From my perspective, teaching is a sacred trust. Another person’s physical and mental well-being is placed in a teacher’s hands – and that is not to be taken lightly. Teaching, for me, is as much about imparting knowledge as it is about fostering growth in my students. Some students are far from home, many for the first time, and often without local support networks. I believe a teacher’s mandate is to care for the overall well-being of each student to enable them to reach their greatest potential.
My area of specialization is unique within McGill. Since 1988, I have taught Costuming for the Theatre I and II, and since 2010, The History of Costume. These courses are situated within the Drama & Theatre Program in the Department of English. When I first came to McGill in 1988 after a successful free-lance career in many of the major Canadian theatres, my mandate was to establish a Costume Shop and to develop and teach the hands-on course, Costuming for the Theatre I and II, in which students would design and create the costumes for the Fall and Winter productions of the Drama and Theatre Program presented in the Moyse Hall Theatre. I had no idea what to expect. These courses, I was told, would be open to both to all Department of English students, and to students in any other Faculty. This was uncharted territory for me. My worries were unfounded – McGill students have consistently proven their boundless enthusiasm backed up by putting in the work over and above any reasonable expectation. I believe this is because our students genuinely care about the opportunity to learn.
Here’s my own version of the secret sauce for a positive classroom experience. Many who are reading this have their own recipe. This just happens to be mine.
A key ingredient is giving students something that they can genuinely care about. Students will give much of themselves if they have agency to buy in. For me, this means involving the students in the costume design process from the beginning, starting with text analysis, developing design concepts, translating into three dimensions by making the costume from head to toe, and finally, assisting with costumes as backstage crew. The act of designing a costume becomes a completed arc from concept to actualization, and the student’s choices and actions along the way move the process forward. Students have been quite vocal in expressing how meaningful this process has been to them – not only resulting in specific skill development, but also personal growth in areas like organization, communication, team dynamics, self-confidence, and responsibility.
Clarity of expectations is essential – starting with the syllabus, moving forward to clear assignment instructions, providing examples of past work, creating specific rubrics that students can reference before starting the assignment, making space for consultation during the assignment process, and providing specific feedback after each assignment. This includes breaking assignments down into manageable chunks with milestones and providing constructive feedback at each step. This is particularly relevant with major final assignments, especially those with unusual formats – like making a costume from scratch. Effective student assignments are highly influenced by the organizational structure that the instructor puts into place. Sometimes coaching is needed to help students find a topic that they are excited by, a methodology that works for them, or a resource to help them succeed – whether it’s from my own resource collection, Rare Books, or through the Student Accessibility and Achievement Office.
I believe that creating an atmosphere of acceptance is the ingredient that enhances all else. Meeting students at their starting skill level, accepting each person for who they are without judgement, truly embracing diversity and difference. The added benefit that I had not anticipated is that I also get to be my authentic self as their instructor. Students often comment on how happy they are to have gotten to know classmates who are outside of their usual comfort zone – people they would never have considered getting to know, who have become their lifelong friends – all thanks to an open and diverse classroom.
At the end of the day, a teacher is nothing without their students. Students from different Faculties often take my classes, and their diverse backgrounds add new perspectives and skill sets to the class as a whole. Examples include a Theoretical Math major who calculated the geometry of a complex costume in order to make a sewing pattern, an Architecture student who designed a moisture capture suit for a theoretical project on the ecological effects of fashion, and a Computer Science student who incorporated animatronics into his costume project. It is precisely the fact that we are not all like-minded individuals that gives strength and agility to the team.
As my colleagues prepared the application for this award, they solicited letters from former students. All of the support from my students and colleagues is precious to me. This particular former student’s words impacted me greatly:
I can say with the hindsight of someone who has since trained extensively in pedagogy that Catherine is one of the best teachers I have ever had because she met each of her students where we were, worked with each of our individual skillsets and knowledge to guide us to achieve more than we thought we were capable of doing, encouraged us to become more independent as our skills developed, created opportunities and made space for personal growth outside of class activities, created a class culture of mutual support and pride in ourselves and in one another, and all with unflagging patience. …. Catherine’s classes were a place of joy. A place where every day was a celebration of either our own accomplishments or the accomplishments of our classmates. She created an environment in and out of class for us that made us feel like individually and as a team, we could accomplish great things. - Margaret Levy BA 91, MA 2010
When I was first invited to take up my position at McGill, I decided to stay only as long as I still felt passionate about the work. I initially expected that might be five years. Thirty-five years later, I am still passionately engaged in my work and it remains my great honour and pleasure to be part of the McGill community.