How to teach Graphic Design (For Beginners) Part 2

With my idea set I began to plan how I would accomplish my teaching. I started writing up a detailed lesson plan. Mapping out hour by hour each weeks activities. I realized early on I would need to include the history of graphic design, but I only had about an hour of space to do it. This was blocking point for me for awhile. I set about creating charts and posters and other means to instill a knowledge of the evolution of graphic design. I gathered images and texts from many books and websites. Soon I realized that in the next week the class would begin.

So what happened the first day of class. Not much. After having visited multiple schools, getting info from over 50 kids and making call backs, 2 youth showed up. I was a little heart broken. It had been decided that on the first Thursday of the workshop I would give a brief talk to all the you who participate in the 3 different programs on Thursdays. So as I said earlier I had spent weeks preparing every minute detail. What did I do when it came time to give my talk. I through out all my plans. I simply decided to have a conversation with the you about graphic design and let them decide where we would go with it. This to me seemed much more in the spirit of the workshop anyways, to give the reigns over to the youth and simply act as a moderator. It worked, I was amazing, every kid participated. Some as usual were the main talkers but eventually everyone found a point at which they had a question or an answer. We talked about history of art, advertising, corporate identities and logos, t-shirts, shoes, cell phones, and on and on. Eventually we had to cut the talk off because it was past time to get to work.

I learned a lot from giving this talk. I learned that with youth you must create an environment which they can engage. You can engage them if you want, but that is what happens the rest of the day. Teachers assigning them work, parents setting rules, and companies selling them junk. And they love to learn as long as it doesn't seem like work.