I'm Andrew Brown's teacher at Daylesford Secondary College, in Daylesford Victoria. I have been reading all the wonderful responses that you have posted to Andrew. You have been wonderfully encouraging.
I want to say that as a teacher I have found my association with knit a square so rewarding. The knitting class is part of our Year 9 program's (14-15 year olds) class called My Life My Community where the school devises a program and activities to help our students form a greater connection to school and the wider community. Knit a square is perfect because it helps link students to the global community, they learn a skill (knitting), they are showing empathy for the orphans, they are doing something 'real' to help and they are having fun while they're dong it. Where else can a class sit around in a relaxed way and chat to their friends while they work?
I have been very lucky as I have had great support from volunteer knitters, Zanny and Carmel. It is so fantastic to have two women from the community come in and sit with the students. They are so patient with the students and the kids have really warmed to having them there.
To any other teachers out there who want to give it a go may I recommend that you pre-start some knitting rather than teaching the students to cast on and knit at the same time. I have taught three groups now and for this last group we started the square by knitting the first 3 or 4 rows which made the whole process much quicker and easier. I was very lucky to have Sandi, Cressida, Zanny, Carmel and our school chaplain, Elaine assist with the first session where the students first begin to knit. I had a group of 20 the first time I started and it was very hard to get around to all these very keen but needy kids with needles in hand calling,"Miss, can you help me?"
I'm also surprised at how little resistance I have had to the idea of knitting especially from the boys. I was expecting some negativity from some of our boys but they have been great and the get a real buzz and great sense of achievement when they discover that they can do it.
We have two more sessions to go before the My Life My Community class moves on to new project which is sad because i have really enjoyed it. If I'm teaching in the program again next year, I will definitely do it again. It's been great.
Hi Maria, welcome to our warm KAS community. We hope you will enjoy the forum and your region's group. You should join the Downunder Group!
There are lots of great discussions going on in the forum, including the monthly challenges.
We are still continuing our July Challenge - keep a newborn warm, making blankets for abandoned babies, and there have been some great results for the August in Africa challenge - you can see photographs under the photos menu. (Details of both challenges in the main forum). We're also embarking on our September challenge which is also under "challenges" in the forum.
Did you receive the latest ezine? If not you can view it here:
Comments
I'm Andrew Brown's teacher at Daylesford Secondary College, in Daylesford Victoria. I have been reading all the wonderful responses that you have posted to Andrew. You have been wonderfully encouraging.
I want to say that as a teacher I have found my association with knit a square so rewarding. The knitting class is part of our Year 9 program's (14-15 year olds) class called My Life My Community where the school devises a program and activities to help our students form a greater connection to school and the wider community. Knit a square is perfect because it helps link students to the global community, they learn a skill (knitting), they are showing empathy for the orphans, they are doing something 'real' to help and they are having fun while they're dong it. Where else can a class sit around in a relaxed way and chat to their friends while they work?
I have been very lucky as I have had great support from volunteer knitters, Zanny and Carmel. It is so fantastic to have two women from the community come in and sit with the students. They are so patient with the students and the kids have really warmed to having them there.
To any other teachers out there who want to give it a go may I recommend that you pre-start some knitting rather than teaching the students to cast on and knit at the same time. I have taught three groups now and for this last group we started the square by knitting the first 3 or 4 rows which made the whole process much quicker and easier. I was very lucky to have Sandi, Cressida, Zanny, Carmel and our school chaplain, Elaine assist with the first session where the students first begin to knit. I had a group of 20 the first time I started and it was very hard to get around to all these very keen but needy kids with needles in hand calling,"Miss, can you help me?"
I'm also surprised at how little resistance I have had to the idea of knitting especially from the boys. I was expecting some negativity from some of our boys but they have been great and the get a real buzz and great sense of achievement when they discover that they can do it.
We have two more sessions to go before the My Life My Community class moves on to new project which is sad because i have really enjoyed it. If I'm teaching in the program again next year, I will definitely do it again. It's been great.
There are lots of great discussions going on in the forum, including the monthly challenges.
We are still continuing our July Challenge - keep a newborn warm, making blankets for abandoned babies, and there have been some great results for the August in Africa challenge - you can see photographs under the photos menu. (Details of both challenges in the main forum). We're also embarking on our September challenge which is also under "challenges" in the forum.
Did you receive the latest ezine? If not you can view it here:
http://www.knit-a-square.com/Square_Circle-backissues.html
Thanks so much for your contribution already, look forward to being in contact soon.
Happy Knitting!
Kalai & Sandy