[SML] Student workers (was: Aggregrate hours for majors?)

[nathan best]

In the three college theatre programs I have been involved with (two as a
student and 1 as a staff member), stagecraft students were required to work
a certain number of hours per semester. I never saw this as a opportunity
for free labor, but more as an opportunity to practice what was learned in
class. A stagecraft class of 15 people meeting for 3 hours a week isn't
really the ideal place to practice what you've learned, especially if the
class has to cover several topics over the semester such as basic lighting,
sound, set construction, etc (one of the programs I was in didn't really
give me the opportunity to have a separate lighting or sound class outside
of an independent study). Say it takes an hour to go through nailer safety
and how to assemble a broadway flat. Great, you may have 6 people who
instantly get it, 4 who sorta get it, 4 you lost at some point, and one
person who is terrified of the nailer. Then you have the required time
outside of that class where maybe you can go over with small groups of two
or three in a little more detail than you were able to in the class, or get
that one person more comfortable with the nailer by having them help a more
experienced student build a flat. The students can get a few more hours
experience with tools and techniques that sometimes limited class time
doesn't allow. There is definitely a huge difference between learning in
classroom and actually practicing what you've learned. I think required
hours outside of class time can be huge bonus in many cases (at least for
me).

Nathan B.

On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 9:22 PM, Kristi R-C via Stagecraft <
stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:

> We're having this discussion at length as we're reviewing our undergrad program.
>
> Richard and I and many people on this list came to theater already in possession of a great many "shop skills" but just 30 minutes ago, I was teaching one of our undergrads how to mop a floor. The first week of lighting class included how to use a screwdriver to take apart a stage pin plug and how to solder. There are no teeter-totters on playgrounds so that analogy doesn't work when teaching how counterweight systems work.  We can talk about how it was 30 years ago all we want but the same curriculum and standards from then don't work now because the students are often lacking in those skills that our fathers and grandfathers taught us AND the technical needs of productions have become exponentially more demanding.
>
> Who's to say that an hour of mopping a floor is a more worthy learning experience than an hour of painting a set or an hour of sewing or an hour of drafting or an hour of programming the lighting board? All provide skills necessary to the show. Is the time spent waiting in the dark wasted when you have only 3 cues in an hour?
>
> Whether we like it or not, most colleges proscribe an actual hour in class per week to be a semester credit hour. (Hence the name!) So a two credit class meets two hours a week with the expectation of 2-3 hours spent out of class for every hour in. To do the math, if you spend 15 weeks in class and 2-3 additional hours per week, that's 45-60 hours for a credit.
>
> We ask far more of our students than that and a great shop manager/TD looks at each student's existing skills, what that student should be able to do at the end of the class and assigns work accordingly. I strive to get a variety of experiences for our students.
>
> It's not a one-size-fits-all situation.
>
> Kristi R-C
>
>
>
>
>
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