The Teacher's Guide
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by Super Mix, Soulnet, Shadruith, Dr Carl G Jung, Ray, Liondra
This manual contains guidelines for upcoming teachers, those who are presently teachers, and those seeking a teacher. It is intended only as a baseline to help you, and does not delineate mandatory policies. The content is based on a collection of ideas proposed by many teachers to help fellow teachers and students understand this varying privilege called teaching. The authors ask that you keep an open mind in reading it, and that you use it according to its intended purpose, as a "guide". Feel free to utilize the ideas herein to assist you in developing or modifying your own current ideas with regard to: teaching, tasking, understanding individual students' needs, and approaching a teacher. The goal is to encourage application of these ideas toward the overall improvement of Underlight as well as each individual dreamer. "A true teacher is one who can teach without the halo" -Kudzoo, DreamSeer FrS Teacher There are two kinds of teachers in Underlight. One, referred to as an "arts vendor", is a teacher who either hands out tasks that are not worthy of the art being sought, or worse yet, accepts a substandard accomplishment in exchange for the art. The other is a "True Teacher", dedicated to bettering the dream through the knowledge attained by questing for arts, plateaus, and so forth. The Halo is merely a symbol of a teacher's ability to grant other dreamers arts. There are many dreamers who possess a halo that do not "Teach" in the true sense of the word. A "True Teacher" imparts much more about the dream than specifically the arts. Such teachings include the history of Underlight, the symbolism hidden within the dream that has many different possible meanings, and other such imaginative concepts. A teacher who can open the eyes of other dreamers to the wonders of the dream, and expand their horizons is respectfully referred to as a "Teacher who teaches without the Halo". This essentially conveys the ideal that that the "Halo" per se, does not transform a dreamer into a teacher. We can ALL be teachers in the Dream. "It is important to recognize the type of student you are teaching, in order to best give them tasks. Each has something to offer. It is your task as a teacher to find out how to use their talents to further the dream and make it enjoyable to them, to facilitate possibilities, to challenge them and keep them excited. This understanding will make a better teacher of each and every one of you. You will never attract all students, for each student needs a different kind of teacher. Don't feel bad if a student dislikes your teaching methods; they just need a teacher that relates more closely along their line of experiences. But you will become a better teacher if you accommodate more styles of teaching." -Isun, SoulMaster, FrS Teacher Before you can tailor a suitable task for your students, you must first get to know a little about them. If, for example, they don't like to hunt mares, then a task to collect 100 mare essences obviously would not be appropriate. Thus, getting to know your student could well be the most important step in teaching an art. Good points to inquire about include their focus, orbit, perceived strengths and weaknesses, what they most enjoy about the dream, and their worst fear in the dream. It may also be useful to know how long they have been dreaming. With such information, you are more prepared to tailor a suitable, instructive and enjoyable task. Another point to focus on is how to maintain a student's interest by customizing a task to meet their personality. The primary objective for a teacher is to keep a student coming back because they thirst for more knowledge, not merely to "gain an art". A dreamer is to be encouraged to gain arts, but more importantly, they should do it while learning and having fun, without feeling the need to seek another teacher due to boredom or lack of interest. Knowing your student and tasking accordingly is a good way too keep their interest in the dream a higher priority than learning a new art. A Teacher should always strive to improve their teaching and tasking skills. By continuing to craft new and creative tasks, a Teacher will no doubt improve from experience, especially by requesting feedback from students and applying this as appropriate to enhance tasks or design alternates. A variety of criteria can be used to develop and evaluate one's tasks, including but not limited to: interesting, challenging, fun, instructive and beneficial (primarily to the student but also to the Teacher and/or the dream as a whole). Bear in mind, however, that the experience of the student must be taken into account - a newly awakened student will likely have vastly different needs and capabilities than a seasoned dreamer. A set of basic learning tasks is useful to maintain for the more inexperienced dreamers, while more challenging and inventive tasks may be given to those with greater exposure to the dream. This does not imply that basic tasks cannot also be fun, interesting and challenging, but they should be gauged to the appropriate level of the dreamer in question. Do not be afraid to experiment with new ideas or combinations of task methods, but you may wish to initially 'test' such tasks with a veteran student or an apprentice. If you have an idea for a potential task, write it down for development later. Keep a source list of such ideas and as you have the time, craft them into tasks. Another excellent way to improve your tasking and teaching is through discussion with other teachers, whether this is accomplished by attending a class or simply comparing ideas during free time in the Dream. Note appealing aspects of good tasks you have done and don't be shy about asking another teacher's permission to borrow from their ideas (it will likely please them to be thus complimented on their tasks). Also consider what you enjoy and learn from in a task as well as what you dislike. While your students may have different interests than your own, there is a point at which boredom becomes universal. Try to avoid developing tasks that are tedious, redundant and pointless. The key to crafting effective and creative tasks lies in combining learning with imagination. There are many various methods you can employ to task your student. Having a larger repertoire of tasks can keep your students on their toes, and make them coming back to learn from you time after time. The main point when tasking is to somehow integrate the art they are wishing to learn through a fun, productive, and instructive task. Frequently employed tasking methods include (but are not limited to): Technical Tasks As the workload on Teachers increases, the need for more standardized tasks is being called into action. Perhaps the most often used of these is the technical task. This type of task directs the student towards discovering information such as common and/or uncommon uses of the art, its evocation cost and time, and the focus element it draws upon. This method of tasking can be integrated with other methods so that the student understands the technical aspects of that art they are seeking to learn. Some teachers, feeling this to be a part of their duty as instructor, will go over the technical aspects of the art as part of the task interview. However, other teachers require the technical aspects of an art to be known before they will grant a task. This belief supports the statement; "If the student seeking to learn an art does not know why they want the art, then why do they come to learn it in the first place?" Collection Tasks This type of task also works well as an adjunct to other methods. All or part of the task will require students to collect a certain number of specified items. This can be a very effective tasking tool, but should not be used as a substitute for a teacher's lack of creativity. There has been some controversy as to a teacher's prerogative to use this type of task merely for "personal gain". A task with such direct profit to the teacher should, in addition, contribute to student learning something about the art or the dream or themselves. Please remember that being a teacher is a privilege, not a right. A Teacher's purpose in the dream is not to use their students but to teach their students. Do not abuse the halo. Gen(erator) Sitting These tasks involve collecting generator (gen) spawned items that usually have some relation to the requested art (e.g. find 3 Scare alterors in order to learn the art Scare or Resist Fear). They will sometimes have an additional purpose or side benefit (e.g. to maintain a house armory). But a Teacher who teaches an art to a student who finds them a certain chakram is really doing a disservice to that student and the dream. Both the dream and that student have lost out on much that could have been learned or contributed to the dream because their teacher used them for greedy personal gain. Essence Collection Tasks Essence collection can be a reasonable motivation for hunters, and also provide validation for work accomplished. For example, when tasking for the art Invisibility, the students can be instructed to collapse 10 Shamblix by themselves, using Invisibility as a tool, and return the essences as confirmation of their accomplishments. Using the essence collection method for anything short of a learning experience becomes a pointless exercise and should be discouraged as unproductive. Insight Tasks Despite what the name implies, insight tasks are not exclusive to those of the focus element Insight. This method of tasking involves challenging the student to examine symbolic aspects of the dream, interpret or form an opinion about these symbols, and make connections in their mind as to their relevance in the dream. This method is a very effective way to teach a student to understand why certain parts of the dream exist, allowing them to see interrelationships and correspondences between seemingly frivolous places in the dream and more obviously significant ones. Since this method is so difficult to put into words, an explanation through use of an example is provided: "Each DoL emblem in the threshold has 3 lamps surrounding it. One lamp below the symbol casts a light, while the other two above the symbol do not. Explain why the other two do not emit a light. Is it symbolism? Or faulty lights?" There is no "correct" answer per se -- it is, however, a good way to expand a dreamers imagination. Bettering of Character Tasks This mode of task requires a decent knowledge of your student, and usually involves enhancing an aspect of their avatar that you or they believe to be underdeveloped. An example of this method would be to task a student who often becomes lost to locate and explore certain places in the dream. Another way to employ this method might require the student to leave a talisman (some item they put much faith in) behind for a certain period of time, thus improving on seldom-used aspects of themselves. This method may also be applied by assigning students to create their own task and then, upon your approval, complete it. This is a very flexible task and takes some practice to master, but its fruits are bountiful for your students. Role-Playing Tasks The role-playing task involves the student taking on another persona for a period of time, or participating in a scenario beyond the normal scope of their role in the Dream. These tasks stretch their imagination while also interactively teaching others and allowing them to learn about the art they seek. This method of tasking is perhaps the most creative of all, as the teacher must find a way to integrate a fun role-play with the art being taught. This method of tasking can be extremely effective if the student seeks a plateau in an art, since they actually have that art at their disposal. The "Role Play " type of task is essentially the backbone of Underlight. Interactive Tasks This method of tasking is a very productive one which can help your student learn what others feel through one-on-one interviews, and can be very practical for helping better the dream. Tasks of this variety include surveys and polls in which the student asks others who have an art what their ideas are on a certain issue concerning the art. Additionally, such tasks may direct the student to conduct a survey concerning improvements to arts, ideas for related arts, and ethical or unethical uses of arts. It may involve gathering humorous or disastrous tales of others' experience with an art. A related type of task might require the student to redesign an art and then get commentary and critique on their ideas from a number of Dreamers with the art. Game & Contest Tasks One way to challenge your students' creativity is to assign the student to design or organize and run a game or contest. Such a task has the additional benefits of promoting interactivity among Dreamers and adding an element of fun to the Dream. These tasks may be specifically for team or for individual participation, or may require a certain number of dreamers to be involved. It can be very rewarding to both student and teacher to assign these sorts of tasks, as they tend to have very imaginative (and sometimes unexpectedly humorous) results and often inspire other participants to take the game or contest one step further. A game or contest task may be specific to one art, or may involve several. A game element can also be combined with a more routine task to make it less boring. For instance, challenge the student to design and test a game to be played while gen-sittting, using join party, give or show and the items produced by the generators. Perhaps the Teacher might want to design the game or contest and have the student organize and run it, then provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. Game and contest tasks can provide a solution to those arts whose plateaus are difficult to devise tasks for, as well. It is very important for a Teacher to be available not only for the tasking but to hear the report of the students upon completion of tasks. It is a frustrating inconvenience for a student to carry a completed task in inventory for a week or two waiting to see the teacher again. One method that works for some Teachers is to set specific times and days of the week during which to task and accept completed tasks, perhaps by the simple expedient of scheduling classes. Others have places they frequent at times they are teaching, for example Threshold, the Library or a favorite sanctuary. Especially for Teachers whose time in the Dream is limited, it helps for students to know when and where they may find you to report. This not only will make your time as a teacher more productive, it will also allow your students to take the time to get the most out of their task - after all, learning and having fun is what it's all about. This should also help them to learn patience, an important attribute in the dream. Another approach is to assign your more trusted students or apprentices to assist your other students throughout their task. These assistants can monitor the progress made, and offer help as needed in completing the task assigned. If a Teacher finds it necessary to be absent from the Dream for an extended period, a post to that effect is courteous. Some Teachers may choose to arrange with others to honor their tasks during an absence. It is up to each teacher to evaluate the student's report and gauge whether the task is complete. If a student feels a task is complete and you disagree, discuss your reasons and allow the student the opportunity to finish the task. It is always appropriate and instructive to ask your students for feedback and evaluation. The following represent some possible questions you may wish to have each student or apprentice answer upon completion of a task or assignment: 1. What did you like best and least about the task (or assignment, in the case of apprentices)? Taking the time to elicit such information and then applying it will provide the dividend of helping you to improve in teaching and tasking. Ask your students to be honest with you and don't get angry if they proffer criticism. Consider whether negative comments may indicate an incompatibility between your style and their needs: if so you may want to suggest they seek another teacher and explain why. Recognizing and correcting a misfit will benefit both the teacher and student more in the long run, and should in no way reflect badly on a teacher. On the other hand, if a variety of students tell you your tasks are too difficult or too easy or were boring, perhaps you need to reevaluate your methods. Remember there is always room to grow in the Dream and the most worthy of teachers will continually aspire to increase their proficiency.
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