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About rtkids |
The idea behind rtkids.org is simple - to provide a national exhibition space for school and college children’s Artwork throughout the whole of Great Britain. The site is designed to inspire pupils to create their work and see it up on the screen with an immediacy hard to match and a global audience to admire it. In my experience this cultivates greater motivation in students as they work towards this goal and accept that their effort is worthwhile and suitably rewarded.
As an Art Teacher you can upload exemplar material for a project and click the slideshow icon once within an album and it will sequence through the work on your interactive whiteboard as a starter to a new project. In my experience children are fascinated by the output of their peers and respect their efforts and ideas. This in turn can inform their own decisions, helping them visualize their own creative path. It can also encourage them to be aware of the rationale for their work and the meaning they wish to convey to others.
The site will provide links to International Art Galleries supporting learning and fueling visual research, in fact we hope teachers will soon begin to contribute to our visual resources gallery - going on holiday, got beautiful pictures that might make stunning visual resources for all our schools children - then please share them!
We would like to provide Great Artist summaries to assist pupil’s investigations. This is a fledgling site that appears to be brimming with opportunities to help our children appreciate our cultural heritage and stimulate their interest in the visual world. If you would like to send your comments or offer help or have any questions, please email me using rtkids@mac.com
What I did not expect, but am presently benefitting from is the heightened climate of collaboration within participating schools. You may be working as the only Art Teacher in your school and at times would like to discuss ideas with colleagues with similar responsibilities, I therefore offer the ‘Education Matters’ discussion group as a way to achieve this and to allow teachers to network and support each other.
I realized that we might be able to provide academic research into creativity and perhaps link interested schools to researchers keen to work with them within this area.
I enjoy introducing the site to pupils, parents and teachers usually everyone warms to its potential very quickly and are enthusiastic about taking part. In February 2006, I formed the company rtkids Ltd, in order to achieve this ’vision’ of open access to all schools at no charge. Longer term plans will see the site offer an area for children’s Music and Creative Writing to be celebrated too.
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Damian MacDonald MEd (founder of rtkids.org)
Art Teacher for Bredon Hill Middle School,
Ashton Under Hill, Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 7SW (tel. 01386 881426)
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Endorsements
Worcestershire County Council and its art education team wish to congratulate the designers of the rtkids web site.
Worcestershire schools are justifiably proud of their achievements in the arts, which are gaining an increasingly national reputation, and welcome the opportunity to celebrate their students’ work on a wider platform.
Artwork on the rtkids website is representative of the range of achievements in many Worcestershire schools.
It can;
- Be a tool for teachers’ continuing professional development by providing stimulii for new ideas
- Provide a showcase for schools and their students and celebrate learning and teaching in art, craft and design
- Raise public and professional awareness of the importance and quality of art in schools.
Worcestershire arts education wishes rtkids every success with this venture.
Stephen Belinfante
Inspector for the arts
Children’s Services
Worcestershire County Council
I am delighted that our school can contribute to such a significant
resource - rtkids.org It is an excellent opportunity to celebrate
creativity in our young and inspire others. rtKids encourages children to
value their own work and take part in its presentation. It is a place
where children can learn and be motivated to extend their ability and
experience. It will contribute to staff development and provide an
invaluable resource.
Helen Wallace
Headteacher of Bredon Hancocks First School
This is an exciting and important initiative, a marvellous resource for schools, both for students and staff. This website offers all young people the opportunity to display their artwork, to have this work appreciated by others and to find out more about creating and appreciating art. I am really looking forward to seeing the rich diversity of young people's artistic talent displayed on this site.
 Marilyn Fryer
Dr Marilyn Fryer is a qualified primary teacher and chartered psychologist. She is founder/ director of The Creativity Centre Ltd and co-founder of The Creativity Centre Educational Trust, a registered charity. This Centre specialises in creativity research, assessment, consultancy and staff development (www.creativitycentre.com ).
Marilyn has a particular interest in creativity and cultural diversity. She acted as a consultant for the QCA's Creativity: Find It, promote It!, the NACCCE Report, All Our Futures, Creativity, Culture and Education, as well as undertaking various commission on creativity for NESTA. She has also contributed to two Teachers' TV programmes - on primary and secondary creativity. Formerly Reader in Psychology at Leeds Metropolitan University, Marilyn has twenty years experience of international creativity research, consultancy and staff development in applied creativity, creative education and child development. She has published and presented on creative education in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia.
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