EMBRACE THE CHAOS

School: Bob Hawke College ‍

Year Group: Year 7‍

Teacher: Anne Sashegyi‍

Creative Practitioner: Joanne Marriott

Creative Practice: Creative Facilitator

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Poem by Joanne Marriott

On a winter's day, back in July,
with our heads full of dreams, and our spirits high.
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We embarked on a journey with Creative Schools,
with a wheel of habits and lots of tools.
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At Bob Hawke in Subi, a brand new place,
modern, innovative, setting the pace.
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With Science our subject, we set out to explore,
sustainability, human impacts, ecosystems and more.
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We aimed for collaboration and discipline,
but little did we know what was about to begin.
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Thirty year sevens, girls and boys,
can be quite the storm of chaos and noise.
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We disrupted the classroom, an energy unleashed,
and we didn't quite know how to tame this new beast.
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But like all good creatives, we persevered,
for chaos is not something to be feared.
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We planned to experiment, try everything and see,
what sticks and engages them creatively.
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We failed and succeeded again and again,
but then came a sense of clarity when,
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The marginal voices came to the fore,
the shy students weren't on their own anymore.
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Awareness of their own learning preferences grew,
some found they liked science more than they knew.
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Disengaged students began to join in,
this is when we felt there was something to win.
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This is a postcard from themselves at the start,
to their future self, showing learning as art.

This is a superhero, crafted through clay,
with superpowers to save the earth and save the day.

This is a poster of missing species,
under threat and endangered, let's save them please.

This is a picture from our cultural incursion,
we talked sustainability - the Aboriginal version.

We reflected together, and we chose what worked best,
what we'd like to take forward, leaving the rest.
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They chose team activities, challenges, games,
they set the agenda, the journey, the frame.
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They set their own values and goals as a team,
and with that, Term 4 was planned it would seem.
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But don't get us wrong - there were hard times and good,
and it tested our limits like a good challenge should.
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As a teacher, we saw Annie's creative confidence bloom,
she now takes these habits into every classroom.
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As a creative, I've been challenged to bring something new,
to innovate constantly, to engage with this crew.
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Throughout the whole program, the chaos still reigned,
but our spirits remain high, through all that's been gained.