My reflection on this module

I was extremely privileged to be on this module, i feel that it has genuinely improved my confidence and work ethic, and may push me to apply for teaching jobs later in life,(perhaps work abroad) but even if that doesn’t happen for me, it was a great experience.

As explained in my 500 word reflection in my portfolio, I believe that this course has enabled me to achieve a greater understanding of student needs as well as my own teaching ethic. I now understand on a basic level, how to conduct a lesson, how to behave in a professional environment, how to plan, execute, and reflect on lessons.

My practice observation form

Although i wasn’t meant to observe a third year seminar, I thought it necessary to do a practice run with the observation form. I did this by observing Lucy Sweetman’s third year class for professional writing (in which i am a student)

The subject of the class was ‘The third sector – Charities’ which involved a combination of group discussion, whiteboard brainstorming, use of the projector, etc.

Although i had to leave two hours into the session (My partner fell ill at work) Lucy Sweetman demonstrated what a good lesson should entail: open discussion, allowing all of the class to voice their opinions, discuss among one another, and educate themselves and one another.

Another aspect i though was great about Lucy’s teaching was the fact that she catered to the shyer students (me) as i am naturally an antisocial person, and she took the time out of her lesson to come over to me and ask if i wanted to join one of the other groups. Although i declined the offer, i thought this was an invaluable aspect of truly good teaching practice. There are many students in the world that don’t have the confidence to join group discussion, let alone sit with other people.

Feedback from my meeting with Lucy Sweetman

Initially we were scheduled to meet on the 18th of march at 1 pm, but due to my confusion i found myself waiting in the wrong room, and thus, missed the meeting. After rescheduling, we arranged to meet later during the week.

I was nervous for my meeting with Lucy as i felt at the time, a lack of confidence and direction with my work – However during our meeting she seemed positive about my work so far, and encouraged me in the right direction to further my efforts.

During the meeting i showed my range of work, primarily the pieces i felt concern about (this learning log especially) and discussed the confusion and general anxiety i had with the task of arranging teaching sessions, and confessed that i was extremely fearful about the exposure of teaching to an entire class. Ironically, i believed that somehow if i took a class that involved public speaking, i would successfully conquer my fear. I was utterly mistaken, and this wasn’t the first time i had made an error like this. In the second year, i found myself dreading the weekly lessons of performance poetry – even though i was rather good and felt happy with my poems, the aspect of public speaking made me sweat with fear.

Lucy relieved my worries instantly, informing me that I wasn’t obliged to teach a large class, but i could alternatively tutor one of my peers instead. This came to me as a huge relief, and I was a much happier student for the remaining weeks to follow.

 

 

First reflections (agenda 2) 8th October 2018

So far on my educational travels as a pedagogy student I have discovered that teaching itself is very diverse. There are many ways in which teaching manifests itself in different subjects, and learning spaces. Whilst reading ‘Signature Pedagogies in the Professions by Lee S Shulman’ I gained real insight into how a teacher commands a class of students, and how the structured methods of grasping attention helps the students when they go on to explore their own professions.

For example, on page 54 where L.S. Shulman discusses bedside teaching and how the chief practitioner will guide their medical students, it is clearly similar in setting as it is when a School teacher will guide their school students. The same goes for other teaching professions as explained in the paper. There is a certain ‘method behind the madness’ so to speak – that enable the students to grasp the subject to the optimum capacity. For example, in the paper on page 53 where it describes the scenario of a first-year law school class. The way in which the Law professor will conduct his class is encourage them to face another in close proximity and engage them in open discussion, allowing ideas to form and communication to be the main source of learning. This is a highly effective way of teaching law as if one wished to become a lawyer, they would have been highly communicative in a direct and professional way.

So far i understand three key principles of ‘Signature Pedagogy’ which is a “surface structure”- the basic idea of how to conduct yourself as a teacher with interactions and ‘stage presence’ a “deep structure” which is the theory and method behind getting students to receive information and learn and an “implicit structure” which is essentially your moral obligation to behave correctly as a teaching professional.

Teaching Pedology (agenda 3) 8/A w/c 15th October 2018

Whilst studying the reading list assigned for this week, “Evaluating my teaching: the reflective practitioner” by Geoff Petty, it occurred to me that I am extremely anxious to teach my own lessons in the future. I am aware that we will eventually have to lead our own lesson and be given feedback on this, which aides our grade, but I know I will be frightfully nervous. The idea alone of teaching scares me, but I know I can do it if I put in the research, know my subject and push myself to speak publicly. I have a great personality around those who know me, so I think it is possible that I could eventually settle into teaching, in the same way I eventually do with new acquaintances. If I am thoroughly confident and educated about my subject, what is stopping me? Only myself.

When it comes to my own theory of learning, or “Theory in use” – Schon (I am fully aware that I am highly uneducated on this topic to have any relevant standpoint) I believe that in order for a class to engage, everybody needs to feel included and valued as students. I think it’s important to approach your class with enthusiasm, but also to really know your subject. This will not be the case for some supply teachers, who cover topics they don’t fully understand, which often leads to planned lessons with little direction. Petty writes that

“”

This suggests that once I have a fully developed ‘Theory in use’ I will be able to solve any issue with my teaching. Regarding problematic students, I think I would seek some form of intervention with them if I saw problems early on, so that I can pinpoint and solve any issues they may have before they become unsolvable. The only way I can effectively develop my ‘Theory in use’ is to practice teaching, and the only way to do that is to make a lot of mistakes along the way. I have to be extremely patient with myself in order to get through this area of my learning development.

further notes on Kolb’s learning cycle

‘Kolb’s learning cycle’ was created by David Kolb,  (American educational theorist) as a generalisation for a basic thinking scheme: Do, Think, Conclude, Adapt. This is a continuous process that essentially never ends, as throughout one’s development as a teacher, one will continue to improve teaching methods and skills through reflection. The cycle is cleverly generalised so that it can be used in a wider context (different subjects) and as a result is highly beneficial for teachers of all areas.

Concrete experience

The first stage of learning, where one has an experience of teaching

 

Reflective observation

The reflection you will experience and encourage after said lesson

 

Abstract conceptualism

The formulation of ideas, and improvements

 

Active experimentation 

The process of bringing forward your new ideas into your teaching.

 

Repeat

Once this process is complete, you continue to follow the cycle and make more future improvements. This is a sustainable way to self teach whilst teaching.

9/B w/c 22nd October 2018 Reflecting on my learning log

This week we were instructed to reflect on our learning log posts and develop where appropriate. Having read through my work, aside from a few typos I think I am doing okay. When it comes to my style of writing, I have always steered towards a relaxed form without too much  of the hoity toity academic explanations. If it does look professional (which I cannot see as my point of view is biased) Then that’s a good thing. Because through my studies, (many hours spent studying on my computer) I have regurgitated the vital information and skills intended. =

Nigel McLoughlin – Decentering everything.

In class today we had a group discussion about the essay ‘Decentering everything’ written by Nigel McLoughlin.

Within the complex tangle of academic lingo and drawn out sentences, I managed to identify the intention within the work. Nigel talks of two academics that worked together on an article called ‘Creative Writing and an Overlooked Population’ – within this article there is a list of six pedagogies generally used in creative writing classes. After reading through the list as a group * we were instructed to write about one of the approaches and reflect on our own experience with that particular form.

*( Atelier Approach, The Great Works Approach, The Inspiration Approach, The Techniques Approach, Workshop
Approach and the ominous – sounding embryonic Feminist Approach.)

Since it sounded rather interesting in comparison to the others, I chose the final pedagogy – Embryonic Feminist Approach

he explains there isn’t a practical guide for this, but it’s essentially a
“broader approach which seeks to use a variety of theoretical perspectives to inform the
pedagogy of writing” he goes on to talk about another academic, Judith Harris, who uses a psychoanalytic method between “composition praxis (short) and literary theory”

To be perfectly honest, I don’t understand entirely what this means.

 

 

 

Observing a third year creative writing seminar.

In my case, this was arranged through the help of my teacher, Lucy Sweetman.

I scheduled in my calendar to observe her class on Monday the 1st of April, and here is how it went:

We began all seated in our usual tables, my normal work buddy (Sophie Rivers) unfortunately wasn’t in attendance, but it was to be expected as everyone i knew personally was under extreme stress with pending deadlines.

This stress was somewhat relieved by the addition of cake, as it was a girl’s birthday – and she was kind enough to bring a cake in to share with the class. I have provided a picture of the exact cake.

I wasn’t supposed to observe a third year seminar, let alone one of my own classes – but i thought it would be a good practice run to observe and fill out the observation form, so that I knew what I had to look for. Lucy’s lesson was very good, although I had a family emergency (Boyfriend prone to intermittent blackouts) I stayed for most of the first part and enjoyed it a lot. The part of the session that i witnessed was focused on ‘The third sector’ – Charities. We listened intently to Lucy’s stories of her experience working for various charities which was very interesting, and then following on from that, various students shared their own experiences. It was positive and lighthearted discussion with some catty humour (student’s bad experience with a local mp) and a brainstorm on the whiteboard for those with more visual learning (along with everyone else) to participate in. The class developed and Lucy  instructed the students to collaborate in group discussion. Lucy asked me if i would like to join one of the adjacent groups, which was kind of her as i do suffer from anxiety, and it was nice to be considered. Regardless i felt more comfortable on my own, but this was an excellent example of gold standard teaching. If i do overcome my anxiety issues and become a teacher, i will make sure to follow that teaching example.

Lastly, before I had to leave, we were given some letters of Lucy’s as examples of how charities gain supporters. There was lots of informative content, and I felt that i genuinely learned various angles for approaching supporters in letter format.