Vikki-Leigh Jackson: UNIT X - EDUCATOR: DACA WORKSHOP

This workshop now being the 2^nd one we have delivered in this unit was the most difficult one. How much time, planning and realistic ideas we had to come up with as group was the tough part, as well as doing a workshop with teenage children was scary.. but from saying that we did! The whole experience of visiting Daca will always be memorable as we had the insight into a school which no one could ever do or dream about since leaving there school. Times have changed especially teaching standards. Daca is a very clean and inspiring school and the teaching as a whole is very positive...

The workshop came together as we planned & the kids really got involved. Our outcome of it being a collaborative workshop/experience was better than we expected. (As you can see in the images). The whole experience was collaborative for us as well as the students! Young minds are amazing, they were so chatty, outgoing and willing. All the dread disappeared in that workshop as it was just an enjoyable experience- im so grateful I had the opportunity to run a workshop. This part of the blog I’m not going to explain in detail it’s more of the imagery captured throughout that day which will be more understanding.

Our workshop was all about re-using recycled materials, we had four stations. Station 1: Yarns, Station 2: Plastics, Station 3: Clothes, Station 4: Dyes on fabric. We all had our own Stations to help the students. They create little weave samples for 20 minutes on each station so they could experiment with the materials, the afternoon session consisted of putting the warps on the circular looking coggs we designed, to then they used the materials they have tried out to weave onto the warp, to finish off the day is where the collaborative bit came in of the students working together and creating a installation using there weaves they created and putting them together as whole piece. To break up the day we used Ice Breakers to get the students in the mood as well as using collaborative ones to get them to understand about working together. As a group we were very proud of the student’s communication and involvement through that lengthy workshop- so a big thanks to the Yr8s & 9s. Well done!