St Anthony's High School Placement

10^th November 2016

After a few exchanged emails about ideas for a print workshop I plan to undertake whilst at my Placement, today I met Becky Mayall, the textiles teacher whom I will be working with. I also met the Year 10 textiles class I will be working with by observing a presentation being shown to the class by a lady who works for Ikea. I noticed the students lost concentration as the woman spoke to them at the front of the class. She didn’t use her PowerPoint to guide her presentation which resulted in a few stop/start moments. This made me consider some of the ways in which I could engage the students when I do my presentation/lesson.

 After the Ikea presentation had finished, myself and Becky had some time to talk about our plans for my print workshop. We talked about what I had learnt from the presentation I had just witnessed and spoke about the little overlooked things such as knowing when the right time is to pass round my samples which is key for a successful presentation. I also spoke about how I wanted my presentation to be a little less overwhelming and more of a conversational Q&A session followed by a print workshop. I suggested we put tables together to make a bigger table in order to all sit round where I can show my own work and samples easily as well as allowing me to come across as a less authoritative figure where students could feel comfortable in asking me questions. We also spoke about a PowerPoint presentation flowing in the background to keep me on track which Becky agreed to take control of whilst I would be sat round the table myself.

Next time I see Becky I will have a PowerPoint presentation of my learning experiences on my course at university, and the journey from drawings to prints; something Becky feels the students need to see in order to boost their motivation as they seem to be getting bored with drawing in their project. I will also research into some ideas for the GCSE project the students are undertaking, ‘Natural Forms’ theme as the inspiration for my Print Workshop as well as a lesson plan to familiarise Becky with my ideas. This way I can easily receive feedback from her if there is anything she would like me to do differently.

24^th November 2016

After showing Becky my Textiles print work today, we agreed to not use the Power Point Presentation as I am more set on the idea of a more conversational lesson, where I can sit round a table with the students going through the work I have produced. A Power point running in the background runs the risk of students losing concentration on what I’m saying and passing round. This will also hopefully create a more relaxed atmosphere and encourage the students to speak honestly about going to college and their thoughts on University.

Today I also brought in my work for Becky to see as well as the project I am working on at the moment which involved the paper prints using an easy printing technique and paper fans. As this idea is a cheap, easy and a fun way to print as well as the fact it can be easily integrated into their ‘Natural Forms’ project, we agreed this is the technique I will use for my Print workshop next week.

30^th November 2016

After observing and helping the class for four week today was my own constructed lesson. My workshop was really successful in the way that the students gained inspiration from my work as well as learnt a new technique which they can now develop on. The idea to have a more conversational lesson was the right choice and it worked really well as the students were interested and got involved with asking me questions about themes, concepts and university as a whole. This half of the lesson flowed really nicely and I enjoyed speaking to the students and hearing their ideas, questions, concerns and worries to which I hopefully helped and advised correctly. 

The second half of my lesson was a bit more hectic as there was limited space and therefore a bit more time than planned was spent on creating more spaces for the students to work. Other students didn’t get involved due to the limited space and although Becky and I were encouraging them to have a go I believe they most likely felt intimidated by the chaos of it all. The students who did get involved started producing some really good prints, accomplishing texture and colour. Some students even improvised with other objects such as string and cardboard to create their own original style of prints. 

Some of the things I learnt was to make sure you have enough space. I took Becky’s word for there being enough space around the table we were working on where students could take turns, however due to the excitement of it all, there was no real structure or order to make sure every student had a go as some students were enjoying it so much they took over a certain space for the entire time of the workshop. 

Although it may seem obvious, another thing I learnt was that not everyone will enjoy what you enjoy and if this was a permanent/weekly workshop I would need back up plans and activities as well as a variety of resources in order to interest every student.

Time also becomes a learning curve in the way that there are some things you can’t plan for and you need to make sure you have given yourself enough time in case something does go wrong. For example, if there was another lesson in the room I did my work shop in straight after my allotted time, the room would not have been tidied as I didn’t plan any time for the students to finish up and reflect on their work or time to tidy up. In the end myself, Becky and a few helpful students tidied the mess. 

Over all, I feel I have introduced a new technique and way of ‘drawing’ that will hopefully boost motivation and show the students a more hands on approach to being creative. Printing is something I didn’t understand or use in my work at high school and I hope that this workshop has provided a little insight into something a bit different to what they are used to doing. I have also gained new confidence in myself that I can organise and produce a successful workshop on my own and I enjoy it at the same time. This is definitely a direction I would like to pursue in the future.

Print Workshop

*Due to health and safety procedures taken at St Anthony’s High School I cannot post photographs and images showing the students faces.