"A Good Toolkit"

...but I don't know anything about cars!

Today, amongst other things, it's workshop skills that are on the agenda.

We decide that we will get through the following:

• Personal Action Plan
• Journals
• Discuss Gallery visit & Haydock High school visit

I need to check with work whether or not I can get the time off to go to Haydock, which I'd like to do very much.
Kaye mentions the need for assistants at a day called 'Thursby Thursday' at Burnley FC with Melvin Burgess, John Siddique and Claire Shaw. And the same, assistants needed on 5th April at MMU for an 'Aim Higher' day with Tameside schools. I'll need to check those dates too.
Tomorrow a few of us will be helping Mandy facilitate an 'Arts in Health' project at Manchester Art Gallery on Moseley Street. It sounds like a great session this one. Helping a ceramicist who is working with a group of people who are all carers for children. Approx. 16 adults are thought to be attending. Big group and different from children - good experience.
Haydock High is expected to be groups of about 20 children. I need to bring props/artefacts as we discussed at the Library session. Notepads, copies of Muse, mobile camera phone etc.
Mandy runs through the importance of creating a 'stash' of exercises that can be carried with you. It's important to be able to switch direction and change what you're doing according to locality, age of children, type of school, time of year and so on... I'll need to work on creating my stash.
We discuss our 'hook', what it is about us that makes us special in this field - after a little talking, it seems that male role models are lacking in schools [still?] and that I could do worse than look into projects that deal with the attainment of boys on schools in English/the Arts. I'd like to try and get across it's not a soft option or a sissy choice. There's a lot of funding going into this area I'm told - I should look into it.
The evening session deals with the realities of 'being there'. As well as being armed with my stash of things to do, I need to consider things like:

• secondary schools rarely have spare pens & paper lying around
• telling them in advance I need a whiteboard/Overhead
  Projector/ream of paper/felt tips etc.
• arranging my fee in advance IN WRITING
• intended outcomes - are they achievable
• speaking to one of the teachers in advance
• making sure that the school & teachers are aware that I must not be left alone with the children at any time [insurance etc]

It's a very practical session today - very good ideas well delivered. I enjoyed it and found it most useful. I need to get some ideas together for my stash of exercises so that we aren't all reading from the same page at Haydock.