Micro teach - that was never 30 minutes!

Apologies for the seemingly random dates of these posts, but I had so many drafts started and not finished for various things, and I have only just noticed that they need to be completed and posted. This post should have been posted before the one about my observation week, but hey - it keeps you all on your toes!

The micro teach week was intense, enlightening, and ultimately, triumphant for many of us. Technical hurdles were overcome, nerves were defeated, and learning objectives were met all day, every day. The diversity of subjects covered, the styles in which they were delivered, and the support each and every one of us received was truly inspiring. From psychology to music technology, and public services to beauty therapy, each lesson taught me something, many of them in a most entertaining way. I feel privileged to be among so many talented individuals. Nestled in amongst the brave ones who went on the first day was a little presentation on SWOT Analysis, which you can see below.

I knew beforehand that my lesson was maybe a little heavy on the "chalk and talk" approach, but I was struggling to balance the need to deliver the appropriate amount of theory in order to do the activity successfully, and getting people to do activities early on. The feedback from Natalie was spot on, and gave me constructive advice on where I need to improve. Peer feedback was also constructive, and, at the same time very encouraging. I sat down, knowing I have things I need to work on, but happy that there was enough positives about the lesson to keep me motivated and moving forward. Choosing to be one of the first to present meant that I had the task done and out of the way, but also that I spent the rest of the week thinking "I wish I'd done that.", or "Why didn't I do it like that?". The main thing is to have learnt from the experience, and to come away with a credible plan of action which I can implement over the next few months. All in all, it has been the most interesting and informative week.

A different perspective......

Today was the final day of my observation week at Neath College Business School, and it's been a full and thought provoking week. It was wonderful to see my old tutors without the spectre of assignment deadlines hovering over us as we spoke, but it was strange to be returning as a trainee teacher, there to work alongside them. I was looking forward to the challenge of sitting in a classroom, and concentrating my attention on the style of delivery, as opposed to the content, as was the case when I was a student.

The majority of my teaching time will be in HE on the HND and Foundation Degree courses, where I will be teaching Strategy, Enterprise Management, Business Communications, and Information Management. I will also be working with students who are undertaking the Live Project module, a year long research task, which culminates in a mini dissertation and a presentation. This module is going to give me ample opportunity to pass on some of the tips and tools I have acquired in ICT with Mandy, and it will be interesting to see how they are incorporated by different students. My final HE module is Employability and Professional Development, a module which involves self audit and personal development, where I hope to utilise some of the theories and ideas introduced by Natalie in the PPT module.

I was fortunate enough to be able to observe a wide range of teaching styles and courses, not only in the classes I will be working in, but in A Levels, BTEC, and Welsh Baccalaureate classes. Although I won't be teaching A Levels, the opportunity to see the different tutors working was invaluable, and one I could not pass up. I am hoping to continue to observe these classes, in order to gain as much knowledge as I can. After Christmas, I hope to be involved in teaching on some of the BTEC and Welsh Baccalaureate classes, if the opportunity arises. If this remains unfeasible, I have offered to go in as additional support, so I can continue observations whilst making a practical contribution to the class.

There is one aspect of my placement which is giving me cause for concern, and that is the temperamental nature of the IT equipment. Many of the tutors reported frequent struggles with whiteboards unwilling to cooperate, projector bulbs inexplicably blowing, and computers which took longer to warm up and run programs than a teenage boy would take to get out of bed on a Sunday morning. As an ex-student, I can testify that this is an all too familiar issue, and appreciate that I will need to be creative in my lesson planning, to accommodate any such problems when they occur. The positive side is that the tutors at Neath have developed some excellent strategies to counter these drawbacks, which I have seen being successfully implemented.

I am beyond happy with the opportunities I have been given, not only to teach others, but to learn myself whilst at Neath College. The staff team there have my undying gratitude for being so generous with their time when answering my numerous questions, and for their willingness to allow me to sit in on their lessons and see how they teach and manage their diverse learner groups. With this level of expertise and support around me, I can only move onwards and upwards with my professional development.

The eternal struggle......

The recent lectures with Mandy, and the visit of Simon Pridham, which extolled the benefits of technology in the classroom led me to reflect on my own attitude towards technology and how my children interact with it at home. Whilst I fully support and understand the development of technology for learning in the classroom paradigm,  I have a ongoing battle with my conscience over the use of games consoles and mobile devices in my house. Part of me understands and accepts that my children are full blown digital natives, and that it would be foolish not to relax and allow the inexorable tide of technology to wash over us. Another part of me is constantly analysing how much time they spend doing other activities - am I getting the balance right? Are screens a convenient substitute for my attention? Do they get enough exercise and fresh air?

 The bottom line is that no matter what the situation is, as a parent, I will always feel that I should be doing better. It is the nature of things. The reality is that my children are healthy and active boys, who have been lucky enough to grow up in a rural setting which encourages outdoor activities. More often that not, they will choose to go out rather than sit in front of a screen, disappearing out of the door armed with a football or a bike, only returning for food and clean clothes.

Maybe this battle is magnified in my own mind. They certainly appear to have found a natural balance between technology and traditional leisure activities, which allows them to be digitally literate and physically healthy.  I think that as a parent, as long as you maintain a sense of perspective, and accept that technology can be your friend, things do pan out.

I found a blog which is written by an American mother of four, who encapsulates the dilemma rather well. She, like many of us on this course, is straddling the line between what I like to call "technofear" and "technojoy".

You can read her post here.