Sometimes the teacher stood at the board and give us rules for making our ideas look nice. I’m beginning to think now that she might have had the best job in the world— teaching kids whatever shit she felt like— calligraphy! Shel Silverstein!— class some sort of proto-conference, she the eternal panelist that no one questioned and who taught us things I still adhere to today— outline things in permanent marker, draw little bubbles around everything, very methodically, to make them stand out. Do not draw a brick wall brick by brick (apologies to Annie Lamott)— rather, draw a square and divide it up. That one I learned the hard way.
The real gift is teaching someone to learn.