Over the past few weeks, I've been working at a Primary school quite close to where I live. I thought it would be good to get some experience while I've got some spare time. The last couple of weeks, I've been working with Year 3's on a small art project. Each year were given a blank, square, wooden board and a word. With this word they had to work in whatever way they wanted to produce a colourful, eyecatching, inspirational board to represent that word. The idea was to collect a variety of wonderful boards and display them somewhere in the school. The words included: goals, growth, enjoyment, ambition and many more. The teachers had produced their boards in small groups, back in June on the training day. They had set the bar, and I was determined , along with the children, to produce something even better. So...we got to work. Emma (one of the teachers for year 3) started the lesson so everyone was settled, and then now again, sent a couple of students to the back of the room, to work with me. Our word was achievement. So, I got each student to have a little think about what they had achieved this year. Ideas popped up such as: swimming, maths, history, reading, writing etc. I decided to let the students work individually as each of them had their own ideas of how they wanted their piece to look. We discussed their ideas thoroughly and thought of ways of how they could display this on the board. Nearly every student started off by drawing on white card and then either, colouring in or adding different materials to it. At times I found it quite difficult to let them do what they wanted, as they all seemd to want to draw a tiny little drawing in the centre of a page. I know I'm used to working with people my age and producing something to a certain standard, therfore I shouldnt expect their work to be perfect...however I still wanted the board to look good! Nevertheless, I got on with it and tried to help their ideas expand and with it the size of their drawings! It was great to work with the kids; I learnt a lot from it. It was lovely to think that I could have been inspiring them to enjoy art and then go onto do it later on in life. Once all the students had produced some work to put on the board, I then went away to stick everything down and make the end piece look less messy than it could have been if the kids had stuck it down. I'm pleased with the final board; I know it's not how I would have done it, however I think that I made it into something with what I had. Yes, it is busy, but I think that truly represents the students creative minds and how they see things. It was brilliant to experience working one on one with the kids, as I got a taste of what it would be like to have responsibility for a group of young children when teaching.
(Year 3's Final Board)
Once I had finished Year 3's board, I was asked to finish Year 1's. Most of it had already been done and all I needed to do, was work with small groups of children to create little people to place on it. It makes more sense, if you see and images first!
(Year 1's Final Board)
So...I helped the children make the small people...make sense now?! Heather (teaching assistant) gave me some examples of how she wanted them to look, so I took these and made a template from them. I cut out different shapes from foam and card so that it meant that the children could just stick the shapes onto the template and decorate it how they wanted. Once again, I found this a bit tricky as there was a way I wanted the people to look, but the children didn't always stick to this. Nevertheless, I realised that this was just them finding their own style, so their person could stand out. Once all the children had finished I stuck the foam people on with super glue, so they stood out off the board.
I also worked with small groups of students on writing tasks; it was good to get more of a taste of teaching. I've really enjoyed myself at Mountfield Primary School, everyone was so welcoming; students and teachers. It was great working with the kids; at times it was draining as they needed your full attention all the time, nevertheless, it was great watching their enthusiasm for everything. These past few weeks have made it clear to me that if I decided to teach, I would have to work in a secondary school or higher education, as I would want to specialise in textiles/art with older children/adults. It would be great to inspire people to love art and then go on to do it.
