Key Blogpost One

What are they key points? What surprising aspects have you discovered?
Body language. Depending on how I was composing myself would determine how the children would react to me. When I first went to DACA, I was nervous and this showed in my body language, I was a little hunched with my arms crossed and as a result, the children would not respond to me and ignore my suggestions and helpings. As the two weeks progressed, I began to become more confident in myself and therefore my body language responded accordingly so, with me standing up straighter and my arms not crossed over. This resulted in the children responding to me differently, listening to what I was saying but also having small talk with me. It became very apparent that if I wanted the children to listen to me, then I would have to make my body language more confident and this is something I will do in the workshop.
 As with body language, the tone of my voice is also important. It is apparent that the teachers tone of voice will determine whether they listen and behaved well. However, her tone of voice did change with the different years. This was something that surprised me, but I remember when I was in school, the tone of the teachers changed as I grew older. For the younger years, the teachers tended to be more strict in their tone, but as they grew older, they began to relax in their tone and speak the children as if they are someone of their own age. It was apparent the reasoning for this is to make them feel more mature and not patronised - which in turn would make them less responsive. Again, I will need to but this in practice with the workshop, the plan at the moment is to teach they year 7's and so therefore I will need to have a more strict tone in my voice, in order to get them to behave.
 I realised there were cut backs in the Art Education, however, I did not realise how much they were and the impact it has caused. The number of art teachers in school has cut down by 11%, with some schools beginning to drop Art, Music and Drama. Although DACA will still be doing these subjects, Louise told us that if the students do not get the grades, then the Art Department will not be as strong as it is at the moment. As they are having to get the children the grades, it was evident that they had to follow a plan, meaning the individual pupil would not be getting the grade due to their own creative freedom but rather because they followed the "plan". It is a great shame that this is happening in the education as the creative industry is so vast and full of many opportunities, "...as their talents would have been constricted by schools being pushed to prioritise an unnecessarily narrow range of subjects that reflected the past and not the future. The creative industries are worth more than £60 billion a year to the UK economy and it would have been a catastrophe if creative subjects such as design & technology had been lost from schools at Key Stage 4. Now we need to see the same breadth included at A Level too."1

What has strongly influenced your ideas and their development?
 One thing that has strongly influenced me is the the cuts made in the Art sector in Education. I noticed in the school, that they are unable to teach individual people different techniques due to the lack of funding, teacher time and the strong importance of getting the grades to help them progress into higher and further education. Therefore the children are having to follow a strict set of guild lines set not only by the examining board but also the school, and this has resulted in there being a lack of creative freedom and development. By doing this workshop, I want to expose the children to different techniques that could hopefully inspire them and something they could bring into their own work. At the current time, we have thought of different ways of bringing this in to the workshop, e.g. making marks with toothbrushes or mops.
 I also noticed how the different subject areas didn't blend with each others, this is terms of their only being painters in Art and only photographers in Photography. This however, does not happen in any industry, whether it be creative or otherwise. Blending the subjects together is something that Finland does, and rather than having subjects, they have topics that would help them in their future careers "we need now is a different kind of education to prepare people for working life. We therefore have to make the changes in education that are necessary for industry and modern society... there will be a more collaborative approach, with pupils working in smaller groups to solve problems while improving their communication skills."2  It would be interesting to see how we could do a workshop that blended the subject areas together. We are currently discussing using different types of fabric and layering the paint on to that. Most of the children only paint onto canvas board and haven't tried painting onto different types of "canvases". We also plan to film the day and edit it, creating a performance piece. Performance art was not discussed there and by introducing this to them, it could influence them now or in the future.

Identify the area(s) or process(es) you tend to explore - and why. How do they relate to your own practice, and the professional context of your work?
 In terms of the areas I wish to explore, is the use of colour and different types of paint. My own practice the exploration of paint as a material and how I can change it and the chemical properties. I noticed at the school, that they only had access to acrylic paint and when speaking about different types of paint, the children either hadn't heard of it or didn't have any means of using it. By using a different form of paint, it will allow the children to expand their own knowledge and could inspire them to try different methods and techniques. The workshop I hope, will allow the children to build up their confidence and capabilities in their own practice. Although I look the chemical side of paint, I feel like this would be too difficult to understand for the year 7's, therefore it is important that we comment on the patterns, textures and finishes that it will create.
 At the moment, we are discussing using different types of paints that we can use, which will also include inks and powder paint, and if we are to still use acrylic paint, we are thinking of using different acrylic mediums, for example, watering the paint down and pouring medium.
 In the workshop, as we have textiles students in our group, we are planning to use different fabrics to help produce the work. I have never used different types of fabric as my "canvas", so it will be interesting to see how the different types of paint react to the surface. Not only will it be informative for the students but it will allow me to learn, develop and expand my own practice.

Reflect and discuss a key discovery/interest. Discuss within a professional aspect
 One thing that stood to me was one teacher and the style she taught for Year 13. It was obvious that she was allowing the students to do what they want, following the path they wished, making new discoveries and allowing mistakes to happen. Looking into the styles of teaching, I realised she had taken the process of Inquiry-based Learning, which focuses on student-centered approach,  "in that students play an active and participatory role in their own learning process." 3 and in the category the teacher went through the "Delegator" in which "Teachers act as a "resource" to students, answering questions and reviewing their progress as needed. Teachers play a passive role in the students learning; students are active and engaged participants in their learning. The main goal of the Delegator is to foster a sense of autonomy in the learning progress." 3
 This was the most evident when I went through a pupils sketchbook and her proposed final piece, I was able to see and discuss the mistakes and learning curves the pupil had undertaken and how this had informed her in her work and understanding of it. The pupil was able to tell me why the final piece hadn't worked and how she was going to change her idea and create something different.
 Speaking to the teacher about this, we discussed how she preferred this teaching method. She commented on how the pupils learnt a lot more through this and how their thoughts and ideas were not being moulded or changed by her, she was only a guide in their learning. She then went on, that although this won't work for every pupil, especially those who aren't self-motivated, it is important as a teacher to realise and use this method.
 It was apparent that this style of teaching is not the adopted one in DACA, as another teacher had words with her in the classroom, it is however, something that I, if I was to go into teaching is one that I should look into. It allows the students to have a hands on approach and to be in charge of their own learning, realising their own mistakes and the path, creatively they wish to take. However, it is also important for me to note, that whilst this works with the older pupils, if I was to do this with the younger years, it wouldn't as due to their level of maturity.


1 http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/february/ebacc-threat-removed-in-government-u-turn
2 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/finland-schools-subjects-are-out-and-topics-are-in-as-country-reforms-its-education-system-10123911.html
3 http://teach.com/what/teachers-teach/teaching-methods