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Teeth Tragedy and Teaching
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This week has been relatively inactive in the
teaching department with Monday being the review for the university students on
the first year with some interesting work and some work that is going to need a
lot of time put in to meet the grade that it deserves the turn out for the
review was low but this is a common event on the course the discussions on work
where interesting and the whole day went well with a minimal number of tears
and screaming which is often seen in these reviews of photographers work. Tuesday
was uneventful in regards to teaching beyond planning for my observed lesson on
Wednesday.
The observation went well with my student all
behaving for the majority of the time and the work all seeming to be at an
appropriate level for the students to complete and I kept them moving at a
brisk pace, which they managed to keep up with. The use of the ‘cool wall’
resource was a success and I am now employing it in all my classes and the
difference in the class is noticeable and positive. This week has also been
portfolio madness as I have finally organised all the paper work that has been
collecting for the professional practice portfolio.
Having finished my morning lessons I received a
phone call from my other half in a complete state having chipped her tooth and
not been able to find a emergency dentist, luckily I team teach in the
afternoon and could leave to drive around the local dentists finding a dentist
willing to fix the chipped tooth. This all resulted in the earliest appointment
been the following day. One drama
down not to be out done by my girlfriend my house mate got hit by a car this
afternoon and I have spent the last few hours in A and E waiting for a Doctor.
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another week altho this time not so much drama
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This week started well with my
placement started well with myself and Dean team teaching my BTEC class
they behaved so well and focused on the work I believed for a short time they
where just building up the energy to carry out some major mischief however I
was mistaken they worked well on the class discussion and even showed an
interest in some art work that was not morbidly graphic or horrifically modern
this warmed my heart a little and as a reward the class was given the
opportunity to complete some work and then given a quiz based on the home work
I have set the week before, and here was the class I am used to the chorus of
‘awww I don’t know this why are you making it so hard’ began indicating the
lack of homework, this however could not dampen my spirits and the lesson ended
well with everyone having learnt something new (hopefully).
The afternoon consisted of presentations from
the second year documentary photography degree class and was very interesting
with some really quite impressive projects. The time spent with the Higher
Education classes make me really want to focus on this level despite been
younger then most of them.
Thursday went well with my AS classes working
well towards the exam piece and finishing off their coursework which is to be collected
next week for marking, there are no students that I feel need to be off concern
in this class so all been well the hand in will go well. The A-level class are going to be
handing in at the same time there is however a few in this class I am concerned
about and have asked them to try in earnest to complete the work as it is a
extremely important hand in all things been good they will have listened to me.
Tomorrow is the first years review on the degree
course at Newport I look forward to seeing some work we shall see how they are
doing.
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Damn you Btec sketch books
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This weeks blog consists of some highs some lows and generally some classic lines from my Btec class. the week began well with monday been in the university taking sign up tutorials from first years this was fairly standard run off the mill, with some good work and no real problems for the whole day as a tutor a delight to take part in the seminars. tueday was my one day off this week which meant it was the day i spend messing about with my car its MOT and tax and having an afternoon of lesson planning an screaming at my mac as i worked on the RBL again late into the evening. Wednesday was a real shocker as placement goes the classes themselves went well with students on the whole participating well and been really well behaved. the afternoon however brought a crisis as there is a disparity between the two Btec classes visual studies sketch books meaning that the class who due to their own attitudes have fallen behind have to be given all of thursday and next wednesday to catch up 4 months worth of work. needless to say this has caused no end of stress in the department and as myself and the other PGCE student have discovered we are selves taking classes to get the students up to speed we are now working on a plan of attack for next week, Thursday morning started with myself and three other tutors working with the afore mentioned Btec class to begin the catch up lessons. following the first hour of these catch up classes I had to move to my usual As-level class who are currently starting their exam for the end of their first year they where all well behaved and have made good progression with their ideas for projects around the exam topics. the afternoon was much the same with my second AS class of the day. The A-level students in my final class for the week are still waiting on their exam papers and the lesson was used to finish up any other coursework that is needed for submission and then the week was over i survived the students survived i conceder it massive success.
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Birthday
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Its My birthday today and yet some how I find myself sat in-front of this computer working on my RBL, despite been a pile of shinny new stuff in our living room demeaning i unwrap it and play, not to mention the cake sat in the kitchen. ah well 100 more words then I am taking the day off for myself and playing Xbox till my eyes bleed.
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Marcel Orial oh and a teaching observation
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This week consisted of a combination of paper work, planning and
teaching Monday started the week with seminars for the first year university
students this went well with some interesting work been suggested to me. And a
generally positive start to the week. I took Tuesday as a day to attack
the rather horrific pile of paper work, which I made relative head way with.
While secretly worrying about my observation on Wednesday. The morning of
the observation arrived and off to work i set off initially I left my lesson
plan by my front door after sitting in the car getting ready and starting the
engine I realised
I had left the appear work at home ran in grabbed
it second attempt I was on my way, I started my lesson and it all seemed
to go ok a few little hitches with the usual things like computers and cameras
but on the whole not a bad observation from Richard with some good points and
some room for improvement, my major problem with the lesson as the observation
showed was the lack of a warm up activity I have now remedied it with a cool
wall for the students to place photographs on at the begging of lesson and have
class discussion. The lesson observation has helped me to take some of what I
have been doing and examine it with a microscope I hope that it will allow me
to grow and improve my teaching. Thursday was a fairly uneventful with students
spending time finishing off their work prior to the half term this gave me more
time to work on one to one tutorial time with individuals who needed extra support. anyway now to return to the paper work as I had planned for half term to be a glorious time of paper work and essay writing however it seems to have become the busiest week of my year so far so any time to hit the rational for Resource based learning is sacred. oh and to top off the hetic week my house has a pair of new arrives this week two zebra finches known as Marcel and Orial now live in my kitchen.
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First Hours of Higher Educational teaching
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This week I was asked by my former lectures at
Newport to take a lecture on surviving first year documentary photography and
the work which i produced during my time at Newport, initially the excitement
was off the scale I was in seventh heaven until I realised i had a weekend to write a lecture that would be seen by some pretty
focused students of photography spending much of the weekend prior to the
lecture trying to not to remember how judgmental I had been of visiting
lectures and hoping that the new first year of my old course where more
forgiving then myself and my peers of the time . Anyway the day of the lecture
came i arrived 4 hours early always a good sign set things up and spent the
morning in the library researching for my RBL rational. as the time came
the nerves where as bad as the first time i stood in-front of the PGCE class
for my micro teach as the students began to pile in to the lecture theater i
realised i had never had so many people listing to me speak before and with a
mixture of joy and terror started the lecture.
Once the lecture was over it was an amazing
relief but also a sense of pride as i had managed to return to a course i hold
in such a high regard and provide a good lecture which students enjoyed and
even managed to get a round of applause and a laugh out of some of the most
serious students i have ever met. With the success of this behind me the
lectures invited me back the following day to help with the final edits of the
most recent project. Once again I took the opportunity to widen my
learning and my experience some new styles of teaching.
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The last two weeks of a hectic life
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The
last two weeks have been hectic and I am sure from conversations I have been
having with everyone on the course I am no the only one feeling weary the
balance of placement and assignment work keeps us all very busy and the feeling
I got from everyone is that we are all tired though I am sure this is just
getting back into the swing of things.
My placement
on the 20th had me taking the visual studies had the class producing distorted
images in Photoshop the students where well behaved and quiet the class was
smaller then usual as some of the students where ill. In the afternoon spent
time helping in a darkroom lesson with BTEC photography focused on finishing
wet printing of distorted images and writing evaluations of their work. The
following day I was to arrive to a worried mentor who had forgotten about a
meeting about a change of exam board, he then asked me to cover his lessons for
the day this left me to keep the classes under control and move them forward
with their AS course work the students on the whole where well behaved and it
was not as terrifying as I had expected.
This week my first lesson was an Observed lesson on
distortion, the class where given a worksheet which I had produced this
worksheet it gave students the task to evaluate the work of some artists work
and then feed back to the class we discussed the images of the first artist to
get them started then they seemed to do very well we stopped on a regular bases
to check over how people where doing and to make sure no one was been left
behind. Once the worksheet was
over the class where set the task of making a selection of images distorted
with out the use of Photoshop. I achieved a level 2 for this observation
something I felt quite proud of and while I believe I could have better differentiated
in my lesson this is an area I will work on in future.
The afternoon lesson was BTEC photography which was a trip
to Newport to photograph the statues scattered thought the city the students
where well behaved and achieved the required number of images and this was on
the whole the most successful out of collage trips in my opinion.
Thursday was a stressful day for me I arrived as usual and
prepared to help and team teach the AS morning class as the class where stood
out side the class room and my mentor was not in the collage yet I set the
class to work and went to inform the head of t department that I was going to
take the class and to check that my mentor had not arrived while I had been
settling the class the head of my department instructed me to inform the head
of the school and then to take the class having done so my mentor arrived and
was unimpressed with my behaviour believing that I had ‘dobbed’ him in to the boss this built tension
through the whole day. Other
tutors have supported what I did and told me so despite this is was an
unpleasant experience.
I believe I will change mentor at the collage and take practical
lessons over the theory classes I
currently take on a Thursday.
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Christmas snow and procrastination
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Christmas snow and procrastination
During the Christmas holidays I had a large
amount of time to reflect on the first term of the course and my placement with
this time I as I am sure many of you have had highs and lows over the course of
this first term, those days when placement is hell the kids are rude the staff
unhelpful and distant but though the few bad days do stand out in memory for
most of us there are so many excellent days where something you are teaching
sinks in to the class and a look of comprehension spreads across the faces of
the students this feeling for me is what keeps me going through the days where
the students are attempting to climb into lion enclosures or setting fire to
parts of the classroom.
I guess most of this rambling is just to say to
those of us on the course who maybe feeling a little overwhelmed by some of the
negativity that your not the only ones but it really is worth those few bad
days for the enjoyment and reward of those exhilarating times.
I am now writing this blog along side my RBL
rational which as I have it open I feel I am working on it even though the rate
of writing on it is that of a rather lethargic snail I have decided to
procrastinate by blog writing, checking emails and drinking tea. The pile of
books on RBL now sits under this morning’s newspaper. And so I best wrap this blog up drink the
tea and knuckle down.
Right now I will stop messing about and start
this essay here I go opened word and now throw the paper in the bin and grab
some of the books that have been collecting dust and get my brain into gear. Well heres hoping something good comes out of the large amount of tea i have drunk.
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First Observation
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I have successfully completed my first internal observation
at my placement having spent a good few days stressing about my PowerPoint on
David Hockney and his work as a photo-joiner the fact that my knowledge on his
work was mostly from my own A-level experiences now a distant memory.
The class was my fist one on Thursday the 10th of
December this is one of my As groups I had the luxury of been able to repeat
this class twice in one day which I have discovered is a blessing the
observation began well with a my power point which had been read through so
much that it went with out a hitch I had the class participate with questions
on their understanding of key subject specific terms and the context of the
work we where discussing the class took notes through out the class was in a
computer room which allowed them to take notes electronically and place them in
a time line that they had been making of the history of photography in previous
lessons once the PowerPoint and questions where completed the class was given a
break and then once they returned the class had time to work on producing their
own photo-joiners, this gave me chance to help students one on one with their
Photoshop skills.
Once the lesson was over my mentor gave me some verbal
feedback and we discussed where I could improve he believed it was a good
lesson and was pleased to see how the class where responding to my classroom
management and me. He felt that I needed more time for students to write notes other
then that he felt and excellent fist observation this has truly boosted my
confidence another member of staff saw me giving the class later on and has
asked me to give the same lesson on my return to the Btec class that I take,
this has spurred me on to improve my lesson further for the next time I feel
that it was an excellent experience to have an observation that went so well
and will drive me on to better things.
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Catch up
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This is going to be a catch up of the last few
weeks as I have been a bit remiss on keeping this blog up-to date, in the past
few weeks of the college placement I have been working with a combination of A
level students and Btec fist and second year classes, having spent time with
all the photography classes myself and the other PGCE student have decided to
split the courses with him taking mostly Btec and myself taking the majority of
A-Level, this has lead on to myself and my mentor discussing the As class and
me devising a lesson and PowerPoint to be delivered on the subject of David
Hockney and the photo joiners, this been an area of photography I last visited
in my A-level this left me with an initial feeling of dread however I have
discovered a chance for myself to learn new information and theory’s and
introduce these to my class on the whole it became a rather enjoyable
experience.
The second week after observation I arrived in
to college to discover that he tutor who has been team teaching with myself on
the visual studies class on a Wednesday morning where off sick leaving me with
a class that I had no lesson plan for or scheme of work available luckily the
other visual studies tutor lent me a rough lesson plan and the class went on
with out a hitch this has really built up my confidence with this class that
had previously been a worry with their behavior. The class was so easily lead
that I believe that this will be the class that I will have my first in house
observation despite expressing worries to other members of staff on how to deal
with this class.
The following day I was to experience a
photography trip to London; this consisted of taking small groups around the
national portrait gallery and other galleries that they felt might be of
interest this was a baptism of fire for myself two coaches full of students in
the capital. Despite the possibility of a major disaster it was a excellent
lesson on the behavior of the classes and how far students could be trusted to
behave in such a different environment.
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Observation Week
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Monday – I arrived early and was
shown the staff room introduced to the head of the photography department and
was taken to a first year National diploma group to observe the day during the
day students where given a number of tasks to complete firstly a broacher that
was to be made in the In design program this was meant to be completed by the
end of the morning session however a number of the students where distracted
and played up during this morning lesson many not understanding the link
between the broacher and design and photography. After lunch the class was expected to work on a photomontage
or to complete the work from the morning, during this session the work was
completed with little problem. Despite the week been intended for observation
the department felt they could better use the PGCE students as extra hands in
the class room and so much of the afternoon was spent helping with the
instruction of Photoshop.
Tuesday – Once again I arrived
early allowing for a coffee and conversation with other teachers in the
department during the morning schemes of work where provided and two members of
staff volunteered to be mentors for myself and the other PGCE student in the
department. Myself and the other
PGCE student where given the afternoon off and spent the time discussing the
previous days observations and subject knowledge.
Wednesday- on arriving at the college
I was placed in a National Diploma first year class of visual studies this
covers the understanding of art and other mediums that relate to photography,
the students find this lesson tedious and do not often seem to understand why
they must complete the tasks that they feel are unrelated to their course. The
tutor who took this class understands this frustration that the students feel
and so allows music and conversation in the class once the lesson has begun to
make give the students enjoyment form a class they seem to dislike. The morning
class did have a student with ADHD though the student seemed to be well behaved
on the whole when the class and the music was stopped to discuss work the
student would become disruptive.
In the afternoon I was with the
second half of the fist year national diploma class who where to organise their
folders of work and then have a practical lesson on the correct use of a
lighting kit and studio. The class found the first half of the lesson dull and
where disruptive on a small scale as they where impatient to get on with
practical work. Once the practical
element of the class was started the behaviour improved and the class even
stayed behind after the end of the lesson to continue with the understanding of
the studio and making their own pictures.
Thursday- Thursday morning was split
with the first hour of the morning being with first year national diploma during
a citizenship class, the students behaviour was the worst of the week in this
class as the topic was to them uninteresting and even the tutor felt the work
was tedious weather admitting this to the class was a mistake I am unsure.
After an hour of this class I was sent to observe a AS level photography class
the contrast in behaviour was shocking this class was working on a time line of
famous photographers and once the class was started myself and my mentor spent
the class going over schemes of work and what lessons I should be involved in.
After the Lunch break I took half of a
national diploma first year class while the tutor covered one half of the class
with paper work and organising files. I was given the other half to take a
practical lesson in the darkroom. The lesson went well and the students left
after learning how to correctly boarder their work. Once the lesson was over
the head of department spoke to me and the other PGCE student and gave us the
Friday off for paper work.
Friday- I was given the day off to
complete paper work and recover from the lessons of the previous days.