Exhibition Showcase
Class: Year 9
Teacher: Demelza Cusens
School: Takapuna Grammar School
Category: Promoting student achievement
The Technology department at Takapuna Grammar School is housed in the purpose-built Technology and Visual Arts Centre. A glassed-in area by the staircase was built to display student work, providing an opportunity to present it to a wider audience and show what is happening in Technology at the school.
First-year Technology teacher Demelza Cusens says that recognising and promoting achievement through a showcase exhibition can also give teachers a different perspective on a student. "New knowledge and skills are very translatable into school work. It's important to take what students are naturally good at, or are doing in their spare time, so that it can be nurtured and possibly take them in other directions".
Alice Couchman at the exhibition
Year 9 student Alice Couchman had been making brooches at home, using felt to create animals and utilising other materials for the detailing, such as buttons from the op shop for eyes. She had made a few brooches for family and friends and had once joined forces with a friend to make and sell them at a market stall. As more people saw her work, Alice began making brooches to order for other students at school, designing each brooch in the requested colour or theme – ranging from little punk owls to 'girly' models.
When Textiles teacher Deborah Woodward saw the brooches she commissioned her own version and showed Alice's collection to her colleagues. Demelza suggested that it should be exhibited in the showcase and, as she is enthusiastic about both contemporary jewellery and plush toys, worked with Alice on the installation, proposing that the brooches hang from branches for an effective display. Alice showed some of her earlier brooches and made others especially for the exhibition.
Some of Alice's friends and family joined school representatives at an official exhibition opening which reinforced the school/home connection. Serving juice and biscuits extended the occasion and allowed Technology teachers to chat about the work and its relevance to the classroom.
Alice is keen to carry on her brooch-making and says she might explore alternative materials because felt is not as strong as she would like; she had already trialled some other fabrics but found them too flimsy for her purpose. A lot of the girls in her class have become enthusiastic about sewing since starting their Textiles Technology unit and have approached Alice for ideas for making their own brooches or for help in finishing them off. She obviously enjoys working with soft materials and Alice has chosen to do this option in Year 10 "In Textiles Technology we made hats which I loved so much that I have to do this next year".
Demelza comments that an exhibition is a different way of presenting ideas and learning and can be particularly relevant when students move on from school. "Working in a different way does expand your brain and it pushes the boundaries of how students think they're supposed to learn and show their Technological Practice and suchlike". HOD Lesley Pearce agrees, "Seeing student work exhibited encourages others to think they could try an activity and gives them another aspect beyond what school already does".
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