For my professional experience I have been placed at Caroline Chisholm Senior Campus. I will be taking on three lines, which include:

  • A Years 9/10 composite Visual Arts class studying Wearable Art
  • A Year 10 Visual Arts class studying Sculpture
  • A Year 7 Class studying the Elements and Principles of Design.

In this research journal I will be using what I have learnt in my university course so far and will focus on how I will integrate ICT into my Year 7 class in Term 2. The class will consist of around 25 male and female students from various cultural and socio-economical backgrounds. The students would have participated in generalist art activities throughout primary school and have some technical skills to expand upon. I expect there to be a range of  levels of ability. For the first two weeks I will be taking small groups of five in each lesson and setting design element activities for them to complete. By doing this I hope to gauge their understanding of the subject matter and their skill set. In weeks three and four I will take over teaching of the whole class, working on principles of design.

The physical environment of the visual arts classroom is highly conducive to learning. All arts subjects, such as drama, art and music are clustered into the same building creating a stimulating and creative environment. There are plentiful artistic mediums available to use and the physical structure of the room allows interaction amongst the students with large desks arranged together. One challenge in integrating ICT into the visual arts curriculum is the lack of technological resources. Whilst the school does have several computer labs and smartboards available, the visual arts classroom does not. If I plan on using these to enhance understanding over the subject matter I will have to book in advance and arrange with teachers to swap classrooms. There is also a school policy of no mobile phone use within class contact periods. If I intend to use these devices I will have to gain permission from the principal and parents. Despite these challenges I strive to persevere and implement ICT in some form.

Another challenge to overcome is engaging the students in my class. Caroline Chisholm Senior Campus has unfortunately been tagged with having a ‘bad reputation.’ On my rolling days I observed behavioral problems and behavioural management issues from teachers. I aim to address these behavioural problems through the integration of ICT to enthrall, engage and enrich the students. ICT will serve to enhance the content of the course and present it in multiple ways through interactive games, worksheets and online activities to appeal to different learning styles. By doing this I intend to spark an interest in the students and diffuse any distracting behavioural problems.

My philosophy on teaching art to this Year 7 class is to focus primarily on the enjoyable aspects of creativity while introducing the technical and academic side of art making. In doing this I hope to instill a passion for the subject matter and motivate the students to participate in a journey for acquiring knowledge. Hopefully, by doing this the students will have a desire to continue visual arts as an elective in later years of their secondary education.