Although I’ve been in sitting in on class for the past 14 weeks, I continue to be baffled by student attendance. It seems as though each week one third to half of the students choose not to show up. As I think about it, I wonder their reasoning—considering there is a fairly strict policy about missing classes. As I puzzle what the case might be I can only think of a couple scenarios, a) the student has an emergency—which is unlikely the case in every situation as there are so many absentees, or, b) the student doesn’t feel that class attendance is necessary for their success. In other words the student doesn’t feel like they will be missing anything if they skip. In a critique-focused class where lectures are not an every class occurrence it seems like the students don’t take as many notes. With no test to prepare for, they work on their projects and submit their ideas for review. I imagine students would be more attentive in class and more likely to show up if there was something they would be missing—beyond their peers opinions and teachers feedback on their projects.
This aside, class critique was much more productive today. The students have developed their ideas more thoroughly and many are looking in pretty good shape for the final in two weeks. Several students are showing promise as they tie their projects into the ad series more effectively. The student designing for Vespa is using similar illustration style to their ads with a simple barrel role to share a moped love story. Another student has ideas—still not down on paper—to marry the new Harley to imagery and a feel of yesteryear bikes. This could potentially be an excellent piece. There is an ambitious student planning making a three booklet series for Porsche that goes in a box set. And then there are a couple of uninspired layouts that are just straight boring. I find it the most challenging to give feedback regarding these projects as there isn’t enough to really build on. It’s hard to tell students to go back to the drawing board when most likely they will continue to struggle. Their lack luster efforts yield dismal creations and takes an fun of critique out of the picture. Teaching students to harness their creativity is one thing, but teaching students to be creative is a daunting task. With that in mind there are brainstorming techniques that could be done in class to help students along the way. I imagine every student would benefit from timed, interactive, creative exercises in class. I don’t think it would hurt the class to bring in a little more structure here and there.