foolfillment: the blog

I have a lovely S3 Graphic Communication class, they’re great fun and work hard most of the time. Today there was only 10 there as it was a heats day for the school’s athletics championships, so I went in not knowing what I would do and was completely comfortable with it. I talked with them about what they might like to do today, half thinking they could get on with some folio work. After talking it through, a few ideas had come up – work on tidying up folio items, start on a new folio item, play with a Computer Aided Graphics package, or create a stop frame animation film. I gave over the lesson to them to make of what they wanted. It occurred to me that we didn’t have much in the way of lego kit, or anything else that would work well for stop frame films so I showed them a few seconds of a Commoncraft film and an idea grew…

While a few pupils worked on some frame animations on the CAG software to make some great wee films, 6 other pupils worked together to make this film for next year’s S1 pupils.

The pupils were in charge right through the planning stage to the final filming, with only a little guidance from me. The only thing I had to do was capture the video and audio from the camera tonight and upload it to blip. They worked really well as a team delegating tasks and making good use of their individual skills.

They put the video together in about 40 minutes from scratch and I think it’s great.

They were totally engaged and want to do more of this sort of work. Personally I think this video is a great example of graphic communication, with no capitals, but it doesn’t fit in to Graphic Communication – the SQA course – in anyway whatsoever. Shame, but luckily with a hard working class like this one we can fit in the extra interest tasks.

This coming year we will be running Product Design for the first time at Hawick High School. The course is being offered at Higher and Intermediate 2 level but all students will follow roughly the same scheme of work. In the interests of sharing I’m making resources available here and will give a rough overview of how I have planned out the course. As this is the first time there will no doubt be changes made for future years, and even throughout the coming year. Never the less I have been given a lot of help from other technology teachers in Scotland over the last few months while I have planned this out, and to make it easier for others who might be in the same situation these might be a useful start point.

At the bottom of this post are links to the resources I will be using with the class.

The school will be changing timetable before the Summer break and I plan to use this time to run a short project looking at benches in the neighbouring park. Students will evaluate the benches and then also make up a specification for new outdoor furniture. Each part of the project will get one week, and are to be seen as a practice for the real items of work the students will produce for their Unit evidence.
After the break we will get straight into evaluating a product. There are a selection of products in school and there is scope for the students to propose something of their own. Then a quick one week designing project focussing on quick idea generation and modelling skills. By the end of the week each student should have produced a design to be manufactured using the RapMan rapid prototyper in school.
The next piece of work will be the generation of a Product Design Specification. Students will be given the task of creating a fully fleshed out spec for a life raft on a Northlink ferry. In the middle of this work we will also have another quick designing project based around (probably) an egg cup. The focus for that being market research and quick modelling.
Following the PDS task we have another 1 week project – really just a week focussing purely on graphic skills, looking at household items such as shavers, irons, kettles. Students will be required to create a range of sketched and drawings, with varying levels of rendering and detail added.
Then we move onto Unit 2, Developing Design Proposals. I have put together a brief and some information similar to that in a Design Assignment, students are to design and model a proposal for a desk/storage problem in a modern design studio. This project should form the basis for most of the evidence for this unit, but work from the two quick designing projects might be used, particularly any graphic work. This will take us up to the Christmas break.

After Christmas we will look at previous work and tidy up any outstanding evidence requirements, but mainly we will be looking at formalising the students notes on topic areas we look quickly at in the first term, and those we haven’t covered yet. Following htis we have the prelims and then the design assignment.

Alongside all of the above work I intend to spend a period a week looking at the Design for Manufacture unit, giving lecture-style lessons followed by time for students to make useful notes. The students will be expected to read ahead and will be working mainly from the green Leckie and Leckie book.

Students will also be sketching regularly, 5-10 minutes most days, with the best work going in a display stuck to the outside of my classroom door.

Files I will use:
StudentGuide – a booklet outlining the course and its requirements, includes SQA DA information.
Projects – more information about each of the blocks of work we will go through.
DfM Questions – questions to support the Design for Manufacture lectures.
Higher product design Planning – Excel spreadsheet that will possibly make no sense to anyone but me, but an outline of the course.

Thanks to everyone who has given me tips and resources in the last few months, you know who you are.

As ever the resoucres are free for you to use, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 UK: Scotland.

I would be keen to know if you do use this stuff so a comment would be nice, also there is likely to be a few glaring mistakes/omissions/typos in there somewhere so feel free to point them out to me.

Finally, as I said at the top of the post this is the plan, it is open to change, and might not work in practice, I would be very happy if you had any suggestions for how it might be changed to be more successful.

Second in a series of posts on our curriculum at Hawick High, relating what we do in relation to CfE. To put this into context we currently see S1 classes for 50 or 55 minutes a week from August to change of timetable in June. Last year we had them for 80 minutes for half of the year. As such we had to rejig our S1 course to reflect the new amount of time we saw them. This post is simply to show what we do, not to discuss how much time we get compared to other schools, though it is handy to know if you wanted to compare it to other schools. Personally I would love to get more time as it would allow us to take our time a bit more and to cover areas that we don’t currently have time for.

As a result of the new timings for this session we needed an extra project to add to what we already do. We agreed to work through slightly different things and I was keen to add in some metal work and also some more design work. The result was a project where we make an aluminium coathook in about 3 to 4 periods. In the department we have all made this, after that we separated somewhat. I myself wanted to work on graphic and modelling skills so below is a bulleted list of what I have done.

• For homework pupils created a mood board of images, supposed to be based around a theme.
• Pupils were given a brief to design a personalised back board for their hook to be attached to.
• Pupils then took shapes they saw in images on the mood board to create ideas for a back board the coathook would go on.
• the ideas were evaluated for common faults, such as being too difficult to make, not being unique, not being strong/stable etc. THe ideas were also rendered simply with one colour pencil.
• One idea was selected, drawn full size with any improvements, this was then copied onto some full size paper and the pupils made a model of the back board. Pastels were used to add colour, card strips were used to model the hook itself.
• Pupils evaluated the modelling process – was it hard to make in paper? Does this mean it will be harder/easier in MDF? Pupils were challenged to pull together the knowledge they already had of machines and tools to consider hwo they would make their model.
• If the model worked then great, if not they made a second one with any necessary changes. The models were also photographed by the pupils so they could be added to the folio they built up.
• Next the designs were transferred onto MDF and pupils began to cut to shape using coping saws, tenon saws, drills, bit braces, files and glass paper. Colour was added using dyes, then the coat hooks were attached with screws.
• The final part of the project is to evaluate the model in terms of aesthetics and function – pupils were given definitions for these words early on in the year so should be familiar with them. Unfortunately time has got the better of me and I haven’e quite managed to fit all of this in.

In terms of CfE, when I was putting together the plans for this it seemed that I was just doing the sort of project CDT department have been doing for ages, but looking at the Os and Es it seems to match up to then nicely, though I am not going to copy in the relevant ones below.

I think the project allows for different methods of teaching, the basic skills are built upon and there is lots of scope for differentiation throughout the folio and the model.

Over the next wee while I’ll be trying to give a little insight in to what we do at Hawick High in the tech dept with regards to literacy. I may do the same for numeracy soon.

One short project we run in S1 is a research project. It varies from class to class, and from teacher to teacher, but generally the project runs for 3-5 periods and looks a little like this:
For the first one or two periods pupils individually research a product designer, they try to find out information about the person (name, age, nationality etc) and examples of their work. Pupils are expected to analyse and evaluate these products in and to form an opinion of the designer’s work. The piece of ‘evidence’ from the pupil is a poster or document detailing their findings.
After this the pupils work in groups to complete a similar task. Each group researches a different designer or movement then prepare a presentation that they will deliver to the rest of the class. Again they are encouraged to find out personal information, source and analyse examples of work, then select a favourite piece of work which they focus on. They work on research skills, but also presentational skills, group work, and design analysis.
As part of the lessons we try to include time to discuss ways to locate information, how to evaluate that information for accuracy and partiality, and also different presentation methods. Also we work on ICT skills as generally the projects are researched through the internet and presentations/posters put together with MS Office tools.

With this project we are mainly hoping to work on pupils’ design skills, but looking through the Literacy Experiences and Outcomes, it seems that this project does/could also tick off a lot of them – though most of them hit me as duplicates of themselves. I’ve pasted them below.

When I engage with others, I can make a relevant contribution, encourage others to contribute and acknowledge that they have the right to hold a different opinion.

I can respond in ways appropriate to my role and use contributions to reflect on, clarify or adapt thinking.
LIT 3-02a

I can independently select ideas and relevant information for different purposes, organise essential information or ideas and any supporting detail in a logical order, and use suitable vocabulary to communicate effectively with my audience.
LIT 3-06a / LIT 4-06a

To help me develop an informed view, I am learning about the techniques used to influence opinion and how to assess the value of my sources, and I can recognise persuasion.
LIT 3-08a

When listening and talking with others for different purposes, I can:

• communicate information, ideas or opinions
• explain processes, concepts or ideas
• identify issues raised, summarise findings or draw conclusions.

LIT 3-09a

I am developing confidence when engaging with others within and beyond my place of learning. I can communicate in a clear, expressive way and I am learning to select and organise resources independently.
LIT 2-10a / LIT 3-10a

Using what I know about the features of different types of texts, I can find, select, sort, summarise, link and use information from different sources.
LIT 3-14a / LIT 4-14a

To help me develop an informed view, I am exploring the techniques used to influence my opinion. I can recognise persuasion and assess the reliability of information and credibility and value of my sources.
LIT 3-18a

I can consider the impact that layout and presentation will have on my reader, selecting and using a variety of features appropriate to purpose and audience.
LIT 3-24a

I recognise when it is appropriate to quote from sources and when I should put points into my own words. I can acknowledge my sources appropriately.
LIT 3-25a

I can persuade, argue, evaluate, explore issues or express an opinion using a clear line of thought, relevant supporting detail and/or evidence.
LIT 3-29a

I had a visit on today from Jenni Curson, the Scottish Borders Council Development Officer for Literacy. She had heard from Ollie Bray about a bit of work I had done using Comic Life over a year ago and was keen to see how we tackle the Literacy Outcomes and Experiences in Hawick High School. The truth is that I haven’t used Comic Life much since last February, there just isn’t the time in our S1/2 courses, and I have been doing other things with my other classes.

I’m planning to write a few posts over the exam diet about what we are doing in school, and how that relates to CfE. Hopefully this will generate a bit of discussion. I’ll try to get a post out on Sunday evening about one of our S1 projects.

Has it really been a year since I drove all the way up to Glasgow on a school night to present at a TeachMeet aimed specifically at student teachers?

It was a cracking night and I would go again this year – if it weren’t for other commitments I would definitely be there. So this is where you come in…

TeachMeets work because everyone gets involved, don’t be afraid, sign up to spread the word about a fantastic new website you have had success with in class, or the nifty wee bit of gadgettry that you have taken from one application and shoved into the classroom.

Everyone has a story to tell – and probationers and other newly qualifieds in particular – have good things to share so sign up for a 7 or 2 minute talk and make this year’s version even better than last year’s.

It is quite short notice but don’t let that put you off, the best presentations are made up on the spot!

The Aberdeen version is on tomorrow night – see the wiki.

The Glasgow one os on Thursday – here’s another wiki.

Go on, make me proud!

In the second post where I look at my teaching here I’ll outline a problem I’ve been thinking about. When introducing a new topic in Graphics I’ll often break it down into very small steps to get across how to work through that sort of problem. What this means is that I’ll go through a single drawing very slowly and using lots of open questions and time for thinking we’ll eventually get to the complete, correct solution. The idea being that we cover all the important points that might come up in any other drawing.

Then when we move on to other examples the pupils are well prepared and cope very well with similar examples, but, present them with something slightly different or even much easier they are looking for exactly the tasks we worked through as a class. Too often they look at the drawing, but don’t read the question and waste time doing extra work that is asked for.
In graphics drawing speed is so important, so doing work you don’t need to is a killer in terms of the exam. Maybe I need to leave them too their own devices sometimes, make them rely on the question paper and let them make more mistakes – that of course leads to the problem of enforcing bad habits.

A quandary that I’m certain comes up in all subjects taught.

I’ve been conscious that I haven’t been writing much here for a while. Something I haven’t done here for a very long time is to write reflectively about my practice. There are a number of reasons for this, first I suppose is the difficulty on writing about a situation without giving any identifying information for classes/pupils; and second is that there really just isn’t the time, when you get everything else done for school and have some down-time planned in. I remember being so enthusiastic about this reflective blogging malarkey a few years ago. I hope to be able to return to it in some capacity over the next wee while.

The way I teach and deliver lessons has changed so much since I first started out as a probationer. There are certain things I have taught countless times since then – for instance cutting a through housing. I started out really relaxed about how I explained the process – once safety was covered – and relied mainly pupils watching the demo, but now I talk loads about the process but often don’t actually complete cutting the joint. And what difference? Always hard to compare different classes and schools, but there is definitely an improvement in the quality produced. Is it down to the demonstration being of only the key points, is it down to me talking through key points, is it my greater experience now, or is it my eye for spotting people doing things that aren’t quite right?

The great thing about teaching is that each year, each day, each period is different, and how you react to the pupils is different as is how they react to you. Instead of a mechanical process that grinds through each step without adjustment for the people involved, each lesson evolves dynamically. So, some times I might just slip back to teaching like I did years ago, and of course I fully expect that in a few years time I’ll be able to look back and spot more changes that have taken place.

All good fun.

Following on from yesterday’s post, there was a short flashmeeting last night where we discussed ideas and possible solutions for what might be done on snow days.

A big thank you to everyone who took part: Julie, Ian, Joe, Sinclair, Alan, and Alan, and particularly to John who joined us from Dubai. Also thanks to Theo who joined in right at the end, sorry you missed it all Theo.

As was pretty much guaranteed to happen, we arrived at no conclusions, but there were a few important points.

The main difficulty I saw was that snow days come unannounced usually, so getting word to pupils would be difficult. It was discussed that it would be great if a class were so used to using online materials at home that they would perhaps know to go to a certain website for ideas for work tasks or messages from their teacher. Julie has found that the wiki she is using with her classes had been visited by pupils while the school has been closed – in fact it was a class that she expected not to have looked who seemed to have made most use of it!

Other than having a well trained class it might prove difficult to spread word around, though often on snow days pupils and parents are desperate for information on whether the school will be open or not, and so check school websites and local radio pretty often – these could easily be used to notify people. It seems that some schools in Aberdeenshire are already doing this and are directing pupils to Glow to access things to do.

Ian suggested a few tools such as wikis and wall wisher that could be used as a way of operating a session, and that it might be good to focus on one particular topic, or exam question. It followed that the sort of thing that might be delivered in a ‘live’ session is possibly quite likely to be similar to what might be done in a revision session, whether online or in person, near to exam time.

There were I’m sure a great many other points discussed, but unfortunately the meeting wasn’t recorded, and I didn’t make as good a set of notes as I might have done, perhaps those who took part could add to this in the comments?

Once again, thanks to those who took part.

With the weather having been dreadful recently the schools in the Scottish Borders have been closed all yesterday and today, and are due to stay closed until at least Monday. What that has meant is staff working from home. Finding things to usefully do can be pretty difficult when resources are all in the closed school building. However I kept myself occupied today keeping in touch with my wonderful PLN on twitter, and listening to the tremendously local Radio Borders.

Two things that have kept creeping up on twitter is the mention of teachers delivering ‘lessons’ online, and the use of glow. So I’ve been wondering how I could try and do something useful for pupils – and let’s be honest they must be fed up of this snow, it’s not as though there’s anything fun you can do in it, is there?

Can I make a request – would it be possible to have some sort of online meet tonight to discuss how we can use ICT to keep education going when schools are closed. I’m thinking Glowmeet if most people have logins, or perhaps we can set up a flashmeeting?

Why tonight? Well, it needn’t be, but I’d like to attempt something tomorrow, while schools are still closed.

So, if you are interested in taking part or helping, can you either leave a comment here, or sent me a tweet to @stuartmeldrum – I’d really appreciate it.

Two examples of such snow lessons are @PrimaryPete_ ’s (post about lesson here) and the Year 6 online lesson at Heathfield by @deputymitchell.

Update:
Flashmeeting booked for tonight at 7.30. Feel free to join in. Join it here.