Workshops delivered in Hackney Museum
Bad Lay-Dee’s Music Workshops were delivered at Hackney Museum as part of the Black History Season programme in 2018. Song, rap, poetry and creative writing workshops were taught to nearly 1,500 (1,444) children over a ten-week period inspired by the Museum’s temporary exhibition ‘Roots, Rhythms & Records’.
This equated to 57 classes of mainly Year 4, 5 and 6 classes from local mainstream schools, along with three classes from a local SEN (special educational needs) secondary school. Schools visited from across Hackney, including some of the most deprived areas within the Borough.
Teachers’ feedback
Feedback from teachers was consistently positive. Every class teacher that visited was asked to fill in an evaluation form at the end of the session.
- 100% of teachers gave the session positive feedback (86% Excellent / 14% Good)
- 100% of teachers agreed that the children enjoyed the session (with 92% strongly agreeing)
- 100% of teachers agreed that the session had improved students understanding of the subject (with 77% strongly agreeing).
This is amongst the very best feedback the Museum has received for their Black History Season programme, which has been running for over 10 years.
“Donna is a joy to work with and has all the creative skills, natural teaching ability, innovation and passion that are often so hard to find in one person!
The sessions she co-developed with the museum for Black History Season this year are amongst the best we’ve experienced and the whole team feels privileged to have worked with her.” – Emma, Hackney Museum, Heritage Schools Manager
Highlights from the workshop
When asked what worked well in the sessions, teachers praised a variety of aspects, including:
- The opportunity for children to work on and perform their own songs (specifically mentioned by 24 teachers)
- “Everything. Good pace and delivery”
- “Safe space for children to be in and lots of engaging things for them to work on. Donna was great with the children”
- “Each activity was short and engaging. The lady leading the session was great with the children.”
- “Lesson pace, Donna’s vibrant personality, differentiated activities for the children, hands-on activities, along with factual information”
- “A strong engaging lead”
- “Fantastic presentation and fun activities”
“We were consistently impressed with the workshop Donna delivered as part of our popular Black History Season Programme and her willingness to adapt the workshop.
She showed an impressive spontaneity when working with an unpredictable audience and was able to sustain the necessary energy and enthusiasm for working with young people, even when teaching the same workshop three times a day. We found that Donna has a rare mix of both creative skills and professionalism, which made her an ideal colleague to work with on a project like this.” – Josie, Hackney Museum, Heritage Schools Officer
To book in a workshop for your school or organisation, please get in touch.
Read the news article from hackney.gov.uk ‘Highest number of school children learn about Black History‘
