Outcomes
The quality of the students' solutions to the Bright Ideas projects were of universal high standard in both design and execution. Documentation was also of an exceptionally high standard, as exemplified in the galleries of student work. Each student also kept a diary (not shown on this site).
"I was blown away by the standard of work that the students presented," says Andrew. "By the end of the year they had a great work ethic - they didn't grizzle when times got tough and they had to do extra time outside of class to get work done. I set a high standard of expectation for the students and they met that. They were aware of the quality I was expecting and the work ethic I was requesting, and they all rose to it.
"The respect for each other was really great. There were no behavioural issues in that class at all. They all wanted to be successful and to do well in this class. They were there because they wanted to be there. The same will happen for them next year in Year 13 - they will be there because they want to continue on, so that was a great outcome.
"I was really impressed with the level of cooperation between students in the class. During a class I had them critique each others work. There weren't any put downs - they were very mature. I think it was because they'd observed the way I discuss and critique works and they followed suit, and provided constructive feedback to each other.
"One of the key outcomes was the students realising that designing for an authentic client actually meant that they had responsibilities to the client. It wasn't school based, it wasn't family or a friend, and the client was busy and had their own life. They learned the importance of presenting high quality work and meeting deadlines.
"Being only a second year teacher, it was great to be given the freedom to run a Year 12 course like that. My Head of Faculty didn't try to rope me in - he saw that I had it sorted and knew where I was going with it."
