Thursday 24 October 2013

Completing the circle

Our website says that "We will produce professional, well trained students, with knowledge of all aspects of their industry..." and that is something that we've been striving to do ever since we opened our doors. So, it has been particularly nice this year to be welcoming back some graduate students as colleagues who have brought some great industry knowledge with them.

So far this academic year, we have had Natalie Issitt (Urdang) and Sophia Nomvete (Arts Ed) to teach classes for the current batch of Readies, and next month we will have Talitha Rye (PPA) singing as one of the professional guest artists at our November fundraiser concert. It is a huge pleasure to see how well everyone is doing and it is an even bigger pleasure to see how much the current students get out of learning from their experiences.

Learning is always a circular process - I have learnt so much from being a teacher that I didn't realise or understand as a student. It is really nice to have seen this circle complete this term as students, who have gone on to become professionals, complete the loop and start to teach; thereby learning more about themselves and starting the process again.

There's never a time to stop learning, because you can never have enough knowledge. Things change, people change, times change... I think that the most important part of any teacher's job, for that very reason, is never to think you have all the answers. Know as much as you can, love your subject and be good at what you know, but then make sure you open your ears and your mind up as regularly as you open up your mouth!

I hope that both the Graduate students and the current students continue to enjoy learning from one another as much as I continuously enjoy teaching and learning from them, and long may the loop continue...

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