Micro teaching

Today was the micro teaching day. I was extremely nervous to begin with I don't like speaking in front of lots of people, my nerves get the better of me. I was pleasantly surprised by myself after the result of my session.

I did a mini printing technique for my group to try out. I used quick print foam which you carve and then cover in paint and print with. I thought this was a simple and quick task which would last between 7-10 mins. I started the task off by spending a good few minutes talking about my own work and discussing how I have used this technique before. I am extremely happy with how my session went as I finished exactly on time.

My feedback was mostly good from my group my tutor had said I had a good strong organised plan and a good workshop that was able to fit in a short amount of time. They also liked my introduction especially as I had shown my work and explained what you could do with these prints afterwards.

I also good some constructive feedback on how to improve my workshop if I was to do it again. I was told I should think about a conclusion rather than letting it just Finnish which looking back I wish I would have stopped everyone a minute or two before 10mins and made them talk about their final pieces. Another point made was it could have made the workshop into a mini card making one or some product at the end that could be used. I have taken all this feedback on board and it has helped me broaden my knowledge on what makes a good workshop.

 

 

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Stockport Art festival Proposal

For this brief we worked as a group and came up with the following:

We decided we would have an already made stencil on the wall which would then be decorated by the community and people who are visiting the Art festival using their memories of Stockport.

• Quick and easy few minutes task
• People can decorate more than one brick
• Brings together the community
• Adds ownership to the final product
• Adds identity to stockport 
• Each brick is different and personal
• Good for all ages even young children for drawings

Tutorial

Today I had a tutorial the tutor was half an hour late which wasn't her fault it was a time table problem we've had a few of them recently but all is well now. It was a good chance to get some advice on my micro teaching session which is something I'm terrified of doing I lack in confidence when it comes specifically to speaking in front of people. My tutor told me to start of with a mind map in techniques that I use in print and then use it as a beginning. This advice was pretty vague and didn't really help me but I gave it a go anyway and decided to just stick to a mini project starting technique that I always use and know well.

She also gave us some things we should look out for whilst work shadowing:

• How the teacher observes class
• How the class engages & interacts
• How the teacher uses learning objectives
• How the experience makes you feel 
• How the teacher manages behaviour

Easter research

Over Easter I have been looking into different ways to take a route into teaching as I feel thins is a career I would like to pursue. I am more interesting in doing design technology teaching as I feel that's what I am more interested in over being an art teacher and feel my current degree (textile design) caters to the needs of that specific course. I have also decided trying some work experience at a school that could help with with getting on a course. I have also been working at kumon for the past months which has gained me experience with children who are between the ages of 4-16.

 

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High school workshop

This was a difficult workshop as we only had a few hours worth of group planning and discussion so we had to try and squeeze everything in and plan quickly. The started out a little stressful as we had to have a room change because of interview so we had to move tables and equipment into a gallery space which didn't allow us to use the walls for poster as people had their work up for exhibition so we had to make do with putting them on the back of chairs and tables. There was also a communication problem inbetween groups as we were scrambling around moving tables and didn't have enough time to group up in the morning as the high school arrived early. This also cause a problem in the lesson plan as we had to add an extra activity on the end (defence weapons).

I think we could have done a lot better if we had more time for planning at the beginning so communication between groups wouldn't be such a big issue as everyone would know what to do. Also if as a group we discussed what was going on within each table would help make some tables more successful such as the can table it seemed like it was a little difficult to work with as the material is difficult to manipulate. The nature table was a successful table because each student received a senario which they had to cater to the product they produced. I also feel time management was a issue we could have improved as it we weren't all aware of changes that had been made and I felt 20mins per table was a little bit too long for the making process. The communication between the special collections group was also abit difficult as they weren't always present when there were changes being made so maybe if we'd had a person who could run back and forth between the gallery and the special collections to make them aware would of been helpful.

Despite all these changes and issues we came across I felt it still worked well overall as there were more better moments such as the group tour around the Art school and they students enjoyed the tasks as it was an exciting introduction and we got straight into the tasks. The number of people was also helpful as he group could work with the students and interact with them on a 1-1 basis. I think as a group we managed to keep it all together and work quickly even though we had problems at the beginning.

I really enjoyed working with year 9's as they were so imaginative and exciting they enjoyed making and talking to them about their work was interesting and rewarding as we were able to give them an exciting and fun workshop to remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Communication

Through out the project we have been keeping in touch mainly using Facebook. It's a good quick way to keep in touch as we don't have a lot of time in between sessions as they are so close together so outside of uni hours we have been communicating in Facebook. It's also been a good way to get information about sessions as they have been quite all over the place and ambiguous as we haven't got a specific place to work as the Stockport studios won't be finished till after Easter so we've been all over the place and not knowing where to meet half the time.

 

 

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High school planning

This task was difficult because we only had a few hours of meeting time to talk and get together a lesson plan for this workshop. It was very difficult to begin with as we were a huge group working on one workshop together so we wasted abit of time not starting a discussion straight away. So we had to split off into smaller groups and come up with ideas and finally mesh them together. We threw many different ideas out there and had to put them all together and see what we could come up with. A main idea that we like was the apocalypse idea where we gave the students a senario and they had to make do with the items we gave them to makeup a survival kit that could be kept in a window box for a quick escape. This is what we came up with as a group.

 

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Primary school workshop

Today was the big day! It went well overall we had a few hiccups here and there but it went smoothly. I learnt a lot within the workshop it was intersting to see how it all played out and how everything worked out.

Our group was well organised and everyone played their part according to the lesson plan. We were able to get everything ready although we'd lost about 15-25 mins at the start due to the children being registered and the canteen space beig prepared for us to use. We also lost some time during the activity as the fire alarm went off and we had to cut out a part of the lesson plan (worksheet) and fast forward to the bug march. There were one or two children that were being a little bit difficult but and didn't want to move from table to table but I think we accommodated them well and helped them without singling them out. Apart from these two set backs we did great!

I think all the tables were well prepared and there was a good flow from table to table. The atmosphere was good and the children enjoyed the task and were having a lot of fun. The group was well prepared even with the time set back and we were able to make decisions straight away. The bug march went extremely well and the children had a great time dancing and showing off their bugs. The communication between the group and children was also good as we were nervous to begin with as the children's first language wasn't English. Overall we had a great time and so did the children.

 

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