Reflective journal

I have now been keeping my journal for a couple of weeks and thought I would just make some comments on my initial feeling about it. As like many of you I could see the possible benefits of doing this but was unsure if and how it would change the way in which I worked. As I mentioned before I work in a secondary school and divide my time between the art and technology departments, because technology is not as relevant to this course as the work that I do in the art department I started by just keeping a journal of my days teaching art. Very quickly I realised that a lot of the issues I face in the art department were the same as the ones in technology and so kept a journal of both.  As I have only been working as a teaching assistant for about 9 months one of my biggest issues is try to get the students to respect you enough to listen to you when you give them advice and when you ask them to do something. Discipline is a big issue in our school and am often taken aback and left speechless by the way that some of the students speak to members of staff. I quickly learnt that not pulling them up on things like this makes the situation worse and they lose even more respect for you, but at the same time you have to be able to remain level headed and try to avoid just screaming at them as they will just switch off. This has been something that I am still working on but have found that sitting down after the event and writing about it from different perspectives, in particular the perspective of the child has really helped me.  Looking back on it has also helped me to pick up on patterns of behaviour from certain children and has help me to analyse how I have handled certain situations. Highlighting where I went wrong and how I should approach the situation next time.

I am sure that this technique will have many other benefits but at the moment this is one of the major things I am struggling with and as a result am working hardest to improve.

Communication amongst the deaf comunity

The rest of you might have already thought of this but it just dawned on me a couple of days ago. All of us have been discussing the pros and cons of Web 2.0 technologies and how it has changed the way in which we communicated with each other.  Think of how this technology has revolutionised communication within the deaf community. With video calling and instant messaging deaf people no longer have to be in the same room as each other to talk.

Email account cruption

It might appear to some people that i have been quit negative towards web 2.0 technologies, highlighting their flaws rather then their numerous good points, and there are many but find it hard to mention they when i keep being confronted by negative points. The latest one happened this morning when i received a phone call from my father, apparently i had sent him an email at 6:00 this morning containing a wed link which if clicked on informed him that i was selling Viagra from Canada!! It would appear that somebody has hacked into my yahoo email account and sent this message to everybody in my contacts list. Most of which are business contacts! I would understand this happening if i had not protected my computer correctly, but i have and the software is updated regularly. This is highly annoying and if anybody has any ideas of how to stop it please let me know and if anybody reading this has received one of these emails i apologise.

Cyber bullying

Before we move away from Web 2.0 technologies and start to focus on the second part of our module I wanted to mention something which I have found to be one of the negative sides to the use of these technologies, Cyber bullying. The full magnitude of this issue was brought to my attention during one of our school’s inset days at the beginning of this term. It would appear that this is the new preferred form of bullying amongst some children. For a lot of children today the use of the internet, social networking sites and blog are common practice. In some instances children will be ostracised if they are not logged on at the right time of day, but unfortunately in many cases it is taken a lot further than this.  They use site such as these to post nasty comments, spread rumours and exclude people. Children can use the privacy settings on social networking sites to post images and messages often of a derogatory nature and choose who can view them thus giving them the opportunity to include everybody except the victim. By using this type of platform the information can be spread much quicker and to a much larger audience then calling somebody a vicious name in the corridor or pushing someone in the playground. This form of bullying has also opened us up as educators to be at a much greater risk. It is no longer a case of rude comments about teachers being written in the bathrooms, possible career ending false allegations have been posted on such sites and once they have been posted where the comments can be seen by the masses the allegations have to be investigated. Teachers also have to be very vigilant that their pupils do not gain access to their social networking and blog pages or befriend any pupils. Did you know that as a teacher of minors you can be prosecuted for having any pupils that you have taught in the last two years as a friend or follower of your social networking page?  

From what I understand the main issues with cyber bullying is it can happen at any time, it is not confined to school it invades the victim’s personal space. The bullies can quite easily remain anonym which is often very distressing for the victim. The type of bully is also changing before the concept of cyber bullying was around the bully would be bigger, stronger or more popular child then the victim but now the anonymity of the bully means it could be anyone the relative size of them is no longer such an issue, and they are not just targeting other students. Teachers are just as at risk.

Unfortunately people will always find new and improved ways to hurt each other and unfortunately we will never be able to stop it but what we can do is try to make people more aware that it is happening by educating people in the ways in how it happens so that they can recognise it more quickly and ensure that children feel comfortable about approaching an adult if it happens to them. As a parent you should be aware what your child is doing on the computer and be in a position to stop them if you feel they are taking something too far.  

How we use web 2.0 technologies

If anyone is still unclear how they use or will use web 2.0 technology in their professional life click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/blackberry. Look at the series of adverts called 'Love what you do'. They clear show how a variety of web 2.0 technologies are used by a range of different professionals.

You tube video

I just uploaded my video to you tube please check it out. Stephie's BAPP video. I thought it would be easy once i had decided what i wanted to say, but it ended it up taking a lot more takes then I thought.

The advantages and disadvantages of useing the internet as a research tool.

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking a lot about the reader and some of the issues and comments it has risen so far. I have been trying to work out how these technologies have changed the ways in which I work as a practitioner and how I teach art. Today I was reading through one of the year 10’s sketch book to see how she was progressing with her Pop Art project. There was a huge amount of text where she had commented about consumerism, how this effected the movement and how popular culture influenced such artists as Andy Warhol. All of it accurate and very analytical, unfortunately when she was asked why her supporting work (the art work) only really consisted of reproductions of Andy Warhol’s  Campbell Soup and his Coke Bottle’s it became abundantly clear that she actually had no understanding of the movement at all and had just downloaded a load of information from the internet.  Upon further investigation of her book I also found an image that she was claiming to be by Andy Warhol which was in fact merely a picture of a man’s son which he had manipulated to look like it was in the style of this artist.

I know that this kind of blatant plagiarism can happen when researching from books but this event made me think is the availability and ease of the internet making children lazy when it comes to researching.  It’s is perceived as easier to type something into Google then it is to sit in the library and find useful and relevant books.  Don’t get me wrong, when used in the right way I think the internet is a great research tool. The key things that these kids having been missing is, firstly a lot of the articles on the internet is somebody’s personal opinion and should not necessarily be taken as accurate and how to recognise a reliable source. Secondly it is quality that counts not quantity. A pile of information that you don’t understand is not going to help you and more importantly to them will not get you any marks.

I think the main issue is not with the internet itself but the fact that children are not being taught how to use it properly for the purpose of researching. We are currently in a transitional period where we are moving from the idea that we should not rely on the internet for researching as it is an inaccurate source of information as Natalie Less said she was advised when she was at school, to it being much more acceptable, encouraged and a lot more reliable. Unfortunately during the transitional period the responsibility lies with the teacher to educate the children in how to correctly research subjects on the internet but they themselves are unwilling to learn.  With a lot of the older generation of teachers sticking with the school of thought that books are used for research not computers.  Until this changes I think we will continue to see huge chunks of projects cut and pasted from various internet articles.

Stephie Montgomery's CV

Stephanie Montgomery

Contact Details:

Stephiemonty@gmail.com

Personal Profile:

I am a dedicated and hard working individual with a creative mind and a ‘can do’ attitude. I have excellent interpersonal skills and a proven ability of succeeding in a target driven environment. I am currently looking for a challenging opportunity where I can utilise my strong communication abilities and continue to work with people. I am keen to continue with my art and would love to help others to realise their creative abilities. The thought of getting to work with people who really think ‘outside the box’ and brings you a new challenge every day is something that really excites me.

April 2010- Present: Technician, Fredrick Bremmer Secondary school.

My role here is to assist the art director in the running and organisation of his classes, setting up the classroom, helping the younger years with their technique and guiding the older years through their coursework pieces through discussion and technical support. The job also requires me to do some administrative work, ordering stock, creating posters for the classroom and marking

August 2009- Present: Founder and head designer Not Quite Lauren.

In August 2009 I set up my own bespoke design company, Not Quite Lauren. We create unique made to order and measure garments, often working closely with the client incorporating both the ideas of the designer and the client’s to create their ideal garment. To view some of our works please go to our website: www.notquitelauren.com

September- December 2009 Freelance painter with Beeswax art:

I worked with this company over the Christmas period, turning their client’s photographs into paintings. Unfortunately this company could not compete with the existing businesses and is not trading any more.

June 2007- August 2009 designer and seamstress for Arty Lore:

This company like mine focuses on creating unique handmade garments designed to the client’s specification. These designs leant more towards fantasy, Celtic and ethnic designs which are enhanced by the hand painted detail done by the owner and artist.  From time to time I do still take on some seamstress work for her during her more busy periods.

Commissioned Work:

I have also been privately commissioned to do a number of paintings and sculptures, evidence of these and the rest of my work can be seen in my portfolio. A digital version of this stored on Picasa, please follow the link: www.picasaweb.google.com/stephiemonty/Portfolio

Education:

April 2008 Open Water Diving Course

May 2008 Advanced Diving Course

Sept. 2006 – June 2007 London College of Fashion

Costume Design 

Throughout this course I have learned many skills and techniques used in the design and manufacturing of costumes including pattern cutting and manipulation. I intend to continue utilising these skills that I have developed through the sale of bespoke clothing.

Sept. 2004 – June 2006 University of the arts London – Central Saint Martin

Arts and Artefacts – BA Hons 

During this course I developed a broad understanding of various areas of artistic impression. I enjoyed experimenting with different techniques and decided that I was interested in developing my understanding of costume design further. The course was not completed for financial reasons.

Sept. 2003 – June 2004 Leeds college of Art

Foundation in Fine Art – HND

1997 – 2002 Repton School

A Levels       Art – A

                   History – C

                   Maths – D

AS Levels     Physics – C

GCSE’s                  9 A’s and 2B’s  

During my time at school I was involved in a number of teams and societies. I particularly enjoyed being a member of the Rep. Theatre Company as we went to perform at the Edinburgh fringe festive for 3 years. I was a principle character in each of the plays we performed and I was also responsible for ‘selling’ the show to the crowds to ensure that we had a large audience. The many years I have been involved in drama have ensured that I am a confident communicator who is happy conversing with a diverse range of people.

IT Skills:

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Power Point

Microsoft Outlook

Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Fireworks

Coral Draw

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe In design

Adobe Illustrator

References:

Are available on request.