Get Down to GOMA

The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane is currently running an excellent exhibition, "21st Century: Art in the First Decade". This exhibition has something for everyone and is sure to dazzle your senses.

The exhibition is spread over all 3 levels of the gallery. Highlights include:

• Carston Holler's spiral slides in the foyer, which, if you fancy, will take you from the top floor of the gallery to the bottom floor really quickly (if you're willing to join the queue).
• Leandro Erlich's Swimming pool which you can experience from above ground and from inside (in case you've ever wondered what's it's like to be inside a swimming pool and be able to breathe...)
• a giant arch made out of cardboard boxes
• a wall of wishes, where you can take a "wish" (i.e. a ribbon with a wish printed on it) that you most identify with and leave your own wish on a piece of paper. This is the one I chose (above). It says, "I wish to find pleasure in things as much as I used to as a child". I was going to take the one that said, "I wish wishes came true", but that seemed a bit pessimistic.
• Martin Creed's Work No. 956 composed of a room half-filled with giant purple balloons - perfect place to lose a child, if you so desired. Be warned that there may be a long queue for this one also.
• a giant sculpture made out of plastic bags (see the pic in the brochure above). Supposed to be a comment about waste, recycling, etc.
• Olaf Eliasson's The cubic structural evolution project made up of famous buildings built in white Lego. You can pull up a chair and add to it.
• A print of Damien Hirst's infamous diamond-encrusted skull, surrounded by crushed diamonds - very blingy!

The exhibition is on now until April 26. Admission is free. Check it out and take the kids!

Australian Red Cross Japan Appeal

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The People's Prince?

I'm not a republican by any stretch of the imagination (I'm a Pom!), but even I found Trent Dalton's coverage of Prince William's recent visit vomitous (to use a friend's favourite word): "In the darkest hour, a handsome prince did come to southeast Queensland...It was the arrival of a rockstar. Sunburned face. Warm demeanor. Hands for shaking." Even the picture is a bit OTT.

If you can get hold of this Monday's Courier-Mail (March 22), there is a double-page spread of Dalton's article, pictures, etc. (see image above - pardon the food marks!).

But then, in true teacher style, I began thinking about how we could use it in the classroom, and it struck me that this is a prime example of bias and hyperbole being used to position readers. Lots of great words and phrases to analyse!

• To take things even further, you could then get students to consider the notion of perspective and persuasion by imagining they are a member of the Australian Republican Movement and writing their own report of Prince William's visit. How might this influence your word choices?

This might be an interesting activity as part of preparation for the NAPLAN persuasive writing task.

If you get a chance to try it out, let me know how it goes!

"Say No to Bullying!"

With all the talk about schoolyard fights being filmed and posted online, it was appropriate that yesterday was the inaugural "Say No to Bullying" Day.

If you missed it (as I did), it's not too late to check out some great resources online which you can use with your students. We must all join together to celebrate diversity and tolerance, and say "no" to discrimination and violence.

Check out the Australian Government's The Line website and 97.3FM's Robin, Terry and Bob in the Morning, where you can make a Facebook pledge to say "no" to bullying.

The 97.3FM website also includes videos about bullying, as well as interviews with a parent who caught his children bullying a child and dobbed them in to the local police. His children were charged with assault.

Tough love? What would you have done?

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

The recent devastating events in Japan have, sadly, provided useful teaching tools for my junior SOSE class. We have been studying volcanoes and earthquakes. The last few days have been an extraordinary reminder to us of the power and destruction of nature, as well as why it is important to study things like the effects of tectonic plates shifting.

Today, I got my students to look at the ABC's excellent Japan Earthquake Live site which provides rolling coverage of all the developments, including links to useful websites (e.g. scientific reports), videos, audio and images.

The students' task was to find 5 Fascinating Facts about the earthquake/tsunami and present this as a handout with visuals. We watched some of the videos together and discussed implications, e.g. the effects of explosions in the nuclear power plants, etc.

We all learnt something new, as well as lots of things to pray for.

"Alas, poor...Tchaikovsky?"

It's coming up to one of my favourite times of the year - teaching Hamlet. Such a great play.

So it is fitting that I accidentally came across this ABC news article the other day - "Human skull dumped from Dr Who's Hamlet". When ex-Doctor Who David Tennant was playing Hamlet for the 2009 RSC production, the skull that was used as Yorick's was in fact the real skull of pianist Andre Tchaikovsky (as far as I can see, no relation to the Russian composer).

Andre Tchaikovsky left the skull to the RSC in his will, asking specifically that it be used as a prop. Apparently, until David Tennant used it, no one had been brave enough. The ABC report states that the skull was discontinued as a prop because audiences found it disturbing, however Wikipedia reports that the skull was kept in use throughout the production's transfer to London, as well as in BBC DVD recording.

In keeping with this Shakespeare/Dr Who connection, YouTube has some great clips from the Dr Who episode, "The Shakespeare Code", in which the Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha travel back in time to help Shakespeare battle witches who disrupt the writing of his new play, Love's Labours Found. A fun episode, though note that it does contain witches who cast spells, etc.

I've also started using the film Shakespeare in Love as an introduction to Shakespeare and Elizabethan England. This film is rated M15+ for medium level sex scenes, so you may need to choose clips if you intend showing it to younger grades. The many cultural references are hilarious - blink, and you'll miss them! Can't believe this movie is 13 years old! It was one of our faves in high school.

Celebrating Creativity

One of my English classes recently finished a unit on exploring our God-given creativity, in which they had to write a short story.

As a fitting end to this unit, we celebrated the notion of individual creativity by learning about the artist, Vincent van Gogh, whose genius was, sadly, not recognised until after his death.

Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. The rich, vivid hues and vibrant brushstrokes of his "Expressionistic" style were the hallmarks of his artistry, which was before its time, but also of his struggles with anxiety and mental illness. It is perhaps unfortunate that he is well-known for cutting off one of his ears after fighting with fellow painter Gauguin.

Fortunately, people do now recognise his genius. Van Gogh's Irises was bought by Australian businessman Alan Bond in 1987 for the princely sum of $US 53.9 million. His Portrait of Dr Gachet (a copy of which is hanging in my toilet) was purchased in 1990 for $US 82.5 million by Ryoei Saito of Japan, who caused controversy when he asked that the painting be cremated with him when he died (info courtesy of Barry Jones, Dictionary of World Biography, 1994, pp. 298-299).

I showed the class an episode from the most recent series of Dr Who, "Vincent and the Doctor", in which the Doctor and Amy see a strange figure in a van Gogh painting in an art gallery and decide to travel back in time to solve the mystery. They meet van Gogh and experience something of the artist's isolation as he is ridiculed by the townspeople as a madman and failed artist.

Amy and the Doctor form a deep attachment to van Gogh as together they battle the creature that is terrifying the town. In spending time with the painter, they come to understand and appreciate his unique view of the world.

Without giving too much away, the episode is a lovely and thought-provoking reflection on the nature of genius and creativity, as well as a sensitive treatment of depression and mental illness.

The students appeared touched and affected by the episode, with one student commenting: "We need to appreciate people's creativity so that they don't commit suicide." 

I then got them to fill out a feedback form on the unit as they watched and listened to a PowerPoint of van Gogh's paintings, with Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry Night)" as its soundtrack. I found the PowerPoint here.

RIP Vincent, Stieg Larsson, Jane Austen and other artists whose talents didn't receive the recognition they deserved in their lifetimes.