Pre-planning
Costumes from the 'What a load of Rubbish!' project
Costumes from the 'Alien Princess and Alien Knight' project
There were three senior Technology classes of 21 Year 7/8 students in 2008, fewer students than other years due to a smaller intake. The students work on the same units, regardless of age or experience and Sue notes that those students without any experience in skills such as using a sewing machine pick it up quickly. She demonstrates how to use the machine then has the students who can already do so teach the others, and says that they often learn better from each other in these small, informal lessons.
Sue's approach to teaching sewing skills to this age-group focuses on the students "getting in and doing things" rather than insisting on a high quality which, she says, will come when they refine the skill. "I have made kids unpick things but only if I thought, or they thought in a collaborative approach, that the garment would not withstand wear as it had been sewn".
Sue comments that her approach may be a little unconventional but that when students have ownership of a project they really work for a successful outcome – the refinement comes later when they are specialising more. She adds that this shows teachers who may be apprehensive about working Technology into their programme with younger children that they can get them motivated and doing things without the need for specialised equipment and suchlike. "I'll show them a skill and say 'okay, away you go' – it's operating on a trust model, but that's how they get competent".
Sue Lyons
"Some teachers seem unsure about how to introduce Technology language and think it is too complex, especially for the little kids. Because we've done it at an early stage, the students are really familiar with the language and concepts and the way the curriculum has steadily expanded. As we've gone into Technology we've gone from brief development into the next phase, so it's introducing the language that goes alongside that and realising that there is a literacy that goes with Technology.
"We teach mathematical and scientific language to students and we need to teach Technology language. It doesn't need to be turned into a big, scary thing that you do – it's done in context alongside more simple terms, and it's just continually reinforced. The Year 3s and 4s now feel really confident with it."
A list of Technology words on the front wall teaches and reinforces the terminology. These are attached to magnets as well as Velcro, so that Sue can put a word on the whiteboard to explain it – something which works particularly well with the younger students. She says that students are now coming through with more idea about Technology and its terminology and that the Year 1s and 2s remember the language and understand what brief/constraint/attributes are. Sue introduces them to these new concepts as they work through a unit, using simple explanations such as "A brief is what we will do, and why. So what are we going to do, and why are we going to do it?"
Sue created Trash to Fashion to take advantage of her background in wearable arts and as part of an integrated programme with Social Studies and Science on sustainability. It also provided a good opportunity for students to work with a client and stakeholder, following on from a previous unit in which they had developed a product for an Olympic sportsperson with their teacher as the client.
Sue's first class started Technology before the other two subjects and didn't arrive with the prerequisite background knowledge of sustainability, so she did a "crash course" outlining the basics. She points out that Trash to Fashion validates some of what the students know already, and that the integrated study creates a foundation for them to build on so that the unit has a purpose rather than just being introduced out of thin air.
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