Art Class: Tree of Life Self Intro

Students' work

This year is my first time teaching graduating students. For a start, I've asked them to introduce themselves through this tree of life activity. It looks like a straightforward activity but it does require students to think deeply because it is a visual metaphor in which a tree represents your life including your past, present and future. You can see an image taken from my fellowship programme. 

From this activity, I could see that the students are influenced by the events happening around them. Even though they are not directly receiving the impact of say troubled times, they are aware of current affairs. The objective of this work is to get them to reveal a part of them that I would perhaps never see in the classroom context. When I'm kept updated of their taste in music or other forms of entertainment, it also helps to inform my lesson development and pitch my instructions in class. For example, a number of them expressed interest in memes and I have an almost perfect plan for blending pop culture and Art. 

Artventure: Girls in Tech 2018

Happy New Year! 1.5 weeks of school just zipped by at the speed of light! Just a few months ago, I was a mentee in Girls in Tech mentorship programme(GITSG) Singapore 2018. GIT was founded by Adriana Gascoigne in San Fran in 2007 and GITSG had its first chapter in Asia.

British philosopher, Alain de Botton says that anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough. This is probably the reason I joined the programme - because it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. It's usually easier to blend in with your own tribe and coming from a non-geeky background, I was asking more questions than having conversations. Their IT-lingo goes along UX/UI, data scientist, data analytics etc. For most of the time besides using language that I had to internally process for 5 seconds, there were common threads within the workplace which I could resonate with. For example, relationship management, HR matters or PD. 

During our first meetup session, we had ice-breaker games and something else that was new for me was the speed networking which we went for separate interviews with 3 different mentors. The shortlisted mentors for us were based on a set of survey which we did prior to the meeting. Then, we had to rank them in order of preference. Before the ranking, the organiser even told us to chose the mentor whom we dislike! I guess it's to get the most of the experience. When we were 'forced' to work with people who are unlike us, it creates friction and opportunities for our growth by struggling to find similarities and complements. 

We were assigned six one-to-one sessions with our mentor and my mentor worked in a multinational organisation based in Singapore. For half a year, we had our sessions and mid-programme check-in and also met and interact with other mentors and mentees. 

One of our activities that I would remember for a long time is 'fly on the wall'. It was so simple yet effective. We started by gathering in a group of 2 mentors (not assigned) and mentees. Each mentee shared a challenge (e.g. work relationship) with the group. Then everyone would clarify with the presenting mentee for a minute. This is followed by the mentee turning her back to everyone (we have the swivel chair) and the rest of them would take turns to discuss the challenge as though the presenting mentee is not present. According to one of the mentees, this exercise is used by UX/ ethnographic researchers for their work. When the presenting mentee had her back turned, she is to be an observer and not maintain eye contact with others to minimise any change in their behaviours.

I was enthralled to be part of the programme. While it has come to a close, I’m glad to discover more about myself. 

Artventure: Fellowship programme 2018/19

Hello friends! I've been involved in the A4G fellowship programme organised by the Singapore International Foundation. The focus this year is on how Arts can be harnessed to empower the youth in our communities. We had a webinar on 31 Oct where the fellows from 10 different time zones participated. The Singapore exchange happened between 20 and 23 Nov and we all met in person. The activities included trips to visit Singapore's Arts and Heritage, Katong and Joo Chiat. I discovered that there is an artist residency at Kim Choo Artiste Residency which I think is quite a brilliant idea! Who would have thought of a Bazhang* business would branch out into an artist residency?

📸: SIF

Ondeh ondeh 📸: SIF

Our Tree of Life assignment. Wonderful interpretation by everyone. 📸: SIF

Learning Journey of Esplanade led by Mr Ravi

At Playeum 📸: SIF

📸: SIF

📸: SIF

Although our days ended at 9.30pm almost everyday, the exchange was energising, spirtual and rigorous. In just four short days, I could see and feel the stoic determination of each. Everyone is positive and hopeful. Since the glocal issues are man-made, then only we can derive the solutions. Since nobody knows everything, it is only by learning to work collaboratively, paying attention and being forgiving that people can develop empathy.

*Bazhang is rice dumping.

Art Class: Misc activity

During the exams, teachers have their timetable suspended and we have a new timetable to follow. Since I'm given the same classes that I'm teaching (just different time/ day), I will explain to the children the reason I'm seeing them twice this week! If I hear them go YAYYYY, then it is good news!

One of the lesson ideas for Primary One children is to get out of the four walls and be a suncatcher. I got them to observe two images. One of which is a child's long shadow and an adult's short shadow and asked them to explain how they think this phenomenon came about. Some of them have the misconception of a taller person would automatically have longer shadows. It's interesting to hear their justifications by comparing and contrasting the images. After looking at some shadow artists' artworks, the children made their own shadows on the projector screen. As the sun is not too deadly at this time of the year, the children took turns by working in pairs to capture their hand shadow at the corridor or the courtyard. 

Art Club: Puffy Paint & Tote Bags

In the beginning of year, the Primary 3 art club children participated in an activity organised by the National Heritage Board. There are different tasks assigned to each of the five professions and children are to complete any three tasks belonging to the profession to earn a badge. One of the tasks require the children to design a tote bag on paper but we managed to have the real thing so the children tried painting using puffy paint and fabric markers. The downside of using puffy paint is..though the packaging instructions state that hair dryer will increase the volume of the paint, it will take a loooong time. I was glad that I had a heat gun at home as it decreases labour time significantly and my colleague, Humaira had to use the heat gun on all the students' work. The results are stunning if the children are patient when applying the puffy paint!

Art class: Discussion on Contemporary Issues

Last week, all teachers gathered in small groups for an (invisible) roundtable discussion. We deliberated on Social Cohesion as the main theme.

The meaning of contemporary issue is public discourse. Discourse is a fancy word for discussion. For example, if you are debating with your family whether to have dinner at ION Orchard or Tampines Mall, that's a discourse. However, when discussions focus on national issues which in turn will affect a larger population, they are part of a discourse.

If everybody were always agreeable and cooperative, there might not be a need for public discourse. In reality, people come in all shapes and sizes. Add in racial, ethnic and spiritual backgrounds which would inevitably influence one's beliefs and opinions. What if everyone does as they wish with no regards to the consequences? It would be in absolute chaos and not how you would think a nation should be run. So, to ensure that we are still a functioning society, there need to be law, order and social expectations and these can derive through public discourse.

Discussions such as these are very common in the art realm. That's why we have contemporary art. In 2013, the play "Cook a Pot of Curry" was inspired by a story of a Singapore Indian family, who had to cook curry less frequently after their new neighbours from China complained about the smell was reported in the press. In 2017, the play "Normal" talks about the educational system where its playwright, Faith Ng, was once a Normal stream student. My favourite is "Grandmother Tongue", watch the trailer here. 

The point about Social Cohesion could stem from this article and this book. Many teachers gave their inputs based on personal experiences and what they have seen on social media. I think children are capable of understanding contemporary issues and the arts are suitable vehicles to facilitate these discussions. You can see some of my attempts to incorporate contemporary issues in my lessons here and here. That said, global goals are closely related to contemporary issues. These are 17 goals towards a better world that world leaders have agreed upon in 2015.

A challenge that could arise to discuss contemporary issues is the degree of conviction of teachers. There is also a possibility of rejection of such issues from the learners when it is non-examinable. Thus, I see the logic of developing lifelong learners. 

Housekeeping: Coloured Markers

Discovered another way of managing and distributing markers to the different groups. The toilet roll tubes were hot-glued onto the cardboard trays. It would be great if I could spray paint the tubes to match the colour of the markers.