Teaching Snapshot: Resident artist-mentor

Level: Year 7-8
School: Tauranga Intermediate School
Teacher: Whole department
Category: School-community links

Teachers in the Technology department at Tauranga Intermediate are enthusiastic about the benefits of establishing school-community links and bringing experts into the classroom. A relationship with contemporary Māori artist/technologist Shane Warbrick began when Jo Young, who wanted someone to help her class with Māori carving, met him through their mutual role as surfing coaches. Shane, who initially came in to work with Jo's class once a week, volunteered to be the self-appointed Artist in Residence at the school, and over the two terms began working in all (except Food) Technology areas.

The Technology and Art teams take a leading role in organising the school-wide biennial Arts Week, during which they organise experiences to extend students' appreciation of art and design. For this, an exhibition of Shane's work was installed in the foyer of the Technology and Arts design block, and he also ran a workshop in which he discussed his art, motivation, and the process he goes through.

All students attended the workshop, which Shane presented to two classes at a time. They were particularly interested in Shane's explanations of his paintings, based on the local environment and his Māori heritage, and his practice. He also discussed sustainability and why he uses recycled materials (doors, carpet backs, old surf boards, skate board decks, drawer bottoms, and refrigerator doors) as 'canvases'. Jo notes that this was a good opportunity for students to think about the impact of technology on society, and how by recycling materials technologists can make new products for people.

Jo says that Shane's personal presence and his ability to communicate the meaning of his work held the students' attention, and that they often stayed into interval or lunchtime to ask him questions about the process. Fellow teacher Ellen Adams remarks that her class loved the workshop and hearing the explanations about the paintings. "The children could relate to Shane's ideas because of the real-life context in which he explained everything."

Shane moved from helping in Jo's classroom to team teaching with others in the department – he worked in his areas of strength: planning and teaching the artistic side of the unit, while the teachers incorporated and concentrated on the Technology. Shane worked on the very successful Māori-inspired pewter jewellery unit with the Year 8 girls' bilingual class and also taught Year 8s who were developing a puppet theatre – working with them on a 3D backdrop and creating a theatre out of timber. Most of the students in this boys-only class were Māori, and Jo points out that the Māori aspect of Shane's approach was important. "Shane, as a Māori artistic role model, helped create interaction between the teacher, students and the Māori students' culture."

Shane taught a skateboard unit to the Year 8 bilingual class, the unit was established in response to their interest in skateboarding. In this unit students worked in groups to create skateboard deck art. They were then given a brief "to design a prototype backpack for carrying a skateboard deck when riding a bike", and again worked in groups to plan, design and prototype this. Shane taught the students some of the techniques he uses in his work, which they could adapt for their own designs, and his perspective on utilising Māori design elements.

HOD Technology Raina Urwin comments that they have been very fortunate to have Shane working with their students, and that teachers have learned much from his expertise in the field. "To have someone in the community willing to give up time to teach our students is exceptional, and the students have thrived with his involvement. Finding such support can be hard, but I encourage other Technology teams to invite such a person to come in and be part of your team rather than just a visitor."

Jo adds that this relationship then extends beyond the school, such as when Shane went to a local marae and had students coming up to talk to him about his work.

Following his time at the school, Shane applied and was accepted for teacher training and is currently working towards a Diploma in Art. He continued his relationship with the school into 2009, when he visited to demonstrate traditional Māori kite-making to a Year 8 Technology class working on a kite unit.