Teaching - David Gane

Imposter Syndrome

Back in 2021, when I was the Writer-in-Residence at the Regina Public Library, I was asked to speak at a writer’s conference. I remember this because one question was how to deal with imposter syndrome, and I said that I didn’t think I’ve ever had it. I

Teaching

Experience with Tools

I've noticed recently how we give students the tools to do the work, but we don't spend enough time teaching them how to use it. It can't be only a transfer of the information, but it must also be the time spent to practice with it. For example, we sometimes

Notes on Writing

Know the rule to break it

A while back had this line of dialogue come my way: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, up to you.”The line bothered me because changing this comma to a period is techincally correct, but there is an argument to leave it as a comma

Teaching

Tales End Story Cubes Nicole Donut and Learning

1I have never played RPGs (although my kids have), but Tales' End, recommended by Morgan, my TA, is intriguing. Focused on storytelling and improvisation, it can be played with up to six players, or can be done by one person as a journalling exercise. 2Since we are talking games: back

Teaching

Teach to Learn

"In learning, you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn." ― Phil CollinsNext week, I return to the (virtual) classroom to teach another semester of screenwriting. When I first started ten years ago, my goal was simple: help others avoid the fear and confusion I had experienced and give them

Personal

Change

On Monday, I had my first class and decided to open with a discussion about change. Often, I think how story is about characters managing change. They are responding to the world changing around them, or changes within themselves, or they are trying to create change in the world or

Teaching

David's Class Review -Winter 2015

My dog Bamboo supporting me in my work.Where I'm at:For the past few months, I've been teaching scriptwriting. This was my fifth time teaching the class at the university level, but also my eighth time since I began trying to help others work past the blocks they throw

Teaching

The Broken Manifesto

This is a summary of my semester, a manifesto of sorts, that was required to be presented in two classes. I thought I would share and post for my fellow students to read. To place this in context, I asked for a challenge this semester. I got it. I took

Teaching

(be productive) x (do the stuff you love)

I have been hearing the rumblings from some students about their problems with time management, so I thought I would throw some thoughts out. I am always struggling with time management and I found myself at a low-point several years back. I stumbled across Merlin Mann who was singing the

Teaching

Cause and Effect in Shots

joshwilliamsfilms: I bet you didn’t know The Dark Knight was this visually inconsistent.I push my students to think about cause and effect in their scenes and scripts. When the action we read is convoluted, we stop and go back to try and make sense of it. Yet, in

Teaching

Matt Might on Thesis Statement

The thesis statement answers the question, “What did humanity learn as a consequence of this. Matt Might

Teaching

From a student

I got this email from a student: This was a tough assignment, and one that I’ve been bitching loudly about for the past week - and perhaps loudest in these last few hours. But I did learn a lot - plenty more than I listed, of course. And there

Teaching

The Process Police

From the 52 Weeks of UX The “Process Police”, people who go around espousing their preferred process as the right way to do things…as if those who aren’t doing the process are designing complete rubbish. And it gets worse…there are folks who say “Oh yeah you’re

Teaching

The Power of Small Groups

Matt, from 37signals, quotes British author Antony Jay on the benefits of working with small groups: “The basic unit is [a group] which varies from three to twelve or fifteen in number, and perhaps optimizes somewhere around ten; that this group is bound together by a common objective, and that