Rane Hall
Full Time BFAMA - Clark University
BA - University of Michigan
Contact
(603) 836-2567
rhall@nhia.edu
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is at least as complicated as rocket science…. Like many of my peers, I harbor a longing for the relative simplicity of the laws of motion. To my mind, what educators do is less well defined and potentially more catastrophic than aerospace engineering. In higher education, teachers typically have little training and support to manage the complexities of their jobs. And the complexities of teaching not only require preparation and support, but personal intrepidity, keen insight, and a Herculean work ethic. Much is said and written about great teaching; that it requires passion; that it requires extensive knowledge of the subject matter; that it requires self-sacrificing love for one's students. But none of this is terribly helpful. Of course teaching involves passion, knowledge, and interest in students....But it requires so much more and so much more specificity. For one, it requires identifying, simplifying, and clearly expressing the distinct elements of any whole in order, ultimately, to teach the whole in all its tangled complexity. So that it is just one more of the myriad conundrums of teaching that we seek and develop the underlying simplicity and discreet elements in our lessons to develop learners who are intellectually comfortable and emotionally centered in the presence art and ideas that are ambivalent, paradoxical, and complex. Finally, teaching requires an attempted mastery of a delicate balance of big picture planning against minute details. Every piece of student homework is part of a big plan. Teachers who take every detail of their courses seriously are working hard for substantial achievement in their students' learning. They are working hard to stave off the fiery crash that is the catastrophic eventuality of a society without the detail-oriented, critically centered work of dauntless, insightful, hard working teachers. They are working for the big picture. I may romanticize other professions, but to me rocket science seems like a cakewalk.
Publication History
Art New England/Procedere Emerging Artists Series: Leah Kuhne at Saint Anselm College - June/July 2009
Art New England/Lineage: Carol Gove at Judi Rotenburg - October/November 2009
Art New England/War and Remebrance at University of New Hampshire - December/January 09-10
Art New England/The Epic of American Civilization: Jose Clemente Orozco at Dartmouth College - April/May 20010