(Week Four)

  Last week I was in class without the other pre service teachers due to various reasons. I was totally exhausted after that day, hence no reflection.

  Today the students were creatively painting, stamping and stencilling their material with words, poems, lyrics and pictures that had an appreciation of a part of who they are.



Preparing to decorate personal Flag



Personal Flag coming together

  The slight hum of excitement and busyness could be heard streaming throughout the classroom. Each and every student was occupied, almost. One student had not taken her medication because she had lost her tablets. She lay across the table crying whilst the other students went about their business. It is quite strange to see students accept this 'behaviour' as normal and do not question it.

  I have to wonder how beneficial it is to ignore this? Towards the end of the period she came to desk I was working at and asked what she could do. She had missed the instructions handed out to her earlier. No reference was made to her lack of participation in the project. She busied herself with song lyrics.

  Walking into the class in the mid of morning is slightly difficult. (This is due to our small team having meetings with Jo, Tarquem and Marcelle in the mornings). I feel that if I was in class from the start of the day I would feel better informed of what is expected of me and the students and could better allocate myself to the tasks at hand. This would also give me a better understanding of how the students are starting out their day emotionally.

  I worked closely with Mrs Murdoch (the year 12 Art teacher) today and asked her lots of questions about her teaching and her insights into teaching art. She was very open and patient with my questions. She is a very confident lady whom I feel I could learn a lot from both professionally and personally.

  After lunch I spent some time with Meagan trying to get the computer to print the students pictures out onto the tie dyes. This proved to be a challenging task. I was not fully understanding of photo shop but learnt quickly. We had  constant voices of 'is it fixed yet?' and a small group of students had gathered around to watch while they waited. I enjoyed the challenge that this computer and printer dished out and managed to learn more than I had expected. I was surprisingly calm and curious at the same time. Not once did frustration creep in but a sense of achievement because just before the bell went I successfully printed a picture onto the material.

My job next week is to station the computer and print the pictures for the students. I am also lucky enough to be able to accompany the group on an excursion to the art museum and a Chinese P.D. Meagan has briefly given me a run down of my responsibilities. It will be a personal challenge for me as they will be outside school and may very well behave differently.

Personal reflections, thoughts and positive aspects of individual students in their Visual Diaries