Learning teaching practice through observation/ shadowing. Through this observation session, I was able to see the engagement with students and how I can implement it in my own future teaching. As a teaching within cohort, I was able to shadow a member of GEMS, Mary Evans, also the course leader of BA Fine Art in Chelsea. The shadowing session was a 1-1 tutorial with students.
During my placement in CSM foundation course, I observed a lino printing and embossing workshop facilitated by Gail Evans.
Notes on 1-1 tutorial
- Student-centred, asking about the student’s work – “how do you feel about __?”
- What about __ interests you?
- Is this how you see your work?
- Knowing their student and their style of work
- Commenting on how to push the work forward? What medium, etc.
- Looking for a range of research and process when making work.
- Notifying the learners that the feedback will not be sent on the same day/ might take time, ensuring the student doesn’t wait around.
- “Research doesn’t always have to be books. It can be something you watched – something that feeds you”. Also, bring back the research to you.
- If any references are found (by the tutor) that will be helpful to the student, then those are suggested to the learner.
- Encouraging reflective writing – this is useful as it evaluates what you have done.
After the shadowing, I talked about how the students were so engaged, and how student-centred this tutorial/ assessment was. To this Mary said that you shouldn’t restrict the students and try to understand the students individually.
Notes on observing the printing workshop:
- Considering the space the students are holding – bringing everyone together in a circle when conducting the workshop.
- Breaking the activities into 2 parts – morning (lino printing) and afternoon session (embossing) as the students have a lot of information to take in as well.
- Giving out examples of Gail’s own prints – these were passed around by the students.
- Demonstrating as well as allowing students to try using the machine (with tutor support).
It was a very student engaging workshop. Once Gail showed what needs to be done, the students were encouraged to use the machines. Gail however was not finished with just showing how to do the prints, but during the session, she went around and spoke with students to ensure that they understood and if they need any help/ questions.