We had a really great meeting this morning and welcomed our two new members from Year 8, Will and Joe. We began with Danuta and Phoebe's re-working of the Manifesto for a Creative Tallis:We ENCOURAGE all learners to:
become curious, imaginative and innovative
take risks, accept challenges and learn from mistakes
reflect on their learning experiences
We SUPPORT our students to become:
resourceful, active and independent learners
effective collaborators and communicators
co-creators of the curriculum
We BELIEVE:
in the exchange of skills and knowledge between students and staff
that skills should be transferable
that new technologies are a crucial part of learning
We VALUE:
our students' talents, skills and interests and provide opportunities to develop them further
feedback and ideas from students about their learning experiences
effective communication about creative learning with parents, carers and members of the local community
We had a look at The Rebel's Manifesto by Keri Smith for comparison. We felt that the more direct and provocative language of that document might improve our own manifesto.
In small groups we discussed ways to further refine the Tallis Manifesto, feeding back to the whole team. Here are some of the suggestions:
Joe, Will & Danuta:
More accessible language needed. “Be curious, Take risks” Short, snappy phrases. More like instructions. Maybe lose the “We”. “Don’t be afraid to be afraid”, “Ask questions”
Tom, Seb & Rachel:
Different manifestos for range of audiences e.g. students, teachers. Should there be a division?
Recipe or creative learning – video, dance, song
Humour? What skills do the group have that could help to promote the manifesto?
Phoebe & Matt:
Who is the manifesto for? Use the word “learners” and “creative community” – more inclusive.
When should it be implemented – assembly, tutor time, focus on Creative Tallis – direct response of learners. How to make it more interactive?
We also talked about the various ways in which we could re-present the Manifesto to the community and came up with the following list:
Video, Interactive web resource – definitions of some of the words, Assemblies, Tutor Time, Song
There is a lot of work still to do on the Manifesto so we agreed to meet fortnightly from now on - Week A Thursdays at 4pm. We also agreed that Tom would be bringing the juice and biscuits next time! Thanks to everyone in the team for their energy and ideas.
6 comments:
Sorry I couldn't be there this morning! I doubt there was cake anyway :-)
Liking the new doodle look. I'll see you next Thursday!
Actually there was a combination of Penguins and Cranberry and Raspberry juice in special party cups. So there!
I loved the rebellious mood of today's meeting. It feels like we are really (finally!) getting there and... we are catching some fire on the way :-)
It's great to have some fresh views on the manifesto from Joe and Will. They weren't involved in the initial discussions 'some' time back and their opinions are not influenced by the struggle and disappointments we've gone through trying to get somewhere with the manifesto. Fresh views - no limitations - fresh start.
We may end up scaring some people but well, there was never change without controversy. Let's go for it! I can't wait:-)
and I think I'm starting to build a little dictionary of my favourite verbs - 'scrapping' has just earned its place there;-)
I'm afraid rebellious might be my default position. I'm hoping we might attract a few more rebel students (and staff) to the group with the lure of Tom's biscuits (home baked I hope). I'll try to find some other examples of artists' manifestos for inspiration. I think ours could definitely be a bit more provocative and less self-satisfied. André Breton would be proud of us!
self-satisfied? my dictionary of Tallis-related vocab. is expanding! ;-) and Andre Breton takes me back to my studies... A bit of a dusting job is what my brain needs...
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