do extra credit to raise their grade so no one is left out of getting the highest grade they want. It also puts the burden on the student to meet deadlines, keep up with the class, and improve their own grades; encourage them to come in outside of class; this also creates a sense of a place they can go to, even to only hang out for lunch.
Have all students show you every step of each assignment so you can advise them on how it can be better or simply to suggest possibilities. In the darkroom they should show you test strips, and all prints so they know they have the best print possible and you approved it and they’re doing well, it’s too late by the time they grade. Emphasize good print quality, try their patience!
Go over camera loading every single time with every single student, according to the poster, they may say they know or their father knows how to do it but often they don’t, it saves time and aggravation, it’s a lot of work for you but well worth it in less lost film.
Remember one is teaching more than just photography, the class includes discipline both in life and art making, responsibility, taking criticism, understanding and fulfilling directions and assignments and rules of the class and school, respecting others and their work.
Keep track of your budget and supplies on hand.
Make the photo room a significant, unique, comfortable refuge/place for students to find a home in, give it an identity so they are proud to be photo kids and identify with you and the program, have bonding experiences, students will then want to sign up for a class and hopefully continue all 4 years.
They can do outside work, you can demand more from them, see exhibits, do alternative processes, write papers, do readings, especially the majors and the honors classes, they are comparable to advanced placement classes which demand a lot. I’ve found from returning students that they will ultimately respect you more.
4
Art teachers have talked about how an art class should be as disciplined, demanding, and rigorous as any other class in school, I detest the easygoing attitudes of some art teachers, who treat art class as camp for kindergarten and with a laissez-faire attitude.
Teenagers often need a firm hand, and you can’t really trust them completely, even the best of student can go awry, or succumb to temptation but you have to let them know they always have your love and support unconditionally.
Supervise more, ask students to show you their work as they’re working to give them feedback and to make sure they’re on track. Students can appear to be working when they aren’t; they will often accept the first print they make or the first idea they have; touch bases with every single student to see what they are doing, all of this will make better grades and better assignments.
Miracles are possible.
Each student can do better.
Each student can excel through hard work.
There’s a lot of work to be done for both teacher and student.
feel free to share
1
Some personal advice from a 40-year vet, some may be helpful, some not, but I hope someone may find it useful. This is stuff I discovered for myself to follow and some may be applicable to new teachers. I still think I had a lot to learn as a teacher. I did some things well and got better over the years, but still felt a failure in many respects. All photo teachers shouldn't be like me, but some of my ideas are proven over my years of experience to work and all teachers will make your own adjustments to suit their personality.
I tried to do my best by working overtime and constantly questioning how I did things, looking for new ideas, and new ways of doing something. Only a couple of years ago I revised my way of teaching students how to operate the various parts of the camera in class. I can’t believe it took me so long to come up with a better, more efficient way, easier on me and better for their learning.
Planning is essential, each day, each week, each month. As soon as students turn in their assignment and it’s graded the film for the next one should be due the next class. Having too many students on the computers slows the class down and makes working inefficient.
Be assertive with the students, they need firm guidelines or they’ll flounder. Even the best students cannot always be trusted all of the time I’ve learned over the years.
Always continue to think about how to TEACH; it’s a fine art that is constantly being revised, you will never finish, I almost learned as much my last year as I almost did my first year.
Watch and communicate with all of the students, observe and recommend and correct mistakes, keep them on track and constantly working, there’s always more to be done, the sky’s the limit. You only on with these guys for a few hours a week and there’s so much to teach and so much for them to learn in the short time they are with you, you can influence the rest of their lives.
Think about a good grading system, where you include the entire output, how the student approached the assignment (contact sheet and folder on the computer) how they edited their work, how they thought about it visually, what they missed) and discuss the grades with the students in a timely manner so they know how they are progressing and why they got the grade they did.
How can you best teach? For example, what is the best, clearest, and most efficient way to teach film developing to help both you and the students?
What do you want students to learn, not just about photography and art making but life lessons and habits? What should a successful student leave the class with at the end?
2
Feel free to consult my “Things you need to know” poster for the advice I give to students to succeed in class.
Observe other teachers that are considered good.
Bring class together at the beginning of the block to catch up, make announcements, reiterate rules and reminders, it saves time for you.
Use the darkroom equally with the computers, have the classes just switch unless they have a need to do one or the other because of the nature of the assignment, it will save time having to sign them up, but keep track, some will cheat, make sure each student has a spot to work. Don’t neglect the beautiful black and white darkroom tradition, it’s a tradition that is alive and well, and will probably make a comeback, but it is still a vibrant medium, just like lithography it is an old process but still very viable so study the fine art of silver printing. Like many other high schools in Massachusetts the darkroom is still vital. I learned this at a conference a couple of years ago at the PRC of high school teachers and their support of the black and white photography was very high as were their students.
Reinforce everything 100 times and watch that they follow through.
Demand a lot, there’s no reason with the instructor's help that they all can do their best and aim high.
Watch and observe constantly running in and out of the darkroom, it’s crazy but it works.
Teach criticism, I personally like Ruskin's rules:
what is the work trying to do?
does it do it?
how does it do it?
what do you think?
only after answering the first three questions can you honestly say what you think.
Make the goals of an assignment clear, teens don’t do so well with freedom, only in small doses, unlike college students and adults; what do you expect them to do? What should they do to get good photographs? Explain how they should do it, and then you can grade them accurately on what they were responsible for. Visualize what a good assignment will look like, what should the pictures be like for example, how do they make them interesting, how should they shoot and approach the assignment, how many pictures should they take.
Worry more; although one can never reach every single student you have to try, leave no child behind, you do them a disservice if they don’t succeed.
Put a little fear in the student to be on time, to keep on track, to be proactive, to follow directions, to turn in work, to seek help, although you have to oversee all of this, they won’t do it on their own necessarily; there’s an old saying with teachers, “don’t smile until Christmas”; it’s a busy, exhausting job.
Continue to read the history of photography.
Use your strengths, but don’t rely only on your own strengths and likes.
3
The teacher should make sure to present an unbiased picture of photography, for example I don’t care for surrealism but I assign it because it’s an important part of photography,
I don’t care for staged photography particularly but I still discuss and assign it.
Present a broad range of photography from photojournalism to portraits to abstraction, to still life, expressive, modern issues, different styles, approaches, philosophies, subjects, techniques. A student may excel at one and not the other, or relate to one and not another. The course is on "photography" after all.
Plan assignments with a timeline, strict due dates and grading. A few years back I initiated a no late assignment policy, with an extension for an excused absence; this way, you don’t have to judge excuses, it keep everyone working together, and if a student only has a contact sheet and receives a C, they can always do extra credit to raise their grade so no one is left out of getting the highest grade they want. It also puts the burden on the student to meet deadlines, keep up with the class, and improve their own grades; encourage them to come in outside of class; this also creates a sense of a place they can go to, even to only hang out for lunch.
Have all students show you every step of each assignment so you can advise them on how it can be better or simply to suggest possibilities. In the darkroom they should show you test strips, and all prints so they know they have the best print possible and you approved it and they’re doing well, it’s too late by the time they grade. Emphasize good print quality, try their patience!
Go over camera loading every single time with every single student, according to the poster, they may say they know or their father knows how to do it but often they don’t, it saves time and aggravation, it’s a lot of work for you but well worth it in less lost film.
Remember one is teaching more than just photography, the class includes discipline both in life and art making, responsibility, taking criticism, understanding and fulfilling directions and assignments and rules of the class and school, respecting others and their work.
Keep track of your budget and supplies on hand.
Make the photo room a significant, unique, comfortable refuge/place for students to find a home in, give it an identity so they are proud to be photo kids and identify with you and the program, have bonding experiences, students will then want to sign up for a class and hopefully continue all 4 years.
They can do outside work, you can demand more from them, see exhibits, do alternative processes, write papers, do readings, especially the majors and the honors classes, they are comparable to advanced placement classes which demand a lot. I’ve found from returning students that they will ultimately respect you more.
4
Art teachers have talked about how an art class should be as disciplined, demanding, and rigorous as any other class in school, I detest the easygoing attitudes of some art teachers, who treat art class as camp for kindergarten and with a laissez-faire attitude.
Teenagers often need a firm hand, and you can’t really trust them completely, even the best of student can go awry, or succumb to temptation but you have to let them know they always have your love and support unconditionally.
Supervise more, ask students to show you their work as they’re working to give them feedback and to make sure they’re on track. Students can appear to be working when they aren’t; they will often accept the first print they make or the first idea they have; touch bases with every single student to see what they are doing, all of this will make better grades and better assignments.
Miracles are possible.
Each student can do better.
Each student can excel through hard work.
There’s a lot of work to be done for both teacher and student.