We The People

It has been a while since my last blog update so hopefully I can make the wait well worth it.  I know I was impressed with my visit to the Year 9 & 10, ‘We the People’ English and Visual Art module with Sally, Kendyl and Amy and a pretty amazing group of students.

‘We the People’ is all about changing people’s perceptions on issues.  It combines the English strands of writing and presenting with the art strand, understanding visual art in context. In the emerging stages of planning Sally, Amy and Kendyl started with the big picture idea of the impact of conflict on society and how this leads to change. Their module synopsis included the tagline, ‘calling all activists.’  With nearly 1000 emerging adolescents at RJHS we have no shortage of young people who have a strong sense of fairness and equity so this module was destined to appeal to many of our students.

A key aspect of the English part of the module is for the students to produce pieces of creative and formal writing as well as a speech.  In addition to this the students will all produce pieces of artwork to be shared at an exhibition in week 9 of this term.  The exhibition itself will include an original website and various items of installation art alongside the students’ writing.

Here are 3 samples of creative writing from students last term:

'We The People' Creative Writing

The first piece of art the students have created this semester was inspired by the work of NZs own artistic activist, Tracey Tawhiao.  Tracey takes NZ news and/or issues that are published in print media, blacks out certain parts and adds symbols to create a different, and often provocative message.

Perrie, a year 10 student in the module shared her piece of Tracey Tawhiao inspired piece with me during the lesson. Her piece is designed to raise questions about the USAs involvement in Syria.  Below is Perrie’s art piece which shows a high level of ability in terms of communicating ideas in a visual format.

Perrie's Tracey Tawhiao inspired piece challenging the USA involvement in Syria

This is a collage of the pieces from the class

During the lesson I spoke with a number of students who were focussed on independently researching other examples of activist and political art.  One of the examples being explored was the work of Barbara Kruger who uses a combination of photography and words that contrast the image captured to raise questions and provoke feeling from the viewer.  The students were exploring the various examples of art to gain inspiration for their own issue which they will use to create an original piece of artwork.  Issues included saving the environment, education killing creativity and confidence and the need for the education system to change.

Olivia, a year 10 student in the module has created two amazing pieces of creative activism artwork and writing for the national secondary school ‘Create1World’ competition and has been selected as a finalist.  This is an amazing achievement in itself as she is competing against students up to year 13. We look forward to seeing how she gets on when the finals take place in early July.  The fact that she created this work in her own time is a reflection of the inspirational job her teachers are doing in this module to make the students feel ‘connected’ with their learning.

I really hope ‘We the People’ inspires our students into action well beyond this module and creates a small army of young people who stand up for what is right and what is important in our world.  Kia kaha to our activists!

Abstract Gamer

Last week I had the pleasure of spending close to an hour with Mark, Nicola, Franda and the students in the Year 7 & 8 module, ‘Abstract Gamer’.  I must say my last blog post tested my recall of my high school science classes and this time some of the concepts and terminology really tested my knowledge of digital technology and visual art concepts and vocabulary.  In fact if I was perfectly honest, I think I was learning stuff that the students were already well on top of!

This module is a combination of digital technology and visual art.  Our visual art and technology modules have proved very popular whenever they have been offered and this is a reflection of the high interest learning areas and also the ability of staff to connect technical concepts and skills with the students worlds.  In this module it is down to Mark, Nicola and Franda to do this.

Here is the short clip Mark created to introduce the module to all the students:

The planning of modules always starts with a big idea as a way to connect the two learning areas and assist staff to design learning programmes that have a clear direction both in terms of the learning outcomes and what may be produced.  In ‘Abstract Gamer’ the big idea is for the students to produce an animation of the art they produce and be able to discuss and justify how digital technology has impacted on this art.  Over the course of the module students will learn to use a range of digital technology (both software, systems and apps) including 8-bit art.  Within the visual art component of the module students are exploring significant art movements including the works of Van Gogh and Pointillism which has strong connections with the digital world.

At the moment students are exploring the digital art work of a German group of digital artists called, ‘E-Boy’. These artists create complex works of art they refer to as ‘Pixarama.’  The students are currently working through workshops that will enable them to contribute to our own piece of pixarama art work.  Mark has been in contact with one of the German creators who would like to see and comment on the student’s creation once it is completed.

This is a great example of the students being able to see learn new skills and put them into practice in a very relevant, authentic and ‘connected way!  This is something we are trying really hard to do here at RJHS.

In today’s lesson Mark, Nicola and Franda were running their own workshops for groups of students.  These three workshops have been run three times to ensure all the students get the opportunity to learn the various skills and concepts.

Mark was running a workshop on digital file management, which is something that is important for us to not to take for granted at RJHS.  Students need to learn how to organise the huge amount of digital information they generate and accumulate if they are to be successful learners and citizens in today’s digital world.  The activity started with a very practical demonstration of some, less than ideal management of paper files.

Franda’s workshop was focussing on developing the skills to be able to create an isometric drawing, or presenting an artwork in a three dimensional format.  This was modelled to the students and then they had the opportunity to put their new learning into practice.  This is a critical skill within the context of creating pixaramas as it ensures all the components of the art piece are kept in proportion.

In the final workshop Nicola was introducing the students to the Piskel app which students are going to use to create their individual pixel characters for the pixarama.

Again this was a highly engaging and authentic context for learning and students were being challenged in a variety of ways.  Although today’s lesson saw the three workshops taking place the learning in the future will no doubt bring all the students together to focus on creating their own and contributing to collective pieces of original digital design and art work.

Another great example of ‘connect, inspire, soar’ in action!

‘Boom, Let’s Investigate!’

This is my inaugural blog post on this my newest blog and I am excited about my visit to, ‘Boom, Let’s Investigate’ this week on Thursday.

The intention of this blog is to capture in very practical terms what is happening within our various modules at Rototuna Junior High School.  Our learning environment is one that is quite different to the one I experienced as a high school student and for most of our parents and caregivers out there this is also the case.  By sharing the learning I hope to create a vivid picture of the learning for you and highlight some of the ways we are different to the learning we experienced and the ways we may be the same as many other schools out there.

‘Boom, Let’s Investigate’ is an integrated year 9 & 10 Mathematics and Science module being taught by Carolyn Gibbs, Julee Ralph and Mel Moore.  The snapshot of the learning programme that I have captured is of one lesson in the second week of the course running.

The focus of the module is on investigating the impact of one thing on another through a series of scientific investigations.  The focus within science is on the material world which is, in the words of Mel, ‘the exploration of the intangible or the stuff we can’t see or touch easily.’  Through this scientific context students will also be developing their number and statistical skills and knowledge.

During the lesson I observed the students initially in 3 separate groups working with one of the teachers each.  Our flexible learning spaces meant that one group was working in the break out area with Carolyn, one in the main commons area with Mel and one in a science lab area with Julee.  Mel’s group were putting together reflective notes or as Mel put it, ‘notes from their current self to help their future self.’  Students were reflecting on concepts they had already explored in a practical way relating to liquids, gases, particles, solutes, solvents and the different physical and chemical properties of the various things.  A critical part of this reflection process was peer feedback.  So not only do the students recall their own learning they needed to critique and give feedback on one of their peers notes.  This is a great way for us to commit the learning to their long term memory.

Julee was leading a group through another reflective task where students were revisiting the fair testing criteria with a particular emphasis on defining variables including controlled, dependent and independent.  Interestingly the module started with students going through a fair testing investigation process in an effort to collect some information about what they already know.  In subsequent lessons to this one students will be grouped according to the various gaps they had in their knowledge of fair testing (how to write a hypothesis, method construction, identifying and defining controls etc).

Carolyn is one of our graduate teachers and she was leading students through a set of word problems that used a science context but were focussed on developing students ability to solve problems involving ratios and decimals.  Interestingly the students had been grouped in 6 different ability groups with two different levels being with Carolyn at any one time.  One of our underlying philosophies here at RJHS is that students learn just as much from each other as they do from us as educators so providing opportunities for students to learn alongside others at different ability levels assists us in enriching the learning of all students.

Once the groups had rotated through the three different activities they got into a practical, teacher led fair test demonstration relating to the effect heat has on the movement of particles.  This was again an opportunity to build on previous learning and work together as a larger group (each teacher lead a group through a separate investigation).

I observed a high level of engagement and student participation throughout this lesson and just as importantly I observed a team of teachers who have thought carefully about how to engage the students and facilitate learning that will stick with the students.  I can’t remember science and maths being this interesting at school, or as challenging either when I was in Year 9 or 10.