Ella:
On my journeys to Orsman Road I have come to realise that what was distinguishing me: a naïve, nervous Kentish 17 year old schoolgirl, from everyone else: confident London commuters, is the fascinating concept of an Oyster card. For those of you who don't travel to the City often, this travel-card is a magic pass to all your London travel needs. When you step onto a bus or train, simply place the card against the scanner, and your payment is registered. It's a bit like a pay-as-you-go phone package only for buses. (Note to self: purchase an oyster card for a more 'city slicker' look.)
I began this week by updating my blog, before collecting my pile of maps and heading to meet Lizzie, the Building Exploratory projects officer to observe one of the 'Shelter: What From and What Form?' workshops, to a class of 30 Year 1 students at Bethnal Green Primary School in Hackney. Although I had previously examined the maps, I wasn't 100% sure on where I was going. I got on the correct bus without a problem, (well, still faffing for change of course) but getting off the bus in the right place was a different matter entirely. In the end I just got off somewhere, and attempted to use the maps to try to establish where I was in relation to the school. In the end I had to ask an elderly man, out walking his grandchild in a push-chair. After listening to him babble on for about 5 minutes I was convinced I knew exactly where I was, thanked him and power-walked off, glad to be free. Embarrassingly I met a crossroads which confused me, and after 5 minutes of standing at the corner examining the maps, the man managed to catch up with me and told me exactly where to go. This time I listened intently and was successful in navigating my way to the school. Lesson 1: Listen properly the first time to remain professional and avoid embarrassment. Also learn how to read maps.
When Lizzie began the workshop I was struck by how different their schooling was from my own. They were a very ethically diverse group who wore their own clothes and addressed their teachers by their first names. Their classroom was full of computer technology, which Lizzie used to carry out the workshop. They were given pictures of a range of different environments and shelters and had discussions on each of them, e.g. what kind of things they might shelter from in that particular environment, or what was the shelter made of and why was this a good material to use? Some of the answers to questions were highly amusing, including: "I would use a shelter to hide from a big, big, big, BIG storm!"
They were split in to groups in order to design their own shelters for a particular environment. I was allocated to assist a table where the girls had decided that they absolutely did not want to work with the boys, no matter how encouraging I was. The environment photo they were given was on the surface of the ocean, and we discussed that they should build a house boat, so as to float above the ocean and be protected from the sun as well as being "safe from sharks eating you." We then discussed what materials we should use, which the children struggled more with. I suggested rock (on purpose) which the children laughed at. When I asked why, they said: "It wouldn't float!". We finally agreed on wood, and set about making our houseboats from old bottles and cereal boxes which the children had collected, as well as the materials we had picked up from 'The Scrap Project' the previous week. I have never seen anyone use so much masking tape so fast and immediately confiscated it telling the children that they could ask me for some tape when they needed it. The boys where more enthused by the task than the girls, though both houseboats were good attempts. At the end of the session the groups reported back to Lizzie who asked them why they had made the decisions they had. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with the pupils at the school, it was amusing if a little stressful. It was good for me to have this insight into the field of education, one I will definitely consider when making my own career choices.
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