31/08/2020
Staff meeting
Very welcoming to all staff. Everyone was provided with a staff safety kit- mask, shield, wipes and then the staff handbook.
Principal greeted all the staff and talked about the health and safety regarding staff and students. Staff put into their own rooms in groupings- have to try and stick into these groupings when socialising with staff. Religion is with art- all staff greeted each other warmly. Very welcoming atmosphere. Everyone is very strict on guidelines. New staff taken into separate rooms after the meeting to be greeted and discussed staff policy. Very warm and welcoming greeting.
1/09/2020
Art staff meeting
Shown two art rooms, both have their own materials and tools in their own cupboards and in their own individual store rooms. One big store room in the middle of the two art rooms for communal use. Students discussed as I am new and one of the two host teachers is new. Art rooms try to do the same schemes with the same year groups at the same time. Try to coordinate classes. Teachers are very organised and the at rooms look very clean and tidy. Tables needed to be moved in order to correspond with Covid-19 health and safety.
22/10/2020
Student observation
Student struggles with hand mobility,watching him complete other tasks which other students can complete effortlessly, made me aware how other tasks need to be. Such things as left handed scissors sometimes cannot be enough- do things have to be cut? Could they be torn? Watched student struggle with cutting- no sna provided for the student. After speaking to the teacher an sna can go to class with the student but only if the teacher asks. This looks like the sna will be needed but also if there is no sna available there must be alternative ways for the student to complete the tasks given must be available.
2/11/2020
Being an SNA
I was an sna for a student with severe anxiety. Student did not speak during religion class. Teacher knew not to ask the student to speak out in front of class. As this is the teachers first time teaching an hour long instead of a 40minute class, her method id to get students to read out from the books, teacher stops each student and then picks another to carry on- can see some students are eager to read out whereas others seem nervous and apprehensive to read out- personally don't see this as a good form of teaching. The student I was with seemed to be alright as she was not going to be called upon. After 30minutes of the class reading from the book the teacher stopped and put on RTE player. Some students watched it whereas others almost fell asleep at the desk. Teacher informed class when it was over that they will watch more in the next class.
Not an informative class to sit in on.
4/11/2020
After School club
Students arrived promptly and made sure to have gashca sheets for me to fill out on my desk. Students play their own music and because they want to be there they paint the wall willingly, look for assistance with colour choosing and making sure shapes were painted correctly. Students worked really hard for the hour and 30mins but when it came to cleaning they left most of it in the sink for me to clean up after- not ideal. Students are not getting a lot of recognition for decorating the wall but hopefully they will when the wall is finished.
12/11/2020
TY guest artist speaker
Students were very interested in local artist Etain coming in to speak to them about her ceramic practice. Etain is a past pupil of NCAD and discussed college life, gave a demo on using the turn wheel to create a ceramic pot. Students were attentive and asked questions about ceramics and her practice. Showed a great interest in Etains powerpoint on her work and the meaning behind it, shows great ideas for students who wish to do art for the leaving cert- looking into themes and work. Hard for students to properly see work as they couldn't come close to see the objects or flick through her notebooks.
25/11/2020
School Covid inspection prep
Principal called an afterschool staff meeting due to covid inspector coming tomorrow. Deep clean of classes had to be done and we all had to do prep. Principal talked us over what had been talked about in the initial staff meeting. Staff were prompt to act and make sure that everyone was complying to the guidelines. Informed that some classes will be inspected unannounced- art teachers are very nervous about being inspected as the art room is very hard to maintain a clean covid environment even though we try.
26/11/2020
School Covid Inspection
Announcement made early morning on what is expected of students.All staff keep facemasks on and are wary to take it off when eating.. Making sure everyone is a safe 2metre distance from one another. Staff stayed in their rooms when free instead of going to the canteen- almost scared about being questioned by covid officer. Once the inspector came in she greeted everyone kindly and said we are doing a good job. Once that was said staff relaxed- students seemed unphased by the visit.
16/11/2020
Suspected student covid case
During a class observation one student said they were feeling unwell and kept coughing. Teacher called the principal and had the student bring their chair outside of the class and wait until the principal came to collect them and bring them to the isolation room. The principal proceeded to tell me that the student goes to the priest's old office and their temperature is checked and their parents are called.
21/12/2020
TY trading fair
Big build up to trade fair- students have been out of class for two weeks in prep- many students spending it in the art room. Teachers on constant supervision- held outdoors. Class by class year groups go out and their host teacher supervises, 30minutes per class out to trade fair. Great atmosphere in the school- teachers and students all involved. Students were guided about wearing masks in the tent and if food were bought in the tent they had to eat it outside. All the school raved about the trade fair and all students were chuffed with the amount of praise and acknowledgement given.
6th years Art Practical, January 2020-
working on LC project
Allow girls to come in, told to get notebooks straight away.
Allow to settle.
Recap work. Ask questions, remind them how long is left until due dates.
Allow girls to work on their own, float around and offer help when needed.
Roll taken once girls are working away.
5mins before end, clean up, notebooks away, chairs under desk.
3rd years CBA Art Practical January 2020-
Allow girls to come in, told to get notebooks straight away.
Allow to settle.
Recap work. Ask questions, remind them how long is left until due dates.
Allow girls to work on their own, float around and offer help when needed.
Roll taken once girls are working away.
5mins before end, clean up, notebooks away, chairs under desk.
2nd year Art Practical, January 2020-
As they come in, aprons on,
Sit them around 1 table.
Do example of painting task
Allow them to use sponge or brush whatever they feel will work best.
Talks loud when pupils talk.
After demo does roll.
Leave them to work.
Check in, assist kids.
Get them to do multiples.
Allow one girl to use gloves so paint doesn’t get under her nails.
Girl refuses to do work, wants attention but teacher not giving it, ignoring.
Continues to do examples alongside girls, creates own finished piece.
Quick sky painting task.
Allow them to talk, does not get involved in conversational topics.
Girls talk while washing hands, the teacher goes over beside them, they stop talking without having to be told.
Set pupil to wash brushes.
Set another to clean desks.
Girls do work asked, cleaning done while talking to friends.
Girls react to being asked nicely and being acknowledged after doing so.
Teacher puts majority of work away.
They sit around with 5mins to go.
Girl sits in his seat, allows this while he is busy but when he asks for his seat back she immediately does so, respect shown.
Bell goes and they leave.
1st years Art Practical, January 2020-
Entrance, notebooks and pens out.
Sit down.
Have PowerPoint up and ready.
Open notebooks.
Calls girls by name to get attention.
What they remember from last class.
Hands up only.
Calls names for answers.
Tease questions out.
Don’t give answers, let other students answer for others.
Recap done
Gets student to flip through slides on the computer for him.
Learning aim for the day on board, verbally acknowledged.
Date on work.
“Pencils down, look at board”
Questions- try pull out info.
Make sure they take down notes.
Walk around checking notes are being taken down .
Allow two pupils go bathroom at once.
Walk around again.
Show multiple examples of everything with different varieties.
Girls shout questions
One pupils puts hands up..
Allow girls to work together.
Final 15minutes, group tasks
Groups of 3
Me to flick slides now
Get them settled in groups, hand out cards.
Show examples.
Get them to hold up answers and discuss.
Game got them all involved, competition.
Re show images from different angles
Notebook in box, he collects sheets.
5th year Art Practical, January 2020-
Baby wipes on table for charcoal and ink
Learning intentions on board and put in notebook- learning intention: to be able to record and draw your own unique fingerprints and further develop this into a piece of art
Print fingerprints on page
Wash hands
Phones out, take pictures, high quality.
Take pics with lots of lines.
Charcoal and rubber.
Doesn't listen to girls shouting.
Allow gloves.
Do example drawing on board.
Walk around class.
Step by step.
Put paper on board.
Carry on until done.
Develop fingerprint into something else.
Walk around helping again.
Clean up.. No assistance mainly teacher.
Maths class 2nd years February 2020
She sits at the top of the room behind her desk.
Students all come into the room talking but then once sitting are quiet and put notebooks out on desk without being asked.
1st thing calls roll, then asks everyone to take out their homework so they can go over it. Walks around class while students are getting their work out to make sure that id was done
Does the 3 questions up on the board and students correct their own work, no students talk and if they do they're asked “do you have a question?” and wait until they answer. Usually they are too shy to answer but sometimes they genuinely do have a question.
Allowed students to continue to do an additional 6 questions throughout the lesson. Began correcting even though some were not finished.
Bell went mid way through second questions. Girls are asked to finish questions for homework and if they're already finished they don't have any work but they must be correct and cannot be rushed.
Irish class 6th year February 2020
All girls gather into class, quiet loud.
“Alright come on in, sit down and be quiet now girls”
Girls are quite giddy. Learning oral sheets.
Write on board sentences for each picture with the assistance of the girls.
Gets them to take down sentences as well.
Girls talk and teacher begins to shout saying ‘there's not be no talking in this class. If i am talking I should only hear my own voice”
As soon as that is said girls stay silent.
Slightly afraid of her?
Carried on with one full set on pictures, at the end of class went round one by one and asked them to say a sentence from what they had written, this made sure they kept in task while also making sure they knew it.
5/7mins before class ended allowed them to pack up, stay seated but they can talk amongst themselves.
3rd Year art Practical February 2020
Allow girls to come in, get sketchbooks and sit down.
Girls trickle in, so they aren't all fully in until 10mins into class.
Each girl called out for Mr. Bourke to help but he can only go round to so many students at a time.
He focused on the girls that he didn't give as much attention to in the previous class and also those who are slightly falling behind. Girls who are working hard and working away seem to be lacking in one to one time with teachers, imagine what they could create if they had as much attention on them as the students with behavioural issues or lack of motivation.
Walks around the room but hard to go round to each.
Allows them to play music, keeps them quiet while they work.
5 mins before the end asks girls to clean up, they put notebooks back in the centre of the desk but some don't put pencils pens and rulers.
Very hard to then be prepped and ready for next class as the room is still messy.
Turns music off just before the bell and then girls walk out.
3rd years Art Practical, January 2020-
Note books and sit down.
Pens and pencils out
Girls know what to do themselves- not needed to be told
8.40 class starts 8.50
Print fonts for kids
Girls quietly work
Goes through notebook to see whos in or out
Allows girls to have phone
Gave out when doing other things, getting distracted
Goes around checking
2mins before class ends told to tidy
Once class ends does roll
Prints photos when needed
2nd year JCSP Art Practical 2020-
In, sit, coats of aprons on
Works beside students
Get them to sit around one table, only 6 students
Talking girls step by step
Multiple instructions “lean heavy”
Talks louder so girls stop talking and pay attention
Girls only talk for a short period then go silent, allows them to talk.
Allows girls to suggest how to paint and help each other.
Shows them different techniques.
All sitting in close proximity
As they work, he works with them.
Sits beside each girl to help them out.
Roll taken while girls are working.
Hard to keep girls on task for painting, encourages them.
Very informal, talks very relaxed.
Girls hate cba
Struggle with masking tape
Girls forget simple tasks, must be told again and again.
5mins before end, informs them how much longer is left.
Wash up, all wash up after themselves
Tells them good job.
Wait at door until bell goes
6th Year art Practical, January 2020-
Teacher immediately helps one girl
Some girls sit down, others stand talking waiting to be told.
Takes a while to settle
Some sitting without notebook
Two rooms, hard to be on top of them all
When Teacher is in other room, girls go on their phones for a while but do continue to do work
He can trust them to move around rooms
Asks for a lot of ideas
Can't move onto the next step without showing teacher
Some girls wait for him to tell them exactly what to do
Girls don't really clean up.
1st Year double- Practical, January 2020-
Takes time to settle
Oud group
All grabbing marker instead of passing
Pair work for recap.
Refresher worksheet
Worksheet also on screen
Ask them why are they talking when i'm talking
Photocopies for girls
Walks around class to make sure they are doing the work
Girls either have a lot of questions or aren't interested
Some girls didn't realise there were two pages
Pair work for girls who weren't here yesterday
No explaining what words mean, gives examples
Does roll once girls are working
Youtube video on
Sits at back to make sure girls watch
Girls work together to make building
Must follow success criteria
Girls couldn't grasp making postmodern work after being shown
Teacher floats
All girls engaged
Hard to get girls to settle after task during clean up.
6th year LCA Art Practical, January 2020-
Identity
Aprons on
Carry on from before
Very demanding group
Girls put out their own paint
Samples to show
Girls shout at each other
Girls don't follow instructions
3 groups, loud no work, quiet no work, quiet while doing work
Focuses on getting girls who are behind to get them on track
Skills aren't exact there
He walks around class
Majority of girls work
No roll taken
Clean up 3 mins before class
2nd years- Art, March 2020-
Collect mind maps and sit down
Girls quiet
Do none of the work off own bat, wait for teachers to tell them what to do
Visual mind map example on board
Allow girls to print from the computer.
Observational drawing.
Phone on table for research.
Prompt them for ideas, don't give them exact.
Sit really quiet, they do work asked and don't overly talk.
He sits with one student as I walk around checking other students
His students- Missing days- little English
Girls talk between two, continue to work, some girls sit alone.
All continue to do work regardless.
One girl speaks no English at all.. Hard to communicate.
Helps girl to draw- Helps them push forward ideas without making them do the work
Roll not taken
Once bell goes girls are told to clean up and then they leave
6th years- Art, March 2020
Identity
Get girls to collect work
Aprons on so no paint gets on them
Carry on from before
Get paint out
Very demanding class
Putting out lots of paint
One girls at computer, he doesn't let them on
Puts on songs for them but not right now
Tracing face
Have sample out for them
Need instruction,
Very very demanding- every two seconds “Mr.Bourke”
One girl refuses to work
Girls shout at each other
Shouting
Some girls carry on quietly
Others don't want to work at all
Others shout and need attention
4 girls quiet
7 very loud
Question everything he does
Favouritism blamed.
Girls who are loud do work but just need assistance
Must keep them involved and interested
Girls get up and walk around class at each other
Calls by name to try and push work
Girls all painted and talked
Don't really follow instructions, do what they think is best.
“I'm an adult I'll say what i want and do what i want”
3 different groups, lout, quiet no work, quiet- some work.
Trying to do it correct
Ask if they are doing it correctly all the time
`he focuses on getting girls who are behind back on task
Sits with each girl who needs help and isn't messing.
Girls attempt to do well skill isn't exactly there
Told them to take multiple brushes, some of the girls only had one
Asking how to do everything
```girls talking about boys, teacher not listening or getting involved
He walks around class, moving from person to person making sure its ok, helping them with their painting
Support each other and rip the piss out of each other
Needs to tell the girls to give it a rest
One girl very loud, begins to sing and gets others involved.
Ask girls why they are doing this- he says it's part of key assignments still haven't copped so he tells them, it's about their local environment.
Majority of girls work away quietly
One girl stands and does nothing, teacher ignored her
Talks about tone- see if they can understand
No roll taken, 5 mins to go no clean up
Girls want to do stuff that is more neat
Clean up with 3 mins to go
Try to get them to clean up after themselves is a task
Girls just want to be chilled out for this class
3rd year- Art, March 2020
Allow girls to trickle in
Have workbooks out for them
Remind them of deadline coming up
Girls get annoyed because he keeps bringing it up, some get panicked and start to work whereas others decide to not listen and procrastinate
Goes around each girl asking them where their ideas are going? Trying to have them all have final designs. Most doing posters but some doing lino print.
Allows girls to listen to music while working, they sit quieter than before as they chose the music they listen to.
Most students need Mr. bourke the whole time, he finds it hard to give them all as much attention as they need, some need that much assistance I am asked to step in and help. Realising some girls still don't have a final design for their pieces, Try to help. Girls find it hard working from primary sources.
4 minutes before the end of lesson he asks them to clean up, girls just put notebooks back in centre of table, they do not put away pencils or pens that they were using, that is left up to him.
Does roll just before girls leave, does not call out names just does it on the computer.
Girls leave and he is left to finish tidying before the next class comes in.
