Our Technological Age

Computers. You either love them, or hate them.

Me, I’m a big lover of them…most of the time. When they work, it’s fantastic. The best thing since sliced bread. When they don’t, I fight the overwhelming need to throw them out the window. It’s not been a great day in that respect today.

This morning, my S4 class were sitting writing essays on artists they’d chosen. I walked round the class and talked about passion - how they needed to be writing about the work of an artist who really inspired them or whose work stirred such emotion in them that they felt they could write pages just explaining their thoughts. Their blank looks and wry grins didn’t deter me. I talked about Peter Howson (his work does it for me every time), Joan Eardley and Lucian Freud amongst others. Truly amazing artists whose work has such an emotive quality for me that is almost indescribable. I explained that my passion for studying artists work has been there since my early teens and it’s never dwindled, and that whatever they do in life, they should have a passion that makes them excited about whatever they are doing or aiming for. Surely to make half-hearted attempts at things can’t be good for the soul?

Did what I say to my class have any impact? I smiled when I received a rewritten Introduction in at the end of the lesson. At the top of the page was written ‘be enthusiastic’. Underneath, several lines explaining her ‘passion’ for the artist she had chosen.

That made my day better.

So, back to IT and computers. As I watched them research, I thought back to my own days when I had been completing similar tasks to them. My research was purely done via books, but for my students, the Internet has opened up endless avenues of research. I still make my students start off by using book research - if nothing else to show them a mass of different artists all at once, to visually stimulate them quickly rather than look at small images on the Google search engine. But, how much more informed they can be now - if they know what they are looking for. Certainly changed days from my endless (but loved I have to say) time spent in the library. As a parent it makes me wonder how things will change for my boys in the next 10 years. It’s exciting to think that opportunities will be even greater and the knowledge they gain, even wider. I have to say though, as I listen to my four year old lying in bed, ‘reading’ his dinosaur books with all the sound effects - I hope he still retains his love of flicking pages alongside the technological knowlege he will gain.

The Art of the Graphic Novel

| View Show | Create Your Own

I’ve always read. I’ve always read comics. From my early pre-teens of reading ‘Bunty’ to my early twenties of escaping into the world of Judge Dredd and 2000AD, I always felt the stir of imagination taking me into another world of exciting happenings.

So, when one of my colleagues told me of an exhibition ‘Local Heroes: The Art of the Graphic Novel’ which was being held at the National Library of Scotland, I jumped at the chance to go. It was an exciting visual exhibition that showed the graphic novel from its early beginnings to contemporary Japanese Manga. Also attending an illustrated talk, along with fellow colleagues from the English Department and one of our Deputes, it became clear how the Graphic Novel could provide fantastic cross-curricular opportunities that could enthuse our pupils, not only visually but also in a literary sense. With graphic novels such as Macbeth, Kidnapped and Henry V already out, it seems a shame not to bring them into the educational environment. There are some who feel that these are not ‘real books’, but with each novel coming in three versions - quick text, plain text and original text - how can that not be the case? As teachers we differentiate for different pupil abilities, so how would using these be any different? Because they have lots of visuals? As a parent, I want my children to be excited by reading. If that means using different tools do do that, them why not as long as the outcome is the same.

A couple of weeks later, a couple of us went to listen to Gary Erskine in conversation. Having worked in the industry for over 20 years, Gary enlightened his listeners on his career which currently involves working on the new Dan Dare novels. His enthusiasm was inspiring and his attitude to ‘giving something back’, particularly to education was admirable.

A colleague, equally enthused by the exhibition and the possibilities it has opened up to us as a school, mentioned one day about trying to get hold of some posters. Having always lived by the phrase ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’, I contacted the NLS to see what happened to the exhibition once it had finished. I was delighted last week to get a phone call saying we could have all the visual display boards and several graphic novels for the Department and school. I found a man with a van and waiting outside my classroom now sits several large, colourful and informative visual display boards ready to be displayed in the school.

I only hope the pupils are as excited as I am!

Music as a Learning Tool

Music in the classroom is something that either you think is a good idea or not.
Up until a couple of years ago, music in the classroom was something I used regularly with all age ranges. I found it to be an effective tool for creating a good working environment, which in turn promotes effective Learning and Teaching. There are some who feel that music in the classroom (outwith the Music Department of course) is inappropriate. However, I was reading a very interesting website tonight - http://www.musicandlearning.com. Chris Brewer (MA FAMI) is a musician, trainer and author with a masters’ degree in Music Therapeutics. She discusses how music can be used as an effective classroom management tool and fully believes that music can help to create learning states that can help to hold attention and increase the ability to retain facts.
Being a teacher of Art & Design, I was very much interested in her thoughts on how background music could facilitate creativity and how it could enhance the ability of the pupil to focus. I remember in my early days of teaching having a particularly challenging S2 class. One of the strategies to promote a positive and comfortable learning environment was to have the radio on the background. There were clear, but simple ground rules: The radio was a privilege, a reward for good behaviour and work. It would only be used at appropriate times during some practical activities and I, in the main, chose the music. It worked very well for this particular class – work was completed effectively and pupils said they felt more comfortable in an environment that was perhaps ‘out of the norm’ of other classes. On a visit one day by the Head Teacher, he asked to see me outside. Concerned I’d be in ‘trouble’ (I was newly qualified and had yet to learn my skill of digging myself out of situations with SMT), I rapidly tried to think of educational reasons for having 80’s ‘pop’ singing out to the world. ‘I just wanted to say what a good working environment you’ve created’, he said. I never looked back from that point.
I think like all learning and teaching strategies, you just have to know when to use them, how to use them and use then consistently. What works for one class or age group, will not necessarily work for another. However, an effective teacher, I believe, should be willing to be flexible in their approach to learning and teaching in order to promote a comfortable learning environment and positive ethos.

Challenging Yourself

I caught myself today doing something that I am always telling my pupils off for - giving an immediate negative response to something being asked of me.

The task? To talk to my peers in a whole staff meeting. To many who know me, or should I say, don’t really know me, the idea of me shrinking at talking is laughable. I do it all the time - to groups of pupils, my own Departmental staff, groups of parents, anyone who will listen really… However, when you know it is a hot Friday afternoon, towards the end of term and regarding a subject that may or may not be something your colleagues are interested in hearing - well, that’s a whole different ball game.

The topic? A curriculum for Excellence. Now there’s a whole post in itself. The whole point was my initial reaction to the question of doing this shocked me. By the time I had climbed the stairs (and there are many) into my Department, I had started to challenge this decision. I would be nervous. Of course I would be - it’s not something I usually have to do. I would forget to say the things I wanted to say or end up waffling. Nothing new there. I would end up looking like an idiot in front of my peers who might liken what I was saying to ‘trying to teach their granny to suck eggs’. All this contemplation for a talk of a couple of minutes. I thought of my pupils and the confidence I try to instil in them. Some role model, I thought.

So, I turned around and went back down the stairs to change that decision. I did the talk, over-ran my time (nothing new there then) and hopefully enthused at least one person on the way.

A sense of achievement I think.

A blogger at last…

A new day is dawning and I am embracing the technological age. Some may say it is another excuse to talk. Me, well, if it clears my buzzing head once in a while, it’s got to be good…

We’ll see!