Paul Wilson​​​​​​​

Before teaching I spent a lot of time both as a youth worker in a church setting, as well as working with people with disabilities. I wanted to combine my technical skills with my passion of working with young people and seeing them challenged and growing. Starting as a Physics teacher, I began a journey where, while trying to prepare the students for their exams, I was also able to have them to ask questions that would make them look at the world in a new way.

 

 

My Journey as a Teacher

A big shift came for me when I was asked to move from being full time in the classroom teaching Physics and Science, to being an Instructional Technology Specialist coupled with the responsibility to provide support for performances and events in the school utilising my Middle School and High School tech teams and my newly formed Theatre Tech class. I am proud of the fact that the students do all aspects of the production support, surprising both visitors and industry professionals with their level of technical skills, and the high standard of support that they provide. We have also received very positive responses from both performers and audience on our set and lighting designs, which instead of being created by spending lots of money, are very economically produced with an emphasis on creativity and the use of available resources.

 

A unique part of my Instructional Technology Specialist role is that I am helping teachers to access and be successful in the theatre, for example:

• Helping them to plan on how to maximise their use of their theatre and the resources that it provides.

• Assist with coordinating logistics to ensure that their experiences were as seamless and beneficial as possible.

• Provide training for the teachers in operating the theatre systems.

• Working with their students in the use of the technology in the theatre.

• Provide needed tech support to enable their activities to run smoothly.

• Often providing enrichment activities for their class related to what was happening in the theatre, e.g. backstage tours during the musical productions.

 

For me the highlight has been that both the Tech Teams and Theatre Technology class have evolved into distinctive and unique entities, each addressing different aspects of the support matrix needed by our performances, chapels and events. Each group has a strong focus on serving the school community through the vocational skills that they offer. It has also allowed students to experience technical theatre in a way that they feel comfortable with at each stage of their school experience as part of the wider learning community.

 

The Middle School and High School Tech Teams, which are extracurricular groups, focus on the following:

• General tech support of chapels, productions and events etc. during the event itself.

• Activities are done mostly outside of class hours, the emphasis is on proving support during the event with any associated pre setup and strike as needed.

• Focus on live event skills, e.g. Mixing sound, running lights, multimedia, video recording etc.

• The training is done as "hands on", often by the student leaders.

 

The High School Theatre Technology class is focused on the planning and pre-production aspects of the events and productions.

• The class does an analysis of the tech needs of the events and productions, they then plan or design to meet the identified needs, and then do implementation of the design or plan.

• The main learning activities are based around on preproduction, e.g. Set building, set painting, light design and light rigging etc.

• Predominantly completed during class time with occasional after school activities where a large group of skilled students are useful.

• Training is done in class as a mixture of "seminar style" learning based on an Investigative Learning approach, and "hands on" learning.

 

The Tech Team and Theatre Technology Class seek out opportunities to be involved in that provide learning opportunities in tech, as well as service and ministry opportunities. Tech Support is the byproduct of the learning, serving and ministry of the students.

 

An exciting aspect of the Theatre Tech class has been the heterogeneous mix of students that it has attracted. Trying to balance the tight schedules associated with productions and the differentiation needed for the different skills levels of the students signing up for the class has been a challenge. My answer to this has been to have student leaders and experts within the class. This has led to a dynamic learning environment where there is a special ownership by the more experienced students as they take on greater responsibilities within the class, both for the technical aspects, and for the leadership and training of the other students.

 

 

Teaching Philosophy

From the beginning I felt the power of teaching was in the asking of questions, and over time, I have become more skilled in Investigative Learning, where I ask questions to guide the students to develop their own questions. The key to the success of this has been in providing students with a suitable scaffold and experiences on which to develop questions, while leaving the ideas open enough to encourage the students to develop their own questions.

 

I also believe that learning is a discipline, and that engagement and the fun side of learning is preceded by that discipline, not necessarily the converse. Discipline needs to be something that is intrinsically based, not dictated by external stimuli. My approach to discipline in the classroom has been to guide the students in recognizing that their behavior or attitude to learning is not where it needs to be, and to help them set goals and help them to develop the self-discipline to improve.

 

Life as a Leader

While never in a formal leadership role in the school, I have had the opportunity to take on many leadership challenges. This is due in part to the significant number of events the school holds each year, and my responsibilities as the School Wide Health and Safety Officer. Thrusting me into a unique role in the school where I have often become pivotal in the planning, and running of the events, as well as managing the performance venues. Making the directors vision for the performances become a reality, by building and developing the needed resources; and using these performances as learning experiences.

 

In 2008 the school moved into their new campus. I was involved in the planning and design of the new theatre and other performance spaces. This responsibility has continued into the present with the ongoing development of these spaces, taking advantage of the flexibility designed into the systems to provide upgrades to be phased in as money and technology permits. To this end I have developed a maintenance, purchasing and upgrade plan based on a 5-year strategic plan, and am responsible for a budget in excess of $100,000 USD. I have developed all the procedures used in the theatre, and documented these and the technical specs to make the theatre as accessible as possible by all users. By training students, developing a strong infrastructure, researching, budgeting and purchasing flexible and appropriate technology; the school has been able to host varied and complex events and productions in house without the need to bring in outside resources or companies. Over the last two years I have moved the school from an analog standard definition video capture and distribution system to a digital high definition one based on the SDI professional format. This technology and the associated support has been transparent to the end users and the audience with events and rehearsals running smoothly and without fuss.

 

When I arrived at my current school 17 years ago, the school was still young, and the principal asked me to establish both the safety committee as well as a safety handbook for use in the campus. The following year this became the school wide safety committee and the manual was adopted for school wide use. Over the years this handbook has been regularly reviewed to meet the needs of a growing and changing school. As the School Wide Health and Safety Officer I have been responsible to chair the School Wide Safety Committee, set up and run all the Fire Safety Drills, Lockdown Drills, and Shelter in Place Drills.

 

Due to my involvement in events and safety I have also been an active participant in the campus management; working with both the Facilities Management Office and the Facilities Management Company to maintain safe facilities, co-ordination for events, and to provide insight and ideas in different areas of campus management. In 2013 for the ACSI/WASC accreditation self-study, I was the team leader and report writer for Section Seven (Crisis Planning and Food/Nutrition Services) and the co-team leader for Section Eight (Facilities, Environment, and Transportation).

 

 

Professional Development

Beyond the Professional Development opportunities provided by the school. Most of my Professional Development activities have focused around the area of technical theatre through independent reading, both online and books; researching products and their application to real life situations, and purchasing professional tools and applying their use in the performances, for example Smarrt Acoustical Analysis software and RF analysis tools.

 

 

The Way Ahead

I have enjoyed the mix between the Teaching and the Creative Production involved in supporting the productions. As well as the Management and Coordination of the theatre space, with the associated developing of the needed resources and the strategic planning to grow and meet the varying needs of the performance, productions and events.

 

This role is a unique niche role which is becoming increasingly common as schools move their productions to more modern facilities or have a desire to produce modern styles of productions. Affording students a contemporary experience of theatre and the associated technology.

 

In the future I hope to further develop in these areas with a similar mix of opportunities to teach, create, lead and develop the technical foundations required to support the creative vision of the school.