I felt a bit like a Mother Hen last week. We had a couple of visitors to school, one of whom was the Director General of Education. A colleague and I had been asked to meet with them briefly, along with a few pupils, to discuss a project we had undertaken. I stood and listened to those 3 pupils whom I’d worked closely with, answer confidently and honestly all the questions that were thrown at them and never was I so proud. Their answers were exemplary (and they hadn’t even been primed!) It was a joy to watch young adults delight in giving their views and opinions and really see where they were coming from. Stars, all three.

You know what? Someone needs to sort this out for me.

Monday is supposed to be my best day for time, and I got absolutely nothing done that I needed to, or wanted to, today. It’s driving me nuts. 3 times I tried to start a meeting with a student teacher today, and 3 times we were interupted. It’s easy to go and hide, but lets face facts – you only come back to the same problems that are waiting there for your return.

So what’s the answer? To not support staff? – makes you an ineffective PT. To leave issues with students to others outwith the Department? – yeah right, they’re as busy as me. To leave the admin? – I wish. There is only one answer – win the lottery! I bet I could manage my time then.

For the first time in my teaching career, I got to attend the Scottish Learning Festival, albeit in the capacity of contributer to a stand as opposed to attendee. A colleague and I were showcasing a fantastic cross-curricular project we had done on ‘Anti-Sectarianism’. It was an interesting experience and the chance to talk to, and listen to, a whole range of people ( never mind a chance to grab as many ‘freebies’ as possible).

It was disappointing that I came across so few secondary teachers. The majority of those I spoke to were from the primary sector and I wonder if budget restraints had kept many away. It’s a pity really that not every teacher can get the chance to visit one of these events at some point – if only to have a nose at what other people are doing.

There was a fantastic section which evolved as the day went on – a wall of cartoon images created on site – each cartoon having been produced on a flip chart page, then displayed once finished. A load of post-its and pens had been left and people encouraged to ‘post’ comments on a cartoon of their choice. Topics included ‘A Curriculum for Excellence Needs…’ It was an fantasic way to start discussion and the comments ranged from sensible, to quite defensive to very funny! I loved the idea behind it and definately see this kind of thing being used in my classroom in the near future. It could be a great lesson starter to get minds quickly into a particular mode of thinking, or even better, a great way to start written tasks where pupils could comment on art and design work and then these comments are taken to further discussion. Immediate reactions are a wonderful thing and often I think some pupils get bogged down with thinking about a task too much – this could be a great way of avoiding that in the initial stages of a task. I’ll let you know how I get on…

It was a long day, but I’ve come home with a few ideas and loads of ‘packs’. Boy, is networking tiring! Shame it took over 2 hours to get home and thanks, Brian, for the company and the driving!

One of my S1 classes had been talking about graffiti art a few weeks ago and I had introduced them to the British artist Banksy. I was interested when one of the pupils excitedly came into class today asking me if I’d seen the news this morning.

Apparently Banksy has opened his first official exhibition in New York. I laughed when I looked at the BBC website and the video link. The exhibition takes place inside a fake pet shop and includes a number of robotic ‘animals’. I asked those that had seen the report did they think that Banksy was trying to make some kind of comment…immediately they responded that they did and he was commenting on how animals were treated and what people did to them. Of course, upon enquiry, they loved the chicken nuggets eating the dip the best!

Image from www.banksy.co.uk

It was great though, just listening to them getting animated about something they had seen, that they could also relate to as we had talked about it in class. It made me wonder about all the artists and designers we talked about as part of the curriculum. Here were 12 year olds actively discussing an artist who was making a comment about modern day life…and they understood it. I’ve often found some contemporary artists difficult to teach, particularly at S1 level. Perhaps it’s my own hestitations that makes it more difficult. Don’t get me wrong, it’s so important to give a background history to art and design and such a rich, diverse and wonderful history it is. But, does it really stir the imagination of todays youth in the same way that Bansky Howson would. These artists portray life as they know it, so all the more relevant.

Now there’s a debate that could become heated!

I love the Internet!

I came across this wonderful site that contained selected writings of Eleanor Roosevelt.

“What is the purpose of education? This question agitates scholars, teachers, statesmen, every group, in fact, of thoughtful men and women. The conventional answer is the acquisition of knowledge, the reading of books, and the learning of facts. Perhaps because there are so many books and the branches of knowledge in which we can learn facts are so multitudinous today, we begin to hear more frequently that the function of education is to give children a desire to learn and to teach them how to use their minds and where to go to acquire facts when their curiosity is aroused. Even more all-embracing than this is the statement made not long ago, before a group of English headmasters, by the Archbishop of York, that “the true purpose of education is to produce citizens.”

If this is the goal—and in a democracy it would seem at least an important part of the ultimate achievement—then we must examine our educational system from a new point of view…”

Good Citizenship: The Purpose of Education by Eleanor Roosevelt
Originally published in Pictorial Review, April 1930

Some things never change! A worthy read.