Teachers
What is my opinion about the instructor/instructors?
(We are not looking for general flattery. Their competence and knowledge in the field? Ability to teach? Able to listen? General behaviour? Gender perspectives? Anything, good or bad.)
Comments
Jag har sett Tom Stone under flera år som lärare och det har alltid passat honom, men han har nu landat ännu mer i rollen och kan ta ut det bästa ur deltagarna och sedan elda på lite för att sedan kliva tillbaka. Det gör mig glad att se att rollen förvaltas på ett tryggat och bra sätt som i grunden bygger på att han är där av samma anledning som deltagarna, och det är för att bli ännu bättre.
Tom, your material was very well collected and I am a big fan. The invited talks in the evenings were all very good, relevant and well-prepared. Johan, the craftsman, was also very skilled, prepared, spontaneous and a good teacher. The only workshop I was a bit disappointed by was the acting workshop. I have attended a lot of acting workshops both in English and in my own language in the recent years, even this summer participated in some where I was the only non-professional in theater. I also instructed some improv workshops a few times. That is why I think I have a fair comparison and I felt that the level of the instructor was fairly low to my expectations. It kicked of with a good warm up but then I I felt that the principles were not well delivered and also got the impression often that the instructor misunderstands some basic concepts that I have seen from many low level professional actors before. Also there was almost no feedback at all after the exercises, which is a big problem because most of the participants do this kind of stuff for the first time and how should they know or learn what is good and what is not. I thought I give you my honest opinion, besides I think Leif is a very friendly and nice person with warm heart and I am by no means judging him as a person. I only felt that the workshop he delivered was not up to my expectation.
Every instructor was well prepared and gave a valuable insight of their fields. The exercises were interesting and useful as well.
All of the teachers listened and let everyone speak and think out loud and bounce back with ideas and input. Very good teachers!
I very much like Tom’s way of teaching. He never insists that he is correct, merely that he has an opinion. He is open to discussion that varies away from the lesson plan and then able to bring it back around to the topic. He actively encourages all participants to share their views and is receptive to the ways in which people like to learn.
Tom was, as always, a great teacher. Even though he loved to participate on a personal level he always lets his students shine and helps them to date to be bad for a while. He inspires me to strive to always be better and go further than I ever thought I could. I couldn’t imagine anyone else teaching this course.
I’d like to hear women talking about women in magic, about the obstacles they encounter and how could other magicians contribute/affect the progress in diminishing these issues. We (men) rarely hear about their problems… and we need to hear them. And it shouldn’t be a voluntarily attended talk. It should be part of the main program. Those who need to hear it the most don’t feel like they do.
It was awsome. All of them are professionals in their job, and luckily they also have knowledge about training.
The teacher and the guest teachers was good because it gave a wider knowledge of the different magic styles. But I felt they were some kind of favorosism towards a cupple of the class that was given more chances to talk and performe there art.
Om jag ska vara ärlig så var jag lite nervös över att Tom höll i kursen. Jag visste mycket om honom och att han är väldigt duktig och hadde mycket spännande kunskaper och idéer. Men jag var lite nervös över att det skulle var hårt och att jag inte riktigt skulle platsa i kursen. När jag kom dit märkte jag snabbt att Tom var duktig på att skapa en tillåtande och inkluderande miljö, där det kändes helt okej att testa saker och även misslyckas.
Tom Stone is undeniably a genius. Loved learning from him! He is patient and allows the students to learn at his/her own pace, best of all, he encourages the students to create their own visions instead of Tom’s visions. That was very important to me. His special guests were also well suited for leading discussions on different subject matters that touch on the overall topic of Magic.
Tom Stone is excellent teacher of magic and life. I’m so happy that I learned all this interesting and useful things about magic. Especially I’m grateful that he gave as this comfortable atmosphere that we was ready to go out of our comfort zone voluntarily
Väldigt bra och kunniga. Känsla av att läraren favoritiserade vissa deltagare och lät vissa inte komma fram ansåg jag var negativt
Everyone was interesting to listen to. But I especially enjoyed Tom Stones tools to be creative.
Jag har rätt stor erfarenhet av Toms undervisning men i år kändes det som att han tog bort en hel del fokus från sig själv och även strömlinjeformat innehållet och hur det presenterades vilket gav oss deltagare mer tid för övningarna. Johan var en ny bekantskap men han var lugn och metodisk men missade kanske att repetera en del viktiga saker som var nya för de flesta av oss.
I love you Tom. I think you are a great teacher, but this year I was a bit disappointed you didn’t do your cups and balls as an example. But maybe it’s better on the other hand, because it’s very time consuming. At general – less trick explanations was very good decision this year. I don’t want to learn tricks on this course. About other instructors: Stahl – great speaker. Johan (prop making, I hope I didn’t forgot his name) – he was super fun guy, but he don’t know about magic props. I had fun sewing, but I left when we were doing wands again, they were worse than previous year. Simon? (the IT guy) – I left at the very start. I’m not into this kind of things at all. Leif – great, please give me more of his knowledge!
For Tom he gives clear instructions. He is a good listener as well. The one thing I have is that he still sometimes let us the students ramble on too long, eating up time. It happened significantly less then in the last course I took though. But a minor point still. Johan gave great instructions on craft. Though I feel many of us forgot to take notes when we got up to watch his instructions. The notebooks sort of got left behind, but that is more on us. Leif course I love, and I’m using so much of it in my daily practice now. The one feedback I have is that he doesn’t specify in any depth how to go on from after the course. Seeing how a lot of the exercises needs partners. I took out the ones I could do myself and used those, and found ways to do some of the partner based ones as well. But a short talk on how to take this great knowledge into your daily practice could be a bigger part of the course. Otherwise his teaching is funny and he does give a sense of how important it is for magicians. And just shortly on the guest lecturers. They where all great! Simon and Håkan are both in Sweden, so no excuse not to try and get them back at some point. Håkan you could also have make a lecture on writing comedy into magic. Sofia had a great tone on her lecture, non confrontational and with focus on shining a light on the problem rather then blaming. Sara took up something more lectures should feature. How to practice. Oh and her card tricks fried my brain.
They all gave the impression of being well suited for their job. They were good at communicating and able to teach.
Every instructor was competent in their fields. Also they were kind and very understanding.
All the instructors were visibly competent and one could tell they know their subjects inside and out. If I had to point out something I missed, it would be that in general there was little feedback on the tasks and so it was difficult to know if we had understood and applied the techniques and methods correctly.
All the instructors where generous with their knowledge and time, very respectful and extremely knowledgeable.
Mycket kompetent och har även testat de teorier som presenteras i verkligheten och sett hur de kan appliceras på ett bra sätt. Jag tycker att Tom var bra på att skapa en öppen och bekväm atmosfär så att proffs, amatörer, kvinnor, män, gamla och unga kan jobba tillsammans utan att det på nåt sätt känns konstigt eller att man tävlar mot varandra om hur bra man är. Det kände jag var en väldigt viktig sak för mig. Jag kunde gå utanför min komfortzon i många uppträdanden och göra saker jag aldrig skulle vågat innan.
Generellt så är jag mycket nöjd med nivån och kunskapen hos lärarna. Det är ett mycket smart grepp att använda den “extra” kompetens som finns i gruppen. Vad jag såg så förekom inte något tveksamt beteende från lärarhåll. Jag hade som sagt önskat att den ansvariga för hantverkskursen haft mer erfarenhet av att bygga just magiprops. Ska man ge lite mer specifik feedback så hade Leif kunnat starta sin del med att göra en kort rutin två gånger där den enda skillnaden varit “skådespeleriet”, bara för att visa hur stort genomslag det har. En annan detalj var att Simon lade väldigt mycket tid på att klicka runt i datorprogram. De redan vana fick inte ut något av det, och de ovana/rädda blev nog inte klokare. Håkans föreläsning var en mycket positiv överraskning. Viktigt med passion.
All instructors were knowledgeable, passionate about their field and excellent at conveying information. Being a woman, for once I did not feel like the “other” in a typically male-dominated field. Everyone was treated equally and with respect. The instructors knew how to let us apply our new knowledge without getting in our way. I have tried to find negative things but I honestly cannot.
Tom Stone is not only a renowned conjurer, historian, thinker, author, and teacher of magic. He is also on a quest to make magic a field in culture, equal to other performing arts, such as music, dancing, and acting. And to do so he is firmly convinced that we must strive to be as many women as men in magic. All this and he is a really good teacher/mentor of magic. Johan Danielsson was thrown in as a last minute substitute for Tim Star that had to cancel. With a very short amount of time, Johan was able to create a propmaking workshop that also had time to talk about repairs that is needed, and what to use. This was an unexpected touch that I liked. With a very hands on approach we learned the basics in leatherworks/repairs and to make our own magic wands in wood and metal. Leif Olberius is an actor, actingteacher and magician, that gave us an practical introduction to acting, with movement, bodylanguage and voice as tools. This needs to be explored further… Simon Almers is a magician that showed us the posiblilities to build our own props with technology such as “rapid prototyping” and printers that cut instead of draw. I think that rapid prototyping is a very good tool when building your own props. Very interesting seminar. Johan Ståhl is a magician and creator of Uppsala magic and comedy festival, that came to talk about doing charity work with magic.
Tom is patient, knowledgeable and giving. He is not afraid to share every technique at his disposal to further the knowledge of others. His want to improve the industry of magic ozzes out passionately through his lessons. And no time is spared on his behalf to talk, show or help others to achieve their goals during the course and indeed after. He provided an extra nightie activity for the girls to discuss and share stories that have impacted them and their careers which is essential as currently a community of female magicians have not yet founded itself in the world of magic. It’s essential that we have moments like this, opportunities to share knowledge and bring us closer as we have many years to catch up and develop our sharing to the level of male magicians in this field. He also made it quite clear throughout the week that not matter what sex we were we were all equals for this course and this worked. People tool on board what he said and applied it.
Tom, your foremost tool as a teacher is that you are you. Your modesty and your unprejudiced way helps create an open, playful and yet an inspiring and engaging atmosphere. I feel -due to my lack of experience of magic – I come in from below. You help me to feel at home with all the other students. The gender aspect is important in the field of magic – in my opinion, and you address it well. The same aspect is also good in creating a good and open learning atmosphere. A course with only male magician I believe would have been a lot more competitive than a group like ours with both men and women magicians. Johan, our crafts teacher was unbelievably good. His knowledge and ability to communicate this in an inspiring way was just so brilliant. Only disappointment – for me – was the wand making. Would have loved to make one with covered brass ones. Maybe next year?
Mycket bra.
Tom Stone är otroligt duktigt på att, som en förälder, ge oss verktyg och sedan ta ett eller två steg tillbaka och se vad som händer. Vi får göra misstag och utvecklas och detta utan att känna skam eller skräck utan Tom tar emot oss med öppna armar vad som än händer. Det är ett osynligt skyddsnät och behövligt för att vi kursdeltagare behöver för att kunna utmana oss själva och varandra. Vi är lycklig lottade att få jobba i denna atmosfär som Tom skapar tillsammans med oss i denna kurs.
Det är ingen tvekan att Tom Stone räknas bland sina kolleger runt om i världen som en av de kunnigaste inom sitt område. Det pedagogiska upplägget imponerade. När det gäller övriga lärare så blir frågan vad som skall prioriteras. Det är väldigt kort med tid så det kan alltid diskuteras hur en introduktion skall se ut.
Super gender perspectives, as I said I wish for more individual feedback maybe a 5 min. Feedback talk one on one
Both Tim and Tom were very good at explaining themselves and helping us understand the concepts. During some of the group discussions, I felt that Tom asked the same people for their opinion more than others. With a group of mixed experience, it is always easier to ask the people with the most, or the least experience their thoughts. Sometimes the people in the middle can feel a little invisible, it may be worth considering this for future workshops. On balance I felt that Tom’s moderation of discussion was very good, especially allowing the conversation to flow naturally and not imposing his views directly.
Magi för mig handlar mycket om att identifiera ett problem och sen arbeta med det på så många olika kreativa sätt som möjligt för att hitta en lösning. För det krävs mycket förkunskaper och engagemang från läraren och det har Tom. Det jag uppskattade mest med kursen var grupparbetena och tiden som gavs för att själv testa och utveckla.
Tom Stone and Tim Star are seasoned professionals with great experience in magic. And with the ability to teach it.
Tom is a person that rather ask questions or point in a direction and forcing us students to discover in the world of magic. I really liked that we the first day did not start with introducing ourself and telling our experience because that gives us labels and that’s not anything we need but instead open minded student that are hungry for knowledge and level up.
feedback discussions were very interesting and really important, but sometimes a little bit too much
Very good, inspiring and knowledgable
Mycket bra och engagerade i allt och alla.
Tom is a great teacher. He is a legend among magicians all over the world for his excessive knowledge on the theory of magic. And despite this he is very welcoming and kind. He is a great person and a great teacher. He made sure no one felt left out during the tasks and made sure everyone understood everything.