foolfillment: the blog

Another good day at school. I got an network account by the end of the day so I should be able to do this from school now. I took my 3rd year graphics class and it all seemed to go well. True length is a very tough idea to get your head around but my approach seemed to get a couple of them to understand the reason why we need to do it which was rally gratifying. I took a stab at questioning as a means of getting them to think rather than regurgitate info and the idea seemed to get through. It’s a very capable class.
I was in a n S1 grapchis class too, a mixed bunch. I spent a lot of time with one who really improved after I sat making him do as I did, drawing a series of lines and it made a big difference. He still had trouble with the task though, and I’m disappointed to say that the class teacher rather than recognising the progress saw only the task in terms of how well he wanted it done.
I took a senior class through an M&T joint, difficult to get them all listening, they seems all a little disinterested but o9nce they got started made a reasonable stab at the task. Too many not taking care with the chiselling though and wanted more wood. The quandry is do you make them see that they have to get it right first time, or do you give them more wood so that they do eventually get a good job?
There was another class. I remember now, a second year class making a toy. Pretty good workers, I didn’t lead take the lesson though. Hopefully another time. The S1s do rotations with other subjects so they get one period wood, one metal, and one on KU/drawing each week before they change to another subject. I’m taking this class for their KU period next Tues.

All in all, a good day.

Day two done and dusted. I met a second year class today who are doing some design stuff - a really good class, very quiet, produce great work, answer questions well. I get to deliver a lesson on timber etc next Tuesday to them, I’m looking forward to it.
I spent most of the morning preparing for a lesson on True lengths and true shapes that I’m giving to 3rd years tomorrow morning. I’ve got (what I think) is a pretty good powerpoint demonstrating most of the steps, still some stages to add in and then work out some good ways of getting the concepts over to the class - this is the first they’ll have hear of them.

Two classes in the afternoon, one of which I took pretty much on the hoof after a little outline from the teacher of what he would have done. The other class working on 4th year folios for C+D.

Not tired yet, in fact I’m about to go swimming and managed to do a few sit-ups and press-ups this morning, we’ll see if they continue in the coming weeks.

The first day of my last school placement. I was very apprehensive about going to this school, it isn’t in the best of areas and any reputation I’d heard about it before today was bad. I really enjoyed myself though, the first impressions of it were positive, the foyer was welcoming and full (quietly busy) with smartly dressed pupils deing generally well behaved. The DHT that met with me first off was really friendly and seems approachable, the department is good too. It’s a fairly compact affair with four workshops in not much space, (One point of note is that to me the machines seem very close to the workbenches) and the two classrooms are separated by the technician’s store and a corridor. I’ve had five classes today with a good mix of abilities, all the classes were on the whole amenable and complient.

I’m looking forward to having a good placement here, I’ve already got two lessons to prepare for Wednesday. One I have exciting plans for using Inventor as an aid to drawing true lengths and developments of pyramids.

One exam down, one to go.

Understanding Energy was a pretty staight forward exam as expected. Yesterday’s forays into bebo meant that not a lot of revision was done but it was okay as the questions UI expected tunred up. Now I have to turn my attention to Education on Friday.

There’s a bit of a hooaa in the nws today about the rise in the number of autistic children in mainstream schools in Scotland, the SNP are calling for an inquiry, but the thing is I’m not sure what they expected to happen when the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act (2000) came in - it put into place a policy of inclusion. The Act meant that one of the things the Scottish education system was to do was integrate these children into mainstream schools, whether the SNP agree with that or not is a different matter, why are they so surprised at these figures?

In other news a power supply arrived yesterday so I am not writing this post from my destop which is now back up and running for the first time in months.

Almost the last day of term. I’m knackered, I’ve just completed one of the last things to be handed in tomorrow, should have done it ages ago. It was a marking exercise, fairly interesting to do but would have been better were I to see what marks other people would give it.

Design is almost tied up, I’ll photo the finished model sometime an post it, all that remains is a little tidying up exercise on Materials.

I’m knackered, did I say that already?

May already, how’d that happen?

Last Education lecture today, on the GTCS, fairly interesting, then a final Teaching Technology session - a chat about what we thought of this year’s Cardonald College sessions and a few questions about what we’d like to see for final year courses. Then a quick lunch and back for a little refresher lecture on last semester’s Education and Society course.

I came home and looked at a marking exercise that I’ve been putting off for a while, didn’t take very long in the end and I just need to write it up not, lots of other things to be doing now though so that’s your lot.

Graphics, Eddie showed us one way of creating animations in Inventor which was different from the way I had found myself. Then an afternoon of design, our radio (most of it anyway) got put in the rapid prototyper and should finish in the middle of thie night, I’m going inearly to get started in the tricky job of removing the scaffolding that get’s built around it, then Materials and Processes - the last lecture.

Cardonald, finished my dwang, then in the afternnoon started a chess board which should be finidhed next week. Pub quiz in the evening, could really have done without it, lots still to do.

Design design design design assessment design design design energy design design design…….

Uni life’s a bit hectic at the moment, the brightest part of it at the moment is a series of lectures by Al McPhee on aspects of the Scottish education system, one of which we had today, the content is a dry as a bone but it’s presented very well. We also had a short session on Higher Product Design, and one of the last lectures on Understanding Energy. Energy has really picked up in the last few weeks, but that doesn’t really say much. The classes are much more geared towards the exam at the moment and are really large group tutorials.

I wrote up my logbook for coleee tonight, tomorrow might be the last time I go, depending how far I get with my dwang tomorrow.

A post post, I’m writing up my logbook for Cardonald at the moment (I know, I should have done it as I went along…) and it’s pretty useful to jump back into what I’ve written here to see what I’ve done over the year, the disheartening thing is that in college it has been remarkably little. However, I digress:

Metalwork in the morning, a slow morning as we have become accustomed to, this three week block is pencilled in for us making our models for the design course, as Gail and I are using the rapic prototyper we don’t actually need to be in. I started my dwang (great word, that) and should hopefully get it finished tomorrow.

In woodwork I did absolutely nothing, the bench saw was out of action which meant the whole machine shop was offline, which inturn meant there was no way of us getting timber stripped to work on, maybe next time - oh, hang on, there is no next time! A mile stone has passed without us even noticing, we have now completed any training we will have in craft skills, the next time we might be trained in something to do with craft we will be NQTs or older. I digress again, logbook logbook logbook.