Public Talks
Keynotes, Conference Lectures, Professional & Personal Development Workshops
Purnima writes, researches and speaks in public about her passion for creative writing, creativity in teaching, interdisciplinarity in education, and the relationship between art and literacy. She has helped a range of audiences including writers, artist-educators, schools, teachers and students understand the impact of her specialist areas of research and experiences in the form of talks, keynotes, workshops, professional and personal development.
Topics include:
- Performing the role of teacher-as-practitioner and its impact on performance and well-being
- Exploring teacher-artist identities, issues and workable solutions
- Inspired by art: Developing creative writing, critical thinking and literacy skills in the English classroom
- Interdisciplinarity in museum education programming, with a focus on using art to develop English skills
- The power of words and poetry for activism, change and transformative healing
List of Public Talks
Workshop
How to use visual art to inspire your creative writing
Bangkok Patana School, Thailand
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2022
In the first of the new Patana Masterclass Series, explore how visual art can fire the imagination through the power of imagery with Secondary English teacher, Purnima Ghogar. In this Masterclass, Purnima guides viewers through the utilisation of visual art as a powerful stimulus to inspire ideas for writing in a variety of formats. Read more about her process in her article published in the Patana News, and be sure to watch the complete Masterclass on the Patana Masterclasses YouTube channel!
TEDx Talk
Who am I? Artist, teacher or both?
Bangkok Patana School, Thailand
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‘Doing’ as well as ‘teaching’ “Those who can do, teach” is my inversion of the popular myth - “teachers don’t do, they teach”. Challenging this myth, I reveal the many facets of my identity with the question, “who am I?” - an English teacher at Bangkok Patana School, a published author of ten books, a professional artist/curator, an academic, a writer and an educational researcher. To most of you, this is something you never knew! School communities are often not fully aware of the hidden talents of their teachers who have a lot to offer - some pursue an interest professionally and others as an amateur.
Having taught in Australia and the UK for the past 5 years, I have experienced first-hand the realities that affect many talented teachers who struggle to manage their creative pursuits whilst teaching full-time. My talk concludes with solutions that aim to inspire chances about an issue that I am passionate and have been publishing for seven years.
This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxBangkokPatanaSchool, an independent event.
Workshop
Developing creative writing, critical thinking and literacy through art
Global Citizenship Conference, Teacher Professional Learning, Bangkok, Thailand
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2017
Conference Paper
Teachers as ‘practitioners’: Researching some myths about ‘staying active’ during early-career teaching
World Congress of Education, 2015, Dublin, Ireland
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This paper explores the difficult terrain of what we teachers do outside the 'normal' curriculum. In particular, it investigates how maintaining an ongoing practice within the discipline in which we teach during our early career - 'staying active' - effects the quality of our teaching and our expectation of long term success and enjoyment of teaching.
This is becoming a phenomenon of interest to educators as the worrying rate of resignations by early-career teachers (Buchanan, et al., 2013) is placing a spotlight on the professional well-being support our schools provide, (Deffenbaugh, Hatfield & Montana, 2006), and the emphasis in pre-service teacher training programs on metrics-driven learning outcomes over depth-of-learning by students (Hattie, 2008). There exists a growing need to maintain a link between 'the passion' that brings us to our teaching - that is, our love of our subject of choice, and our professional practice during our teaching career (Imms & Ruanglertbutr, 2012).
The unit of analysis within this paper will be early career visual art teachers. Within this sub set of teaching, three myths exist: that to be a 'successful' art teacher you need to also have a private practice; that maintaining a private practice decreases the quality of your teaching; and that teachers who make art eventually leave the teaching profession due to conflicts between their teacher and artist identities.
Since 2010 the Australian Teacher as Art-maker Project (TAP) has tracked early career art educators' teaching and art-making experiences. This paper will present recent analysis of this ongoing project.
Lecture
Trends in Teacher-Artmaker-Project longitudinal data concerning early-career art teachers’ art making, including impact on production, quality of teaching and employment retention.
International Society for Education Through Art: Diversity through Art: Change, Continuity, Context, Melbourne, Australia
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Speakers: Purnima Ruanglertbur and Dr. Wesley Imms
Keynote Lecture
A Community of Artist-Teachers
Public Hanging XVII Exhibition, Methodist Ladies College, Melbourne, Australia
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February 17 2014
Presentation by invitation with travel grant of $1,000 to present the opening lecture for the art exhibition of works by MLC Visual Arts Staff and Friends.
Conference Paper
Inclusive museum education programming: engaging multicultural and English as a Second Language audiences in art museums.
Inter-discipline, Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) Conference, Melbourne, Australia
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Lecture
Art educators as practitioners: conversations and research into maintaining an art practice while teaching
Creative Futures: Visual Arts, AusVELS & the Australian Curriculum, Art Education Victoria state conference, Melbourne High School
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Nov 2013
Lecture
Artful English: Teaching the Australian Curriculum and Curriculum Priorities through Visual Art.
Fossicking for Classroom Treasures: Teaching English in the Middle Years. Victorian Association of Teachers of English (VATE) Middle Years Conference, Castlemaine, Australia.
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August 12 2013
Speakers: Susie May & Purnima RuanglertbutrThis practical program will demonstrate imaginative activities and games designed to make the art of creative writing fun and engaging for students. Using original multicultural art in the NGV Collection, it will explore ways to teach literary devices such as simile, metaphor, alliteration and onomatopoeia and how they may be incorporated in a variety of writing genres. Investigate how English can be linked to the key curriculum priority of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia through discussion and analysis of the literature of some Asian poets. Includes strategies for teaching students to write simple forms of Asian poetry such as Haiku, Renga and Rubaiyat, using visual art.
August 12 2013
Speakers: Susie May & Purnima Ruanglertbutr
This practical program will demonstrate imaginative activities and games designed to make the art of creative writing fun and engaging for students. Using original multicultural art in the NGV Collection, it will explore ways to teach literary devices such as simile, metaphor, alliteration and onomatopoeia and how they may be incorporated in a variety of writing genres. Investigate how English can be linked to the key curriculum priority of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia through discussion and analysis of the literature of some Asian poets. Includes strategies for teaching students to write simple forms of Asian poetry such as Haiku, Renga and Rubaiyat, using visual art.
Lecture
Can early career teachers both teach and make art?
ART IMPACT. Art Education Victoria state conference, Melbourne..
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November 2012
Speakers: Purnima Ruanglertbutr & Dr. Wesley Imms
Lecture
Can early career teachers be artists as well?
First International Artist as Teacher Conference, Oslo, Norway
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August 2012
Speakers: Dr. Wesley Imms (paper co-authored with Purnima Ruanglertbutr)
The evaluation of Victoria, Australia’s extensive Artist-in-Residence scheme highlighted a disparity between normal art programs, and those that are enriched when practicing artists are in attendance. The evaluation proved that practicing artists significantly assist student learning, engagement, and development of art skills and knowledge. Students (and teachers) enjoy the authenticity of working with ‘real artists’. So how can the benefits of authentic art practice highlighted in this evaluation be inculcated across all art classrooms? One approach is to increase the presence of practicing artists in schools, but while any increase would be hugely beneficial, costs suggest it is unlikely to achieve the scale required for whole-scale improvement. A second approach is to build a greater culture of arts practice into teachers’ suite of activities and skills. This brings to the fore two largely un-researched myths. Do art teachers really stop making art when they start teaching? And if this is the case, would early career art making lead to better art teaching practice?
A ‘teacher as art-maker’ longitudinal study is underway in Australia that is tracking early career art educators’ teaching and art-making experiences. Comparison of the first two annual surveys will provide som indication of new teachers’ rate of artistic practice, perceptions of the quality of their teaching, and expectations of retention in teaching. These data help us address many complex issues that stop practicing artists from teaching, and existing teachers from embedding artistic practice into their pedagogy.
Workshop
The Art of English
Testing Your Limits: English in the Middle Years, Victorian Association of Teachers of English conference, Queenscliffe, Victoria
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August 2012
Speakers: Susie May & Purnima Ruanglertbutr