“Teach ART and PUBLIC SPEAKING on Zoom? Impossible!” 

At least, that was my first response right out of the chute.

I initially wondered if it was desirable in any way.

When we moved to remote learning mid-year, one of my most creative art students laughed and said, (paraphrasing here) “Who wants to watch kids work? You don’t lecture. You give us the materials, the assignment, answer questions, and then we WORK.”

And, I agreed with him. Totally! 

However, eventually, I climbed down off my “But we never did it that way before” horse, and gave it a try. That was when I discovered some surprising positives. 

Yes, I do see the tops of their heads as they bend to the task, and I was sad to see the signups diminish when we switched to online classes, but I adjusted my attitude as I dived into new waters.

Because I never roamed the classroom peeking over their shoulders anyway (remembering how much I hated that when I was in high school art) I felt a little closer to my artists on zoom than when they were scattered across a huge room. Don’t get me wrong. I still prefer in-person classes, but this is a lot more fun than NO classes and this teacher has learned some new skill sets.

When necessary, I can have art students show me what they’re doing (or if they’re too shy to do that, have them email me a photo of any project in process, even during class). That way I can reply with a one-on-one critique immediately that is private, and meant as much to encourage as correct.

Public Speaking on zoom, however, sounded absolutely nuts on the face of it. 

After all, my primary goal has always been anxiety reduction and fun activities to teach them that nobody is perfect (and that’s okay) in order to see them safely through their speeches.

…my primary goal has always been anxiety reduction and fun activities to teach them that nobody is perfect (and that’s okay)…

But my public speaking students adapted without missing a beat! Much more tech savvy than I will ever be, they simply recorded their speeches and saved them to my Google drive. There, I could study their facial expressions, body language, lighting, and anything else that can be polished on the way to becoming a successful speaker. And they were GOOD!

Frankly, in a mid or post-Pandemic world, I wonder if this isn’t already an essential skill for any kind of communication where it matters that you put your best self out there.

Think about job or volunteer interviews, or any place a video biography might be a more powerful alternative to a photo and a typed response. We have already crash-landed in a digital world in general, but, (drum roll) because we are learning to polish the product, we get to control what goes out. Public speaking students can speak and repeat until they are happy with the results, no longer bound to a time limit, a certain date, or even affected by a headache or stomach ache.

This art and public speaking teacher came around, admittedly slowly, but now wholeheartedly. What a great way to at least keep creating and connecting with people. So, for the foreseeable future, I’m pretty excited about interacting with my students and keeping the flame going on all things creative.