With the advent of remote learning, teachers and students have had to get used to a very different approach to their subjects. Textiles teacher Cushla Laufkotter and art teacher Stacey Gundry explain how they have adapted their learning programs so that students can produce projects from home.

Cushla Laufkotter - textiles

"We started our online learning with this table of optional activities, which students could choose activities from. 

The activities were intentionally chosen to be fun, creative and to allow for a multitude of situations - ranging from students having free access to materials and resources, to students having very limited access at home. There were options for designing, materials investigation, no-sew projects, hand-sew projects and machine sewn projects.

Where possible, I created my own tutorials so the students would see and hear a familiar face and a teaching style they were used to from school. For some of the tutorials on here, I am learning along with the students, trying these activities for the first time! E.g. creating natural dyes using plant material, hand-embroidery, and raranga harakeke/ flax weaving.

After the first couple of weeks, when I checked in with the students and their progress, it was great to see lots of students engaging in a range of the activities provided. But even better than that, students were suggesting additional projects they would like to do as well. So now we have added an additional activity where students can post ideas, pictures, videos or tutorials for their own textile projects for others to be inspired by and use!

It’s very cool to see that even from home, students can continue to support each other in their learning. Lots of them are also being assisted by their whanau in their bubble, and now in Level 3 lock down, more students have been able to extend their bubble to get help from their Nan and use their sewing machines too 😊."

Stacey Gundry - Art

"The Year 9 Technology portrait challenge was inspired by the work of artist Gregg Segal. The students were challenged to take a birds-eye-view photograph of themselves, including at least 15 items they felt had been essential to helping them get through lock down. The challenge was meant to allow them a fun break away from being in front of the computer and allow them to connect with what is really important - to take a moment and reflect in a lighthearted way.

Year 9 Art Design students had been working on character design until lock down. Their online learning task was to create at least 3 frames exploring an environment. Things they have been looking at are scale, perspective and space - somewhere to place their characters.

Yr 10 Art have been exploring the idea of zines and mixed media. These were entirely new approaches for them and the students had to refer to my home made instructional videos (poor them). 

Both zines and mixed media pieces were to be inspired by their experiences of lock down. I am heartened by the results!"