Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The continued tale of Miss S.Icknote...................

The class I teach in the evening is quite prescriptive at present e.g. 5.30pm to 8.30pm at C Block, using the industrial machines for constructing samples and a garment, using set procedures and guidelines. For Health and Safety reasons the location (where the industrial machines are located)cannot be changed.
To help M.S.I. to catch-up I would offer extra tuition during a class I co-teach on a Friday morning in the construction room. She may feel more comfortable with a peer or student mentor which would be another alternative. Hopefully this one-one time would boost her confidence and ignite some interest and enthusiasm for the subject.
I would be happy to introduce a DVD or another type of visual recording of the course material for her to replay at her leisure. This would be similar to the Ipod/Utube postings made by the catering tutors.
To help with the language barrier I would ask that written class notes be translated into her native tongue.
I have a few books I would encourage M.S.I. to read:-
Shaeffer, Claire B. (2001) Sewing for the Apparel Industry Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
Readers Digest Step by Step Guide to Sewing.
Vogue/Butterick Step by Step Guide to Sewing Techniques.
To help with the culture shock and homesickness I would encourage M.S.I. to contact Student Services.
Lastly I would like to introduce a class blog to be used as a platform for the class material, any reading resources and ideally some Utube and web page links. All class members would be set the task of sending comments and questions to each other thus creating a class network which would include M.S.I.
The above posting has lots of wishes for the future, with blogs/DVDs/web links/Utube links and maybe even a wiki educator link somewhere, so please let me know if you think these are good ideas before I embark on this adventure?

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Student story - Miss S Icknote

I have written this as a student has started the course and these are her reasons for not continuing..............
Miss S Icknote has not been turning up for class lately:
  • Garment Construction Certificate in Fashion Studies (level 4).

  • open entrance. 16 week course.

  • 5.30pm - 8.30pm

  • Practical class in workshop @ Otago Polytechnic Dunedin, using industrial sewing machines.

Background info on Miss S Icknote:

  • 18 years old and very homesick.

  • Shares a house with 3 other older, part-time, Uni students.

  • English is not her first/preferred language.

Having spoken with Miss S icknote I have discovered her house mates encourage her to party hard with them. None of them are preparing any meals, getting enough sleep and she is struggling with a new culture. She is tired, unwell and has dificulty concentrating when she manages to attend a class.