DELIVERING INDIVIDUAL MICRO TEACHING SESSION

MY MICRO TEACHING SESSION AND PARTICIPATING IN OTHER SESSIONS

I did my micro teaching session on paper cutting art which is what I am working on in my practical in Fine Art. I planned to tell the students in the workshop about where paper cutting art came from, learn the rule of it and finally cut out a paper cut of geometrical shapes. 

(Image above) Shots of the powerpoint presentation I made for the session.

Even though I had made a presentation for this session on the day because I had arrived a few minutes late I wasn't able to check it before I started and so when I came to use it the font had changed due to it not being a common font and all the words were everywhere and so it made it quite difficult to talk about the things I had put on the presentation. Although the presentation didn't quite work out as well as I wanted the rest of the task went quite well the practical side was appreciated and to an extent achieved. 

(Image above) One of the students of Unit X in the process of cutting into the template provided. Photograph taken by Kristian Bird.

While planning for the session I realised I forgot to fill out a lesson plan and this was a major point that I had missed and I feel this may have caused confusion with the students. 

(Images above) Making all the cutouts by hand and making list of what is to be included/done.

(Images above) A few feedback forms filled out by the participants.

Other Sessions

This session also gave us unit X students learn more about each others practice. We all participated in each others sessions and made art related to each others disciplines. 

(Images above) What I had made in the sessions and group work we all did. Photographs taken by Kristian Bird.

During this session I learnt a lot of things about hosting a teaching session. This session didn't go exactly as I had planned it although the learning outcomes were met to some extent I definitely feel as though if I prepared a little more the outcome would have been more better. Having said this if I were to do this workshop again I would really consider firstly getting to the place on time, having a pre made lesson plan, checking if the presentation is running well and also most importantly I would rehearse a lot more before the actual session. After reading some of the feedback I realised if I did plan a little more I would have been able to achieve what I initially planned. But this session has made me become more aware of these pointers for next time. Also, it was also very informative as we were able to find out a lot more about our work out of unit X. I really enjoyed this time to try out different types of art making.

MICRO TEACHING BRIEF AND INTRO

MICRO TEACHING TRIAL

In this session Anna (tutor) gave us some information about our micro teaching session that we will be doing. A micro teaching session is when we do a workshop about our practice on the other Unit X students but for 10 minutes only.

So as a practice, Anna told us to pair up and work with someone to do a very simple one using plasticine. Where we would plan to what we going to do and then make each others made objects. I made a simple flower (images below) and planned it to be 5 minutes long which was short and easy. Soniya (working partner) made the 3D flower piece. 

(Images above) The flowers made by me and Soniya.

The reason why there are three of each object is because we both first made one as an object we were going to show, the second was made to demonstrate to each other how to make it and third is the outcome from trying to make each others objects. We also had a go at making a plan for the short session we did in pairs and then we gave feedback to each other using the feedback forms.

(Images above) Plan for the short making session and feedback from Soniya on making the object I showed.

Overall, this session was good to get us started for the bigger workshop we were going to do and I feel I took some good tips from this short practice and I will be able to apply this to my micro teaching session.

CURRICULUM LEADER TALK & "FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT"

JANE MCFADDEN TALK AND AFTERNOON PLANNING

Morning Session
We had a talk by the curriculum leader Jane McFadden, she spoke to us about her experiences in schools and how they carried out activities and what they took into consideration while doing them. She gave us quite a lot of points to look at and take into consideration for when we do our workshop with the students at DACA. I really liked this talk because it led us into see how it would be like being a teacher and organising activities and also the responsibility behind it all. 

(Images above) Notes from the talk by Jane McFadden.

Afternoon Session

In this session we got more points to think about when we present at DACA. It was a lot about confidence and how we put ourselves across to the students and this is an important aspect of teaching.

(Image above) The class was trying out a sitting position known to de-stress when doing other activities.

During this amusing session I learnt a few tips on how I can put myself forward when in front of a class. Claire (our tutor)  showed us all a video clip of Amy Cuddy an American social psychologist, the video was called Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are. It was a very interesting video I think it got the class a little more excited for the workshop coming ahead. I think it was a great way to boost our energy and at the same time tell us how to get through the nerves and from the video is where we got "fake it till you make it" to "fake it till you become it" said by Amy Cuddy. 

(Image above) Notes from the afternoon session.

Overall, this session was interesting and informative for me because it was a way of knowing how to deal with nervous points while teaching and how to overcome it in front of a class. I learnt a lot from this session in terms of teaching and I think these tips will help me now and in the future which is really good. The highlight was the quote I got from the video of Amy Cuddy which was "fake it till you make/become it" I feel as though that will stay with me through all teaching events I do.

KEY BLOG POST #1

KEY POINTS, INFLUENCES, IDEAS, PROCESSES, INTERESTS AND KEY DISCOVERIES  

During my time at the school I have gained many skills and techniques, I had the chance to talk to many students and share a few ways in which they could improve their sketchbook work and go beyond that and show them some practical ways to improve their sketchbook such as showing some A Level students how to manipulate photographs using image maker, candle wax and many other materials. I was also surprised at how many artists I actually remembered while I was at the school because I found myself suggesting artists on the go to mainly A Level students to add into their sketchbooks as research. 

The one aspect I thought I would take some time to get used was that all of us students in the Unit X group are from different courses (Fine Art, Textiles, Interactive Arts and Graphic Design) and so I thought I may find it to be a bit harder to communicate and speak out. However, that was not the case at all if anything I really enjoyed everyone being from different disciplines because it gave me opportunity to learn from the them at the school and in the sessions at university.

I felt coming from a Fine Art discipline I had researched many times on the topic of 'destroying' art for it to become art. I related most with this task that we had done with one of the A Level students where he gave us an already painted canvas and told us to do what ever we want with it and just gave us full control while he had filmed our reaction to this as part of his project. As shown in the images below we ended up splashing paint, making hand prints, dripping paint and eventually cutting the piece of its canvas. I really enjoyed this experience and I thought it gave me more insight into this type of art.

(Images above) Outcome of a students project based on ruin. This was done by me and 3 other students on Unit X.

(Image above) I showed three A Level students how to manipulate photographs for their sketchbooks. This is them doing the image maker effect.

One of the key processes I really enjoyed was teaching the A Level students how to minipulate photographs as part of their sketchbook research work. I felt really connected to this idea because I had learnt these techniques back in college also and I still remember them, doing this mini tutorial with them made me happy because I had taught them all very new techniques and now they could use these skills in their artwork now and in future. This session gave me a bigger insight into how teaching in the future may be and I thought doing this session with the A Level students also made me come out with my knowledge and use it for the benefit because I also found myself suggesting many artists on the go in this session (and other sessions).

(Images above) I was working alongside two students in the year 8 students and helping them with Tie Dye.

Tie dye with the year 8 class was very interesting in that I had done the dye before but not for a while and so I kind of forgot how to do it. At this point in this class there were around ten of us from the Unit X group and most of us from textiles course, this proved to be really great because they gave a helping hand to those of us with less knowledge about tie dye and I thought this was a lovely experience because in this class was the first time we all worked as a team and it proved to be one of my favourite lessons because there was teamwork and a lot of activity going on which kept the atmosphere very nice. As shown in the images above the girls I had worked with chose to go with a spiral design and I thought the outcome was quite impressive. I feel after shadowing and teaching in this class I would want to carry out tie dye in my own practice and explore more into this subject because I feel I can create quite amazing outcomes from simple strategies.

Overall, I thought these first three weeks were very helpful and insightful and I am very happy with the skills and knowledge I have gained. The experience in working in a school at first made me very nervous but now I have come to realise that I am very happy I took this option. 

HEAD TEACHER OF SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL

BRIAN FREW

A special needs school head teacher came in to talk to about how it is like working with people with learning difficulties. Our tutor had put in an exercise for us to do while listening to the talk, we had to create something while listening to the talk.

I started to create something with plasticine during the talk, I didn't know what to make so I started off making a simple flower and then working on it from there.

(Image above) Flower I created during the talk by the Head Teacher.

The Head teacher spoke a lot about Autism and its side affects (notes below). 

(Image above) Notes from the talk.

Overall, this session helped me realise firstly, how difficult it can be for some people in the world to do the most simple tasks and also as an aspiring teacher I learnt that there are many different ways to teach children that are less abled and give them the space they need to complete some tasks.

DARWEN ALDRIDGE COMMUNITY ACADEMY (DACA) #6

PLACEMENT DAY 6

On the sixth and last day of placement (before workshop day) at DACA in the morning session I was working with year 8 Textiles class and the students from Unit X were again assigned to two students each to work with them on their project on making a drawstring bag with tie dye effects and in the afternoon session we didn't have any lessons, the Unit X group sat down with Louise (tutor and our mentor) and spoke about our ideas for the upcoming workshop.

Morning Session
In the morning session I was with the year 8 textiles class, it was a great start to the day because everyone was ready to start and there was a good atmosphere around the class. The unit X group were assigned to two students to help them with their work. I helped the students I was working with cut letters out of fabric and get their designs ready for their drawstring bag after the tie dye they were going to attach them. 

(Image above) Students using fabric provided to cut out patterns for the bags and the fabric I cut out with 's' on.

After a while the class were shown different patterns that they could make their tie dye off, both of the students I was working with went with a spiral design.

 (Images above) The process of tie dye and the after effect on the fabric.

Afternoon Session 
In the afternoon we had no lessons instead we all sat down with Louise and had a quick recap of the days we have been in the school, what we enjoyed and disliked etc. Then we were told to start thinking about what we want to do the workshop on when we come back. Firstly, we were put into two groups and then we started planning from there on.

(Image above) First few ideas for workshop.

(Image above) Notes from the day and visitor badge from the day.

Overall, I gained new skills during today because I hadn't done tie dye before and so some of the textiles students from Unit X gave me some pointers which I then passed on the students I was working with. The morning session helped all the students even in unit X collaborate together to get results and I really enjoyed this aspect of the lesson. We also knew which groups we were going to be working with for next few weeks to plan for the workshop.

DARWEN ALDRIDGE COMMUNITY ACADEMY (DACA) #5

PLACEMENT DAY 5

 On the fifth day on the placement in the morning session I worked with a student in year 10 on photography work and in the afternoon session the full Unit X group worked with the year 7 Textiles class and we were assigned to two students each to help them work on their sock puppets together. Also the tutor in the afternoon session told us all to take turns in taking over the class for up to 10 minutes to get us in the feel of teaching and engaging with the class.

Morning Session
In the morning session at first there wasn't much for me to do because the students already knew what they were working on and what they need to do. But after break, I was assigned to one photography student to help look through the powerpoint the student had made as part of their coursework. I helped the student with sentence structure and image layout for the powerpoint. While I was helping the student I spoke to them about artist research and where they get their research from, I was told that they get all their research from the internet or they have already been given a list to look through. I realised that how different it was for us and for those in high school, we find all the information ourselves, read up on it and see what we would want to use but it was different for them.

Afternoon Session
In the afternoon session the unit X group were working with year 7 textiles class. We were assigned to two student each to help them with their sock puppets. I was assigned to two students where one had done most of their puppet but the other needed more help and so I helped the students sew the parts on together. It was a lot of fun to work with the year 7 class and I felt good helping the students and engaging with them during this session.

(Images above) Start and finished stages of the sock puppets.

(Image above) The students making the sock puppets and adding accessories.

During this session the tutor told us unit X students to take in turns to take over the class for at least 10 minutes and told us to come up with either games or the tutor has told us to do something. The job the tutor assigned to me was to show the students their pictures of the light boxes they had made and when they had used them on the day of the solar eclipse. I did a countdown from 5 to get their attention and they quickly calmed down and listened and then I told them that I will be showing them the pictures from the day (image below) and proceeded to show them on the smart board on big screen.

(Image above) A picture from them all that I had shown them on the big board. 

(Image above) Notes from the day and visitor badge for the day.

Overall, this day went well and I was able to learn how to teach students younger and older on a one-to-one basis and I really enjoyed this. The key aspect that stuck out was when we were told to takeover for a bit during the textiles lesson, I really liked that because I was able to feel in control of a full class for the first time and I was giving the instructions which the students followed in a good manner.