Case Study: Teaching
Teaching (and Learning) at Parsons and Citizen Schools: Adapting to Different Learning Styles and Needs
Teaching is Humbling
Parsons School of Art, Media and Technology
At Parsons I taught in both the DT (Design and Technology) and CD (Communications Design) departments. I worked with a range of students, all coming from a range of backgrounds. My favorite course to teach was a freshman elective called Sketchbook 2.0. The course was created to give students new tools to help them document connections (as connective ideas surfaced) between all their different course work. To do that we developed alternative modes of sketching, doodling, creative writing, planning, and annotating. I put a major influence on the students’ own personal inquiries. The aha moment always came several weeks in to the semester when they realized that our sketchbook experiments “all of a sudden“ revealed nuanced narratives that connected their personal experiences with their common course work. In this way, Sketchbook 2.0 was a class about all their classes.
I bring these connective storytelling concepts into my design teams. Designers appreciate the creativity and work that goes into connecting disparate ideas into personal and ownable stories. Here are some sample syllabi from my time at Parsons:
Citizen Schools Apprenticeship
In 2018, my friend Rishin Banker and I volunteered with Citizen Schools. We co-taught an after school apprenticeship for 6th and 7th graders called “Time to Innovate“. The apprenticeship was 10 weeks of teaching with a final showcase on the 11th week. Citizen Schools does most of the heavy lifting — they are already embedded in schools throughout the city. They have prepared thorough and thoughtful curriculum for a range of apprenticeship subjects that volunteers can pick from.
“Time to Innovate” was designed to teach students a seven-step design process, that they used each week to innovate through design challenges. Here are the steps:
Identify Problem
Brainstorm
Design
Build
Rebuild
Test
Share Solution
Innovation Challenge: Designing a physical structure to hold a tennis ball — build that holds the tennis ball highest wins
innovation Challenge: Using only cardboard and tape, design a pair of waterproof shoes
Innovation Challenge: Using a set list of 5 materials, design 5 unique and engaging carnival games
The Need For Differentiation
“Differentiation” has been a hot topic in education for several years. Here’s the basic definition: Getting students to the same goals but in different ways or modes. Reading is the easiest example to illustrate the point: Let’s say you’re a 7th grade teacher and after you assess the 23 individual student reading levels in your classroom you realize that 8 of your 7th graders are reading at a 4th grade level. And another 5 are reading at a 9th grade reading level. So now you’ve got 10 students who are good with the 7th grade reading material you’ve been given to teach with but now you have to differentiate the reading levels for the students who are behind, as well as the students who are ahead. However, they are all 13 years old and share goals for the subjects being taught in 7th grade.
As someone who has taught and also managed teams, I think this concept of differentiation absolutely crosses over into the practice of design. As a design manager, I have to find different ways to help different types of people meet standardized goals (OKRs, KPIs, Career Pathing, etc). But also as designers we have to create experiences that help different types of customers meet the same goals (Engagement, Conversion, Adoption, Habit, etc.).