There were many moments of ‘YES, I agree’ whilst reading this text and there were many quotes that resonate with my teaching practice:
“Understanding itself only takes place in a dynamic, interactive, interpretive process of working through meaning with others”
It made me think about the session I ran last week which was observed as part of this course. Whilst agreeing with the benefits of ‘working through meaning with others’ I have also been inspired by the book ‘Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking’. This quote from Steve Wozniak has especially stuck with me:
“I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has been invented by committee. If you’re that rare engineer who’s an inventor and also an artist, I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team.”
I can’t say that I fully agree with this statement, but it did make me think about important balances within the student learning experience. When planning the workshop I was trying to find a middle ground between group working and individual introspection and reflection. To give some context, the students are working on a live brief for the Dulwich Picture Gallery in which they have to create an activity for the galleries Late event. Students were firstly asked to work individually and create 9 drawings based on their research and development so far, after this time they then brought these drawings together in their group and were asked to reflect on the collective idea.
My observer rightly pointed out in the feedback that at this point not many of the groups had really thought about HOW their workshop was going to run. Reflecting on this now, I think it was okay as the first task was purely about instinctively and individually creating imagery, in the hope that through this process of making something unexpected and inspiring may be revealed. It was clear though that the question of HOW had to be acknowledged during the second part of the task, when the groups reformed to create 3D models/maquette of their ideas. I clearly discussed with them the experiential aspect of these models and the purpose of bringing illustration and visual media ‘off the page’. Unfortunately multiple fire alarms disrupted the end of the session so there was no chance for group reflection. However the following week it was great to see how some of their more fully formed ideas had been directly influenced by this session.
“The spectator has a task to fulfil. They must devote their full attention to the articulated subject matter before them, and become completely involved in interpreting the truth-claim presented to them”
How to successfully plan and manage this as educators? To give an open experience of creating? Experience is a word that keeps popping up. I feel that experience ignites, poses a question, reveals something which should continue a thread of interest for each student. I think this is why I respect the power of deconstructing and reconstructing; in the deconstructing you learn the thing, you pick it apart and you see how it works and in the reconstructing you piece is back together in whatever way you deem appropriate/necessary/logical. Keep thinking about E X P E R I E N C E…
This to me is more concerned with process than theory, which brings me round to question the hierarchy of these topics: Why do I understand process more than theory? I guess thats where my elective ‘Introduction to Practice as Research comes in’, I just feel there is an honesty in process and I respect that.
“Handling uncertainty and enrolling people in quests for discovery; questioning existing thinking and building belief in new ways of seeing”