The 6th in my series of highlights from my PGCE is:-
Take One Picture and the National Galleries ITE Cultural Placement Scheme.
This is certainly one of the top highlights of the year for me.
My week spent at the National Gallery in early January (which you can read about here, here, here, here and here ) and the work and experiences that followed it in my placement schools (which you can read about here, here, here and here) was simply amazing.
These experiences really opened my eyes to the power of truly cross curricular working, where real and non-tenuous links are made. The experiences gained in this week were so rich- I was able to learn from some of the best people in their fields (where else could I have got a music lesson from someone from the London Philharmonic or learnt about gallery education from some of the best gallery educators in the country?). On a personal level I also received a crash course in ‘art’ and began to appreciate and enjoy the fantastic art pieces in the National Gallery. The first trip I have organised for me new class is to the National Gallery as the learning and teaching I observed was fantastic.
The week at the National Gallery really impacted on how I teach and the approaches I use. It is without the doubt the most significant and useful week in the whole of the PGCE and it was well worth giving up a week of holiday for!
It was great to be able to have the freedom to devise and run a truly cross curricular scheme of work in my first placement school and as part of this I was also able to gain the useful experience of running a school trip.
The response of the children in working in this was was fantastic which has led me to introduce elements of the approach into my day to day teaching.
As if all this wasn’t enough, I know from the feedback I was given, that my experiences through the National Gallery was one of the main reasons I was offered my NQT position- and I have thoroughly enjoyed planning a whole year of cross curricular teaching,
Last week I also learned that some of the work I did with my first placement class has been selected to appear in a major exhibition- ‘Through the eyes of a child’ which is running from the 9th October at Norwich Castle- I can’t wait to see the children’s work in the gallery!
This was a truly amazing experience!
TH
