My plan when I leave college, is to become a freelance artist, and this is something I have been researching and working towards since the beginning of my degree course. I intend to continue creating, exhibiting and selling work in person and online. I am also planning on teaching art to groups of adults in community centres, at conferences, events and also from my home. These goals seem realistic and build upon my existing skills. Fortunately, my degree is a BA in Fine Art and Professional Practice, which means I have received guidance on how to establish and sustain a career as an artist. This is one of the reasons (in my opinion) that Blackpool School of Arts is better for a student who wants a career in the arts, rather than many of the other colleges and Universities.
Since January, I have also been a student at Swarthmore Education Centre in Leeds. I have been doing two online art courses with them, 'Fantasy Art' and 'Art Mix'. This has fitted in quite well with my schedule during lockdown, as I've been at home more than usual. I decided to do these courses partly because I love art, and partly to observe the logistics of how the art teachers' teach online. It has been really interesting and I've learned a lot about teaching online, and from the art lessons themselves. I would highly recommend the courses to anyone reading this, they are tremendous value for money! (Check them out on https://www.swarthmore.org.uk).
To my surprise and delight, I recently noticed a call out for applications to join their online team of tutors. I knew straight away this is something I would love to do, because the centre is a place that aims to make learning accessible to people that wouldn't normally access adult education. I believe that education is something that really benefits people, socially, mentally and intellectually and am 100% behind their ethos. So, I sent them an email to show my interest. They arranged a quick chat on the phone which seemed to go well, and then invited me for an online interview. (How exciting!). However, I needed to prepare a 10 minute 'micro-teach' session for the interview.
I thought about the practicalities of the situation. I needed to create a small, simple lesson that would showcase my teaching skills and that would require minimum art materials, so that my 'students/interviewers' could fully experience the lesson. I decided to utilize PowerPoint, find out how to share my screen during the session (on google classrooms) and teach something that only needed paper and pen.
I researched online, and came up with the idea of teaching a short session about which emotions are associated with three basic, geometric shapes. Shapes are a powerful way to communicate mood and emotion in art and design. The lesson will begin with me explaining the aims and objectives. Then I will explain the basic emotional associations for each of the three shapes (as indicated below).
The shapes I chose were the circle, triangle and square.
The emotions associated with circles, are like the feelings we have about balls, balloons and bubbles. They represent play, fun and safety.
The emotions associated with triangles, are like the feelings we have about knives, scissors and broken glass. They represent aggression, sharpness and pain.
The emotions associated with squares, are like the feelings we have about boxes, bricks and houses. They represent strength, reliability and safety.
I felt confident that will be sufficient material to cover the teaching section, next the demonstration. For this, I will chose one of the shapes and draw it, to show the students how I am feeling.
Then it will be time for their action. I will ask them to choose one of the three shapes and draw them, to communicate to me how they are feeling. This will enable me to check that learning has taken place, and if there is any confusion or problem I can help them at this stage.
I will then (discretly) check how much time we have left, (ten minutes is likely to pass very fast!) and if I'm running out of time, I will close the lesson by repeating what they have learned (to reinforce the teaching) and thanking them.
However, if there are a few minutes left, I can develop the theme a little. I can demonstrate how we can use shapes to express more complex emotions - by combining two shapes.
(This diagram illustrates my emotions about the role of art teacher,
which combines being reliable and playful).
Then, I'll ask them to try the technique out for themselves, by drawing a shape that combines two shapes, to illustrate two combined emotions - and show me the results. Finally, I will invite questions, praise their efforts and close the lesson by repeating what they have learned (to reinforce the teaching) and thanking them.
The planning and preparation for this 10 minute micro-teach and 30 minute interview has taken me two full afternoons! I really hope my efforts pay off, and that the interview goes smoothly - Wish me luck!
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