Two years later...
Wendy had time out from school in 2008 for family reasons, and returned mid-year to teach part-time. She is also in her second year as a national moderator for Technology with NZQA, based in Gisborne, and has been involved in writing standards. In October 2009, when Wendy was asked to comment on the Kiwi Made unit, there was doubt as to whether there would be enough Year 12/13 Textiles students to make a senior class viable but in 2010 she reported that a class was set up and working on the same unit.
What factors contributed to the success of the unit?
Wendy thinks that one reason for the success of Kiwi Made is its relevance to the community, through the involvement of Basically Bush and other local groups. She says she was excited by that aspect and that the students, once they saw the work done by these people, were interested too. Wendy says her students were doing things, such as making cloth, that they hadn't really done before in Technology so were learning new skills and learning about new materials. "As a result, they could actually create something which was unique and individual, and use the knowledge we'd presented to them.
Wendy comments that the extent of a unit will often depend on the students in that class, and that in some years she has had particularly talented students and has been able to take them further.
How has the unit evolved?
After the success of Kiwi Made in 2006, Wendy delivered the unit again in 2007 covering the same knowledge and skills. The New Zealand Kiwi Made campaign was discontinued after it lost government funding, so the unit wouldn't be centred around that in the future. However, Wendy notes that the issue in her unit remains – "if the textile industry in New Zealand is to survive, then we're going to have to make fabric that is unique and targets niche markets, so the unit is still a worthwhile one".
Although the Year 12/13 courses had been run as a combined class, there weren't enough students in 2009 for a senior class. The drop in numbers reflected a falling roll, indicative of population trends in Gisborne, and the school commitment to offering multiple subject choices at senior level. Fortunately, in 2010 numbers were such that a combined Year 12/13 class (of mainly Year 12 students) was viable; and the 28 students taking Year 11 Textiles indicates, Wendy says, that the subject will grow again at those levels, especially with a principal who is supportive of the subject and wants to see it expand. "I don't feel pessimistic about the future – I just think we've gone through a patch where numbers have fallen".
The Kiwi Made unit has been renamed 'Making Cloth' which Wendy says has helped the students with identifying an issue from the context – she adds that one student has selected 'How can I tempt teens to buy Kiwi made?' as her project issue.
Having established an effective relationship with Sue of Basically Bush, Wendy will work with her again – she notes that it is really good for the girls to see a successful businesswoman and that link to what they are doing in class.
Wendy decided to develop the weaving aspect of making cloth and, as there were enough looms for each student, they did a lot of weaving in early 2010. She wanted to give the students some ideas on extending the use of the knitters' (fixed heddle) loom and invited two weavers from the local Creative Fibre group into the classroom. They brought in samples to show the students and demonstrated some new ideas beyond basic weaving on the loom.
Wendy had earlier met Sandy Heffernan, Head of the Textile Design School at Massey University, and has talked with her about her work in the classroom. Wendy was keen to try some eco-friendly dyeing and was introduced to India Flint's book Eco colour: botanical dyes for beautiful textiles, (see Techlink's Resource Review of the book). With encouragement from Sandy she set her students to trying a variety of techniques such as:
- Mordanting cloth, wrapping natural materials in the cloth and leaving it for a few days
- Wetting with natural mordants such as milk and soya milk
- Using flowers and leaves – which, Wendy says, resulted in some interesting colours and patterns
Sandy had suggested looking at industrial waste as a source for natural dyes and one of the students is keen to pursue this in her project, using grape and olive skins.
Wendy had purchased a DVD featuring fibre artist Kerr Grabowski and others, and trialled some of her ideas. When Sandy arranged for Kerr to teach her deconstructed screen-printing at Massey and invited some teachers to attend, Wendy "blew the budget" and attended the two-day course which she says was fantastic and gave her a lot more confidence to try these ideas in class. The technique, Wendy says, is easy to do in the classroom – she already had screens and fibre reactive dyes so only needed to buy some manutex (a dye thickener made of sodium alginate). She made some large printing boards (using pinex, felt underlay and gardening plastic – cheap because she got the pinex and underlay from the recyclers) which enabled the students to print larger pieces of cloth, and two are keen to use this method in their projects
What have you learnt from this unit that has influenced future planning and delivery/ongoing teacher practice?
Wendy is enthusiastic about adding to her own knowledge and skills and being able to pass new ideas and techniques on to her students, and the Kiwi Made unit is a good base from which to do this. Wendy's commitment to continuing her own learning and the range of people she works with in doing this, has meant that she can share more in-depth information with her students. For example, while attending the screen-printing workshop Wendy worked with university students so was able to talk to her class about the degree these students were working towards and details of the work it involved.
Any comment for other people using this unit?
Creating industry links is a key focus of the unit, so Wendy suggests that anyone else planning something similar should try to make some kind of community connection in their area, and tie the unit around that.
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