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What does teaching in an art school mean to you? How do you feel about it?

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What does teaching in an art school mean to you? How do you feel about it?

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When I started my foundation diploma in 2011 at Coleg Menai, I saw a new mode of teaching that I have never seen before. It wasn't a classroom, it wasn't a computer desk, it wasn't an assembly hall with a stage. It was a large warehouse building that were studios, with white walls, rolls of paper, easels, familiar stench of emulsion paint.

Relatively empty, you start with a blank slate and persumably you fill it with art (or whatever discipline you are following). The quote from the Black Mountain College book feels apt ->

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From the book 'Starting at Zero': Black Mountain College 1933-57

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From the book 'Starting at Zero': Black Mountain College 1933-57

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"We always, in architecture, or whatever you do, you start from what there is today and try to explain it. While I was trying to set a task, put the students on absolute zero, in the desert, in Peru. Nothing is there. What is the first thing you have to think of?

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What are your ambitions for learning and teaching joining this course?

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What are your ambitions for learning and teaching joining this course?

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I want to be comfortable in my teaching ability.

I want to feel supported within a teaching community where I am able to share my anxieties of whether or not I'm providing a good enough service.

I want to critically look at my role as learning support and enhance my knowledge within higher education teaching, so I am equipped with being a tutor one day.

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Within my teaching experience, I am always surprised by the creative and experimental results from the tasks that I set. As a student in Art School, it is a space of no fear, in that there should be no fear to make mistakes as it doesn't exist in the teaching of art. You make, you do, you experiment. Post-art school you forget these teachings and so, being back in art school and supporting learning there, I also learn. I enjoy that the most with teaching.

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What would you say are your core beliefs and values around teaching and learning? How do these values impact the way you teach and the ways your student engage in their learning?

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What would you say are your core beliefs and values around teaching and learning? How do these values impact the way you teach and the ways your student engage in their learning?

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Teaching at it's core is a selfless act.

Being excited by your subject and sharing that with people.

You must be adaptable. Everyone learns differently and you must get past your own excitement and knowledge of the subject your teaching and understand not everyone will 'get it' first try. It takes time and care. I think the different modes and environments of learning that you receive in art school is useful for adaptability. Group seminars, lectures, recommended reading, gallery/museum visits, crits and one to one tutorials. All these forms of engagement in the hopes that students are able to absorb material and do something exciting with it. Like Hay wrote in his letter;

'I think engagement is one of the most important things to take to your teaching Lee. I mean engagement in the sense of ‘connection’, ‘communication’ and ‘commitment’.'

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Knowing if a learner is getting the most out of the materials they have been given or at their disposal. In my experience with young students who are in first year, it is difficult to gauge if they are excited by the subject they are being taught. This can be at odds if they are willing to share this information or their feelings about it.

I think it comes down to having confidence as a teacher or learning supporter.

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What do you teach or how do you support student learning?

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What do you teach or how do you support student learning?

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I support student's learning in a technical capacity. I mainly stay within the studio buildings meandering around engaging with students daily to see how they are doing, talking to them about their work and generally about anything.

Normally I stay within the Barnes Building where the first year Fine Art students studios are, entering Art School for the first time can be daunting and scary. I feel like my main duty is to be present and allowing students to use me as a resource to troubleshoot when something goes wrong, if they have and worries or anxieties in the studio so I can help them in any way I can on their educational journey in Art School.

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I am an artist that works with moving image, painting, collage and drawing. At The Glasgow School of Art I am a Studio Assistant within the Fine Art department. Previously I have been a workshop facilitator, engaging mainly with young people to use art as a tool for improving mental health and wellbeing through creativity.

Like many people who work in an art school, my practice within art and teaching reaches many different places, with different demands, insights and challenges.