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Department of French
Department of French
PhD title: Proposing a new Mediterranean cartography: reflecting on and with the sea through contemporary art
"Despite the challenges, it was a brilliant experience. I felt so proud when students told me I helped them to think ‘outside the box’ and that they now understood a bit more what academic life looks like."
"Despite the challenges, it was a brilliant experience. I felt so proud when students told me I helped them to think ‘outside the box’ and that they now understood a bit more what academic life looks like."
You can access the resource booklet Amanda produced, entitled 'Mapping the world through contemporary art'.
KS5 Handbook Mapping AT Meadowhead.docxWhat Amanda had to say about her experience of the Brilliant Club Scholars Programme ....
What Amanda had to say about her experience of the Brilliant Club Scholars Programme ....
My first placement was with a Key Stage 5 group from Meadowhead School and my course was called ‘Mapping the World Through Contemporary Art’. Most of my students did not have an arts background but were studying something from the Arts and Humanities, such as Geography, Sociology or English Literature. It was really lovely to meet my students at another university during the Launch Trip, and also to set foot in a British school for the first time!
Designing the course was very challenging. It was difficult to find a balance between introducing new concepts and not being patronizing, but also between working on the handbook and my confirmation review at the same time. I sometimes struggled to make specific analytical language more accessible too, and finding non-copyrighted images to use on my handbook was a nightmare! I was very happy with the feedback though: the brochure was clear and informative, but also fun and visually engaging.
Teaching was also a big challenge. I wanted students to be creative and to debate lots of things in class, but had to keep an eye on the clock so all content could be delivered in time. I always had a plan B in case something did not work, and I ended up focusing more on essay writing skills than my own content towards the end of the placement. Some of my students dropped out of the course by Tutorials 3 and 4, so I also had to adapt many of the group activities I had planned.
Despite the challenges, it was a brilliant experience. I felt so proud when students told me I helped them to think ‘outside the box’ and that they now understood a bit more what academic life looks like. It was so gratifying to see the connections they made with their own subjects of study and personal backgrounds, and I was really impressed with some of the artwork analysis they made. As for me, I now feel much more prepared if I decide to pursue academic teaching in the future, but also became more aware of the need to make my research accessible to more and different audiences and in different ways.
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