Developing my practice alongside my job working with teachers to support their visual arts curriculums is proving to be a really interesting and informative process for me.
Earlier this week I delivered a session to a group of primary school teachers on sketchbook practice.
The session was largely practical and explored 4 key areas:
What went really well was the engagement from the teachers, who all appeared to really benefit from taking some time for some focussed creative activity. I had run a similar session before, and found the balance between practical and theory wasn't quite right. I had guided the group through some practical activities aimed at warming up and (I hoped) leading into the place where ideas could form for lessons and projects within which the activities could fit. I think that leap can be quite a big one for non specialist teachers and for this particular group it was a bit of an obstacle. It made me aware how important the presence of individual ideas is against the application of knowledge. At present, the curriculum for primary schools weighs very heavy on knowledge and progression. I question how the hierarchical structure of imparting knowledge from teacher to pupil allows for individual voice and autonomy for the child.
The thing that was noticeably more positive to this more recent session was that the group of teachers had a clear commitment and belief that creativity was a hugely important part of a child's educational experience and so were able to embrace the open ended nature of the activities. I was able to get the message across that sketchbooks play an important role in terms of allowing time and space for creative thoughts and ideas.
These two quite different experiences has reminded me of the importance of tailoring my training sessions, pitching them at a level that inspires rather than overwhelms. I have another two sessions coming up in the early spring so I will make sure I know as much as I can about the schools ethos/approach/curriculum in order to best deliver the content.