Updated 2011-02-03
This actually one of the most "painful" blog posts I ever have written since it lived its own life. Refused to be controlled...got too long. I lost the subject a few times and got back on the track a few times. But I refuse to rework it once again. If you stay tuned you get the answer...
One of my life philosophies is "It has to be fun ". Where did it come from and why?
Perhaps you now wonder how fun I had when I made that drawing above - the lady doesn´t even fit the paper. Did I misjudge the situation or was I perhaps drunk? I can at least tell you as much that she stood less than half a meter from me. So this is what I saw.
I am that kind if person that learns best in the “classroom”. I need a presentation by a person who can visualize what ever he/she is teaching. An alternate to what the books and dry theories can give. I need the air & space between me and the teacher. On that stage I think & learn the very best. On that stage the questioning and sorting up starts – both needed to learning.
Some aspects I appreciate about a teacher…(this is not a requirement list...just some thoughts ;-)
- A person engaged in and perhaps even burning for his topic
- A person meeting the students just where they are
- A person enjoying teaching
- A person who can visualize the topic and make it “fun” (read end paragraph)
- A person who can manage the slips of my mind and laugh with me and all other students but still respect and discuss if there is any essence at all in the question
- A person stretching my limits, challenging me…making me grow perhaps even more than I ever have expected.
Sometimes “pain” is needed to make me grow. Sometimes that is not needed. It depends on the teacher and kind of meeting. I guess I sometimes is a bit masochistic about this too (like training)
At the time when I was making that drawing on top I was at a course with Morten Paulsen, Norway. He used all bullets on my list above except for pain. But he used two more tricks - confusion and games. By letting us draw with left hand, upside down, in circles, in squares, with straws & inc, with the flat side of a crayon he fooled us out of our comfort zones. I also presume he made our brains create new cross functional connections and thousands of new synapses. We had so fun and most of us developed at a rocket's speed.
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| Draw what you see |
So when Morten let the model move around in the studio putting herself less than half a meter from me - it was a part of the game. It was a deliberate provocation to have her almost in my lap.
I loved those six days!
Morten is that kind of teacher who believes in what he is doing. He gives lots of himself - but mostly only the professional parts. He was an artist teaching the students how to paint up to 200% of the time. A magician in teaching but with distance. I think a teacher teaching a lot will risk dehydration if they become to personal. Integrity is often needed to manage in time.
I wonder with what the teacher charges their batteries with. The feedback or what? Or the chance to mission about what they believe in? I am not sure. I have to ask one day.
So when this works - teaching & learning - the teacher meets the student and the student meets the teacher - the student "sucks up" new knowledge with all his/her senses. With body and mind united. Those moments are precious. Those moments are memorable. This is where I prefer to be when learning new stuff - this is where I want to swim.
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| Draw what you hear |
The Teacher and the dabbling Electrical Engineer
Graham Stacy is one of my absolute favourites among all teachers. He was/is an artist and architectural teacher giving free croquis classes at University of Chalmers. He had great fun since I was his first and only Electrical Engineer attending the classes. He made a pretty decent drawer of me in a few years. I always flew away from his classes – enriched “motorically”, intellectually and mentally. He always meet the student where she was and guided with care and a firm hand. He engaged all senses of the students - feel, hear, see and even guess...
Draw what you see
draw what you hear
draw what is there but you cannot see
draw what you feel is there
In every class Graham said these words...in broken "SwEnglish":
“It has to be fun or else you cannot make it”
This sentence has become one of my greatest sources of inspiration in life. This sentence has guided me when life or current contract is hard on me. I can always make things bearable by making it a little bit more fun. I have found I can actually "inject" fun into the most boring task. And since fun is an addictive drug (it creates dopamine & endorphins) I might have started up a positive spiral. I might even make life great fun by working with the small pieces...the small spirals....and the small laughters.
Thanks Graham!
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| At Annette Rosattis studio, working with making the one and only model speak to herself |
Other teaches I do remember
All teacher I have loved and can remember made me laugh and feel good. Not always - some made me cry too. But the laughers and personal growth compensated for the pain. Smiles is always a great way of enhancing the learning curve. Pain is less "secure". All those teachers had the energy making the students listen and open up - eager to learn.
Art
Christel Copp Image & graphical design. A brilliant performer close to stand-up comedian. Hugh demands on the students. Never content. It hurt like hell sometimes but it made me grow. We all loved her.
Arne Isacsson, watercolor professor. First course was a chock - his critics was devastating. Some student cried for real. Excellent lectures visualizing his ideas brilliantly. Growth by pain and great ideas. A kind of masochistic relation between student and teacher
Nina Bondesson, the performing media ir result was not important it was the process. It was “The holy essence of do it again and again” that counted. “Out of volume quality grows” was her thesis. I have never giggled so much in my life as these days. “From laughters quality grows too” is my thesis since that course. Feeling good hormones 48 hours per day.
Anette Rosatti, croquis & painting, I loved her for making me realize there are no boundaries for what is allowed or not allowed. A Pippi Longstocking in culture running her own art school.
University of Chalmers
PG Hovensköld, making a lot of boring university courses fun by his person and the excellent show he performed in the big auditoria. He used to shift the blackboards controlled by lifts so harshly that one actually broke and fell down three meters. All student woke up - I guarantee. That man was a despot – everybody both feared and loved him. Loved him because of the show in classroom but hated him for his “evil” questions always making people giggle at the poor victim. You didn´t dare to come too late for a class – then you became part of his show. A stage accessories suitable for his stand-up comedian.
Charles Davidsson – a magic humble University teacher telling jokes to wake people up. Sometimes he started to write with left hand, or both hands – one from left and one from right, or mirror writing, or upside down. All to make our minds sharp. If you slept too hard – you missed the whole show. He never said in anything in advance.
Aina Wistrand, I loved Aina but I hated all about classes in Swedish. Her demands and sharp tongue made me hover myself a few meters above my ordinary self. I hated the process though and I hated every second of the last test giving me the very best result. Grand slam. Aina died recently - I know nothing about it. My thoughts go to her kids.
Kjell-Inge Mörk, making all about physics fun. Just by his person and teaching style.
It has to be fun, or else we cannot make it
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