Learning to Teach
Through the Beam Center Apprenticeship Program, we train teams of NYC youth in collaborative project-making and leadership. Our Spring Apprentices are currently participating in Beam’s “Learning to Teach” instruction, which gives them a taste of what it is like to be a Project Leader and teaches them how to facilitate project-based programs for other youth.
Over the last two weeks, Apprentices taught each other how to make sandwiches. You may be thinking that's the easiest thing to teach, but it turns out that it’s not as easy as it may seem! Participants were told to give each other clear instructions through each step of the process. The goal is for each participant to successfully walk their partner through the various steps of making a sandwich, resulting in an edible finished product. Instead of simply saying "get the bread out," Apprentices learned that they will have to say, "get two pieces of bread out of the bag." If they do not give sufficiently detailed instructions the other students may take all the bread out of the bag rather than the desired two slices. As one can imagine, the process led to some funny moments!
Apprenticeship program facilitators chose the sandwich making project to help illustrate the importance of detailed instructions in project-making. After completing the Apprenticeship, participants will become Project Leaders who often work with kids from elementary and middle school. In these settings, where Project Leaders are teaching projects and skills that are unfamiliar to many, clear instructions are essential.
The “Learning to Teach” component of the Apprenticeship is also giving participants one of their first tastes of prototyping their own individual project. After teaching their peers how to make a standard peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Apprentices have been asked to design their own unique sandwiches out of a list of ingredients. Apprentices must track the amount of each ingredient they’re using, the order they add them, and any other specifics to the recipe. Once perfected, they’ll teach their unique sandwich to the group. These skills will help prepare them for the prototyping that happens in Project Leaders, where participants design roughly two semesters worth of projects for younger youth.