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UNIT 2: Post 3 (Race)

Here are my reflections on the readings we were presented with for this assignment.

The essay by Alice Bradbury left me feeling frustrated as there is so much evidence but so little action. There is something about how it is framed (I might have misread) about policy and assessment that doesn’t sit well with me. Even if these policies clearly illustrate the gaps and issues students face, what is the purpose of focusing on assessment of models and criteria? The question should be “How do I make sure my students are getting good grades?”, it should be “How am I making sure they are getting a good education?”

(Table of questions from Bradbury’s Essay, getting people to honestly answer these might be uncomfortable. But maybe it is incredibly helpful to face that feeling together?)

No policy will matter unless we take action to create better opportunities for students to catch up and provide better financial support so that students can focus and stay interested in their studies.

Rhianna Garretts essay is given more context thanks to the video by James Orr. Of course, there will be differences in career trajectory for global majority academics if they are faced with hostile staff like James Orr who simply claims institutional racism does not exist. The boldness in James Orr’s claims makes me think about the potential inaction of his peers who take on the role as the naïve and/or bystander in his presence (Wong Et Al, 2024).

Also the Telegraph can go to hell 🙂

Asif Sadiq and James Orr’s video talk about how training is a waste of money. Orr claims that it is not needed while Sadiq states that it is a waste of money because it does not work. After seeing how my peers and managers continue to act after having done mandatory anti racism training, I am very much in Sadiq’s side of the argument. His talk was very helpful to motivate me to put my intervention into practice next academic year, to prove to peers how an embodied manifesto exercise can go a long way as long as you are adaptable and open to change based on student’s needs.

Research questions after reviewing these resources: How can we help teachers become more adaptable and confident? In the end, they were all students with diverse needs and are now adults with diverse needs. So how can an adult who doesn’t communicate their diverse needs get students to do it? Maybe all teachers need a workshop on improvisation?

All of this makes me think of building transformative justice into my teaching. (Need to email practitioner Alex Johnston and ask for an interview.) This would help staff with the fear of saying the wrong thing. “Creating psychological safety to have conversations”. (Sadiq, A. 2023)

Asking what people would like is helpful to hear as it adds to my intervention. We own our own journey of learning, and we need to allow it to be uncomfortable.

Note to remember: How do I communicate to students the appropriate channels for them to raise concerns about me? I currently do not tell students how to do this.

Action: Add point of contact to my manager in all emails in case students want to raise issues around my teaching.

Bibliography:

Bradbury, A., 2020. A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp.241-260. Read pages 241-247.

Garrett, R. (2024). Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp.1–15. Read pages 2-5 & 7-11.

Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online}. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw

Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU

Billy Wong, Reham Elmorally, Meggie Copsey-Blake, Ellie Highwood & Joy Singarayer (2021) Is race still relevant? Student perceptions and experiences of racism in higher education, Cambridge Journal of Education, 51:3, 359-375, DOI: 10.1080/0305764X.2020.1831441

UNIT 2: Post 2 (Religion)

Reflections from the films and readings:

What I got from this talk by Kwame Anthony Appiah was that there is no point in arguing whether a religion is good or bad as all religions has examples of both. It is more helpful to focus on the power structures behind religions and the people who wield them and to what benefit.

One thought I had in relation to Kwame’s story of King Rattray, who is presented as someone who thought his actions were purely religious, but they were of course also political. The idea that people put faith in traditions to uphold their sense of reality feels valid today, I think the way people uphold traditional ways of operating within an institution often think that their world will crumble if they were to change their ways. Maybe it would? But maybe that would be a good thing?

Haifaa Jawads essay about “the case of visible Muslim women” was an interesting read.

She explains that many modern-day views on Muslim women (and men) come from a “lack of knowledge and understanding of each other’s lives” (Jawad, H 2022). On a personal level I can draw many parallels to how my experience as a queer person often faces hostility due to people simply not knowing anything about me. This feels very aligned with my goals for my intervention, which I hope can lead to students getting to know each other and filling gaps in knowledge together.

In this essay, she presents dressing and presenting in certain ways as a form of “embodiment of faith”. I know faith often has a religious connotation, but I cannot help to connect that to how I or other queer people choose to present publicly. When I dress colorfully, color my hair or paint my nails I often think of that as me embodying my faith or belief in queerness. I need to continue reflecting on this, but I think it could be quite helpful to use the idea of an embodiment in my intervention. Maybe for unit 3?

Simran Jeet Singh talks about his education practice in America and how he acknowledges the country’s colonial and racist history and how it is still prominent today. He is frank about the urgency and importance of holding these discussions alive in the classroom, and how we can do that by including examples and dissecting the multiple ways people look at social issues.

He appears to have practice within political studies, so I am trying to reflect on how to do this within an illustration context. An example could be by showing a piece of my work (which is incredibly homosexual and graphic) and explain who would find joy in this work and with honesty explaining that this work angers some to the point of threatening with violence against me and my community. Not a finished thought.

These were the most prominent reflections I had from the references.

Blibliography:

Appiah, K. A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). Youtube [Online]. 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY

Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. [Online]. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/

Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk

Intervention Draft (Summative Assessment)

For my intervention I want to design a mode of working with a tutor group throughout a year that allows us to hold space for social justice, accessibility and collective care throughout the year.

This has been informed throughout discussions with my colleague Jayoon Choi who co-teaches social justice on the Illustration degree where I currently work and from feedback from other colleagues on the course.

I also want to build upon my blog group partner Kelly Harrison’s work. Kelly is designing an intersectionality visualisation exercise that I would like to incorporate into my intervention.

I still need to write my introduction statement and fine tune the logistics of getting feedback from students, but I feel proud of my idea so far.

Draft:

Step 1: Intro myself and the space to students

Maybe a video?

Or maybe organize an in-person intro.

Step 2: Share draft code of conduct (things that I want to uphold)

Social justice

Anti racism

Pro LGBT space

Neurodiverse and disability informed

Class divides?

Establish brave space as a context for being challenged

Step 3: Option to provide anonymous feedback and ideas (Agency for students)

What do you need in the space to feel seen and respected?

What do you need to feel included?

What do you need to feel confident?

Step 4: Make sure they know it will be read collectively at group meetings and workshops

Allow space for feedback and changes at every workshop

Verbal and anonymous throughout the year

It is ok to opt out from reading aloud but I will make it clear that I will push people to be brave and read together, and asking the group to provide a supportive atmosphere to cheer each other on.

Step 5: At the end of the year, we will compare the original manifesto with the most recent one.

UNIT 2: Post 1 (Disability)

The first film works as a good introduction to the social model of disability. However, when I watch it, I cannot help feeling frustrated at UAL. (University of the Arts London, 2020) The disability service works well at identifying diverse needs of students, but in my experience, there are many students who do not get accommodated appropriately. Mainly thinking about students with overwhelming social anxiety and/or immune deficiency.

My only evidence for this is the students I have met during my 4 years teaching and young people that attend the hybrid art school service that I run called Queer Youth Art Collective. In both workplaces I have met current and ex UAL students who have been unable to fully take part in the courses they were enrolled in. They have been failed by UAL who are happy to put them in debt by charging the full fee without providing the same level of education as other students.

(Photo of me with the 2024 cohort of Queer YOuth Art Collectives group exhibition “Dream This Silly”)

Read more about Queer Youth Art Collective here: https://qyac.org.uk/

One thing from the other films that really caught my attention was in the third example where Christine Sun Kim mentions “the privilege to be misunderstood” and that “misunderstanding can affect my rights.” (Art21, 2023). Looking at the current climate in the UK this resonates with me. Benefits are being cut and recent changes to the equalities act actively harming trans people in the UK. Now more than ever we need to speak loud and clear in order to educate students, colleagues and people around us about what human rights actually are.

In my institutional teaching practice, my only introduction to better support students is by receiving ISA documents with loose guidelines on how to better support my tutees. But I have never been briefed by a manager around how to best achieve an accessible space or having the limitations for the classroom be fully acknowledged.

In unit 1 I identified issues around noise in our open plan classroom. So, I made plans to better support students with language barriers and students who struggle with sensory overload. The solution in short to this was to provide written workshop guides that can be translated beforehand, designed printouts themed around the workshop (ex a folded zine for a workshop around zines) and stating beforehand to students that they are allowed to use fidget toys and other sensory support tools during class. I want to continue to develop these ideas to include ideas of intersectionality, community care and student agency further in unit 2.

In reflection to this, I am starting to formulate an idea for my intervention. I want to create a teaching manifesto for my workshops and tutor groups, which will help the students get to know me and what I stand for in my reaching practice, while also giving them more agency to shape how we treat each other in the classroom. Instead of only offering students the option to opt out of difficult situations like public speaking or triggering topics I want to give them the responsibility to decide best practice to enable us to overcome these hardships together.

I will design this with the help of my peers and by researching and building ideas around transformative justice into my practice.

Bibliography:

University of the Arts London (2020). The Social Model of Disability at UAL. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdnjmcrzgw [Accessed 19 Nov. 2021].

Paralympics GB. (2020). Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAsxndpgagU.

Art21 (2023). Christine Sun Kim in ‘Friends & Strangers’ – Season 11 | Art21. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NpRaEDlLsI.

ParaPride (2023). Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc.

Qyac.org.uk. (2020). Queer Youth Art Collective. [online] Available at: https://qyac.org.uk/ [Accessed 2 May 2025].

Reflection 4: End of Unit 1 Thoughts

I want to look back on the 1st reflective post on this blog. READ HERE

I mentioned 4 goals I set for myself at the start of the unit:

Accessibility
Equality (Race, Gender & Class)
Student welfare
Community organising

I feel the content of this blog shows evidence that I am thinking about all of these points, but that I still need to research further around my community organising practice and how I can bring that ethos into my HE teaching.

Below are some other reflections around what has been helpful this unit.

Peer support:

During this time, I have been able to gather feedback from colleagues and peers to better prepare me for the Micro-teaching and the Review. I would especially thank my colleagues Peony Gent, Becky Allen and Amberlee Green

This is not new to me when operating within a grassroots context, but within HE I do not think we do this enough. I want to continue to build more knowledge exchange into my teaching from both students and colleagues in order to keep my teaching methods relevant to whatever cohort I am working with.

Body doubling space:

I was also able to get support by creating a body doubling space together with Lily Ash-Sakula (Who is also doing the PGcert), it was very helpful to just co work, compare references and coach each other through all of the writing for the blog. I do not see students do this enough compared to when I was a student. Considering the large amount of neurodiverse students I meet, UAL could really do better in offering communal spaces for co-working.

CASE STUDY 3: Assessing learning and exchanging feedback

Intro:

Teaching in the 3^rd year at BA Illustration at Camberwell, I have 2 points of assessment in the year for unit 9 & 10. This assessment is done and communicated through writing, with tutorials providing space for feedback before and after hand ins.

Evaluation/Goal:

The issues I am currently facing while working with my tutor group are:

Worries about not getting a 1^st causing stress.

Students not understanding the learning outcomes and/or the brief

Choosing overly vague themes like “Death” over pursuing personal interests often leading to lower grades.

Students do not understand how parity works, often thinking I have my own assessment criteria.

I have constructed a 3-point plan of action to face these challenges.

Photo of a child crying while drawing (Gersch, M. 2014)

Plan of action and context:

1: Navigating assessment before the submission deadline:

I believe that students are currently not being provided with enough information and support to understand how much agency they have in the classroom (Hooks, 1994).

To ensure that my students are intentional when around how much they want to engage with the learning outcomes I will ensure I provide the following support before the submission deadline:

Checking in about learning outcomes at every tutorial

Explaining how parity works during 1 on 1 tutorials

Welfare checks around stress and anxiety about grades where needed. Signposting UAL mental health and academic support services.

Suggest seeking help from peers by comparing each other’s projects to the learning outcomes for each unit.

This will lead to less surprised students with bad/unexpected grades and teaching students to be responsible and make sure they follow briefs or that the students who have not followed the brief have done so intentionally and not by a lack of understanding the brief.

2: Writing feedback during assessment

To provide better clarity in my written feedback, I will structure my feedback around the learning outcomes to shed light on what was good and what was missing for each point of assessment. This way the written feedback is easier for a student to process in relation to the learning outcomes.

3: Post submission dialogue and pastoral care

After grades have been released, I will take the following steps to ensure student welfare and empowerment.

1 on 1 check ins with students to invite dialogue around the grade and feedback

Reference everything discussed before the submission deadline to make sure the student sees the connection between the feedback and the learning outcomes

Provide practical advice on how to improve for the following unit

Clarify that no feedback is “too late” and that all feedback can be applied outside of the university context (Brookes, K. 2008)

These 3 action points will support students who often end up feeling defeated and confused by assessment feedback and grades.

References/Bibliography:

Hooks, bell.Teaching to Transgress : Education As the Practice of Freedom, Taylor & Francis Group, 1994. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=1656118.

Brookes, K 2008, ‘Could do Better?’: students’ critique of written feedback, University of the West of England, Bristol. Available from: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1017242/could-do-better-students-critique-of-written-feedback. [25 February 2025]

Gersh, M. (2014). School days – Max Gersh. [online] Max Gersh. Available at: https://www.gershphoto.com/school-days/.

CASE STUDY 2: Planning and teaching for effective learning

Intro:

At Camberwell, on BA Illustration I teach 3^rd year students during unit 9 & 10.

Unit 9: Establish a critically informed practice

Unit 10: Create a final project.

In this time, I deliver 3-4 workshops and facilitate 1 on 1 and group tutorials.

Evaluation/Goal:

In the 3^rd year the course expects students to have self-led practice, informed by year 1 & 2. However, some students still struggle to keep up with the curriculum. I have observed the following challenges:

Disinterest in critical thinking

Lack of skills to pursue a professional career in illustration

Struggling to maintain a self-led project due to lack of confidence

Using the action plan found below, I will define a method of teaching that despite very little contact time will help students tackle these challenges and remind them to have fun during their final year.

Plan of action and context:

Relatable topics to support critical thinking:

To ensure that my lessons are accessible to students with a wide range of skills and points of reference, presenting information with a clear pace is helpful.

In the book “What is The Use” by Sara Ahmed, she presents a format of writing that introduces the reader to a known topic that is then used to educate about something more complex and critical. I will keep this method of education in mind when designing my tasks for upcoming lessons (Ahmed, S 2019).

Another example of this in relation to the topics I teach is:

Using a well-known video game character like Super Mario to talk about class. Referencing a critical reading presented by YouTube duo Transparency Boo. (Transparency Boo. 2021)

(Play labour, A video Essay by Transparency Boo, 2021)

Building confidence through improvisation:

Excerpt from Lynda Barrys book “Syllabus” (Barry, 2020)

To help students get past insecurities and confidence blocks during workshops i will be applying methods of improvisation often used during acting and comedy training. This method will also be informed by Lynda Barry’s methods presented in her book “Syllabus”. The two focuses will be to:

Design workshop exercises that operate within a YES, AND mindset. (J. Abbot. 2008)

Creating warm up tasks that avoid students “thinking too much” by providing strict limitations through timings, tools and materials. (Barry, 2020)

Visual aids to support student engagement:

Referencing the typography working sheets presented by Umi Baden-Powell during the microteach and the feedback I received during my teaching review, I will create relevant visual aids for my workshops in the upcoming academic year. Main points of inspiration are found in “Making Comics” by Lynda Barry, “The Improvisation book” by John Abbot.

(Worksheets by Umi Baden-Powell. London 2025)

Ideas for visual aids for my workshops:

Transfer the written instruction for my Video Game Zine workshop into a paper zine that can be used as a notebook during the workshop.

Create a DIY workbook with premade panels for my comic workshops.

Example of scenario cards from The Improvisation Book. (J. Abbot. 2008)

Bibliography:

Ahmed, S 2019, What’s the Use? : On the Uses of Use, Duke University Press, Durham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].

Barry, L., 2020. Syllabus: notes from an accidental professor, Published in the USA by Drawn & Quarterly.

Barry, L. (2019) Making Comics. 1st edn. Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly.

Abbott, John. The Improvisation Book, Nick Hern Books, Limited, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=1826499.
Created from ual on 2025-02-26 09:41:37.

Transparency Boo (2021). Play Labour | Mario Is a Class Traitor and Other Stories. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjJHn_Gt_FI [Accessed 7 Mar. 2025].

CASE STUDY 1: Knowing and meeting the needs of diverse learners

Intro:

On the BA and MA Illustration courses at Camberwell College of Arts I have the opportunity to deliver my own workshops. Drawing from my own practice and expertise by inviting students to try new methods of engaging with illustration.

Evaluation/Goal:

This role presents the following challenges:

High number of students that need to make use of translation software to partake in workshops and tutorials.

Sound pollution from other classes due to open plan studio setting. Sometimes 3-4 happening at the same time in close proximity of one another.

To address these issues, I have made the following action plan:

Lesson Instructions in text:

All students will be sent an email 2-3 days ahead of the lesson. This email should contain links to access the following resource:

1: Access information about the space we will be teaching in:

be transparent about issues around audio levels and possible sensory overload.

Be welcome to the idea of people bringing fidget toys, noise cancelling headphones and other tools for support.

2: Workshop slides and written instructions for the workshop:

Instructions will be clearly labelled with the same steps and order used in the slides.

Make it clear that this is ok to use translation software and that printed copies will be available on the day for all students.

These small steps will help students to better prepare for the teaching environment.

(examples of Fidget toys that students use.)

Facing students when talking:

A crucial step when working with students with impaired hearing who might be making use of lip reading is to face them when talking.

I will be aware of where I am facing and pause any instruction in case, I need to look something up behind a computer screen.

If possible, it is also good to make use of closed caption software and screens that can be viewed by all participants.

Culturally Relevant References:

Illustration used in the article: Breaking language barriers: supporting non-native English-speaking students (Liu, Wang, Wang, 2022).

To better connect students across language barriers, I find it is effective to make use of references that reflect multicultural perspectives (Liu, Wang, Wang, 2022).

If planning allows it, I will email students with 2 weeks’ notice and ask them for suggestions on artists to look at in relation to the topic and/or method of your workshop.

This will help establish a stronger sense of co-teaching between students and teachers.

Overcoming Sensory Overload:

When starting a lesson, I will address the state of the room and whatever potential disruptions you can notice on the day, ask students to partake.

I will establish a code of conduct that allows students to move in and out of the space as they please, if they are there for the sections where I will be instructing new tasks, group sharing or presenting references and context for the lesson.

This allows students to feel empowered to take action in cases of sensory overload.

Bibliography:

THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect (2024) ‘Breaking language barriers: supporting non-native English-speaking students,’ 1 October. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/breaking-language-barriers-supporting-nonnative-englishspeaking-students.

Speks. (n.d.). What Are Fidget Toys and Where Did They Come From? [online] Available at: https://www.getspeks.com/blogs/speksed/what-are-fidget-toys-and-where-did-they-come-from.

Teaching review 2: Introduction to filmmaking

(Screenshot from Sara’s Workshop recording)

I was paired up with Sara Massieu for my teaching review and I observed her teaching through a video recording and provided feedback in writing and over a call on teams.

LINK to feedback that I provided to Sara Massieu

Main takeaway:

Sara was very charismatic in her delivery for this online workshop. She has a very accessible way of talking about the topic, she does not use overly academic wording and from my observation I noticed students questions never focused on explaining wording. Questions were mainly practical.

In my experience, it is not often that I see teachers be as animated and energetic in an online space as they are in person, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

There was a lot of idea generation tasks in the workshop, but it seemed hard for the students to engage with their assigned groups over teams. So in my feedback I suggested taking some tasks out and task students with preparing them before starting the session. This way there will be more for the groups to share what they have generated and make more time for the other tasks.

In order to better support the different student groups I also suggested making use of breakout spaces so that they could talk more freely without other students observing them. I recommended that breakout rooms would always need 15-20 minutes as it takes a while for students to land in the separate space.

(Example of a reference presented to the group)

I was very impressed by the selection of references Sara provides for the students. Unlike my initial workshop slides she makes great use of visual examples in order to theme background for the slides and present clear examples of everything that she talks about to the group.

Teaching Review 1: Video Game Zines!

(Opening slide for the workshop)

For my teaching review I did not have the opportunity to be observed in person. So instead i submitted a workshop plan with the main focus being to push myself to better support students struggling language barriers and to make the theory presented as accessible as possible.

LINK to Feedback from my tutor Linda

LINK to Feedback from Sara Massieu

LINK to workshop slides that have been edited based on my feedback

Reviewing the feedback is was given, here are my main takeaways:

Based on suggestions from Linda, I have added animated gifs, using imagery from old video games. Maintaining the same sense of silly in my visual presentation as I have in my work and when talking to students. I still need to find or create imagery of people making a Video Game Zine.

Example of a new gif used in the presentation (Mario 64, 1996)

Based on Anna Anthropy’s writing. I will develop a short manifesto about Video Game Zines. This will be shared with students before the workshop (A, Anthropy. 2012). This will help students to better understand the political context of video game zines and how they can be used to challenge traditional notions of game design.

I have added space for students to share their own examples of Video Game zines. This will make the opening part of the workshop more interactive for participants.

To improve accessibility, I will translate the email instruction into a short video, using closed captions. This will help support students who process spoken words better than written and it will also introduce students to me in case this will be their first interaction with me as a teacher.

I have changed the fonts in order to make it easier to read and more accessible to students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. This should be cohesive on all learning materials whether on screens or printed.

To improve student engagement, I will design the student handouts into a paper zine that can be handed out to students on the day or sent via email. This should be applied to every workshop so that the handouts fit the theme of the workshop.

I will make use of the references Sara provided about how to best teach students about sensitive topics. This way I can comfortably lean into the queer and political context of videogame zines further. This will support LGBTQIA+ students to feel seen in the classroom, and for other students to learn more about queer identities. (See Sara’s Feedback form foor full list of references)

Another GIF used in the presentation. (Hartflip0218. 2018)

Bibliography:

Anthropy, A. (2012) Rise Of The Videogame Zinesters. 1^st edn. New York: Seven Stories Press.

Mario 64. (1996). Nintendo 64 [Game]. Tokyo, Japan: Nintendo.

Hartflip0218. (2018) Mario eats super mushroom!! (GIF), unknown.