Survival Guide,
Part 2:
Be
Yourself
You
are a designer. Your medium is visual, tactile, kinesthetic.
Use
these frameworks with the students just as you use them in your work.
Draw pictures to explain your ideas; let them touch things; have them
choose from samples.
You're
not training the students to be architects, but you are giving them
experiences and tools so that they can investigate, describe and evaluate
their immediate environments and more clearly imagine those far flung
in space and time.
Think
of these kids as your clients.
How can
you make them "feel" the grandeur or intimacy of a space, or assess
the appropriateness of a particular detail or ornament? Unlike your
adult clients, these
students can be drawn into your professional world because they will
actually replicate what you do based on their own perceptions and
desires.
Along
these lines, we encourage you to honestly share your own development,
training, work experiences, and -- yes -- frustrations with your class.
Tell them stories about your work. (That's different from "imparting
information.")
• Imitate a terrible professor.
• Role-play with your team members the horrors of the client
who keeps changing the game plan or who complains about the final
product after agreeing to all of your choices along the way.
• Tell them about the moment you knew you were going to be an
architect, how you prepared or are preparing yourself, what you love
about the field, what you hope to accomplish one day, how much you
have to interact with other people in other trades and professions,
and how hard you have to work.
Kids
recognize stories and anecdotes as "real" and often retain those images
long after the information has faded.
The sense
they get of you as someone who has chosen a path, is working hard
to follow it, and cares so much about it that you're there to share
it with them for free can be the most important gift you leave behind.
