Key Blog post One.. 27/3/2015

What are the key points? What surprising aspects have you discovered?
 
Whilst I was on placement in DACA I was surprised by a wide range of different aspects. Prior to placement I always thought I would much prefer working with the older students for the main reason that I would be able to relate to them better and I thought I would get more out of them; not only would I be able to input my own ideas and experience but I thought I could get ideas and inspiration from the students for my own area of practice. I was highly surprised when I started in the school how much I preferred being with the younger age group of the school, in particular year 7.
I personally found them more of a challenge; more receptive and they responded a lot better to me being around; and they showed me a lot more respect than the older age groups the whole time I was there. On completing the whole placement I have decided that I would like to teach year 7 POG group (the higher achieving students). The placement changed my perception of teaching the younger year groups and as result Ild like to pursue some kind of work experience in a Primary school setting so that I could really experience both job roles. 

What has strongly influenced your ideas and their development? 

As a textile student, I have strong opinions on the subject myself and try to encourage the creative practice as much as possible. I was surprised by the lack of textiles in this school and this influenced my ideas a lot more. As my passion for textiles is growing so my passion for spreading the enjoyment of the subject is growing - this area of creativity is very under represented in the school and often doesn't feature in the minds of the pupils. I would love to be able to make a small difference by encouraging their interest.
I tried to encourage all the students to think of reasons why they should consider this subject as an option and how it plays a role in every day life. I sat down with two of my peers with the textile teacher one afternoon and brainstormed new ideas that could be brought to the school to encourage greater numbers to take up Textiles. Art is a very successful and popular subject within the school with all the pupils achieving A*- C grades at both GCSE and A level. This is already a great advantage to the school and shows that their is a strong seize to learn about more creative subjects. I do feel very strongly about encouraging young people to explore the wider art subjects as a practicing textile designer. I don’t want to see art as a dying subject. Art departments currently set each of their students with the exact same task in the hope that they exceed their grades. The work produced by the majority of the students is acrylic paint based canvas and paintings, with the full understanding that the students have to practice for this. My proposal would be to deliver the complete opposite of what is currentky being delivered. By doing this I would like to bring in my own proffesion of textiles, as there isnt a lot of this in the school, I would consider doing brint work onto fabric or simple hand embrodiery techniques, ones I think they would pick up quickly, I wouldnt do anything too complicated, this would allow them to see different spesilisms within the textile world and hopefully gain interest.

Discuss any relevant and influential key figures/processes that you have explored. Provide useful links or upload relevant images to support your comments and reflections. How may these now impact upon your work and ideas? 
 
I spent a lot of my time in Mr Eplett’s class and it was very interesting to see how his teaching methods and skills differed from class to class and how each year group responded to him too. I enjoyed being a part of his classes because I felt as though I got a lot out of each day - particularly vital teaching skills. One aspect I thought was a brilliant idea was how Mr Eplett created a full sketch book of his own, with a large variety of techniques and ideas just for his students to be inspired by - if they were ever stuck with what to do, they had something to refer back too and draw inspiration from. This encouraged each of the students to bring something outstanding to their work. The students targeted for the higher marks were the students who would push themselves to try and get specific techniques into their own work. They in turn would result in top marks. By contrast the students that were not as bothered or focused and just trying to achieve a pass (by their own choice) could still have
the chance to be inspired by looking through the fabulous sketch book. The idea of the sketch book by Mr Eplett was something I did find very inspiring and would potentially like to adopt this for my own workshop for the day; I’ld like to create mini versions of the work the Year 7 pupils will be doing on the day. This would allow us to make sure the students will be getting the maximum out of the day and help me to see if everything works out the way it should do. This would provide a means of pre-empting any setbacks before the happen. This has also encouraged me to do similar sorts of things when it comes to my own work, in effect a more thoughtful approach to trying and practicing something before the real thing for better and more accurate results.
 
Identify the area(s) or process(es) you intend to explore- and why. How do they relate to your practice, and the professional context of your work?

On the last afternoon of placement we had a feedback session with Louise Klink, (the Head of the Art Department in DACA). The very first point that she wanted to put across is that we are creative thinkers, everything we think about has a creative edge. I found this very interesting because it made me look and refer back to everything I had learnt so far during this placement and how I could apply what I had learnt back into my own practice. During placement I realised a lot about the impact of being creative thinkers and I noticed little things for example how I notice and pay more attention to anything artistic around me. Photography played a massive part in this and I picked up on myself taking photos of everything I see that has a creative reference of me. I find that I can always refer back to the photographs as being artistically beautiful, and there are many areas and processes that I would like to explore whilst doing the workshop. Louise gave us ideas from past workshops that had been done such as making a film, an E-book, a variety of blogs, and to take a large number of photographs of the day. The key aspect from the day is for the students to achieve a large volume of work in a short space of time; to provide an extraordinarily different day from the norm and to have a lot of fun in addition to all the hard work. There are many areas we have carefully identified for the workshop that will allow us to reflect back on with our own professions in mind. One example of this is the different kind of media that we are very excited to be using.
 
Reflect and discuss a key discovery/interest (whether these are materials process or context led) and discuss within a professional aspect.

I found it a very surprising discovery that I really enjoyed teaching the younger years. I have enjoyed all the processes so far and the general context of being a teacher. This would most definitely be a profession that I would consider entering. All the physical work we are doing for the workshop has provided learning opportunities for myself with many new and different processes that I can use back at University. In addition, other job professions I would consider researching would be that of a Pattern Surface Designer, a Buyer, a Photographer or a general Textile Designer. The reason for these choices is that they have each played some part within the school or of the workshop. Having enjoyed or learnt a great deal so far in Unit X, I am confident in finding a profession over the next couple of months that I would like to pursue.

 

The picture above is of some of the techniques that Mr Eplett had included in his skecth book for the students.

Talk from the Headteacher of special needs school.. 26/3/2015

Today we had the opportunity to recieve a talk from a Head Teacher of a Special Needs School.

As I had never done any type of work experience in a school before Unit X, or ever really worked with any kind of special needs people, this was an opportunity I was definatley going to be a part off, it was a very intruiging experience as it allowed me to understand another kind of industry I could go down, a whole new yet different kind of role I could concider for the future. There was a clear point being put accross by how exactly the procceses would be different if I was to go down this chosen profession.  
The 'rough' percentages regarding the amount of people in our near region who have special needs was quite shocking, but still came as a massive suprise to me. Learning that one fifth of the population have a generic form of special needs really surprised me, as I already knew special needs isnt only branded as how a person may look but the brain of an individual too, it was also made very clear that there would be a very high chance that if I were to become a teacher in this proffesion, I would more than likely have a child with special needs in atleast one of my classes.

When working with students with a learning disability, there are a number of factors you have to consider, not particularly challenging, but essential for success. When teaching a new skill, repetition will often be needed for the child to grasp the concept of what exactly is going on and to take it in properly and accuratley. This repetition process is also essential because they do not tend to generalise the skills they are taught as effectively as you may think, you could have to explain something several times, you may think they understand something, when in matter of fact, they could still get it wrong until they have had a numerous time to practice,This therefore does require the teaching of the specific skills.
During the talk, the Head Teacher did highlight how important it is to keep the context of the learning age very specific. For example if working with teenagers or adults, the topic must be something that a person of the same age without any learning disabilities would enjoy learning about, but on a simpler scale, this is something that can often be misconstrued or misunderstood, and therefore does not capture their full interest.

After listening to the talk, and hearing personal experiences that he has had in the past with students with special needs himself , I do feel that I would have to experience teaching in this particular enviroment first so I could see exactly what it would be like, and if that kind of teaching style is right for me. As I have my own experiences with my younger sibling I know exactly how hard school and education can be, and how important it really is, this would definatly be a proffesion I would concider as the feeling of helping someone still applies at all times but in my own personal opinion in a much more rewarding and appreciatvive way.  

Whilst this talk was going on, we were asked to play with Play Doh instead of taking notes. This was to test a different way of listening to the speaker, to test how much we take in whilst being occupied with something else.It was very interesting when we spoke about the session afterwards how different some of our reactions and opinions were to the exercise.
For me it was too distracting, I found it very difficult to actaully take in the information I was being told as silly as it sounds I was just enjoying playing with this tiny piece of play doh,

Although the worksheet that we got given about the lecture will be useful to refer back to as it did contain a lot of important information regarding teaching techniques necessary when working with children with special needs, my own notes and scribbles are always a great help for me when it comes to blogging or just expessing my won opinion about something. Note taking is something I seem to always enjoy however I am aware that other people work differently, and this therefore should be something we consider when both planning and delivering our workshop, to ensure we are all understaning not only each other but what we are doing.

Day six.. 25/3/2015

Today I started off by spending all morning working with a very large year eight class, this worked by breaking up the two hour and forty minute lesson into two half's. Half the time was split up by working one to one with an individual student, and the other half of my time was spent working with the whole class, to insure that the whole class was engaged ever twenty minutes I stopped the lesson and with the help from my fellow peers, we thought of a number of different games and quizzes involving each student and including topics about textiles so that we could see if the children were understanding the textile terms as we were going along, this aloud us to see who was struggling and were, and what topics needed to be touched on a little bit more, by bringing fun tasks into the lesson the children really enjoyed the lesson a lot more, this way they are more likely to want to carry on with textiles as they will have a positive opinion and not a negative one. We had positive feedback after the lesson took place, this was so encouraging for us, and a positive step in the right direction. Breaking the lesson up by not only talking to the class and getting them involved but playing a number of games to ensure that they have understood specific tasks is something that I would personally like to carry with me to the all day workshop we are building up for, a brilliant example I felt really worked from today was hangman, by choosing one key word at a time about the current lesson, and going around in a circle of the pupils so they all had to participate in the game allowed them to still be learning but also to have fun this was something I felt was vital for this school. During this lesson the class were continuing to work on there eight week rotation, for this project they were designing and making tie dye pull spring bags, each with there own personal felt applique of topics of there own choice. In this lesson it was all about mixing up the dye and working with the class on colour choices they might want for there bags and the patterns that they would like the bag to have, the second part of the lesson was drawing up there applique and getting that ready for the to add to there bags next lesson, I really enjoyed this morning as it was the most involved that I felt personally, I loved the hands on approach and the continuous busy lessons, this is much what I prefered especially working with the younger pupils of the school, this finalised the decision for me of what age groups I would like to teach on the day of the workshop.

The picture above is an example of a sample of red tye dye that had been designed in todays lesson, some of the samples were really experimented on, most alot more than this one, they might have varied the pattern or used more colours, but the reason why I chose to photograph this one was because I loved how well the colours blend togeteher, not only this but the story behind it is from a little boy who supports liverpool, he is basing his bag on his favourite football team, he has carefully thought through the colour processs, and done a clear link towards his project,  having a clear thought process within my work in univercity is vital for me and appreciated that this student was already at that stage without him even realsing.

Day five.. 24/3/2015

This morning I was with a year 10 GCSE class working one to one with a boy. He had to create two sculpture pieces as his final models to show in his end of year exhibition, running alongside of his art work had to be a 40 page development sketch book full of artist research, mark making and drawing work, initial ideas and final ideas all leading up to his final piece, I found this particular structure plan very interesting as it was so different to when I was in school doing my own GCSE’S, I felt it was such a little amount of work to have to complete and was shocked by the whole of the class and there little amount of interest with what they were doing even them not having much, I explained how I had double maybe even triple the amount of work that they have to do as well as no structure plan like they have, they couldn’t believe it, this made me think again about my own workshop and how the whole day is going to have to be structured from start to finish, as they aren’t used to being left free, this goes for all years, and is going to have to be something I seriously consider when I’m teaching for my assessment as I really want all the students as well as myself to get the most out of the day as well as the day running as smoothly as possible no matter what year group I get set to work with.  

   

The picture above is one of the sculptures I helped paint during this mornings double lesson, The broken ketchup bottle is focused on the artist Andy Warhol, using the colours and style of print/painting that he uses together we mixed up the right shades and tones and finished of this piece of work. It was a great feeling helping someone out, knowing that I was making a positive impact on what grade the student would receive at the end of his project.   

This afternoon consisted of being in the textile room, the first part of the afternoon was with two A level textile girls preparing for their upcoming exam, this is a real concern of mine, I don’t feel that this subject is getting pushed as a single subject enough and is just coming under the department of technology and not many students are even remember you can opt to choose it as a GCSE subject, because of this they then are forgetting completely about A level, other subjects could be getting put in front of it and classed as more important, it’s not being offered or spoke about enough. Another problem for the textile department that I have picked up on is space and time of staff, again from this lesson I noticed the great amount of structure for the two A level students, it got me thinking that for my own workshop I would like to teach the students more textile techniques so that new ideas are being introduced to the school, this then might change the percentage of students who want to do this subject. Here I was able to discuss textiles and the new project challenges we could bring to the school, with the challenge of developing the textile part of the school, this was something I really enjoyed as I felt a massive part of something, my opinion really mattered and was properly being taken into consideration.

The last part of today was a lesson with a year seven class who were making sock monsters, this wasn't something I had ever done before, I really enjoyed working one to one with a little girl, putting my very own skills of embroidery to use, I loved helping her make the best sock monster, teaching her new simple applique ideas, she was able to apply them to her work and would be something she could use again in future projects. Together we came up with a plan of what she was going to do for the rest of her textile project including paper and design work, as well as adding cute little extras to her monster such as a dress, shoes and maybe even a cute little string wig of some kind, she was exited to use the ideas I told her and continue with the project in her following next four weeks. (The picture below is a representation of me and my students sock monster.) 

Day four.. 23/3/2015

This morning’s two lessons were two double year seven classes, it was the first day of a brand new eight week project for both the classes, the focus of this project was going to be ‘Zoomorphia’ meaning the merge between an animal and a human, I was very impressed that both classes were able to use there unitive to guess what this word meant and what the new focus of their study’s would be based on. As I hadn’t ever heard of this word or done any of my own projects on this topic I found it interesting myself, as I was also learning something new, a perfect example of something mythological that this could be, is ‘The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ with their fictional character of ‘Mr Tumnus’ the half human, half foul creature. The focus of their topic is going to be drawing based, and have sculptured final pieces all focused on Zoomorphia. The artist that they would be focusing on is Melody Ellis.

The second year seven class I was a part of this morning was a lot more rowdy and unsettled then the first class, I was able to point this out straight away as the lesson was straight after their morning break, they came running into the class and were being very disruptive from the start. To keep the pupils engaged during the lesson, I liked how Mr Eplett got every table involved when he was doing a demonstration not only by bribing them with points when the students did something well but he also got some of the students to do live tasks in front of their peers, by putting them on the spot it didn’t only build up their confidence and got them used to talking out load about something but they became more involved which meant they were focusing on their topic more. He did a set of three timed tasks where they had to draw animal faces in so many minutes, I felt this was a brilliant task as they started to understand how to use their time wisely and not waste a single second, they all left realising you can do a lot in a short space of time this was a brilliant example of time management for when it came to their homework task. Mr Eplett also got them out of there comfort zone by randomly picking out students to go to the front of the class to do demonstrations, a brilliant example of this was two tasks, a starter task were they had to figure out where the human eyes sit on our own heads as well as during a full structure to our faces, if the chosen child didn’t quiet grasp it the first time, they had to do it again and again until it was spot on. If I was to do anything like this in my own lessons or workshop, I would consider choosing and using a number of different students to do the one task because I didn’t feel it was very fair to have the spotlight and focus on that one child, by doing each of these tasks he got all the students watching and wanting to work fast because they all knew if they did well they would get points, the rowdiness from the lesson soon calmed down when the lesson became energetic and had a focus on something else other than what they had done at break, it was very far from boring.

The final part of my day was with GCSE and A level students in both fine art lessons and textiles, Something I found interesting today was Mr Eplett creating his own sketch book entirely for the higher education lessons full of many techniques the students can relate back too and be inspired by, I thought this was a brilliant idea, and such a thoughtful thing to do, This would defiantly be something I would like to follow in the same footsteps of, as I love the idea of taking my own work with me to workshops, exhibitions, galleries/museums, work experience opportunity’s etc.. to show to other practitioners and artists my very own work, not only to get my work out there and seen but for the rewarding feeling of artist eyes being inspired by my own work, as I was very inspired by some of Mr Epletts work, even just the idea of the sketch book. By giving the students something to see and something new to try, this is exactly what I would like to bring into my workshop after Easter.     

The only negative problem I found with these lessons is the teachers time managing, he ran out of time during both lessons, I think he could improve this by not doing too many stop, starting demonstrations and having more time of the task that needs to be completed during the students one hour and twenty lessons, this is something I’ve noticed happening in all the lessons around the school.         

Manchester Art Gallery- 19/3/15

Manchester Art Gallery is all about the visual arts and how they teach but a different kind of teaching as to what school teaching is like.
They are passionate about education and art  gallery education, thinking about exactly what education means to them? it being a life long type of education..
Learning team go by Learning is important
- schools/colleges/univercitys
-familys (all ages)
-communities
-volenteers (learning)
-health and well being (the essence, connecting with ourselves)
Gallery Exhibition..

how are we going to reverse the negative reports of art and creativity ?
(look up AQA- the examining board)

STARTER TASK, A NUMBER OF WARM UP QUESTIONS..
EXAMPLE-  ARE YOU IN OR OUT?
                    UP OR DOWN?
                    GREY OR GREEN?
                     CITY OR COUNTRY?
THE LIST GOES ON..
This got us up moving around, we had the chance to express our opinions even if we weren't asked personally.

LOOKING AT ONE PIECE OF WORK
-YOU CHOOSE A LINE
-FOLLOW THE LINE
-THE LIGHT AND THE DARK SIMILARITY
-FIND SOMETHING IN THE PAINTING THAT YOU THINK NO ONE ELSE HAS SEEN
You can change the pace of this task, give people enough time to take something in, everyone has there own opinion.
Dont over push anyone
coloured pens are a great way to do any kind of activity....
organisation is very important....
group work expresses different opinions
quick tasks help reduce pressure

CHOOSE WORDS IN A GROUP TASK THAT REFLECT ON THE PAINTING
(SPIDER DIAGRAM FORM)  
TO FINISH OF MAKE A SENTENCE FROM THE BEST WORDS

GETTING US TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING (FOCUS)
A PAINTING IN THE WEST OF THE ROOM,
SALFORD, MANCHESTER, THIS PAINTING COULD BE ANYWERE?
-DULL, POLOUTION, ISSOLATED, RUN DOWN, NOBODY THERE, HARD PLACE TO LIVE, DIFFICULT, NO POTENTIAL, DEPRESSING, NO LIFE, NO HOPE, COLD, WINTERY, INDUSTRIAL WASTELAND, SMALL, NOTHING THERE,
THEN WE HAD TO DRAW FROM THE WORDS DESCRIBING THE PAINTING,
EVERYONES PICTURE MAPS WERE DIFFERENT BECAUSE WE ALL GOT A DIFFERENT PAINTING IN A DIFFERNT LOCATION
INTERESTING WHEN WE PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER

THE IDEA OF GOING AROUND IN A CIRCLE THROWING WORDS OUT ABOUT THE IRELAND
BUILD UP A PICTURE TO SELL THE IRELAND
(AN ENERGY TASK, A GOOD WAY TO END A LESSON)

The best thing to do is one or two activities well and dont overload with too many.
have a good range of things that get included to always keep the teacher involved (for the case of kids being naughty for a number of reasons) and to have no expectations for anything.

Teaching, Education and goverment policies on schools..

The difference between a teacher and an assistance teacher..
not to brand childrean as naughty/bad or good
the school on paper looks like its outstanding, but really in the lessons its the very opposite, (too over crouded)
* enrollment- too many pupils, DACA is having to turn children away
* there getting all the best grades (because the teachers are giving all the year groups set tasks that are all exactly the same)- there not being individuals (artists)
* the government and the idea we need to vote..
some parties wanting to stop art as a lesson alltogether, big gaps for the pupils that students arent doing art for years..
(this affecting job roles? and the students themselves, there loosing vital skills)

Finland inparticular (and some Skandanavian countries) have changed there cirriculem so teaching is very differnet over there now.
is this a social aspect?
the idea of pupils spending more time with there teachers, than what they do with there own families?
school times have longer days?
do teachers need more respect?
do they need to be paid more?


BBC Politics.com

'Not surprising few head teachers are backing any political party. Education is hugely important but all too often is used as a political tool.
I remember toying with the idea of going into teaching but upon my viewpoint nearly 20 years ago was that teaching had become more of a managerial post following a set national rule thus stifling individuality.
Upon speaking with teachers as I do regularly the red tape has got progressively worse in those 20 years.
'http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/apr/24/headteachers-parties-education-policies-school-labour-tories-lib-dems#comments
 

'I'm coming to the end of my second year as a (part time) teacher. I love my job, and really enjoy interacting with my students and passing on the knowledge that I've gained over my working life. What I don't like is the constant politically-inspired interference that gets in the way of getting the job done. This year, for example, we were told that we had to embed English and Maths into everything we teach, to keep OFSTED happy. For myself the Maths wasn't a problem, as there's plenty of opportunities to use that subject naturally in what I teach, but it's been a massive struggle to shoehorn English in there.


I've been told recently that, next academic year, we'll be expected to 'promote British values' in our lessons . . .'

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/apr/24/headteachers-parties-education-policies-school-labour-tories-lib-dems#comments

These two quotes are of some people commenting on the governments influence on education. It is clear that some people are not very happy with what has been going on in recent years and that it is and will be an on going battle for many years. Whether what they are doing is right or wrong it is of deep influence of peoples decision to which political party they will support, more schools in England are to be taken out of local council control and given new leadership as academies, under powers to be outlined in the Queen's Speech.


The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, says schools classed as "coasting" will face quicker direct intervention by the government.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Ms Morgan said where schools do not have a plan to help students progress, the government would intervene.

When voting for a new Prime Minister in this upcoming election, it is very important to not only consider what effect this will have on me today, and within the next year or two but also to consider what new government legislations may be in place when I leave university, and perhaps decide to become a teacher.

After researching the Conservatives manifesto from 2010, and seeing the changes that Michael Gove has implemented in this reign of power, this governments education sector has acted extremely fast, and has attempted to achieve a large amount in 5 years. It is common for an education sector to attempt to change a factor in the current system, however, Gove 'has upended the English examination system and curriculum as well as radically altering how England's schools are administered.' (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/15/michael-gove-controversial-influential-education-secretary)
Attempting to achieve so much in so little time has left Michael Gove a rather unpopular man with head teachers, teachers, and student unions. Although the work he was trying to achieve may have made sense on paper, the effect that it had on the schools themselves was incredible considering the amount he was attempted to change in such little time.
Experiencing the high school at a time that may have been affected by the changes by Gove is quite a shame, with the curriculum altered and made more challenging. It did feel as though the school was quite simply trying to attain the grades, meanwhile hindering the students ability to explore their creativity. However, as we've always been told throughout this unit, expect the unexpected. Perhaps it was a good thing for us to see this school whilst it is still building itself against the new strict regulations as this may be something I have to face in the future.

When reading through the main parties manifesto's for this years election, there are a range of powerful claims made by the politians on reforming the educative system.

Conservatives:

-Protect school funding per pupil

-Create at least a further 500 free schools in England by 2020

-Zero tolerance for failure – immediate support to turn around failing or coasting schools

-30 hours free childcare for working parents of 3&4-year-olds

Labour:

-Protect education budget for 0-19 year olds so it rises in line with inflation

-Cut university tuition fees to £6,000 a year

-Ensure all primary schools guarantee access to childcare from 8am to 6pm

-Cap class sizes at 30 for 5, 6 and 7 year-olds

Lim Dems:

-Guarantee qualified teachers, a core curriculum and sex education in all state schools

-Ringfence the education budget for 2-19 year olds

-A strategy to end child illiteracy by 2025

-15hrs a week free childcare from the end of paid parental leave

(All taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/manifesto-guide)

Every year, new claims are made by politicians to promise certain requirements, however often they are not met or ignored after the party comes into power, which is something that should always be considered, and be wary of when voting. It has already been suggested that although the parties are promising the education budget shall not be sacrificed, it will need to be by whoever is in government over the next 5 years ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32062578 .) This will have a very real affect on schools and the pupils learning- and I will feel this effect if I decided to go into teaching. Having cuts in the budget will affect my salary, pension, and the working conditions in schools. These issues have been heavily disputed over the past few years, causing different unions to hold strikes within schools to fight against these cuts. This is the reality that I may have to face if I decide to go into this profession.

Working in the public sector can be a massive plus as it will always guarentee jobs throughout the world, and is a job in which you are able to work your way up into. However it is also a career that is constantly under the scrutiny of not only the parents of the children you teach, but the govenment themselves, ensuring the job is being completed to the highest ability. It is very important to be aware of this when considering the job.

Shadowing a student for the day.. 18/3/2015

My third day into my Placement at Darwen Academy, today was the first day, I really felt it would be my time to shine and show not only the teachers of the school, but the pupils and my tutors as well exactly what I could bring to this industry.

I started the day by going into a year 11 GCSE resit science lesson, there was only a handful of students in the classroom as the other members of their year group had probably passed the exam first time around. After the students had there recap introduction for a specific topic they then split up into different groups to undertake the task that had been set. The groups that they took themselves off into depended entirely on what kind of learner they were, an example of this was a ‘Kinaesthetic learner’ this type of learner finds that they learn best by doing or making, in another term having a really hands on approach to their work, in this lesson, the Kinaesthetic learners went off into their own groups to produce some posters as this is the best way they can absorb the information, whilst other pupils were copying down questions into their books and answering questions in a much more formal way as maybe you would just presume a lesson would be. I thought that this was a brilliant way to structure a lesson because it shows that the teachers are taking notice of every student and understanding we all have different ways of learning, this wasn’t something I had the chance to do in school and could be a reason as to why I struggled more academically.   

  The second lesson I attended was a year 9 set one science lesson, they started their time by completing a number of worksheets relating to a topic that they had been working on for the last six weeks, as this lesson was a double one, but was broken up by their morning break in between, to keep the students engaged on the topic that they were learning about, the teacher came up with a brilliant structure to the lesson, that at the end they would do a class quiz with a prize for the winner, this really made all the students in the class want to take part ad they all wanted to win the chocolate, not only did they want to do well so they would win, and compete against each other, but they were also gaining the right knowledge by answering all the questions correctly, this meant that they would have a very high chance of passing there mini assessment that they have to take part in at the end of every topic, by doing this it allows the teacher to clearly spot who is achieving and who is under achieving. 

The last two lessons that I took part in was a year 8 set one double maths lesson, for the first lesson there teacher wasn’t there, so a supply teacher covered, the very first thing that I noticed about this class was that there was a lot of them, by what I counted 33 pupils were far too many, I do feel like this class could be split up into two, so that more one to one teacher time was available, It was clear to pick up that the disruptive children were sat at the front of the class were as the more focused ones were at the back, the class was very noisy and a lot going on, the volume and the atmosphere was not only a great put off for the more focused children but myself and the supply teacher too, in my opinion this was very unfair and not very well thought about. After lunch when the maths teacher came back the difference of the class was mind blowing, everyone was so much more focused and less reactive to anything else that was going on, this was really interesting to see, and got me thinming as to why this could have happened. One of the main reasons as to why I belive this could have happened is stereotypically supply teachers usually dont have the same amount of respect as what the actual subject tecaher does, this could be due to how strict and firm the tecaher is with the class on a lesson basis and how much time is spent with them during the week, this gave me a lot to reflect on and key points I knew I was going to have to think about when it comes to me doing my workshop in a few weeks time.  

Day Two.. 17/3/2015

The first task I was a part of this morning was with a year 10 GCSE pupil who was at the end of finishing her mock exam unit. She had to complete a sketch book of all her development work, and two A2 sized paintings as a final piece relating back to her artist work and own photographs. She was a very quiet pupil and had the first impression that she was going to be a very timid character, I tried to give her help and advice on how she could finish of her project nicely, even though I did feel she was listening to what I had to say, I didn’t believe she was fully engaged with what I had to say. This was a challenge I hadn’t faced before but in the end did feel confident I had given her more ideas so that she could finalise her project by the end of this week ready to submit, knowing I had helped someone gave me a massive boost for the rest of this project.
This image below is one of her finished paintings that we did together, we worked into the painting with darker tones, making sure we were blending the colours more, just as her chosen artist was doing, we then went over the top of the painting with a fine liner to define a lot of the areas to give it a lot more detail.

The middle part of today I was with a double lesson of a year 10 GCSE photography class, a lot different to anything I had experienced before, I felt very negative after leaving the lesson and left feeling that I wasn’t much help at all , I felt nothing but in the way and had a very awkward vibe, from both students and teachers, after a number of times of walking around the classroom asking pupils if they were okay, needed help, or was just asking general questions about their projects I decided to give up and take myself to another classroom. I was confused with the environment of the photography classroom, as it was supposed to be a mock exam, a practice for their real one, with no talking and nothing but focus so that they could finish their work, instead I found the classroom full of energy and a lot of disruption, I felt a lot of help was needed of the one teacher, the main reason as to why I felt like I wasn’t being much use there, This surprised me anyway to start with as I didn’t think you were even allowed so much help during a mock exam.   

The last double lesson I was in today was a year 7 lesson, a very bubbly environment, a lot different to my previous experience this was the lesson that I found myself enjoying the most so far out of everything, not only were they doing arts and crafts which was something I personally enjoy, I felt very useful to both the younger pupils and the teacher, making and doing is the best way that I personally learn,  meaning it was great to see other people learning in the same way as I know best.
Building strong connections with the pupils, allowed my confidence to build from what had happened earlier on today, knowing that I was not only helping them complete a task and to a high standard, but becoming an impact to the children as well was a lovely feeling, as they were remembering my name and asking when I was next coming back, them warming to me was encouraging me to warm to my new environment, opening new doors as a brand new career plan. This helped me to start thinking about what age group I would prefer to teach, as todays challenges were becoming very clear to me. I was leaning much towards the younger ages rather than the older year groups.

Day one in Daca.. 16/3/2015

Today was the first day at my Placement in Darwen (DACA Academy).
I started off the day by having two year seven classes, what I thought would be a very challenging morning, and a task that would have to be very hands on, turned out to be a success, still very busy, I was faced with a whole range of pupils, each with a different way to how they learn better this gave me the opportunity to be involved in a brilliant lesson that the teacher had planned for them. I had an extreme positive approach towards this as I felt I was really able to help the pupils in a number of ways during their lessons.

Whilst wondering around that particular classroom that I was working in, I picked up on some very encouraging ideas, a particular strategy was used where the teacher gave the pupils a star and a wish symbol at the end of each lesson, the star had to be a positive suggestion or something that they think has gone well for them, the wish symbol had to be something that needed to be improved on.

Year 7 were also able to be given a number of ticks if they had done something for them to stand out to the teacher, this chart built up, meaning the table with the least amount of marks faced a small punishment such as tidying up the whole classroom after everyone, this meaning that the pupils were really enthusiastic to do well, as this was something they didn’t want to do.

Both homework tasks and tasks they had to undertake during their lesson time were all considered very important, as they were constantly reminded of grades they were on and targets etc that they needed to reach, this also gave the majority of the pupils a very encouraging approach to be focused with their art work, and try build up some understanding of what life would be like if they were to opt for this subject for their GCSE’s.

I liked how each lesson had been split up into sections and didn’t just remain the same throughout the time they were there, I could see that this strategy had been done for the year 7 pupils so that they stayed focused and there concentration didn’t wander off. The lesson started off with an Introduction, where the teacher asked a number of quick questions to refresh their memory, they then continued with the tasks that they had been previously set followed by a small assessment of their grade they were on at the point of their little projects giving them some idea of how they are doing and what targets they need to be working towards. Once every year, every class is also encouraged to put on what is called a ‘Commendation Assembly’ were they present there practical work that they have been working on to their teachers, parents and governors, this a task to really build on their confidence skills.  

For the last part of today myself and one of my fellow peers were assigned to work in pairs with a year 12 AS pupil who was near to finishing her mock exam unit. After flicking through her sketchbook and seeing what her final piece was all about, me and my friend came together with a list of things she could add into her work, including a range of new techniques and more artist ideas and research that she could add into her project. We came up with a brilliant plan ranging from every aspect of art to hit every learning outcome, this would finish her work off nicely, and give her another two options and ideas for her project, leading up to her main one the year after.

After sitting down with her again on a number of occasions both before putting a plan together and after, me and my peer found the girl was very quiet to start off with, this ended up giving us very negative thoughts, she wasn’t really willing to listen, and was barley communicating with either of us, this bought to mind all the different kinds of challenges we were going to face during our time at Daca.

Week one.. What I missed whilst I was in New York- Catchup..

Todays session we looked at planning a workshop making bunting. Today we had to plan a workshop to create bunting our mind map is below we made for our plan.

After we had planned our workshop Claire then asked us if we were running our workshop and babies up to 18 months came in what would we do to facilitate this? Our plan is below.

I chose this option because I did not know whether I wanted to be a teacher or not so I thought by doing tis it will help me figure out for when I graduate what I want to do.

ART THEREPY!

Listening to the lecture this afternoon I have realised that I made the right decision and it will really help guide me in the right direction for my future.

Today’s session has been focused on art therapy and how you can use art to emotionally engaged, communicate and as a form of therapy especially with children and adolescents. We have done a simple exercise that, Avril, our lecturer, uses herself with her clients. We drew a sun, a moon, a tree and something we liked. The image of all our drawings is below. We then discussed how different they all were and how are minds see things in different lights.

 

The profession started in the 1940's and has developed since then mainly working with children who have suffered from trauma, psychological problems or disabilities. The reason art therapy is recommended for children is because sometimes undergoing verbal therapy can re-traumatise children and further the damage. Children respond so well to art therapy because they sometimes don’t understand or know how to verbally address problems making it easier to draw their feelings. A child or adolescent doesn’t always express their feeling straight away so a number of sessions would be required. For instance, Avril, told us about an situation she came across when she was having an art therapy session with a group of young offenders. She ask the group to draw something they didn’t like and he drew a fish, he then told her he didn’t like fish in general which to anyone is an interesting statement. After another session he told Avril that he didn’t like fish because his Dad always used to go fishing and not take him.

These sessions helped that boy address what he didn’t like, he may never have addressed this verbally and this is what I find interesting with Art therapy. After this lecture I feelI really want to look into doing art therapy as a profession and looking into it with more depth.

 

New York Insperation..

New York was one of the most amazing experiences ive ever had. Ive never gained so much insperation from one place before, by just going off into the dream city and exploring gave me the chance to see so many things, I know I never would have seen other wise.

 

The above two pictures are from a window display I found in Chelsea, 'New York' when we wondered down to this part of the city, it was a fasion and intior shop in Chelsea Markets, I was inparticulary drawn in by the bright and vibrant colours of yarn and how they were being displayed in the window of this shop, I love how creative both displays were, and how they gave me two completley different ways on how to display some of my own work when I need to mount and display more of my own work in the future. I loved how everything in the markets was home made and very well thought of to suit there customers requirments of that particular area, I also picked up on there brilliant use of space and how every shop and display arranged there work in the space that they were each allocated.     

 

 

The picture above is of ten individual metal sculptures focusing on the heads of 'creatures' the molds are focusing directly on the nose of the monsters, each one of them are all very different. Out of everything I saw in this museum, this piece of art work stood out for me the most as it was something I had never seen anything like before.
The key reason as to why I wrote this post is because I saw colour everywhere in new york city,  colour drew me in everywhere, from the buildings, to the famous sky line, to the breath taking art work everywhere, the whole experience dazzled me off my feet, now I have completed this unit, I have decided to come back to this first post and re visit what it all meant to me, in one word, colour, the beauty of colour around the whole world, the message we wanted to portray to the children in Daca is what I discovered on this trip, the world is a beautiful place and full of colour.

New York Evaluation

“IF I CAN MAKE IT HERE, I CAN MAKE IT ANYWERE”

As a part of second year, I was offered an amazing opportunity to go to New York City.    Been given the most incredible experience of a life time meant, me and my friends had a number of organized archives to attend as well as being let loose on our own in the big apple. It was vital I worked hard as well as play hard so we got the most out of the trip. I strongly believe in ‘If I can make it here, I can make it any were’ my goal and aspiration is always to aim high and to always do my absolute best in every challenge that I face.
We each got assigned three studio visits whist we were away, all relating to our own personal practice back at home, my three assigned studio visits were 'The Rug Company', 'Maraharam' and 'Flavoured Paper.'

The Rug Company is a weaving studio that designed and hand weaved/knotted some of the most amazing rugs I had ever seen in my creative experiences. They design there rugs by inspiration of both their own and collaborations with artists/designs too. Customers both famous and non go into The Rug Company and are able to have any rug however they like, it then gets tailored made for them personally. The rugs are the ideal finish to their homes or to custom a specific event, the rugs are made by the best yarns available and then are sold for the best prices. This was a brilliant experience for me and left me walking away just wanting to make a rug of my own,  I was so incredibly inspired by all the artist/designers suggestions they gave to each of us too that I couldn’t wait to go away and get back to my own work, it was really encouraging for me to see what direction exactly my practice could follow in the same direction as.

Maraharam is another weaving based company situated in the heart of New York City, 100 years this company has been going for and is still standing  strong today, known for its amazing costume work on Broadway Maraharam is so proud of their company as they still keep getting bigger, as they don't only focus on interior but fashion too working alongside so many amazing designers using all different techniques such as print, embroidery, knit, but still keep their focus around weave, there work varies in price as they don't always use the same components and materials, there work gets produced in Asia and focuses on many topics for their work depending on the collaboration designer.

Flavoured Paper is a print based design company located in Brooklyn, the company moved to their new location in Brooklyn from New Orleans six years ago, they focus on digital colour, pattern and texture, they do everything by hand which makes their work so unique. They don't chase the market they like to scrounge for new materials and ideas and do their own thing, they believe in the customers coming to them. something that really stood out for me from this visit was a batch of wall paper that was there current project, based all around fruit, they were able to get the rolls of wall paper they were working on to even smell of bananas, the smell was lingering the air making this place so exiting and an encouraging/ inspirational place to work.

What have you learnt from the visit(s)/exhibition(s)?

Out of the three visits that I visited, the one I got the most from was 'The Rug Company' as they were a complete weaving organisation, based but included a bit of embroidery, a specialism I also have a great passion for, but also as this specific company gave the best talk and described themselves in the clearest way.

light is a big deal for rugs within their company, but this could also be a big thing for my own work, lighting helps to see anything in many different ways, a rug held in a dark light would look different held in a brighter light, this could refer back to any of my own work too.

Paul Noble, Helen Marie,Nisha Crossman, Paul Smith, Alexander Mcqueen, Matthew Williamson, Jiles Deecon, Ffiona Kuran are all practicing designers the company work with, alongside their ideas to make the best designs for the finishing project, Ffiona Kuran in an ex MMU student this gave me inspiration and encouragement that no matter how hard things can get whilst doing a degree, hard work pays off and you can go far by doing an art degree.

Within the company, they can change the colour, the design, scale and sizing for any rug so the wants and needs of their customers are all reached successfully.

How does this relate to your own practice?

Each exhibition that not only did we have the chance to visit but ones that were available for us to be a part of, to see what each company did could all relate back to each and every practice with in the textile world, one way or another, in my own specific example The rug company could relate back to my own practice as I'm specializing in weave and there work was hand woven ‘knotted rugs of all shapes and sizes, many of these techniques and processes are what I have learnt during my time in university and are some of my favourite skills to create my own samples, not only for the more technical and practical work, but some of the designers and practicing artists that the rug company are inspired by or work with are also who I have looked at myself in past personal projects, this gave me a massive boost in the right direction, after being given three booklets and handouts from the company I just wanted to go away and continue with my own practice, I’ve also set myself a challenge along with the step by step guide to try and make a little rug of my own for my summer project.

Has it made you think differently about how you approach your practice?

Yes, it has made me realize that anything within the design world is possible, I love the idea that nothing is impossible and everything can be done, there is no right to wrong and everything can be a challenge, it is exiting and that is the kind of outlook I would want out of a job.
An encouraging quote from Flavoured Paper spoke, 'Do your own thing, Focus on your own work, focus and success will follow you.'

Has it help to inform future career aspirations or work experience you would like to undertake?

I always felt I was leaning towards being in a much more interior design approach rather than many of the other routes that I could go down but after this most inspirational trip I had ever been on, and especially going to the rug company archive, I knew instantly this was for me, I was inspired by everything and couldn’t wait to get stuck back into my own practice, it’s given me the encouragement to get myself out there and go and find the best types of work for myself, I want to be able to have the most experiences so I can allow myself better jobs in my dream destination.
Within this next year I would like to do nothing but focus on every opportunity I get given and push myself to get the highest mark I am possible off.