Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune in: Making Of A Hoodie

15 minutes

Find out: Thinking About Collective Identity

30 minutes

Take action: Design Your Own Hoodie

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: Making of a hoodie (15 mins)

Step 1.

Play the following section from 32:50 to 37:20 of the Ambassador episode of the Making of a Hoodie podcast. The transcript for this section can be found in the student worksheet and in the link provided above.

Step 2.

Invite students to reflect on these questions:

What materials did the group decide to use?
What design elements did the group decide to use?
What were the main meanings or messages behind the hoodie design?

Find out: Thinking about collective identity (15 mins)

The following activities can be embedded within a variety of contexts but should ultimately result in the design of a hoodie that represents a collective identity. You could choose to add an item to your school uniform, develop a year level or special interest group hoodie within your school or allow students to work with people outside the class on this process.

Step 1.

Provide students with the following set of instructions and support them in facilitating the process:

Gather your class together. Assign one or some students to capture and summarise the discussions on a board, online document or large sheets of paper.
Invite students to briefly explain what being a member of the group means to them.
Draw out any commonalities as well as any interesting points raised by individuals.
Invite discussion about how your identities and ideas are valued within the group.
Is there anything that makes this particular group unique or special?
Are there any symbols, colours or objects that are innately connected to this group?
Ensure students who are helping scribe are noting all these points down as you go.

Take action: Design your hoodie! (30 mins)

Step 1.

Based on their group’s discussions, students can now move onto collaboratively designing the elements of their hoodie. They should consider some or all of the following:

Materials: what will the hoodie be made from?

Colours

Shapes

Styles or techniques: will you draw on any artistic or cultural traditions?

Symbols

Numbers or letters/words/language

Label: will this hoodie have a brand or logo on it?

Mood or character: how do you want people to feel when they see you in your hoodie?

Quality and/or longevity: how long will your hoodie last? Will it hold its shape and design well? What happens to your hoodie at the end of its life?

Meaning: what ideas are embedded into the design of your hoodie? What does it mean to wear this hoodie?

Step 2.

Support students in practising their skills in communication, consensus-building and ideation. All ideas should be valued and heard; nothing should be immediately dismissed. Have students consider how they can work with their peers to find common ground and build on ideas. Invite them to consider:

Do all elements of the design have to represent everyone in the group?
Can some elements represent diversity while others represent commonalities?
Does everyone have to like or agree with all of the elements?
Which elements can be compromised on and which will require consensus?
How will your group decide on which ideas to include and which ideas to dismiss?

Step 3.

Students could work independently or within groups to create a visual design of the hoodie based on the outcomes of the previous stages.

Step 4.

Allow students an opportunity to showcase their hoodie designs. Students should have 2-3 highlights or messages they want to share about their initial designs. Remind students listening that early prototypes require kind and specific feedback.

Step 5.

Explain that with multiple designs developed by groups, we’ll need to continue facilitating a process where students either share the designs with one another and refine their preferences or combine elements from each so that we can find consensus in a group hoodie.

They might like to present their refined designs to the principal or school board for approval as an official school uniform. If doing so, they will need to seek quotations from three suppliers and ensure their choice of materials is achievable (or make some compromises to meet a budget).

Reflection (5 mins)

Invite students to complete these reflection questions:

What impact do you think your group's designed hoodie would have on your school community? Why?
How could you make this hoodie a reality?

Design Your Own Hoodie

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Summary

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