Final Project

Researched areas

Hi guys these are links to some of the pages I used in researching artists etc. with a similar concept to mine.  


Honey I shrunk the kids


The little people project.


Look what we found

Sneaky Preview of Final Project

So here's a short snippet of my final project guys!
Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Holidays Brainstorm

Sense of Place Brainstorm.

So I came across this advert for meatballs and it features miniature figurine farmers! Johnny Crisp sized. I'm using it as one of the sources in my scrap book as its putting miniature characters into a real situation i.e. making meatballs. They use saws to cut the meat, and shovels to add the spices. It makes it seem like a lot of work goes into making the meatballs. 

My ICT concept evolves around Johnny Crisp. Johnny Crisp is a miniature plastic man I found on a shopping trip when I was about 5. He's stayed within my family for 14 years and moved with us to our new home. Occasionally we'd lose him and my parents used to refer to this as him going on his "holidays". For my final piece I want to create a holiday photo album of his adventures, by using Photoshop.

So considering my concept for ICT I've considered an art project and a movie as reference to my ideas. The film is "Honey I shrunk the kids", and it goes well with my concept as you see a home environment through a different perspective. By the characters in the movie being shrunk you get to see a variety of rooms in the home and a garden from a different view point. My idea for my project is looking at different places from a smaller point of view.

Researching

So I've started doing some research into people who have used a similar concept to mine and came across The Little People Project. The basic idea is the street artist leaves miniatures around London and takes pictures of them. Like miniature art installations in the street.

Hey guys! So I've decided to use Johnny Crisp as my basis for the ICT/VISCOMM assignment! (Suzie will be pleased!) It's basically going to be like different perspectives! So seeing things when you're tiny and how if you stand miles away he could appear the same size as the Eiffel Tower. That kinda thing! Exciting times!

Project Ideas!

I'm thinking about possible ideas for the ICT project that's due in May, and I thought I'd do a bit of a list on here so I won't forget, and also it may inspire some of you guys! But please don't steal my ideas.

So one of my first ideas was bringing artwork into reality. So basically making people real-life pieces of art, as opposed to just paintings of people.

Guest Lecturer #2

Lecture 2

In the second lecture with Steve Gullick we began by recapping what we had covered in the week before, and then continued discussing the topic of Governors.

This week we discussed what contact governors and teaching staff have. We were given 6 occasions where the governors would meet with staff.

1. Job Interviews - Governors do not have to attend interviews if they do not feel they are needed, but in most cases there are usually between 2 to 5 governors present. If a governor is to attend an interview they will have to get time off work as the interviews will take place in the day. A governors vote Governors vote is equal to that of the headteacher during this process. This important task draws up the questions "Should Governors be paid?", and "Should governors be experts or stakeholders?", as stakeholders may not understand some of the more technical interview questions.

2. Informal Visits to Schools - There are two groups of people who cannot be stopped from entering the school premises. These are school inspectors and members of the governing body.

3. Celebrations e.g. School Concerts and Productions - Prize giving evenings usually have the chair of governors to present awards or make a short introductory speech.

4. Presentations at Governing Body Meetings - A teacher may be asked to attend a governing meeting and give a presentation, These teachers are usually the subject heads within the school.

5. Link Governors and their Visits - SENCO should include children who are gifted and talented. There should be an SEN Governor who links with the SENCO. It is this governors job to find out what is being done to help those with SEN and what can be improved. This role however, draws the question "Should a governor be an expert or stakeholder?" as SEN includes children who don't speak English as their first language, and traveller children. How can someone with no training be expected to be aware of all SENS's?

6. Staff Disciplinary Committee Meetings - Governors discipline staff. On the Staff Disciplinary Committee there are between 3 and 5 governors (an odd number for a deciding vote). If the head wishes a teacher to go before the Disciplinary Committee a letter is issued inviting the teacher to a hearing and allowing the option to bring a "friend" (this can be a literal friend or a member of their Union). They will then go before the governors and the head will also be present, as will a clerk. The head will be first to state their case and then the governors will have the opportunity to ask any questions. The teacher can then offer a counter-argument and again the governors can ask questions. There are four possible outcomes as these meetings:
1. No charges to be made and the case is dismissed.
2. A written warning will be given and will go on the teachers record, to be removed after a year providing improvements have been made.
3. A final warning which the teacher can request to be removed after a year.
4. Dismissal.




I found this lecture very interesting as Governors are expected to contribute so much to a school for nothing in return.

Guest Lecturer #2

Unfortunately I missed the second of the guest lecturers so I need to get some notes before I write up about that so technically this is guest lecturer number 3.
The lecturer Steve Gullick came to talk to us during our lecture slot on the 20th of January, the 5th of february and for the seminar also on the 5th.

Lecture 1

In the first of our lectures we were introduced to the role of the governing body. These roles are to conduct the school with the view of achieving his standards of education, setting appropriate school targets which are then sent to local authorities and to take general responsibility for the conduct of the school, such as whether or not pupils wear uniform, the start and end times etc. The governors are also responsible for managing the schools budget, ensuring the school curriculum is balanced and that the National Curriculum and Religious Education is taught, determining the staff complement and pay policy for the school, participating in the appointment of the headteacher and the deputy head and other staff, as well as regulating staff conduct and discipline and finally drawing up a plan of action after an inspection.

During the first lecture we also discussed who makes up the governing body of a school. These are a parent, LEA (local education authority), a teacher, staff - not a teacher but still work within the school, a member of the community and the Head. The Headteacher does have the option on whether or not they become a governor of the school. When appointed the Head is automatically a governor but can resign if they wish to. Within Wales pupils can be governors of the school in year 11 +.

We also considered whether or not a governor should be a stakeholder or an expert. There were pros and cons for each. A stakeholder or the school would care about the schools well-being and be in it for the children. However, governors have to make many important decisions and without any experience is it really fair to expect someone who is not an expert to make major decisions.

Another consideration was whether or not governors should be paid. A governor gives up a lot of spare time, as well as occasionally taking time off work to attend things such as interviews. They make a lot of important decisions and so perhaps they deserve to be paid for their contribution. However, the offer of payment for the role of a governor could attract the wrong type of people, who are in it to earn money rather than care about the well-being of the school.

During this lecture we were also given a typical agenda from a governors meeting. The main topics covered are matters arising, the Head teacher's report, a report from the finance committee, the progress on school development plan and a report on governor's conference.

This lecture was interesting as I'd never before had any real insight into the functions of the schools governors and I was surprised to find how important their role is in the running of the school, and how great the tasks are that they voluntarily take on.

Guest Lecturer #1

On the 9th of January our "What is Education" Lecture was taken by guest lecturer Ken Jones who is the Dean of Humanities. In this lecture he discussed how since 2000 the number of pupils in local authority schools has been decreasing, that there is a potential shortage of Welsh-medium headteachers with an NPQH, that there were previously 8 local authorities and now following re-organisation in 1999 there are now 22 authorities. We also discussed the possibility of this being change into 4 consortia.

We were also told about PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) which is an international study to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15 year old's. The OECD (Organisaton for Economic Co-operation and Development)compare the PISA results from different countries, as all children across all countries involved sit the same test comparison is easy. The lecture went on to compare the PISA results from 2006 and 2009 in Wales.
The results showed that in the three year gap Reading had dropped by 5 points, Maths had dropped by 12, and Science had dropped by 9. Within the home nations table Wales was lowest and below the OECD average.

This lecture was enjoyable as it was interesting to see how Wales had not improved within three years, but rather dropped in points. It was also interesting to consider the possible pitfalls in having so many local authorities.

Work Placement

So, just before Christmas we all headed off on work placement, and I went to a Primary school in Rhymney called Bryn Awel. During my time at the school, things were in full swing preparing for the christmas concerts which took place mid-week. Due to this, not much teaching really went on, and any that did had a festive theme to it. However, I did see some technology being used within the school while I was there. The teacher used a piece of software on a whiteboard, which let the children build snowmen and decorate christmas trees. There were also several computers in use in the classroom which were used to create banners to be stuck on the christmas cards, and also to use basic programs such as paint.
Unfortunately,that was pretty much all the technology I saw in use while I was there. Anyway, hope you all had a great Christmas and New year!!!