EVALUATION

The garment produced was well executed with care and attention to detail showcasing great sewing abilities. Changes in the chosen fabric from the original design had to be altered due to available fabrics to use however the original colours in the design were kept. No issues arose during the process and little alterations were made. Changes included making the curve on the bottom front edges more defined and creating more of a scooped neck line than originally designed. The process journal included all aspects needed for submission however more in-depth research would enhance in showing how decisions were made.

Process Journal

JAPANESE RUNAWAY ASSESSMENT TASK

General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities

General Capabilities

The general capabilities are an important component of the Australian Curriculum. They encompass knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that, together with curriculum content in each learning area and the cross-curriculum priorities, will assist students to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century (ACARA, 2015). The general capabilities play a role in forming successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens from the young people of Australia.

There are a total of seven general capabilities:

• Literacy.
• Numeracy.
• Information and communication technology capability.
• Critical and creative thinking.
• Personal and social capability.
• Ethical understanding.
• Intercultural understanding.

The general capabilities complement the key learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework (COAG 2009) – that children have a strong sense of identity and wellbeing, are connected with and contribute to their world, are confident and involved learners and effective communicators (ACARA, 2015). They embody the knowledge, skill, behaviours, and dispositions and collectively with the cross-curriculum priorities and the content of the curriculum students will be assisted to successfully live and work within todays society.



Cross Curriculum Priorities

The Australian Curriculum is designed to meet the needs of students by delivering a relevant, contemporary, and engaging curriculum that builds on the educational goals of the Melbourne Declaration (ACARA, 2015). A total of three key areas are recognized to be addressed within the classrooms alongside the general capabilities and curriculum content; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Sustainability. Providing students with the skills and appropriate language to understand and connect with the world locally and globally is the aim of the cross-curriculum priorities. Below are a few examples of how these cross-curriculum priorities can be incorporated in a textiles classroom.


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

• Students are to research Aboriginal or Torres Straight Island art, identify colours and symbols and use this as inspiration to design a patterned fabric. myPantone is a great app to identify colour pallets.
• Have a guest speaker come in to talk about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, identify what is sacred to their culture and what is allowed to be interpreted and manipulated, identify natural dyes used by their culture and demonstrate how it is done. Let the students have a go using this great website to identify natural sources of coloured dyes.

Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia

• Set a design brief to have students research Japanese Fashion and use inspiration from their search to design a westernised garment that could be sold in Australia. Tokyo Fashion is a great website that include  the late Japanese fashion trends, articles, photos, brands, and fashion map that students can use to get inspiration.
• Have students create a Glogster of a Japanese fashion trend.

Sustainability

• As an assessment task have students use Op Shop clothing items to reconstruct and create a new modern garment they would wear. Have them use Pinterest to source ideas, inspiration and possibilities.
• Have students to identify sustainable materials, research them, and design an appropriate garment that they would use this material for. Students can use Photoshop to show their designs.

REFERENCES

ACARA, 2015. Australian Curriculum. [Online] Available at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/overview/general-capabilities-in-the-australian-curriculum

ACARA, 2015. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. [Online] Available at: http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/cross_curriculum_priorities.html

ACARA, 2015. Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority. [Online] Available at: http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/cross_curriculum_priorities.html

WEB 2 TOOLS

Web 2 Tools are also known as Web 2.0 and is about revolutionising the classroom by using online tools to create, collaborate, edit, and share information. Information has never been easier or more accessible online and the up and coming generations of students are digital natives. It is important for teachers to use online tools to communicate and encourage learning in a mode that students feel comfortable and engaged to use. Web 2.0 encourages teachers and students to actively contribute by documenting, collaborating, using chat forums, wikis and blogging tools in order to achieve the syllabus outcomes in communication and collaboration. It can be used by the teacher to present information of by the students to complete set tasks or learn individually.

The following are some examples of Web 2.0 tools that can be used in the classroom:

Presentation Tools - Slide Share, Prezi, Glogster and Picsviewr

The above online tools brings new meaning to 'show, don't tell' and allows the presentation of information to be far more engaging than the old PowerPoint slides. It also allows the opportunity to share the presentation to anyone at anytime. SlideShare is a tool to upload already created presentations and share them, a good way to present information in a Flipped Classroom environment. Prezi takes the slideshow to a new level by presenting on a giant canvas, great to  engage an audience. Glogster combines all kinds of media on one page to create interactive posters that really present an engaging story. Picsviewr is a great way to present images, it could be used to create and present a moodboard perhaps.

Video Tools - Animoto and YouTube

Integrating video tools in the classroom for projects or presentations engages students and gives students an ability to present tasks through a medium they prefer. Animoto turns photos, videos, and music into a presentation to engage the classroom and other audiences. It can be used in the classroom to present information to the students or for the students to present tasks or assessment items, what about using Animoto to advertise a student events like a workshop  or runway. Click on this link to check out a few examples. YouTube is a great video sharing tool great to use for tutorials, in class learning or for students to watch set videos at home.

Collaboration Tools - Wikispaces and Edmodo

Create a blended learning classroom and join global learning communities to discover and share information. Students are engaged in learning by these modern environments and find it easy to use these web tools that the already know and enjoy. Use these tools for collaborative writing, classroom newsfeed or organising and monitoring student progress. Both of these tools are great for communicating with students outside the classroom.

Social Media Tools - Pinterest 

Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that can be used to find ideas for projects and interests. Pinterest is one big pin board allowing users to search and save creative ideas onto their profile. Pinterest is the best tool for a textiles classroom to provide students with ideas and inspiration to use for classroom tasks, activities and assessment.

THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM

WHAT IS THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM-

The flipped classroom describes a reversal of traditional teaching where students gain first exposure to new material outside of class, usually via reading or lecture videos, and then class time is used to do the harder work of assimilating that knowledge through strategies such as problem-solving, discussion or debates (University of Queensland, 2015).


The roles and expectations of students and teachers within a flipped classroom environment include:

• students take more responsibility for their own learning and study core content either individually or in groups before class and then apply knowledge and the skills to a range of activities using higher order thinking.

• teaching  'one-to-many' focusses more on facilitation and moderation than lecturing, though lecturing is still important. Significant learning opportunities can be gained through facilitating active learning, engaging students, guiding learning, correcting misunderstanding and providing timely feedback using a variety of pedagogical strategies.

• There is a greater focus on concept exploration, meaning making and demonstration or application of knowledge in the face-to-face setting.

Advantages of a flipped classroom include:

• Versatile, engaging way to share content.

• Students control their learning.

• Increased 1-1 contact between the students and the teacher.

• Allows more collaborative learning which raises the energy level in the classroom and gives students time to practice collaborative skills.

• Exposure to a discovery-based, open-ended experimental learning environment.

• Students become more engaged in the learning process and develop those necessary learning skills.

The Flipped Classroom is extremely beneficial for a home economics classroom as more time can be used on practical learning during class time. It enables teachers to reach a wider variety of learning styles by providing different modes of learning the same content. The following are some learning activities the teacher can request the students to participate in outside classroom hours.

Produce a colour wheel-

Watch instructional video-

Create a mood board-

Add to your specific terms glossary-

References:

University of Queensland, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/flipped-classroom/what-is-fc.html

De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats

Six thinking Hats is a time-tested, proven, and practical thinking tool. It provides a framework to help people think clearly and thoroughly by directing their thinking attention in one direction at a time (De Bono Schools, 2015)

Below is an example of how to incorporate De Bono's Six Thinking Caps into assessment and classroom activities.

Individual Activity

• Students are presented with an upcycled garment.
• Students are given a hat colour at random.
• Students must use the thought process associated with that colour to assess the garment.
• As a class the answers are discussed and collaborated onto the board.

Group Activity

• Create several stations, at each station identify a topic for discussion e.g. sustainability, Japanese fashion, recycling, upcycling, etc.
• Students are put into groups and rotate around each of the stations discussing as a group and going through each of the Six Thinking Caps writing down their thoughts.
• The teacher has students read out their findings and combine each groups answers.

The Six Thinking Hats is a great practice to incorporate into assessment. When given an assessment task ask students to use the task topic to question, using the Six Thinking Caps has students thinking about the task constructively. Have students draw the Six Hats and write a couple of sentences next to each one using the different thought processes. Another great idea is using the same process at the completion of the assessment to evaluate their final piece.

Example:
Assessment Task - Design a garment with elements of Japanese fashion for a westernised society.

Yellow Hat, What are the good points/benefits?
Japanese fashion is very different and versatile allowing me to design a garment from loads of possibilities.

Black Hat, Will it work/What are the weaknesses?
Japanese fashion is very different to westernised fashion. I don't know a lot about Japanese Fashion.

Red Hat, How do I feel about this right now?
I am feeling intrigued and a little overwhelmed at how I am going to design the garment with Japanese elements.

White Hat, What information do I know and what information is missing?
Japanese fashion can be traditional or modern.
Harajuku is a modern style of Japanese fashion.

Green Hat, What are some possible ways to work it out?
Research Japanese fashion both traditional and modern.

Blue Hat, What do we do next?
Create a mood board and pick out small details to incorporate into a design.




References:

De Bono Schools, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.debonoforschools.com/asp/six_hats.asp

Check out my latest Pinterest Board -
Alternate Classroom Activities

Sustainability

Sustainability has many definitions and is a concept used within many industries including textiles/fashion. It can be described as:

• the ability to use materials without being completely used up or destroyed.
• involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources.
• the ability to last or continue for a long time.
• supporting longterm ecological balance.

It is important for students to understand sustainability within society and practice sustainability within the classroom.

Traceability is becoming more in demand by consumers in this generation. Consumers want to ensure they are shopping sustainably and this requires companies to provide their customers with the information to make an informed decision. Traceability can be defined as:

• allowing consumers to verify the history, location, or application of an item.
• the capability and implementation of keeping track of all production stages.

The best way to make students ethical shoppers is to inform them of the global issues relating to non-ethical companies and easy ways to become an ethical shopper and how this can better our planet. Display the steps of becoming an ethical shopper somewhere in the classroom:

þ Buy seasonally and locally

þ Shop with a conscience

þ Read the fine print

þ Get informed at Shop Ethically

Check out this Prezi or use it in your classroom to show fashion labels that reflect sustainability.

Colour Psychology

Colour psychology is the study of hues as a determination of human emotion and behaviour. Colour is a form of non verbal communication and can carry specific meaning, the perception of colour although individual between each person causes an automatic evaluation and this evaluation process forces colour-motivated behaviour. 

Although the meaning of colours can change between different cultures, generally:

Red is the colour of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination,

Orange is the colour of social communication and optimism,

Yellow is the colour of optimism and happiness,

Green is the colour of balance and growth,

Blue is the colour of trust and peace, and,

Purple is the colour of the intuition and imagination.

In a classroom environment such as a textiles classroom I like to include all colours in the classroom decor. It is important to remember that all forms of creativity are created by the artists' emotions, sometimes happiness may influence their work, sometimes passion may be the central meaning of their work. I include all colours within my classroom to influence and inspire the students, students will find their attraction to selected colours vary day to day and this will be evident in their work.

Check out the below videos for a good insight into the psychology of colours -

Check out my latest Pinterest Board -
Classroom Environment

Check out my latest Pinterest Board -
Sources of Inspiration

Fashion Forecasting and Understanding Trends

What do you need to know?!

Fashion forecasting is the focussing of upcoming trends within the fashion industry, this includes colours, fabrics, patterns, and styles that start from the runway and make their way into the shops. As home economics teachers we must be up to date with all these trends and understand the fashion interests of all our students, so how can we keep up to date? The following websites are great fashion trend sources to regularly visit -

The Creative Curriculum

Teaching Philosophy & Fostering Student Growth and Development

These four points sum up my teaching philosophy and how I choose to foster student growth and development:

Belonging To An Academic Community

Students will be motivated in an environment where they feel connected academically to their fellow peers and teachers. The feeling of belonging within a learning environment helps students understand and feel comfortable with the learning process and know the journey is not one that is taken alone. It is my goal every time I step into any classroom to have my students feeling comfortable and confident to learn and develop in the classroom environment. I aim to have the students being a part of an academic community where every single person including the teacher is there to learn and grow. No student is to feel incompetent and all students are encouraged to help each other to grow and develop together as a group whilst having fun.

Belief In Success

A students self belief in their own success is a better measure of their abilities than their academic success. It is important that each student is encouraged to believe that they can succeed at any task. Students are able to strive and work harder at a task when they feel that they are likely to succeed. Verbal communication of encouragement in succeeding from the teacher to the student is important, it helps form an academic trust and relationship between the teacher and the student, and if successfully done as a whole class creates a support group for encouraging that success. Encouraging posters around the classroom is also a positive reminder for students to remember that they can succeed and practice positive self talk.

Valuable And Meaningful Units/Activities

Students are more likely to work toward completing a task when the academic work is seen to be relevant to their interests, lives, and concerns. The act of looking for connections in new information is natural and students will put more focused energy and attention on completing a task that is seen as valuable and meaningful. Connecting with students’ interests and values is the best way to plan and implement lessons and activities that will have students working to their best ability.

With Effort Skills And Knowledge Can Develop

Students and teachers must have the belief that with effort the skills and knowledge of students can develop. Teachers must be able to educate their students in understanding how to interpret setbacks and to create opportunities in these to learn and improve and continue to keep trying. This mind set in students is vital in their development and growth within the classroom, and being able to see each task as an opportunity to master a skill is an attribute that will see students succeeding throughout their education and further into their chosen careers.

When I am feeling unsure or questioning my skills as a teacher this is what makes me strive to be the best teacher I can be!

Check out my latest Pinterest Board - Unusual Textile Use

Creative Teaching Strategies

Debono's Creative Hat

Debono's thinking hats are an effective strategy assisting in students utilising all means when solving a problem. The Thinking Hats facilitate productive: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. The six hats include

Debono's six Hats is a great strategy to incorporate into your classroom, more specifically for textile classrooms the green hat which represents 'Creativity'. Having a green hat or creative hat in the classroom can help encourage students to think creatively in the classroom and activities can be based around using this hat. Below are a couple of example activities that can be used in the classroom using the 'Creative' hat.

• Write a random word on the board, for example, white. Ask the students to add words to the given word in order to make combinations that ideally go together. For example: white lie, white-wash, white elephant, etc. The aim is to get as many words as possible that no other students has listed.

• At the beginning of each lesson one student will put on the hat and describe an 'alter-ego' of themselves to the class, something that is completely opposite to their genuine self. They could explain what hobbies they enjoy, music they like, clothes they wear, and give themselves a new name.

• Give each student a picture that has three shapes drawn on it (triangle, circle, hexagon). Ask them to describe the shapes in ways that are different from the obvious. A student may describe the circle as a basketball or even the Sun.

• Put students into different groups and provide students with a different garment and a camera. Each group must think of different ways the garment could be worn and take a photo of each outfit, the students must try to get as many outfits as possible within 5-10 minutes. Upload the photos and share as a whole class.

Concept Mapping

Concept mapping is a great way to teach students creative thinking and how one initial idea can be transformed into another. Concept maps represent knowledge in a graphic form. Networks consist of nods, which represent concepts, and links, which represent relationships between concepts. This form of graphic organiser aids in generating ideas by integrating old and new knowledge, this strategy for creative teaching assists the teacher in developing students creativity skills and continue to build their creative minds.

Process: Start by developing a focus topic, object, or question. Have students begin to build on this by adding links and nods to create a web-like structure. By doing it this way students have the opportunity to branch off into multiple avenues. Set minimum number of additional nods students must add to there concept map. This activity could be completed as a whole class as a warm up activity for the lesson, or it could be used as an individual activity in the beginning of an assessment task to have students coming up with ideas.

Check out my concept map below, I chose to complete this activity in order to develop ideas for a sustainability assessment. Obviously this can be expanded a lot further but this gives an idea of what it should look like.

Swapping

The concept of 'swapping' directs students away from their original thought processes into something completely unexpected and different. Whilst students are completing an activity the teacher may say 'swap' at any time throughout the activity, the students must trade work and begin completing the activity using the other students work. This strategy encourages students to think creatively and critically to complete the activity without any instruction as to which direction the previous student was completing the activity. This strategy could be used during individual or group activities.

As an example students could be completing a mood board individually, the teacher instructs students to silently swap their work with another student in the class. Students must then continue completing the different mood board in the direction they think the other student was going.

Creative Orientation Activities

The following are some activities that can be used in class to get the students into a creative head space and get the creative juices flowing!

Collage!

Using a collage making website such as Befunky students can create a style board of their personal brand. This is great to have students identifying there own individual styles through a selected amount of pictures. This could be used as a small activity at the beginning of class to get them in a creative and focussed frame of mind for the lesson or it could be used as a bridging activity where it leads on to a larger task. For example students may be asked to create a collage that sums up their style, they must then 'label' this style and use this style for the creation of an assessment piece, pinterest board, or task.

Below is a collage I made using Befunky, I would label this style as Street Chic!

What is it?

This activity is great to teach students to think beyond what initially comes to their minds and get the students thinking creatively and outside the square. Put a shape up on the board, ask the students to identify what the shape is and list as many options as they can within a minute. Encourage creativity from students. After the minute have students share what they have listed. Check out the list I made with the following shapes.

Dart board, traffic light, eye, Target, Saturn, fried egg, button, UFO, umbrella, sombrero 

Leaf, flame, insect wing, skunk tail, salad tongs, llama toe, crab claw, flower petal, rain drop

What is the story?

This activity has students creating a story using unrelated pictures. Provide students with 6 pictures on the board, give them 5 minutes to write down a story connecting all the pictures together, encourage creativity and thinking outside the box. Have students share their stories at the end.

This is what I cam up with using the following pictures-

Gary was a crab who had big dreams, dreams to be the king of Taco Land. Taco Land is a wonderful place with the fun of rollercoaster rides, fun games, and an unlimited amount of tacos. Gary wished every day for his dream to come true, then one day whilst scrummaging through the lost treasures of a sunken ship he stumbled across a  glowing vase. Gary picked up the vase and out through a cloud of ash came a fire wizard. The wizard thanked Gary for releasing him from the vase he was trapped in and told Gary to say thanks he would grant him one wish. Gary did not have to think for long, Gary asked to be the king of Taco Land where he could ride the rollercoaster, play games, and eat unlimited tacos. The fire wizard granted him this wish and from that point on Gary was known as the King of Taco Land until he ate too many tacos and went on the roller coasters too many times that he no longer wanted to be the King of Taco Land and walked all the way back to his home in the ocean where he happily stayed.

Fostering Creativity

How boring life would be without creativity! Remember that every human endeavour, world changing invention, or blockbuster movie started with one persons creative thinking, someone thinking beyond what they can see. Creativity does not just happen; it needs to be cultivated, and the cultivation of creativity in every kid starts from the classroom (Bharti, 2014).

Providing a safe, encouraging, and stimulating classroom for students is the best way to foster creativity. A safe and encouraging classroom means students are feeling comfortable and confident to express their thoughts, feelings, and creative ideas. To promote a safe and encouraging classroom we can focus on Dimension 1 of the Dimensions of Learning, Attitudes and Perceptions, more specifically Feeling Accepted by Teachers and Peers-

• Establish a relationship with each student in the class.
• Monitor and attend to your own attitudes.
• Engage in equitable and positive classroom behaviour.
• Recognise and provide for students' individual differences.
• Respond positively to students' incorrect responses or lack of response.
• Vary positive reinforcement offered when students give the correct response.
• Provide opportunities for students to get to know and accept each other (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).

Providing a stimulating classroom means using engaging activities to promote creativity from the students. Using effective 'hooks' in the beginning of the lesson will ultimately set the mood for the whole lesson. Ensuring your 'hook' is intriguing, luring, and interactive will immediately have students thinking creatively if done correctly. Creating a stimulating classroom means permitting frequent classroom discussions and interactions with and between students, this leads to sharing ideas, furthering knowledge, and promoting higher order thinking. Additionally using a variety of activities and different models throughout the unit to have students continually being creatively challenged and stimulated will foster a creative classroom.

The following are some great links with ideas to foster creativity in the classroom - 

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-things-you-can-do-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom/

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2014/3/10/18-ways-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom-everyday.html

http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-creativity

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/how-promote-creative-thinking

References:

Bharti, P. (2014, May 25). How to Promote Creativity in your Classroom? Retrieved July 6, 2015, from Ed Tech Review: http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1155-how-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning. Colorado: McREL.