Guest Educators: Yes, please!

Hi baby Queens!! We hope you’re having an amazing Monday. It’s HOT again 🙁 Do y’all know anybody with a pool!? Pls invite us!!!! We promise, we’re a lot of fun at pool parties…
Anyway! Enough about us. We want to talk to you about one of the COOLEST aspects of getting your education at Queen Beauty Institute– Guest Educators!! We love bringing in experienced professionals in different fields to show you how THEY do it. Learning from your instructors is one thing: they’re obligated to teach you what’s in the book, which is good and necessary. However, when you learn from working professionals, they’re not obligated to follow a lesson plan or teach you the “right way” to do something. They’re truly just opening your mind to new techniques, and that’s really important when learning in the beauty industry because things are ALWAYS changing.

Queen Beauty Institute brings in Guest Educators for a variety of subjects within ALL of our programs. Our guests so far have shown us haircuts, makeup looks, polishing, nail art, hair removal, facials, wig making, hair coloring, hair braiding, etc.. Those who work in the real world everyday can give students valuable lessons about life as a working professional–allowing them to consider their future and what direction they’re moving in. Some may think that showing students many different ways of doing things can be detrimental to their learning, but there are TWO key areas to pay attention to in order to prevent overwhelming students or harming their learning process.

First up: Timing! We’re not gonna bring in a guest educator on the students’ first day of school–DUH. But we’re also not gonna wait until the last couple weeks. The trick is to not let them get toooooooooooo comfortable. Students are moldable and VERY easy to confuse, therefore it’s likely for them to cling to one way of doing something early on. We like to avoid this by bringing in a guest educator within their first two weeks. This allows for the students to learn and practice what they were taught at school, and while their practices are not yet solidified, they see another way of doing things that’s just as effective. Maybe they try out those new methods and realize they like the school’s way better, maybe they fall in love with the new method– either way, the students are learning to diversify their ways and the products they use! This is extremely important for them to understand early on to avoid getting stuck.

Next, we got Supplementation! The instructors are there to cover the basics, but most beauty industry workers do have a specialty. It’s important for guest educators to focus on their specialty. This separates their methods from the school’s methods and allows them to focus on one method or product to demonstrate. Say you went over hair coloring in school. Your teachers taught you how, you practiced on a mannequin, you feel good! Then a guest educator comes in and teaches you hair color in a completely different way, using completely different products. “But wait, don’t I do it my teacher’s way!?” We imagine this would be confusing. Now consider a scenario in which your guest educator is demonstrating their specialization– highlights! You already learned your basic hair coloring technique, and the guest is supplementing that knowledge with a new method & product that yields different results. This information won’t be overwhelming or stressful, as it’s not challenging anything that you’ve already learned. THAT is how ya do it!! Bring in professionals with a specialization to supplement the lesson plan and NOT overpower it.

Learning and teaching are both really difficult. Guest educators can make things easier AND more fun, as long as you handle them correctly! Broaden students’ horizons without overwhelming them– that is the key. And we’ve got it mastered here at Queen Beauty Institute!

We hope you have a lovely week, Queens. Stay cool!!

Toodles <3