OB2 Peer Observation Report
Session to be observed: Tuesday 7th March 2023, Victorian Bustle Making Session
Size of student group: Approx. 15
Type of activity: Victorian Bustle Making Session
Observer: Carole Morrison Observee: Sarah Masters
Observations, suggestions and questions
You are an experienced, competent, and confident practitioner with a passion for your area of practice and for teaching. You have asked for feedback on inclusive practice, and I include two suggestions below.
The session begins with you calling the students in the room around a main cutting table at the front of the studio. You point out the completed bustle on a mannequin to inspire the students and show the direction or end point of the session. One suggestion is that you could perhaps reference the learning outcomes for the session in more detail at this point.
You run several short, accessible, and flexible demonstrations to accommodate the groupings of students that arrive later than planned. This flexibility enables inclusive practice.
You give clear, precise instructions for constructing the garment, using intricate pleats, and pointing out ‘that attention to the waistband is key’. Some students are filming the demonstration, and a few ask questions. You intersperse your instructions with short stories and anecdotes about working in TV and Theatre. These anecdotes delight many of the students and help to keep them engaged and focused. Your personal narratives offer real life scenarios that root the demonstration in industry practice and links their learning to the real world. Another suggestion is that it might be useful to link these stories explicitly to the professional framework of UAL’s Creative Attributes Framework. You reassure the students that using a Victorian pattern has its challenges and encourage them to ‘have a go’ and to approach you with their questions if they are stuck. After the demonstration you circulate amongst the students in the room and this variety of teaching approaches demonstrates inclusive practice.
Reflecting the range of learning styles, around half of the students require follow up tips and repeats of parts of the demo – suggesting that your approach to running a few demonstrations followed by more 1-2-1 trouble-shooting moments with the students responds to the variety of learning styles in the studio and this demonstrates inclusive practice.
The session has a relaxed yet focused quality, with all students on task, and as I leave the room you continue to move around both spaces responding to student needs.
Reflection on the observer’s comments and ideas to follow up:
Thank you, Carole, for these comments. Teaching has been the most rewarding job and I love passing the knowledge on to the next generation of costumiers.
My aim is to deliver workshops that are accessible by all, and by delivering short demonstrations and explanations has worked the best so far. Ensuring that students stay engaged and inspired throughout the session and creating a positive and productive environment while building the students confidence in their own ability has remained a priority.
I appreciate your suggestion to remind students of the learning outcomes after returning to the class from lunch. This is something I do at the start of the class in the morning, but I had not considered a refresher at the start of the second half. This would get them back to focusing after their break and remind them of what is coming in the second half of the class.
The Creative Attributes Framework is something I only discovered recently while researching for one of my blogs. I think it is a great idea to link to this during my technical workshops to allow students to become familiar with it also. Giving the students the skills to succeed in industry is something I feel very strongly about and I have been discussing with the other performance technicians. I have recently been designing sign up workshops for activities week in areas where there are current gaps in the skills and knowledge to improve their employability. Sign-ups such as skills and techniques to work as a dresser in theatres. A job that is ideal for students while studying which is paid well, after classes and will give students experience in the industry to add to their CV. As we are unable to deliver embedded technical workshops outside of the units, sign up sessions are the only options currently. But by using the CAF, I hope these will be embedded in the future.
I am always open to developing my delivery to be as inclusive as possible. Your question in class about the use of cameras so students can see clearer has led me to inquire about facilities at Stratford. The current equipment we have in the rooms is not sufficient and we often use our LCF Technical resource pages on the screens in the room instead. Being able to show on screen what I am doing live would really help with the cohort sizes increasing.