Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: One-to-ones
Size of student group: 13
Observer: Karen Mathewman
Observee: Michelle Ussher
Part One: (Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review)
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
The session is the 7th lecture within the 1st Year Critical Studies module of BA Contemporary Art and Craft. The session description is as follows:
Bauhaus: Continuing the ethos of the Arts & Crafts movement that art should meet the needs of society by reconciling mass production with artistic vision, the Bauhaus style – also known as the International Style – is distinguished by the principle – ‘form follows function’. Focusing on the German art school known as the Bauhaus, this session examines their creative approach to materials, techniques and processes seen through painting, performance, weaving and industrial design.
The morning lecture will be followed in the afternoon with the Bauhaus practical experiments such as Albers papercuts and colour squares, Kandinsky’s colour game and Itten’s texture/contrast collage making.
Reading:
- Excerpt Bauhaus Women – A Global Perspective, Elizabeth Otto and Patrick Rossier, Bloomsbury, 2019. Introduction pp. 1-14.
The module’s written submission deadline of a 2500 word essay meant the students requested an extra exercise involving deconstructing an artwork and opted to shorten the afternoon workshop session. This meant the morning session included the lecture, followed by a seminar of the reading in the library reading room, which involved students working in pairs to select a female artist from the Bauhaus Women book and sharing a key aspect to the group.
The afternoon session involved a group exercise deconstructing Pavel Tchelitchew ‘s oil painting portrait of Edith Sitwell for students to practice using concrete nouns to support abstract concepts. Different coloured cards were used to differentiate between objective descriptions (concrete nouns) and subjective descriptions (abstract concepts) that were laid out to create sentences. (This is an adaptation of the exercise used for the micro-teaching session)
After a break the group participated in the Albers paper cut exercise to experiment with creating 3D forms from 2D using only folds and cuts, and Albers colour exercise using colour paper.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
Since Oct 2023 as their Critical Studies Subject Tutor. They study part-time and have completed 1 x 700 word written submission which I design and assess. I design and deliver a monthly lecture and workshop on Theory through Practice.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
Understanding and application of subject knowledge, and underlying principles
Identification and investigation of varied visual, academic, ethical and cultural sources
Skills to enable the realisation of ideas, appropriate to creative practice
Solve problems and adapt to unforeseen challenges in the realisation of creative practice
Management of own learning and progress through active reflection, negotiation, planning, self-direction, subject engagement, and commitment
Communicating a creative, individual or collaborative personal practice
In this lesson all learners will:
Participate in a lecture on the Bauhaus.
Consider the specificities and differences of the Bauhaus in relation to other art schools, and the further global impact of the Bauhaus pedagogy.
Discuss and capture skills acquired on the course so far, and consider how these support the development of conceptual and practical ideas relating to their studio practice.
Participate in a seminar on Bauhaus Women – A Global Perspective
Select 2 of 3 exercises from the menu of Bauhaus activities
Participate in a group activity to visual deconstruct and describe artworks.
In this lesson some learners will:
Take a leading role in discussion on Bauhaus Women – A Global Perspective.
Develop language skills to differentiate between concrete nouns and abstract concepts, and comprehend how to organise these words in a sentence to describe individual understanding of an artwork.
Develop a series of experiments in relation to Bauhaus practical experiments.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Students should have read the required reading and recognize the basic understanding of the Bauhaus to value their influential style.
Students will be able to describe at least one aspect of their understanding relating to the Edith Sitwell portrait. They will make at least one paper form and identify at least one behavioral change in colour from the Albers exercise.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
As the session requires group participation in a various group activities, some students may dominate and intimidate learning of less confident students.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
They will be told during the session
What would you particularly like feedback on?
Possible ways to understand student learning/engagement from a 2 hour lecture
How will feedback be exchanged?
Follow up email or meeting.
Part Two: (Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions)
Our discussion
Michelle had originally prepared for me to observe in person, but because I was not well we talked through the session and how it had gone in a Teams online discussion. First of all I was delighted to spend time looking through what was a really engaging and motivating set of materials. I would call it a day of ‘immersion’ for the students into Bauhaus and particularly Bauhaus women.
We talked about the context more holistically. These were mainly mature students who have a lot of life experience but less academic and technological knowledge. They like talking and have lots of opinions! It is a residential course so we talked about some if the difficulties of setting boundaries, and Michelle said that even with such a long day students ere coming to find her while eating or resting to ask questions. Michelle asked if I had any suggestions. It can be very hard in my experience to set boundaries in such a context- there is no chance to head home like we would do in a more traditional setting. I suggested that Michelle be honest about the way the day was going t work, that it was very intense, and also honest at the beginning of the session about her need to recharge and spend time alone thinking planning and resting. I also suggested that she encourage students to form small support groups and work together on things so there was time for that support and questioning. Perhaps a more informal session at the end where students could get to ‘talk to teacher’ as some so love to but still in a semi structured way so it does not impinge on their leisure time.
We focused primarily on the lecture stage of Michelle’s day, while also touching on the more creative ‘making and doing’ parts of the day. Michelle said she had nearly 100 slides for a 2- hour lecture. When I first heard this alarm bells started ringing because that is a lot of slides for a single lecture, but all of these slides were very visual – often with just one image on each slide. They were beautiful and engaging and told a story. I am sure the students were captivated.
However wonderful the slides and lecturer, listening for two hours can be a lot, and attention can wane. We talked about ways to make what is more ‘passive listening’ into ‘active listening’. Perhaps before starting the lecture say something like- ‘I’d like you to listen for three things that really resonate with you from the lecture and be ready to share them at the end’. There could also be short break ‘moments’ during the lecture where students discuss a single very focused question or do a poll (e.g. through Mentimeter) to check understanding. With this particular cohort we discussed the fact many are slight technophobes who may not be up to working with apps and different online resources, and equally if the lecture is stopped for discussion they do like to talk so it is hard to get on track. It is still something we left for Michelle to think about as she said it could sometimes be hard to see what the students had learnt.
I also suggested making reference to the different parts of the day at other times, so that the students could really see a line through and how and why those different parts and activities linked together. Often as teachers we have those links in our head but don’t always make them explicit so helping students understand the connection is always good. ‘Remember we saw A in the lecture. We are now going to do an activity that links it to B’.
It was a really engaging discussion for me and I felt like I had entered the Bauhaus world too. Michelle’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject was infectious and I imagined the students had an intense and wonderful experience.
In summary
A great lesson and day of learning for the students.
A few things to think about:
- How to be more explicit in setting boundaries for the wellbeing of the teacher and the students in what is a really intense and tiring residential experience
- How to encourage active learning and more student responsibility for learning even in the more traditional form of a lecture
- How to make sure students understand the line through from one activity to another, so again their learning is deeper and with a greater understanding of the learning objectives.
Part Three: (Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged)
Thanks for your thoughtful feedback. Having guidance on setting well-being boundaries and how to encourage students to lead on their own learning for greater understanding is useful.
Action Plan from feedback:
- As the course is “Block” delivered once a month for each year level, I plan to adopt the suggested approach of “being honest” at the start of the sessional block with a disclaimer. This will include communicating that I need time to recharge between teaching in order to be at my best during the contact hours (9:30-12:30 and 2-5:30). This means I need to take breaks from teaching-related concerns and have “down-time”. This will hopefully encourage the students to be mindful when they see me early at breakfast and later in the eve outside class.
- To balance the scheduled “lecture” duration of 2 hours, I regularly divide the delivery into 2 x 45-minute sessions with a 30-minute break in between. Responding to the advice on 20-minute attention spans, I plan to divide these 45-minute sessions into 2 x 20-minute sessions with a 5-minute “question time”. The suggestion of a “quiz” is appealing and I can imagine it heightening engagement while allowing me to monitor depth of understanding. This could be initiated by giving the students specific questions at the start of class or asking “pop” questions.
- I like to follow Aristotelian logic, which values visual knowledge over written explanations to communicate ideas. Visual knowledge is known to support diverse learners, and this is why my lectures often contain many images. I always include a visual map at the beginning of a lecture for the student to visualise the lecture’s structure and content. In future, I plan to use this “visual map” to show the map of the day to enable the student to see how the different activities relate to one another. The same images could be used at the different activity points to trigger which point in the day the student is at and deepen an understanding of how the moment they are in relates to another.