TEACHING STATEMENT SPENCER M.

POTTER

Whether its my growth as a teacher or watching my students learn, experiencing growth as an

As an educator, practicing humility involves remembering to meet students at their level and
understand what they are hoping to accomplish with their education. Teaching design is a nuanced
process of encouraging apprehensive visual artists and providing meaningful challenges to confident
visual artists. After the first few assignments, I start tailoring my individual reactions and feed back to
student work based upon skills and abilities theyve already demonstrated. Apprehensive students
typically need confidence in their existing level of skills in order to start taking risks and growing. More
experienced students typically need some freedom to explore their bigger ideas and ambitions. Providing
a strong structure for students is essential in order for them to develop their individual understandings
of design, theatre, and their role in it. Structure establishes confidence as students formulate their own
ideas and express themselves. I view myself as a guide in their processes of learning and discovery. Every
student will grasp a concept differently; I do my best to be flexible and learn with them.

Teaching in a creative discipline requires flexibility when encountering different learning styles.
Student assessments must reflect that. There are specific evaluative measures for each assignment I give,
but generally my overall assessments of student work are guided by evaluating student effort and concept
synthesis. This requires a commitment to understanding and connecting to each student. Student artistic
and technical skills will vary and rather than evaluate by inflexible artistic standards, seeing the quality
of effort a student puts into a project is highly important. To generally measure synthesis, students should
demonstrate an ability to have an informed conversation about design and its application in theatre.
Students will hopefully be able to discuss and answer questions like: what makes effective and less
effective design choices? How can visual elements of storytelling advance the plot and support
performers work on stage? What does being an effective collaborator entail?

Ive enjoyed teaching at both introductory and upper division course levels. My range of teaching
interests span from: Technical skills courses such as scenic art, props, rendering, and model building;
Design courses in scenic design, scenography, period interiors and styles, and projection media design;
CAD design including, Photoshop, Vectorworks, SketchUp, and Qlab; Professional topics including
portfolio development, intro to the profession, and career management; Special topics in visceral and
immersive theatre, queer theatre, and interdisciplinary topics in design.

In my classes, I try and diffuse students trepidation about design with humor and showing
enthusiasm for their work. Doing so helps students open up about their creative visions. I find many
students hesitate to speak up about their design ideas. Theyre nervous about their idea not being good
enough or as interesting as their peers. If my students see me willing to put myself out there, make
mistakes, laugh a little and try, they learn its okay for them to do the same. Students stop worrying about
getting it right and start breaking out of their comfort zones and exploring and discussing their design
ideas more fully. Student feedback Ive received in my course evaluations that support my approach
include:

Spencer's embracing of student's ideas for projects, and his support for them, made this class
more than just educational (which it was in spades), it made it fun. I'm actively pursuing this
TEACHING STATEMENT SPENCER M. POTTER
field now, but when I started I was disinterred to say the least. I don't think there's better praise
for a teacher than that.

The strengths of this professor was he was always willing to help .He had a true passion for the
sharing of his skills and understanding of application of the methods we were learning. He was
always in a great mood and encouraging to his students when they were discouraged.

For me, creating inclusive classroom environments starts by opening up a little about myself on
the first class. Im a burly looking guy with a love of facial hair and bourbon, whos also good with power
tools. However, I also like making beautiful dresses, and wearing makeup and good gender-bending on
occasion. I show them Im a multifaceted person and theres likely an aspect of me they can relate to and
thus learn from. In the first class, I also state my gender pronouns (he, him, his) so students feel
comfortable sharing theirs and to model an inclusive practice for others. Afterwards, I work to ensure I
learn and use the pronouns students prefer. Other ways I make my classes inclusive are the types of
imagery I share, the cultures and plays we discuss, and the designers we study. For example, in the heavily
male dominated field of scenic design, I make it a point to highlight and share the work of famous female
scenic designers such ad Mimi Lien. I also endeavor to make my design courses economically inclusive
by breaking down art supply requirements into manageable sizes and utilizing open source texts when
possible.

Design, as a visual field, relies heavily on images, thus I strive to include images of designers,
successful scenic designs, techniques, venues, and design elements. This imagery also includes video
when possible; especially video of lengthy art technique, like perspective drawing, so students can watch
the whole process from start to finish in a matter of minutes. Visual technology and applications, such as
Pinterest, video and image archives, and Google Maps, are also tools I often utilize with my instruction.
Integrating digital elements into my classes engages students interest and demonstrates the tools
available to them as designers. I also make time in most of my design classes to talk and write about
design. When discussing design, I find auditory leaners begin to expresses themselves more. With
writing, students who struggle with visual art skills often find a way to vocalize and communicate their
vision in ways their drawing skills wont allow them.

Sometimes, course dont go as planned, but Im never afraid to adapt to the needs of the students.
This past quarter THTR 32o Digital Drafting and Design Modeling, faced some challenges. There was
a litany of computer related problems and the learning curve for the drafting program proved steeper for
some than others. To accommodate the various skill levels and compensate for the computer challenges,
students had the option to divide into two groups. One group focused on a more traditionally modeled
digital pencil and paper method I developed, while the other group moved forward with more complex
3D drafting techniques. The split allowed more experienced CAD users to move on at an engaging pace
while I continued working closely with the group of students who needed more one on one instruction.
To better assist these students, I held two additional after hours studio sessions. The learning I
experienced included adapting to instructional technology, learning how to better assess technological
needs of classrooms, and, more than ever, its okay for a course to adapt and grow.

Consistent with my values of lifelong learning, I continually find myself inspired, and learn new
methods while I design professionally. Different venues with different resources, different people with
different skills and backgrounds, beautiful work by other designers, all inspire me to continue growing. I
enjoy bringing back what I saw and learned from those experiences and sharing with students. The
professional work creates networking opportunities where I can connect students with designers working
in fields of their interests. The networking gained also provides many potential in class skype calls or
guest speakers with other designers.