Just Some Bloke Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 How can you make a practical discussion on a small zoom profile last for an hour, short of getting into photometric data and inverse square law... "OK guys, here's what the director has asked for today: he wants to put the lead actor in a spotlight. The problem is he wants the spotlight to be a square and really clearly defined. There's some fresnels, PCs, profiles and parcans over there and 3 live 15A sockets here; get into three groups and experiment with the lights to see which is going to be of most use to you". 10 minutes later: "OK, what did you think was the best lantern to use and why?" After their answers: "... and what else do you think you could use that lantern for? Have another little experiment with it then everyone think of a different use for it. Try moving the lenses around to see if you can get it soft focussed as well as hard focussed" 15 minutes later after they've experimented and fed back with their suggestions: "So let's just go through all the things a profile spot can do and how it does them, sorting out exactly what everything's called as we go along." You'll soon hit your 1 hour session and they will have found out everything for themselves (commonly considered to be the best way of learnng). Just a suggestion. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LXbydesign Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I work in 'the real world', as well as at an academy doing excatly the same thing - and being a newbie to BTEC and teaching - the biggest thing that got me was all the paper work!!! Ok, so a lot of it is 'cut and paste', but the time taken to complete the briefs, IV's, assesments, assesment decision IV's STILL surprises me, even after a year of doing it now. Big thumbs up to field trips though. Eg the N.T backstage tour and I took my 2 small groups to the Palladuim where at the time my friend was DSM on Sister Act. Very invaluble visit and the students were able to take lots of pictures and chat to her and some of the other staff that were there about their roles. I have no problems creating assignments to cover criteria, but having the students actually working on shows of course is the best way because you can cover so many and it dosent even 'feel' to the students they are 'doing work' - because of course what they do on the gig is being graded. As above, when the academy suddenly decide that they want to have a band on or something during assembly - perfect opportunity for student to get in and do it. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyS Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Hi All, Just to say that finally got my hands on Skip Mort's book and DVD an am very impressed by the content and presentation. Nice to read a LX book that looks like it was written this year.. Recommended..... http://goo.gl/E2KPD Cheers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtheenchanteruk Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Quick jump sideways. MAke you get a teaching wage for it!!! Not necessarily, do some checking first. I did a similar thing when working as a school tech, and it turned out the techs wage was actually higher than a non-qualified teacher wage, so I didnt say a word. speaking from experience here, DO make sure you get adequate support for the teaching side of things, the first year of mine was a nightmare, as I had little to no support for it, second year went quite well, as I was assigned a teacher with a reasonable knowledge of tech to assist, mainly making sure critera were covered/documented properly, and to help with the paperwork. Like you, I was also given only a small amount of time (I think mine was 3hrs a week, but it was the 6th form level BTEC) but in addition to this, the students were expected to give up some more time as an when required, ie show rigging, show weeks etc to get to the minimum amount of time. TBH this worked quite well, in that you weren't astuck with hours of time to fill in between productions, you could fill the time with prep for shows, and analysis after, as well as making sure the evidence was there & in the right places. I also managed to get in some reps from local hire companies that I am friendly with to come in, bring some kit and have a chat etc, Activites such as Just some blokes work well, can be done with sound as well if you have a good assortment of mics etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lxboss Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Hi All and many thanks for all your contributions so far, I guess one of my fears is running out of things to teach.. But from what I understand of the crewing BTEC It can incorporate LX, Sound + the more general crewing topics already outlined. This is still in the planning stage but I think I may only have two small groups of Y9's (13 Years old in old money) for one hour long lesson a week, so wont get much momentum - As opposed to 6th form college where student are doing the BTEC 3 days a week over 2 years, as I understand it from one of my old pupils. Trips to local rental companies, theatres, etc would obviously take longer than an hour but I guess this could be accommodated.. If I'm being honest and not being a formally trained teacher I am lacking somewhat in my own confidence at the pure teaching side of things. My line manager (a drama teacher for this task) has offered support and I have been in this business 30+ years and have lots of real-world global experience and don't have any significant knowledge gaps and have taught (receptive) adults pretty well I guess.. For my own peace of mind I like to do some research on lessons for this project.. Bearing in mind that these are not the most gifted cohort, and bearing in mind these kids are 13 and will see me one hour a week... How can you make a practical discussion on a small zoom profile last for an hour, short of getting into photometric data and inverse square law... Go on, you try it.....I guess if short term memory is an issue for them, I can repeat the lesson 4 weeks later.. I can see how to build a lesson around a task like 'tomorrow evening we have a speech presentation in front of 200 peeps - what sound & LX do we need...' Being a regular secondary school (..sorry an Academy now...) we put on one large show a year - more's the pity... Sorry if I'm starting to ramble.... If there's a single salient thing I've learnt in 30 years it's don't be under-prepared.... Are there any Focal Press books I should be asking Santa for? (prob not as searching the FP website for BTEC came back with nix...) Thanks again and seasonal greets to you all... Just a quickie, I know this was all posted a lonnng time ago but I am in the same situation except that I would like us to offer the BTEC but need something to throw to the hounds so to speak. Did you get anywhere with it and how easy/successful was it. I would also be given a similar cohort to yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I would like us to offer the BTEC... snip... I would also be given a similar cohort to yourself.Just to clarify... you're 18 years old (according to your profile) - what role do you have and are you really employed by the school in question?:)David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 It's a big step for the school or college new to BTEC. You need as a minimum, an assessor, an internal verifier, and if you don't went people like me checking up on you every year, you also need somebody willing to take on the role of BTEC Lead internal verifier which needs somebody to take a fairly tough test to see if they're up to it - and many people don't get through first attempt. You need resources in terms of staff, space and equipment - and the head has to sign to confirm these are all in place. I personally think the system is good, but many teachers do not like it, because it's harder work. You can't stand there and say read chapter ten for an hour - you have to do things, and then do the assessment in your own time, and the chance of ever having something in a filing cabinet that can be pulled out, dusted off and used again is slim. In virtually every case, you're constantly designing new stuff. You probably have to do shows and evening/weekend work. Your place may simply be unable to cope with it. It's amazingly good to teach and you can really do great things - but the commitment is pretty tough - and of course it costs money to register students on something 'unknown'. Some schools can't do BTEC at all - their systems are not geared up for vocational work. Is there a flexible timetable? If such a thing is unthinkable, BTEC is very tough! Can you do two hour sessions? one hours sessions are rarely useful - just not long enough. If two hours won't work - don't do it! If you needed an extra rehearsal - would your colleagues let you pinch the students? If you and a college share the course, can you steal their hours one week, and then they steal yours a few weeks later? Colleges can do all these things easily. Schools have major problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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