Spoke to 2 trainers from an IT training centre this morning. The meeting was set up to allow us to have a better understanding of what we can do to improve our in-house radio show run by pupil DJs. It was a good meeting. Lots of useful information gathered that will allow us to make better-informed decisions.
What made a strong impression after the presentation was not so much about the hip technology, but the success in which it had engaged pupils. It is an example of the natural connection between man and his tools which made it compelling for him to learn and benefit from the experience. Real benefit that can be reaped the end user, which in this case is always our pupils.
If we cannot find a real benefit from the perspective of our pupils when using whatever form of technology, we cannot blame them for feeling disengaged. This clarity of user benefit must be identified first before deliberating on delivery modes.
Opportunities abound, from Web 2.0 applications to ultra mobile computing devices which are bound to make an impact on the education landscape. We cannot afford to be dinosaurs.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Study Skills
I was quite happy last night when I stumbled upon a mind-mapping programme when browsing the iPhone app store. I have been mind-mapping for about 8 years now and it is just great that I can do this anywhere, any time on my mobile phone.
Mind-mapping is a skill which I picked up in my 3rd year in university. How I wish I knew about it earlier, as for somebody with poor memory retention, it has helped me tremendously. It seems the most natural way for me to organise information, hierarchy is clear, everything is succinct and it draws strongly on association. I love it right from the beginning and had kept using it long after I graduate. Nowadays, I use it to brainstorm, organise and make relations to all kinds of information, from departmental plans to grocery lists.
I was eager to share this with my pupils years ago when I started teaching, introducing this skill to them that has been so useful to me. However, results were mixed. Although I took to this method and had benefited from it almost instantly, many pupils had found it to be a chore. In a feedback session, they told me that they were really doing it only to show me. After that year, I was not too insistent that pupils create mind maps, acknowledging that everybody is different and everyone has to find the most suitable way for themselves to learn.
Study skills is even more important now for our younger generation than it is for me during my time in school. Our pupils now are born in the internet era and are hard-wired from birth in a totally different environment. They learn and perceive information differently. They will need the skills not only to cope with the demands of school but to have the competence and confidence of successfully navigating through their increasingly complicated lives.
What should we teach them in terms of study skills? GTD? Time management? Mind-mapping? I am sure there is a list to choose from.
Or should we begin by learning more about our pupils? What are their favourite handheld games? What kind of music do they listen to? What television shows do they watch? What are their favourite websites? What are they buying with their money? Perhaps knowing more about that will help us better decide.
Mind-mapping is a skill which I picked up in my 3rd year in university. How I wish I knew about it earlier, as for somebody with poor memory retention, it has helped me tremendously. It seems the most natural way for me to organise information, hierarchy is clear, everything is succinct and it draws strongly on association. I love it right from the beginning and had kept using it long after I graduate. Nowadays, I use it to brainstorm, organise and make relations to all kinds of information, from departmental plans to grocery lists.
I was eager to share this with my pupils years ago when I started teaching, introducing this skill to them that has been so useful to me. However, results were mixed. Although I took to this method and had benefited from it almost instantly, many pupils had found it to be a chore. In a feedback session, they told me that they were really doing it only to show me. After that year, I was not too insistent that pupils create mind maps, acknowledging that everybody is different and everyone has to find the most suitable way for themselves to learn.
Study skills is even more important now for our younger generation than it is for me during my time in school. Our pupils now are born in the internet era and are hard-wired from birth in a totally different environment. They learn and perceive information differently. They will need the skills not only to cope with the demands of school but to have the competence and confidence of successfully navigating through their increasingly complicated lives.
What should we teach them in terms of study skills? GTD? Time management? Mind-mapping? I am sure there is a list to choose from.
Or should we begin by learning more about our pupils? What are their favourite handheld games? What kind of music do they listen to? What television shows do they watch? What are their favourite websites? What are they buying with their money? Perhaps knowing more about that will help us better decide.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Deliberate Practice
I came across an article in Fortune magazine titled 'Why talent is overrated' recently. In the article, the author proposed that inborn talent does not explain high achievement across many fields, examples include elite sportsmen like Tiger Woods, renowned musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, to legends of industries like Jack Welch. In attempting to find a common cause for such exceptional levels of performance, researchers converged on an answer which they termed deliberate practice. Some elements described in deliberate practice seem very complementary to what we attempt to do in assessment for learning, and they are applicable in the context of our classrooms.
1) Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance.
Unlike just plain hard work, deliberate practice requires a highly defined area of performance which needs improvement. When that specific skill is isolated, it needs to be worked on intently. I think sometimes in class, it is not so much that pupils refuse to do their work, but it is that our instructions to them are not specific enough to drive certain behaviours and outcomes.
2) Deliberate practice can be repeated a lot.
Two points differentiate this from the conventional notion of repeated practice. The first is that the defined task to perform is just slightly beyond the pupil's current abilities. And the second is the high amount of repetitions. This is especially evident in the fields of sport and music.
3) Feedback on results is continuously available.
Feedback is crucial as results require interpretation. This allows our pupils to understand our perception of their performance and what course of action they need to follow up with.
4) Before the work.
Mediocre performers state general goals that focuses on achieving desirable outcomes. The best performers state goals about the process of reaching those outcomes.
There are other points in the article but I think these are the high order bits.
Going to start by thinking about how to be more specific in my expectations of pupils in next year's Art lessons.
1) Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance.
Unlike just plain hard work, deliberate practice requires a highly defined area of performance which needs improvement. When that specific skill is isolated, it needs to be worked on intently. I think sometimes in class, it is not so much that pupils refuse to do their work, but it is that our instructions to them are not specific enough to drive certain behaviours and outcomes.
2) Deliberate practice can be repeated a lot.
Two points differentiate this from the conventional notion of repeated practice. The first is that the defined task to perform is just slightly beyond the pupil's current abilities. And the second is the high amount of repetitions. This is especially evident in the fields of sport and music.
3) Feedback on results is continuously available.
Feedback is crucial as results require interpretation. This allows our pupils to understand our perception of their performance and what course of action they need to follow up with.
4) Before the work.
Mediocre performers state general goals that focuses on achieving desirable outcomes. The best performers state goals about the process of reaching those outcomes.
There are other points in the article but I think these are the high order bits.
Going to start by thinking about how to be more specific in my expectations of pupils in next year's Art lessons.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Lessons from Pixar
Pixar is one of the companies I have tremendous respect for. From its ground breaking work starting from Toy Story all the way to Wall-E, it has continually pushed the envelope to pursue the highest level of excellence in the merger of art and cutting age technology. Recently, I came across an interesting article from Harvard Business Review about Pixar and its strategy about collective creativity. It started me thinking of how, even in a small but meaningful way, that some of these ideas can be placed in the context of our school.
Pixar has 3 Operating Principles:
1. Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone.
2. It must be safe for everyone to offer ideas.
3. We must stay close to innovations happening in the academic community.
The first principle recognizes that the decision-making hierarchy and communication structure in organizations are two different things. Inter-department communications should not be restrained and that means managers should not feel uncomfortable being surprised in meetings about ideas which did not come about through the so called 'proper channels'. This freedom must be built on trust and the objective is always for the good of the organization.
The second principle refers to safety in communication. This is really important as only when people feel safe, will meaningful discussions arise, where ideas can be communicated freely and be critiqued without being personal. This safety is as true of meetings with teachers as with peer critique sessions with pupils. To arrive at this freedom to exchange ideas is a precious skill of a facilitator and time is needed for trust to be built.
The third principle refers to the awareness of development in innovations in the education landscape. Although our education scene is largely different to those Pixar is associated with in the Silicon Valley, the idea of sharing and being aware of possible opportunities out there holds true nonetheless. Being connected to friends in the education service outside school helps, and sometimes a few phone calls can work wonders.
Pixar, its passion, drive and unrelenting attitude towards excellence in quality, is truly an inspiration.
Pixar has 3 Operating Principles:
1. Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone.
2. It must be safe for everyone to offer ideas.
3. We must stay close to innovations happening in the academic community.
The first principle recognizes that the decision-making hierarchy and communication structure in organizations are two different things. Inter-department communications should not be restrained and that means managers should not feel uncomfortable being surprised in meetings about ideas which did not come about through the so called 'proper channels'. This freedom must be built on trust and the objective is always for the good of the organization.
The second principle refers to safety in communication. This is really important as only when people feel safe, will meaningful discussions arise, where ideas can be communicated freely and be critiqued without being personal. This safety is as true of meetings with teachers as with peer critique sessions with pupils. To arrive at this freedom to exchange ideas is a precious skill of a facilitator and time is needed for trust to be built.
The third principle refers to the awareness of development in innovations in the education landscape. Although our education scene is largely different to those Pixar is associated with in the Silicon Valley, the idea of sharing and being aware of possible opportunities out there holds true nonetheless. Being connected to friends in the education service outside school helps, and sometimes a few phone calls can work wonders.
Pixar, its passion, drive and unrelenting attitude towards excellence in quality, is truly an inspiration.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Learning from differentiation
When I returned the marked coursework to my pupils this week, I tried an approach in feedback to increase the level of transparency in assessment. I did not have a big enough class previously to do this meaningfully, but this year, I have a sufficient sample size. Every pupil received the breakdown of their scores with reference to the rubrics and we did a rank file. Meaning that everyone will be linearly arranged in class from the highest to the lowest score, alongside their coursework, coupled with their accompanying score sheet with comments in their respective areas of strength and weakness. Doing this explicitly reveals the pupils' performance in relation to their classmates. This exercise must be dealt with very sensitively, for if the rationale is not communicated clearly, some pupils will naturally feel dejected due to their poor standing.
The rationale of doing this is really simple. The causation of differentiation must be clear, and pupils have the right to know. Knowing allows them to have a better understanding of what follow up action they need to do to improve. This is especially crucial for a subject where objectivity in assessment is a perpetual pursuit.
Pupils took some time to look through the assessed pieces of coursework and there was a natural crowd gathering in the top 3 pupils' coursework. When that happens, it shows that pupils want to learn from those who fared better than they had. What are the differences? And what are the effects of those differences to the score? Pupils scrutinised the high quality works and repeatedly tried to make a relation to the scored rubrics and comments. As a followup activity, I chose 4 pupils' coursework (the pupils were absent in class that day) to be assessed by everyone in class. Everybody subsequently got a chance to give a score to their fellow classmate's work.
The result of that follow up activity really surprised me. Of the 12 pupils who participated in the scoring, 9 of them scored within 5 marks of the actual grade assigned by me. 5 marks within a full range of 0-100. I am really, really impressed.
The rationale of doing this is really simple. The causation of differentiation must be clear, and pupils have the right to know. Knowing allows them to have a better understanding of what follow up action they need to do to improve. This is especially crucial for a subject where objectivity in assessment is a perpetual pursuit.
Pupils took some time to look through the assessed pieces of coursework and there was a natural crowd gathering in the top 3 pupils' coursework. When that happens, it shows that pupils want to learn from those who fared better than they had. What are the differences? And what are the effects of those differences to the score? Pupils scrutinised the high quality works and repeatedly tried to make a relation to the scored rubrics and comments. As a followup activity, I chose 4 pupils' coursework (the pupils were absent in class that day) to be assessed by everyone in class. Everybody subsequently got a chance to give a score to their fellow classmate's work.
The result of that follow up activity really surprised me. Of the 12 pupils who participated in the scoring, 9 of them scored within 5 marks of the actual grade assigned by me. 5 marks within a full range of 0-100. I am really, really impressed.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Empty Inbox
Perhaps this is nothing worth celebrating for the highly disciplined and meticulously organized, unfortunately I do not belong to this group. To me, this is a personal achievement. I emptied my inbox.
It happened just a couple of days ago. I was so happy that I dragged my immediate colleagues to take a look at my blank inbox screen. It is like I reached email nirvana for the first time at work.
Personal effectiveness at work is always something that hounds me. Bursting inbox, late email replies, pieces of unscheduled information, these are just a few to name off my head. With increased work responsibilities, I knew I needed help, and for the past couple of years, I had been seeking methods to alleviate these problems. Read some books about the matter and searched the net for related materials. Some did help, if I am convinced enough to try, and they worked with varying levels of success.
Some weeks ago, I came across a couple of articles in Wired magazine about this methodology called Getting Things Done (commonly known as GTD by netizens). The idea was brought forward in a similarly titled book by David Allen in 2001. Although the book achieved national success in the US, the cult-like following was actually the result of an evolving industry, which includes software, guidebooks, online communities, which spurn off in the interpreting or support of this theory.
The central idea in GTD is really simple. It rests on the belief that one needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. This relieves the mind from always having to remember the 'stuff' that needs to be done so that it can actually concentrate in doing them.
Lying on the GTD principle, a related article which I also came across focuses specifically on emails. The author suggested 3 other folders to be created on top of the generic 'Inbox', 'Sent', 'Draft' and 'Trash'. The 3 new ones are named 'Act', 'Later' and 'File'. Everything in the Inbox is either dealt with right away or it gets into one of these folders when they are not deleled. This eliminates the time burden of having to revisit matters which all gets acccumulated in the Inbox. The 3 folders apparently needs to be reviewed and managed regularly so that they are not just a mindless relabelling exercise.
I gave it a try and I think it does work for me more so than the other methods I tried. Getting more curious than the summarised information on the net can satisfy, I went out to get the GTD book by David Allen 2 days ago and is learning more as I go along, tapping into the ubiquity of mobile technology to do this as much as I can. I think this can actually be fun.
It happened just a couple of days ago. I was so happy that I dragged my immediate colleagues to take a look at my blank inbox screen. It is like I reached email nirvana for the first time at work.
Personal effectiveness at work is always something that hounds me. Bursting inbox, late email replies, pieces of unscheduled information, these are just a few to name off my head. With increased work responsibilities, I knew I needed help, and for the past couple of years, I had been seeking methods to alleviate these problems. Read some books about the matter and searched the net for related materials. Some did help, if I am convinced enough to try, and they worked with varying levels of success.
Some weeks ago, I came across a couple of articles in Wired magazine about this methodology called Getting Things Done (commonly known as GTD by netizens). The idea was brought forward in a similarly titled book by David Allen in 2001. Although the book achieved national success in the US, the cult-like following was actually the result of an evolving industry, which includes software, guidebooks, online communities, which spurn off in the interpreting or support of this theory.
The central idea in GTD is really simple. It rests on the belief that one needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. This relieves the mind from always having to remember the 'stuff' that needs to be done so that it can actually concentrate in doing them.
Lying on the GTD principle, a related article which I also came across focuses specifically on emails. The author suggested 3 other folders to be created on top of the generic 'Inbox', 'Sent', 'Draft' and 'Trash'. The 3 new ones are named 'Act', 'Later' and 'File'. Everything in the Inbox is either dealt with right away or it gets into one of these folders when they are not deleled. This eliminates the time burden of having to revisit matters which all gets acccumulated in the Inbox. The 3 folders apparently needs to be reviewed and managed regularly so that they are not just a mindless relabelling exercise.
I gave it a try and I think it does work for me more so than the other methods I tried. Getting more curious than the summarised information on the net can satisfy, I went out to get the GTD book by David Allen 2 days ago and is learning more as I go along, tapping into the ubiquity of mobile technology to do this as much as I can. I think this can actually be fun.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Coursework this year
Some thoughts on the Art coursework we had submitted...
Fashion Design
Of the various types of design based coursework available, fashion design is one of those which seems to be more difficult to grasp. A large part can be attributed to the designs' needs to be associated directly to the human form. In pursuit of greater flexibility for artistic expression, we have chosen to capitalize on the exploration of haute couture, the so called high fashion by the fashion houses which exists primarily on runways.
We did well in the areas of formal and conceptual development, forms evolve sequentially and the intent of the expression stayed true. Artist influence is strong in this coursework as the candidate has an abundance of research materials to dive into, both in the printed form and on the internet.
The weakness in this coursework lies in the disproportionately long amount of time spent in the beginning stages of the work where a piece of garment is derived from primary observations. The visual association required here is demanding as ideas need to be communicated effectively with total relevance to the theme. The development from a studied object to a piece of clothing can appear abstract and is often not the most natural of relations.
Graphic Design
This is the first time we attempt this coursework genre and there is strong personal response from the candidate. He is able to associate his life experience into the formulation of the design pieces and has a good understanding of examination requirements. Development of ideas is fluid, relevant and creative. The resultant designs also have high relevance to contemporary culture. Many visual manipulations are done on the computer and are executed purposefully, tapping the strength of the software.
Shortcomings in this genre lies in the finishing of the designs. Quoting from the famous Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, "God is in the details". This is one aspect which needs improvement. Overall touching up quality should be better, especially in the distinction of line work and tonal values.
Illustration
This is also the first time we had attempted illustration. The choice of this genre is more reactionary as compared to the above two. Candidate initially shows poor painting and drawing skills but spends a lot of time doodling on Manga characters. Capitalising on the candidate's interest, illustration was chosen to showcase his best strength and make his weak painting skills rather irrelevant.
A lot of time was spent training him in the effective use of marker pens and the necessary cross-hatching skills to create a convincing tonal range. The success of this coursework lies in its conceptual subject matter which is strong in personal response. There is creative use of imagery which resulted from close observation of authentic primary sources.
Weakness in overall quality is apparent in the candidate's final work, whose tonal quality is not on par with some of the stronger sketches he had demonstrated in his preparatory work. Speed is very much lacking to properly finish up and to sustain a high level of quality work.
Fashion Design
Of the various types of design based coursework available, fashion design is one of those which seems to be more difficult to grasp. A large part can be attributed to the designs' needs to be associated directly to the human form. In pursuit of greater flexibility for artistic expression, we have chosen to capitalize on the exploration of haute couture, the so called high fashion by the fashion houses which exists primarily on runways.
We did well in the areas of formal and conceptual development, forms evolve sequentially and the intent of the expression stayed true. Artist influence is strong in this coursework as the candidate has an abundance of research materials to dive into, both in the printed form and on the internet.
The weakness in this coursework lies in the disproportionately long amount of time spent in the beginning stages of the work where a piece of garment is derived from primary observations. The visual association required here is demanding as ideas need to be communicated effectively with total relevance to the theme. The development from a studied object to a piece of clothing can appear abstract and is often not the most natural of relations.
Graphic Design
This is the first time we attempt this coursework genre and there is strong personal response from the candidate. He is able to associate his life experience into the formulation of the design pieces and has a good understanding of examination requirements. Development of ideas is fluid, relevant and creative. The resultant designs also have high relevance to contemporary culture. Many visual manipulations are done on the computer and are executed purposefully, tapping the strength of the software.
Shortcomings in this genre lies in the finishing of the designs. Quoting from the famous Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, "God is in the details". This is one aspect which needs improvement. Overall touching up quality should be better, especially in the distinction of line work and tonal values.
Illustration
This is also the first time we had attempted illustration. The choice of this genre is more reactionary as compared to the above two. Candidate initially shows poor painting and drawing skills but spends a lot of time doodling on Manga characters. Capitalising on the candidate's interest, illustration was chosen to showcase his best strength and make his weak painting skills rather irrelevant.
A lot of time was spent training him in the effective use of marker pens and the necessary cross-hatching skills to create a convincing tonal range. The success of this coursework lies in its conceptual subject matter which is strong in personal response. There is creative use of imagery which resulted from close observation of authentic primary sources.
Weakness in overall quality is apparent in the candidate's final work, whose tonal quality is not on par with some of the stronger sketches he had demonstrated in his preparatory work. Speed is very much lacking to properly finish up and to sustain a high level of quality work.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Generating Ideas
One problem faced by some of my upper secondary art pupils when trying to conceptualise a new piece of art work is their shortage of ideas. I do not suppose it is totally true that pupils have got no idea at all on how to visually express themselves, it is more likely a situation whereby a sense of safety to experiment has not been fully achieved, or that they need a more systematised manner of thinking to facilitate idea generation.
A kind friend of mine shared with me a teaching strategy for strengthening the flow of creative ideas and I tried it out this week during my lessons for my upper secondary classes in preparation for their Paper 2.
The whole approach revolves around the relating of 3 elements when trying to create an image. They are 'Site', 'Object' and 'Identity'. A site refers to a specific space in an image, an object refers to a particular subject matter which is the focus of the art work, and identity refers to the context in which the above 2 elements are related. For example, when pupils are given a site and space such as 'train station' and 'pram' respectively, they are to generate 5 different identities relating the two.
A new set of site and object is refreshed at intervals of 5 min and pupils have to continually generate new identities for them. The lessons worked. Most of the pupils understood the objective of the exercise quite quickly and were prompt in their responses, which got articulated during a group sharing. Only a couple of pupils had some difficulty in understanding the meaning of identity and needed more examples for guidance.
Site. Object. Identity. A concise deconstruction of many conceptual 2D art we have seen. Useful. Going to do this again.
A kind friend of mine shared with me a teaching strategy for strengthening the flow of creative ideas and I tried it out this week during my lessons for my upper secondary classes in preparation for their Paper 2.
The whole approach revolves around the relating of 3 elements when trying to create an image. They are 'Site', 'Object' and 'Identity'. A site refers to a specific space in an image, an object refers to a particular subject matter which is the focus of the art work, and identity refers to the context in which the above 2 elements are related. For example, when pupils are given a site and space such as 'train station' and 'pram' respectively, they are to generate 5 different identities relating the two.
A new set of site and object is refreshed at intervals of 5 min and pupils have to continually generate new identities for them. The lessons worked. Most of the pupils understood the objective of the exercise quite quickly and were prompt in their responses, which got articulated during a group sharing. Only a couple of pupils had some difficulty in understanding the meaning of identity and needed more examples for guidance.
Site. Object. Identity. A concise deconstruction of many conceptual 2D art we have seen. Useful. Going to do this again.
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