Who Said "If You Can't Do, Teach"? Teaching Is HARD
A reality check from someone juggling 200 students, three courses, and a freelance design career
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard this condescending phrase, I could probably afford to quit my jobs and live a lady of leisure. But here's the thing—I'm currently doing both, and teaching is one of the hardest challenges I’ve faced so far! I'm currently teaching three different courses to over 200 students while coordinating one of those courses, organ and maintaining my freelance design practice. And let me tell you: anyone who thinks teaching is what you do when you "can't do" has clearly never tried to manage 200 different creative visions simultaneously.
The Creative Director for 200 Different Worlds
Imagine being a creative director, but instead of overseeing a handful of projects with experienced designers, you're art directing 200 completely different projects. Each student arrives with their own aesthetic sensibilities, technical abilities, conceptual frameworks, and creative baggage. Some are natural visionaries held back by technical skills. Others are technically proficient but conceptually stuck. Many are somewhere in the messy, beautiful middle of figuring it all out.
In my freelance work, I might spend a week developing a single brand concept for one client. In teaching, I need to provide meaningful creative direction for dozens of projects in a single tutorial session. My days span an incredible creative spectrum: in the morning, I'm helping first-year students discover their visual voice through drawing and mark-making in Visual Storytelling tutorials. By afternoon, I'm coordinating third-year students as they wrestle with aligning their personal creative identity with industry standards for their portfolios. Then I'm mentoring fourth-year students through their year-long Major Design Projects—capstone works that need to demonstrate everything they've learned while breaking new creative ground.
Here's what the "can't do" crowd misses: Teaching IS doing. It's doing while simultaneously nurturing 200 different creative futures. It's being a;
🎭 Therapist ("I don't think I'm creative enough")
🔍 Critic ("This needs work, but here's exactly how")
📣 Cheerleader ("That breakthrough moment was BRILLIANT")
🚪 Industry gatekeeper ("Here's what clients actually want")
ALL AT ONCE!
My freelance work makes me a better teacher. My teaching makes me a sharper creative director and leader.
So next time someone trots out that tired old saying, remind them: Those who can do, do. Those who can do AND guide the next generation of creatives? We're basically educational superheroes with questionable coffee habits. ☕
