Don't Assume Anything...

If I had to do it all over again, I would try to assess my students understanding of new information. This week we started using Adobe Illustrator. I warned my students that it was going to be tough, and to allow themselves room to make mistakes. I thought that they would keep an open mind, but the first few days it was like nails on a chalk board. Students were frustrated with the software and some wanted to quit all together. Later in the week I realized that every class is different and sometimes repetition is key. I stopped where we were and made everyone sit in the class portion of the room while I went step by step and re-capped the basics of the lesson on Adobe Illustrator. They watched as I did the demo on the projector screen. During the demo I would ask the class how to do certain tasks and let them guide the demo. I also used other students as instructors. Those who finished early, were given the task to make sure others understood the project. I think the fog was slowly lifting and my students were beginning to grasp the concept of the software.