I think the best moment from my first teaching experience at Double Helix was hearing each student share stories about their final works. We asked the students to create a collage “dream room” containing anything they’d want in their room if they could have whatever they wanted. As the students worked, they chatted with each other about why they were adding this or that to their room. By the end of our working time, some students had developed full narratives for their rooms!
Double Helix Student Work; a flying Dream Room including a framed window in the floor, a giant bird bodyguard, and a wall decorated with artwork
The most challenging moment (or maybe just the scariest) was starting the lesson! Our group had planned out our lesson carefully, and decided who would say what, but we hadn’t actually rehearsed how it would go. That moment in between walking in front of an audience and saying a first line is so terrifying and electric! I think next time I might ask if we can rehearse the intro just once before we get in front of the students, just to calm my nerves a bit.
Double Helix Student Work; a student shares their Dream Room design, including a shrine to Beyoncé and a fancy rug with some houseplants
Initially, I think the students were most excited to make a collage. Looking through magazines is fun, cutting up paper into weird shapes is fun, and getting to glue stuff together is fun. But, as we moved around the room and started asking students about their work, it became apparent they were engaging more deeply with the concept of the activity. Some students were imagining what it would be like to live in their Dream Rooms as they designed the collage. Some students were adding elements to the collage and then inventing backstories to integrate the new elements in with the old ones. I feel the students got more excited to think through fantasy elements of a Dream Room as they added detail to their collages.
Double Helix Student Work; left: a Dream Room with a fox pet, a very large window, an area for the fox pet’s supplies, and a soft green carpet; right: a Dream Room with a bed elevated on foam legs, two dressers, and colorful rugs
If I could share one element of the day with anyone else, I’d share the energy in the room during our making time. Students were really engaging in creative thinking and putting it into practice. The students were focused and excited to make something. Even the occasional conversational tangents tended to be about something having to do with the collage materials, or ideas for Dream Rooms. Students listened to each other and built on each other’s ideas. What a great feeling!