Last week before the Christmas hols - but I've spent hours stressing over my one-hour lesson plan for Wednesday's Literacy lesson, and finding suitable resources on paper and online. I must have printed out several trees' worth of handouts. But I'll start at the begining.
Monday Surestart Literacy Class: Laura hadn't asked me to prepare anything in particular for this class - and she had said that some people would be sitting tests at college and there would have to be a fair amount of individual work. So I took part in the opening plenary sessions and then worked mainly one-to-one with Mark on an Entry Level activity while the others did their own L1 and L2 work. It became clear to me that Mark is not only dyslexic, but suffers from the same learning difficulty as my daughter - Auditory Processing Disorder. He can hear perfectly well enough to understand and reproduce spoken words, but when it comes to analysing sounds into letters, he can't differentiate between some vowels (eg a and e sounds) or discriminate combination consonants. So he might write "friends", for instance, as "fads" - because when he tries to write what he hears that's what it sounds like. My daughter does exactly the same, to the degree that her attempts to spell some words are so un-phonetic that they are impossible to even guess at. The other day she wrote "silver" as "seve" - neither I nor spellcheck got that one! In Mark's case the problem is exacerbated by his regional accent, so his attempts at writing phonetically are even more undermined. I'll be interested to see the results of his SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulty) test - and if there's any useful way of dealing with this.
I also spent some time with other members of the class, managing to clarify some grammatical areas and progress with relationships. Most said they would do homework over the break - they are a committed group.
Tuesday Numeracy class: Jo was away at a hospital appointment, but the rest of the class was in festive mood. Yasmin and I assisted Laura with plenary, group and indiviaul work for the first half of the session. We used packs of cards to do some work on odd and even numbers. I did some one-to-one with Gail, a Level 1 student, and found she had difficulty handling a pack of cards and sorting them into two piles (odd and even); evidence of chaotic thinking was that she was pulling cards from the middle of the pack, not off the top, and creating a third and unnecessary pile of "spares". Laura was interested by this observation - this is where my self help/psychology background comes into play.
When we moved up to the computer room after the break, Laura did an off-the-cuff plenary session, just using the whiteboard, on the theme of Christmas. It was inspired - engaging, simple, fun but including in the theme all the areas the class had been working on this term: weighing and measuring, decimals, number bonds, fractions, shape (menu-planning, cooking, buying, wrapping and and posting presents)... For half an hour the class were wrapt and having fun whilst a the same time recalling information, making connections and reinforcing the practical and relevant use of numeracy in real life. It will take me a long time to be able to pull off something as effective as that.
After that they paired up on PCs and played a competitive number bond ghost game, which kept everyone occupied and learning before breaking up for the festive season.
Yasmin has been offered a full-time but short-term job as a Learning Assistant at the college, and has a couple of other interviews lined up. Laura hopes she will continue to volunteer with this class as long as possible. These mixed ability classes in both Literacy and Numeracy, with students needing high levels of one-to-one support, are extremely hard to manage alone.
Wednesday Literacy class: Laura and I had reworked my initial lesson plan into something simpler and more manageable; I felt happy with the resources I'd brought along and had designed a brief Powerpoint to incorporate (simplified) Learning Objectives and some key points about Conjunctions and Commas (the lesson subject).
As everyone came in - about two minutes after Laura and I had got into the classroom - I became aware that my conscious incompetence was proving a huge barrier to my normally high ability to multi-task! I found it hard to greet people and continue writing the letter grid (my icebreaker/recap activity) on the whiteboard, so Laura ended up doing the greeting while I wrote. Having got them started on the activity, I logged into the PC and put up my PowerPoint, then rushed back to the whiteboard to take their feedback input about words containing the the requisite letter combinations. It went fine, but I probably let it run a little too long - perhaps because I found myself totally floundering on the transition from that activity to the next subject. Luckily Laura smoothed the moment, but it quite threw me.
I did then manage to lead the class through the recap on Conjunctions and differentiated worksheets; then segued into a plenary on Commas and individual worksheets on that. Sue, the learner with mobility problems and dyslexia, claimed she had never before heard of a comma and didn't know what I was talking about (Laura says she likes to be obstructive at times, but to use her basic queries to revisit info for the whole class). I felt she might have been thrown by the fact that it was me teaching rather than Laura, and responded positively to her. By the end of the class we had progressed quite well.
In the end, the two hour class turned into a jointly run session by me and Laura, rather than mine for the first hour and hers for the second. By the end, I was more confident, had done some effective one-to-one, as well as plenary, explanations with a number of the students and seen some lightbulb moments. But I still felt very inadequate as a teacher.
Laura's constructive and extremely generous feedback was:
Positives: Authoritative manner, good subject knowledge, strong eye contact and positive relationships with individuals. The class accepts me (she says), and respects me. I give clear explanations and write clearly for the whiteboard and smartboard.
Points for development: Get into the classroom earlier and set up whiteboard task, Powerpoint etc. Don't rely on small writing lesson plan for a lesson guide. Write a big and perhaps coloured progression to leave on the front desk to avoid floudering on transitions. Greet everyone individually. Give more directed, individual praise for responses early on. Maintain pace - don't stick too long on an activity, make sure everyone is engaged and notice when they're not - especially those at the top and bottom of the ability spectrum. Use every opportunity to include related learning (eg homophones in the initial word-making activities).
Thank goodness it's over - and there's a break before next term.
16 December 2009
Coursework
Back in class on Friday. Jen told us she is now our permanent tutor, and when questioned about the fact that she is on Maternity Leave Cover in our department only till the end of January, told us that she had made clear to the VP she was only interested in taking on the FT DTLLS class if it was until the end of the course - and that she believed that had been accepted. Didn't sound entirely certain to us.
Once again, our learning time was taken up with a recap on where unmarked assignments were at and how and when they were going to get marked. Our presentations (of a creative resource) were an issue: Mike and Scott's notes were apparently minimal so we had the choice of "self-assessment" or repeating the presentations. Jay, who had indeed done a very good presentation, was dying to reprise his, but Kelly and Sarah were adamant that they would neither self-assess nor repeat; this was the college's problem not the students' and they demanded to be assessed by the notes taken and grades given at the time. Others agreed with their point of view, though to make life easier for Jen said they would self assess.
Later in the day the VP returned as promised - though only after Jen had been asked several times when he was coming, and had been out to "check". He breezed in, clearly expecting a quick interchange confirming that we were happy with the changes. He certainly did not expect the 10-minute broadside he got from Beth!
She found it disgusting (repeated fortissimo, several times!) that he had come back to see us with no notes, no knowledge of whether the updates we had requested last time were in place; that teaching placement issues for several people were still unresolved; that he had given no decent response to or apology for the stress and anguish caused to most people due to administrative failures dating back to application and enrollment, let alone placement. The VP tried to sooth Beth by suggesting she met with him separately to iron out her problems. This was a mistake: she stressed (crescendo) that she was talking for the whole class, that it was not about the teaching - Mike and Jen had been excellent - but about the administration, the people who were "cogs behind the DTLLS course" who had been a complete failure... and ended up telling him that his visit to the class today had left her feeling "just a little bit worse - if that was possible"!
An impressive tirade, and one which left most of us unable to look the VP in the eye. It hadn't helped that Jen had inadvertently played us a clip from The Office minutes before the VP appeared, as a light-hearted example of poor communication style.
Later in the afternoon, Anna came in to talk to the class, and offered a far more fulsome and personal apology for the problems we had experienced. She handed out a list of timetable revisions and a schedule for assignment returns. Some of these had to be changed. She also told us that Jen now had a written agreement that she would be remaining as our tutor until the end of the course. A small victory for student power.
Once again, our learning time was taken up with a recap on where unmarked assignments were at and how and when they were going to get marked. Our presentations (of a creative resource) were an issue: Mike and Scott's notes were apparently minimal so we had the choice of "self-assessment" or repeating the presentations. Jay, who had indeed done a very good presentation, was dying to reprise his, but Kelly and Sarah were adamant that they would neither self-assess nor repeat; this was the college's problem not the students' and they demanded to be assessed by the notes taken and grades given at the time. Others agreed with their point of view, though to make life easier for Jen said they would self assess.
Later in the day the VP returned as promised - though only after Jen had been asked several times when he was coming, and had been out to "check". He breezed in, clearly expecting a quick interchange confirming that we were happy with the changes. He certainly did not expect the 10-minute broadside he got from Beth!
She found it disgusting (repeated fortissimo, several times!) that he had come back to see us with no notes, no knowledge of whether the updates we had requested last time were in place; that teaching placement issues for several people were still unresolved; that he had given no decent response to or apology for the stress and anguish caused to most people due to administrative failures dating back to application and enrollment, let alone placement. The VP tried to sooth Beth by suggesting she met with him separately to iron out her problems. This was a mistake: she stressed (crescendo) that she was talking for the whole class, that it was not about the teaching - Mike and Jen had been excellent - but about the administration, the people who were "cogs behind the DTLLS course" who had been a complete failure... and ended up telling him that his visit to the class today had left her feeling "just a little bit worse - if that was possible"!
An impressive tirade, and one which left most of us unable to look the VP in the eye. It hadn't helped that Jen had inadvertently played us a clip from The Office minutes before the VP appeared, as a light-hearted example of poor communication style.
Later in the afternoon, Anna came in to talk to the class, and offered a far more fulsome and personal apology for the problems we had experienced. She handed out a list of timetable revisions and a schedule for assignment returns. Some of these had to be changed. She also told us that Jen now had a written agreement that she would be remaining as our tutor until the end of the course. A small victory for student power.
9 December 2009
Teaching Placement Week Two
Although I wrote this title last week, I'm actually into week three of teaching. Life - particularly in DTLLSworld, but also real life, has been so hectic that I haven't had much time to reflect.
So - last week:
Monday Surestart class: Laura had been held up so I opened the class with a letter chain exercise (How many words can you come up with containing the letters "str"?), which went down fine and took us through the ten minutes before Laura arrived. The Learning Room there does suffer from not having a whiteboard, let alone a smartboard or PCs - and even the flipchart paper has been well-used. I had also sourced some handouts and quizzes on Prepositions, which were used and went down quite well, later in the session
Shelley, the student who Laura had helped out last week, returned and thanked Laura for saving her. Her attendance had previously been so poor she was about to be written off, but Laura's intervention had the effect of renewing her interest and perhaps showing her that real support for her can be found here.
A very successful activity, which was highly inclusive of different levels of ability and allowed peer support and scaffolding, was a simple Murder Mystery game. Laura handed out a b&w picture of a "murder scene" in a cafe (including footprints, handprints, abandoned cups of tea, cigarettes smoking in ashtrays and the bills of the four last customers) and let the two groups work out from the clues what had happened and who had done what to whom. Inferring information from text and other sources is a major part of the Literacy Curriculum, so it worked well in that way, was highly engaging, provoked discussion and humour and brought the group together.
I did some one-to-one work with Mark - who is clearly dyslexic and having a SPLD assessment soon - and felt I was on the way to making relationships with most of the others.
Tuesday Numeracy: my contribution to this week's lesson was to produce some worksheets on Healthy Eating - for estimating, comparing and adding prices of the five-a-day fruit and veg we had worked with last week. I had made some colourful and clear handouts which did the job. I also did one-to-one work with Jo, the student in a wheelchair who usually looks disengaged and doesn't answer questions. As I worked with him, though, I realised he's not at all well and probably in pain. He has physical difficulty writing and clearly appreciated being helped. Interalia he asked me if I believed in reincarnation and spirits, and left a Christmas card for me with Laura.
The class moves to a computer room after the midway break, where Laura had found some excellent interactive games which they worked on in pairs.
Wednesday Literacy: I printed out a mountain of worksheets and activities on commas, compound words, compound sentences and conjunctions, most of which we didn't get round to using. But it was a very good and well-rounded session - as I've written up as part of an assignment ("Professional Discussion" as opposed to essay) on Communication and Supporting Students:
"In a literacy lesson that we jointly planned, my mentor and I were teaching Compound Words. She had explained the learners’ initial and diagnostic assessments to me, and also their individually negotiated learning targets – all of which are SMART (Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). These had been carried out by using Literacy and Numeracy entry level online tests, paper-based and/or online diagnostic tests, one-to-one tutorial sessions and observations.
"Based on these, we used the whiteboard, plenary discussion, then working in pairs and individually on handouts. After this all the students, in pairs, played two online games (sourced by me) which had varying levels of difficulty, promoting learning on the subject. This meant every student was able to take part in each activity, despite their different strengths, weaknesses and learning levels.
"The final part of the lesson introduced them to the concept of evaluation. In a plenary session they listed the positives and negatives of all the teaching methods we had used and rated how much they had learned from each. This inclusive approach had the benefits of valuing each student’s contribution and differing opinions; and demonstrating to us as teachers the immensely varied ways in which they all learned best (and worst). Scoring the resources added an element of numeracy and the online games increased their ICT skills.
"This approach to equality and inclusivity also ticked all aspects of Keller’s ARCS model: the students’ attention was held throughout; the content and resources were relevant to their lives and needs; and their confidence and satisfaction increased as they became more adept in using the different media to increase their literacy skills."
The scary bit is that Laura wants me to take the first hour of next week's lesson on my own, which means a full lesson plan, resources, back up etc... My first proper solo flight, as it were.
So - last week:
Monday Surestart class: Laura had been held up so I opened the class with a letter chain exercise (How many words can you come up with containing the letters "str"?), which went down fine and took us through the ten minutes before Laura arrived. The Learning Room there does suffer from not having a whiteboard, let alone a smartboard or PCs - and even the flipchart paper has been well-used. I had also sourced some handouts and quizzes on Prepositions, which were used and went down quite well, later in the session
Shelley, the student who Laura had helped out last week, returned and thanked Laura for saving her. Her attendance had previously been so poor she was about to be written off, but Laura's intervention had the effect of renewing her interest and perhaps showing her that real support for her can be found here.
A very successful activity, which was highly inclusive of different levels of ability and allowed peer support and scaffolding, was a simple Murder Mystery game. Laura handed out a b&w picture of a "murder scene" in a cafe (including footprints, handprints, abandoned cups of tea, cigarettes smoking in ashtrays and the bills of the four last customers) and let the two groups work out from the clues what had happened and who had done what to whom. Inferring information from text and other sources is a major part of the Literacy Curriculum, so it worked well in that way, was highly engaging, provoked discussion and humour and brought the group together.
I did some one-to-one work with Mark - who is clearly dyslexic and having a SPLD assessment soon - and felt I was on the way to making relationships with most of the others.
Tuesday Numeracy: my contribution to this week's lesson was to produce some worksheets on Healthy Eating - for estimating, comparing and adding prices of the five-a-day fruit and veg we had worked with last week. I had made some colourful and clear handouts which did the job. I also did one-to-one work with Jo, the student in a wheelchair who usually looks disengaged and doesn't answer questions. As I worked with him, though, I realised he's not at all well and probably in pain. He has physical difficulty writing and clearly appreciated being helped. Interalia he asked me if I believed in reincarnation and spirits, and left a Christmas card for me with Laura.
The class moves to a computer room after the midway break, where Laura had found some excellent interactive games which they worked on in pairs.
Wednesday Literacy: I printed out a mountain of worksheets and activities on commas, compound words, compound sentences and conjunctions, most of which we didn't get round to using. But it was a very good and well-rounded session - as I've written up as part of an assignment ("Professional Discussion" as opposed to essay) on Communication and Supporting Students:
"In a literacy lesson that we jointly planned, my mentor and I were teaching Compound Words. She had explained the learners’ initial and diagnostic assessments to me, and also their individually negotiated learning targets – all of which are SMART (Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). These had been carried out by using Literacy and Numeracy entry level online tests, paper-based and/or online diagnostic tests, one-to-one tutorial sessions and observations.
"Based on these, we used the whiteboard, plenary discussion, then working in pairs and individually on handouts. After this all the students, in pairs, played two online games (sourced by me) which had varying levels of difficulty, promoting learning on the subject. This meant every student was able to take part in each activity, despite their different strengths, weaknesses and learning levels.
"The final part of the lesson introduced them to the concept of evaluation. In a plenary session they listed the positives and negatives of all the teaching methods we had used and rated how much they had learned from each. This inclusive approach had the benefits of valuing each student’s contribution and differing opinions; and demonstrating to us as teachers the immensely varied ways in which they all learned best (and worst). Scoring the resources added an element of numeracy and the online games increased their ICT skills.
"This approach to equality and inclusivity also ticked all aspects of Keller’s ARCS model: the students’ attention was held throughout; the content and resources were relevant to their lives and needs; and their confidence and satisfaction increased as they became more adept in using the different media to increase their literacy skills."
The scary bit is that Laura wants me to take the first hour of next week's lesson on my own, which means a full lesson plan, resources, back up etc... My first proper solo flight, as it were.
29 November 2009
Teaching Politics
Returning to the subject of Mike, our FT DTLLS Course Tutor's dismissal.
We had received no communication about the situation from the powers that be by the end of Tuesday, and the majority of my classmates were wanting action. One or two urged caution and letting sleeping dogs lie - on the basis that they weren't keen to compromise their chances of employment at the college post graduation - but this incident (along with the ongoing administrative problems) had made this seem a less attractive idea to some, and they wanted answers.
So on Tuesday evening a substantial email, penned by Jay and me, outlining our grievances from the reasons and timing of Mike's dismissal, through the failure to let us know about the situation, to the detailed results of this action on our classwork, assignments and ongoing placement issues, was sent to the college Principal and the Vice Principal who is in charge of Adult Education. We had concerned responses within hours.
The next day we were told that Jen, a new tutor to the department (covering a maternity leave), though not to the college, would be teaching us for the rest of the term and that the VP would be talking to the class on Friday (the next time we would meet).
On Friday, Jen welcomed us and within minutes the VP arrived. Concern about our issues was forthcoming, but not an apology. The VP, it seemed, had allocated us a whole five minutes of his valuable time - but we kept him for over half an hour, making him go through the detail of our work problems and possible solutions - essentially creating a long To Do list for Jen and yet another rescheduling of assignment hand-in dates and course timetabling. This unenviable project may demonstrate to Jen the problems of the course design and organisation that Mike has been struggling with all term and which have caused his massive overload - in our view.
All queries about Mike's dismissal were deflected with the response that it would be unfair on Mike to discuss it with us; and interwoven throughout the discussion were supportive statements about Anna and implicit criticisms of Mike. We tried to make it clear that we did not think Mike to blame for the organisational inadequacies.
Eventually the VP managed to extract himself from our classroom, but said he would return next week to see how Jen was getting on with the rearrangements - not as full as response to our issues as we had hoped for.
However, we all took to Jen - her personality, experience, willingness to help and - when we actually got round to experiencing it - her teaching style and depth of knowledge. But the amount of work she now has to undertake (including all through the Christmas break, she told us) and the waste of our learning time in introducing ourselves to her, explaining what we have covered so far, and making more explicit the issues with our assignments etc - is highly detrimental to us as students, and frankly unacceptable.
We wonder, while all this is going on for us, what is happening to Mike; whether he is looking for work elsewhere or appealing his dismissal. Even at this late stage, he would be welcomed back by his students.
We had received no communication about the situation from the powers that be by the end of Tuesday, and the majority of my classmates were wanting action. One or two urged caution and letting sleeping dogs lie - on the basis that they weren't keen to compromise their chances of employment at the college post graduation - but this incident (along with the ongoing administrative problems) had made this seem a less attractive idea to some, and they wanted answers.
So on Tuesday evening a substantial email, penned by Jay and me, outlining our grievances from the reasons and timing of Mike's dismissal, through the failure to let us know about the situation, to the detailed results of this action on our classwork, assignments and ongoing placement issues, was sent to the college Principal and the Vice Principal who is in charge of Adult Education. We had concerned responses within hours.
The next day we were told that Jen, a new tutor to the department (covering a maternity leave), though not to the college, would be teaching us for the rest of the term and that the VP would be talking to the class on Friday (the next time we would meet).
On Friday, Jen welcomed us and within minutes the VP arrived. Concern about our issues was forthcoming, but not an apology. The VP, it seemed, had allocated us a whole five minutes of his valuable time - but we kept him for over half an hour, making him go through the detail of our work problems and possible solutions - essentially creating a long To Do list for Jen and yet another rescheduling of assignment hand-in dates and course timetabling. This unenviable project may demonstrate to Jen the problems of the course design and organisation that Mike has been struggling with all term and which have caused his massive overload - in our view.
All queries about Mike's dismissal were deflected with the response that it would be unfair on Mike to discuss it with us; and interwoven throughout the discussion were supportive statements about Anna and implicit criticisms of Mike. We tried to make it clear that we did not think Mike to blame for the organisational inadequacies.
Eventually the VP managed to extract himself from our classroom, but said he would return next week to see how Jen was getting on with the rearrangements - not as full as response to our issues as we had hoped for.
However, we all took to Jen - her personality, experience, willingness to help and - when we actually got round to experiencing it - her teaching style and depth of knowledge. But the amount of work she now has to undertake (including all through the Christmas break, she told us) and the waste of our learning time in introducing ourselves to her, explaining what we have covered so far, and making more explicit the issues with our assignments etc - is highly detrimental to us as students, and frankly unacceptable.
We wonder, while all this is going on for us, what is happening to Mike; whether he is looking for work elsewhere or appealing his dismissal. Even at this late stage, he would be welcomed back by his students.
28 November 2009
Teaching Placement - Week One
Monday, 9.30am was the first day and class of my teaching practice. An adult literacy class offsite at a local Surestart centre. I arrived before Laura and was let into the "learning room" - a basic room with tables and chairs, a sofa one end and a flipchart. Nothing to assist with the ICT functional skills or emerging technology we're supposed to pack into every session to hit all the criteria of a top teacher.
Laura arrived after a couple of the students;we pulled the tables into a central block and six students settled themselves around it. The five women and one man were all thirties and upwards, a couple of women working towards Level 2, the man just Level 1 and the rest in between. A nice and hard-working group, who Laura had just got started on a recap/warm-up about prepositions when a seventh class member turned up. This woman had a poor attendance rate - in fact should have received a letter telling her she was no longer on the course, but Laura welcomed her and included her in the work.
Laura used the flipchart and handouts, directed questioning and discussion to good effect - in fact in the literacy classes I've observed so far, the more basic teaching aids seem more appropriate than using hi tec ICT - although in college they all work on individual PCs for a large proportion of the class. At Surestart, the same work is simply done on paper.
At break time Laura took the latecomer aside and chatted to her on the sofa. After the break was over, she left me in charge of the rest of the group and took the woman out, returning alone after 10 minutes. It transpired later that Laura had noticed the student had refused a cup of tea (which costs 20p) and putting this together with various other signs, realised something was wrong. This woman is a mother of two small children and had £10 to last her for the rest of the week and no credit on her phone, so Laura had given her some advice about accessing emergency funds and taken her to the main Surestart office to make some phone calls. It was difficult call, she said, but with small children involved and me there to cover briefly, it seemed the best option in an emergency situation.
When Laura returned she set the other women individual tasks, set up tests for a couple of them to do at college next week and I worked with Mark, the student who had joined most recently. It was an enjoyable lesson with an interesting anc committed group and I look forward to working with them further.
I went over to the college after this to meet Jay. As the two DTLLS class reps, we went up to the departmental office to see if we could talk to Anna - Mike's line manager and the FT DTLLS manager, to see if she would talk to us about the situation with him. As it turned out she was off sick, probably for the whole week, and though she looked distinctly uncomfortable, Pearl couldn't suggest any other course of action than seeing her when she returned. Not satisfactory.
Tuesday was Numeracy - 9am to 12pm onsite at college. Yasmin, who did the FT DTLLS course with a Literacy placement last year, is helping Laura with this class as a voluntary teaching assistant to help her get paid work. There are six students, one of whom is deaf and has a signer, one has brittle bone disease and is in a wheelchair, and another speaks unclearly and has learning difficuties. Laura did a recap exercise on the whiteboard on number bonds, which raised a number of other issues. The class collectively has poor memory for concepts.
Yasmin had prepared a section on Healthy Eating, involving weighing and estimating the weight of portions of five-a-day fruit and vegetables. Although she got an aspect of fractions wrong which Laura had to correct, the class loved the Noughts and Crosses team game around which she framed some intital questions about weight values, and enjoyed weighing the portions of real fruit and veg she had brought with her. I worked with a pair of students during this exercise, which I was happy with.
After the break the whole class moved rooms to a computer lab where they all did individual tests and online work sheets. I worked with one student on a test, which went well enough. Then while they were working alone, Laura, Yasmin and I discussed next week's class and activities. I volunteered to create some worksheets around estimating prices, actual prices and adding more of the five-a-day portions. It was agreed that I'd need to include pictures to help the wheelchair student who has poor literacy skills.
In the break, Yasmin told me that last year's FT DTLLS course had been run by four tutors for two classes, but they had many problems, especially around mentors and placements - which have certainly not been solved this year. It seems that all four tutors took voluntary severance after being off long-term sick (stress) at various points during year. Mike was dismissed but appealed and was reinstated - to end up running the full time course more or less single-handed. I went up to the departmental office after class and had the conversation with Scott, as reported below.
Wednesday 12 - 3pm: the Literacy class I've observed a couple of times already. The normal room was having the ITC equipment upgraded so we all, me pushing the wheelchair student, decamped to a less than pleasant classroom in another block without the suite of PCs these students are used to. After a group ice-breaker/recap, Laura set the class differentiated tasks on handouts; I worked with the more advanced group on Active and Passive voices, rewriting sentences from one to the other. I enjoyed working with them, though even amongst three there was a mix of abilities and I wasn't sure I kept the least able learner focused and completely understanding the concept. When I checked his learning with directed questions, though, he seemed to have taken the concept on board.
Normally the second half of the class would have been individual working at PCs, but as this was not possible, Laura asked the class to visit the Information Store (library) and borrow a book or DVD to bring and talk about in class next week. She asked me to find some handouts for next week on commas and clauses, simple and complex sentences.
During this first week of teaching practice, although I didn't take any class on my own for any time, I was reassured that I would in time, with Laura's support, be able to do so, starting with small time periods and working upwards. I felt I related well to the students I did work with, and started to get a feel for their learning styles and abilities.
My biggest area for development remains directed questioning, and asking questions that properly check learning and promote attention and confidence. I also don't think I would have had the experience to note the signs and deal with the problems of the learner in the Monday Surestart class.
Laura arrived after a couple of the students;we pulled the tables into a central block and six students settled themselves around it. The five women and one man were all thirties and upwards, a couple of women working towards Level 2, the man just Level 1 and the rest in between. A nice and hard-working group, who Laura had just got started on a recap/warm-up about prepositions when a seventh class member turned up. This woman had a poor attendance rate - in fact should have received a letter telling her she was no longer on the course, but Laura welcomed her and included her in the work.
Laura used the flipchart and handouts, directed questioning and discussion to good effect - in fact in the literacy classes I've observed so far, the more basic teaching aids seem more appropriate than using hi tec ICT - although in college they all work on individual PCs for a large proportion of the class. At Surestart, the same work is simply done on paper.
At break time Laura took the latecomer aside and chatted to her on the sofa. After the break was over, she left me in charge of the rest of the group and took the woman out, returning alone after 10 minutes. It transpired later that Laura had noticed the student had refused a cup of tea (which costs 20p) and putting this together with various other signs, realised something was wrong. This woman is a mother of two small children and had £10 to last her for the rest of the week and no credit on her phone, so Laura had given her some advice about accessing emergency funds and taken her to the main Surestart office to make some phone calls. It was difficult call, she said, but with small children involved and me there to cover briefly, it seemed the best option in an emergency situation.
When Laura returned she set the other women individual tasks, set up tests for a couple of them to do at college next week and I worked with Mark, the student who had joined most recently. It was an enjoyable lesson with an interesting anc committed group and I look forward to working with them further.
I went over to the college after this to meet Jay. As the two DTLLS class reps, we went up to the departmental office to see if we could talk to Anna - Mike's line manager and the FT DTLLS manager, to see if she would talk to us about the situation with him. As it turned out she was off sick, probably for the whole week, and though she looked distinctly uncomfortable, Pearl couldn't suggest any other course of action than seeing her when she returned. Not satisfactory.
Tuesday was Numeracy - 9am to 12pm onsite at college. Yasmin, who did the FT DTLLS course with a Literacy placement last year, is helping Laura with this class as a voluntary teaching assistant to help her get paid work. There are six students, one of whom is deaf and has a signer, one has brittle bone disease and is in a wheelchair, and another speaks unclearly and has learning difficuties. Laura did a recap exercise on the whiteboard on number bonds, which raised a number of other issues. The class collectively has poor memory for concepts.
Yasmin had prepared a section on Healthy Eating, involving weighing and estimating the weight of portions of five-a-day fruit and vegetables. Although she got an aspect of fractions wrong which Laura had to correct, the class loved the Noughts and Crosses team game around which she framed some intital questions about weight values, and enjoyed weighing the portions of real fruit and veg she had brought with her. I worked with a pair of students during this exercise, which I was happy with.
After the break the whole class moved rooms to a computer lab where they all did individual tests and online work sheets. I worked with one student on a test, which went well enough. Then while they were working alone, Laura, Yasmin and I discussed next week's class and activities. I volunteered to create some worksheets around estimating prices, actual prices and adding more of the five-a-day portions. It was agreed that I'd need to include pictures to help the wheelchair student who has poor literacy skills.
In the break, Yasmin told me that last year's FT DTLLS course had been run by four tutors for two classes, but they had many problems, especially around mentors and placements - which have certainly not been solved this year. It seems that all four tutors took voluntary severance after being off long-term sick (stress) at various points during year. Mike was dismissed but appealed and was reinstated - to end up running the full time course more or less single-handed. I went up to the departmental office after class and had the conversation with Scott, as reported below.
Wednesday 12 - 3pm: the Literacy class I've observed a couple of times already. The normal room was having the ITC equipment upgraded so we all, me pushing the wheelchair student, decamped to a less than pleasant classroom in another block without the suite of PCs these students are used to. After a group ice-breaker/recap, Laura set the class differentiated tasks on handouts; I worked with the more advanced group on Active and Passive voices, rewriting sentences from one to the other. I enjoyed working with them, though even amongst three there was a mix of abilities and I wasn't sure I kept the least able learner focused and completely understanding the concept. When I checked his learning with directed questions, though, he seemed to have taken the concept on board.
Normally the second half of the class would have been individual working at PCs, but as this was not possible, Laura asked the class to visit the Information Store (library) and borrow a book or DVD to bring and talk about in class next week. She asked me to find some handouts for next week on commas and clauses, simple and complex sentences.
During this first week of teaching practice, although I didn't take any class on my own for any time, I was reassured that I would in time, with Laura's support, be able to do so, starting with small time periods and working upwards. I felt I related well to the students I did work with, and started to get a feel for their learning styles and abilities.
My biggest area for development remains directed questioning, and asking questions that properly check learning and promote attention and confidence. I also don't think I would have had the experience to note the signs and deal with the problems of the learner in the Monday Surestart class.
25 November 2009
I'm not alone
How exciting - two comments on the post before last, and my site meter tells me a few other people have read this blog other than me and the two (now one) course tutors who presumably check in with this Reflective Journal occasionally.
One from James Atherton, whose website learningandteaching.info is a brilliant resource for trainee teachers like me - and even has a ready made reference to cut and paste into the Reference page of your essays! It has all the theories and principles summarised succinctly but critically with wit, humour and further refs. He's even quoted me in his Recent Reflections blog and made some insightful comments about my moaning.
And another from Sean whose Reflective Journal post on some of the teaching he's been on the receiving end of is quite horrifying. Makes it even more ridiculous that our college has dismissed one of the apparently few good teachers in Adult Education.
One from James Atherton, whose website learningandteaching.info is a brilliant resource for trainee teachers like me - and even has a ready made reference to cut and paste into the Reference page of your essays! It has all the theories and principles summarised succinctly but critically with wit, humour and further refs. He's even quoted me in his Recent Reflections blog and made some insightful comments about my moaning.
And another from Sean whose Reflective Journal post on some of the teaching he's been on the receiving end of is quite horrifying. Makes it even more ridiculous that our college has dismissed one of the apparently few good teachers in Adult Education.
Unexpected Turn of Events
At the risk of sounding like Victor Meldrew, I don't believe it!
They've dismissed our Course Tutor, Mike.
On Friday, our last day in class before we disperse to start teaching practice, we were disappointed to find that Mike was ill and we were being taught by Pearl. Enquiries as to what Mike was suffering from went unanswered and we all went for a pub lunch. In the afternoon, Jay, somewhat merry from the meal out, became a little loud and started to complain about lack of differentiation for those at the top end of the class learning scale. Pearl was flustered by this - well, she only knows us from independently assessing some of our microteaches - and found it hard to take Big Jay in her stride. It made several of us realise how well and adeptly Mike knows and handles us - our diverse needs and personalities.
However, when I got home I found an email from Mike telling me, not that he was unwell, but that he had been dismissed by the college as he hadn't "completed his probation satisfactorily". It was a professional email, sent on the college system, telling us what had happened out of courtesy and in the hope that we would continue to enjoy the course in his absence. But beneath the professional surface, his distress was clear to me.
Obviously I sent it round the group and we were soon emailing and phoning our shock, upset, fury and disgust that the best part of the DTLLS experience had been summarily excised, leaving us with the poor admin, badly organised placements and mentor system, no academic or pastoral tutor, past assignments unmarked (such as the Presentations, some of which only Mike had seen), future assignments waiting for his input, and the loss of his valued teaching. Quite extraordinary to dismiss a key member of staff mid-course and mid-term. How could they do this to us - students are supposed to be at the centre of learning? They certainly never asked for our feedback.
Jay and I, as class reps, went up to the Departmental office on Monday to speak to Mike's line manager and administrator of the course (including mis-managed placements etc). She was off sick and likely to remain so for the week. No one volunteered to tell us what was going on. We all waited, fulminating, for another day - in between our first teaching practice classes), to see if emails or phone calls explaining the situation with Mike would be forthcoming. They were not.
I had a brief conversation with Scott in which we both knew what was being discussed, but he couldn't break professional boundaries and I wasn't willing to tell him how I knew what had happened. He advised us to contact to the Vice Principal in charge of our department -- so late last night, a measured but very concerned letter from the whole DTLLS class (signed by us as class reps) was emailed to the college Principal and relevant Vice Principal.
On the stroke of midnight a brief but concerned reply (not an automated one!) was received from the Principal; by 8am this morning, a similar response came from the Vice Principal. The grapevine now tells us we have a stand in teacher for the rest of this term (only 3 days of teaching) and that the Vice Principal will be speaking to the class on Friday. He should be warned that the class is in fighting mood and only one response will do.
Realitically, we are hoping that Mike will take his case to arbitration and/or tribunal and that the college will reinstate him asap. It's simply not possible to replace the relationships built between a really good teacher and a group as diverse in learning styles, abilities and personalities as ours at this stage of the course. All of us relied on his support and one-to-one tuition as well as his excellent class style and management. At this moment we have many questions, no answers and no one to go to with them.
Given that the college and course are supposed to be modelling good teaching and learning practice - designing and delivering a high quality course for trainee teachers - it seems a questionable way to be going about it.
They've dismissed our Course Tutor, Mike.
On Friday, our last day in class before we disperse to start teaching practice, we were disappointed to find that Mike was ill and we were being taught by Pearl. Enquiries as to what Mike was suffering from went unanswered and we all went for a pub lunch. In the afternoon, Jay, somewhat merry from the meal out, became a little loud and started to complain about lack of differentiation for those at the top end of the class learning scale. Pearl was flustered by this - well, she only knows us from independently assessing some of our microteaches - and found it hard to take Big Jay in her stride. It made several of us realise how well and adeptly Mike knows and handles us - our diverse needs and personalities.
However, when I got home I found an email from Mike telling me, not that he was unwell, but that he had been dismissed by the college as he hadn't "completed his probation satisfactorily". It was a professional email, sent on the college system, telling us what had happened out of courtesy and in the hope that we would continue to enjoy the course in his absence. But beneath the professional surface, his distress was clear to me.
Obviously I sent it round the group and we were soon emailing and phoning our shock, upset, fury and disgust that the best part of the DTLLS experience had been summarily excised, leaving us with the poor admin, badly organised placements and mentor system, no academic or pastoral tutor, past assignments unmarked (such as the Presentations, some of which only Mike had seen), future assignments waiting for his input, and the loss of his valued teaching. Quite extraordinary to dismiss a key member of staff mid-course and mid-term. How could they do this to us - students are supposed to be at the centre of learning? They certainly never asked for our feedback.
Jay and I, as class reps, went up to the Departmental office on Monday to speak to Mike's line manager and administrator of the course (including mis-managed placements etc). She was off sick and likely to remain so for the week. No one volunteered to tell us what was going on. We all waited, fulminating, for another day - in between our first teaching practice classes), to see if emails or phone calls explaining the situation with Mike would be forthcoming. They were not.
I had a brief conversation with Scott in which we both knew what was being discussed, but he couldn't break professional boundaries and I wasn't willing to tell him how I knew what had happened. He advised us to contact to the Vice Principal in charge of our department -- so late last night, a measured but very concerned letter from the whole DTLLS class (signed by us as class reps) was emailed to the college Principal and relevant Vice Principal.
On the stroke of midnight a brief but concerned reply (not an automated one!) was received from the Principal; by 8am this morning, a similar response came from the Vice Principal. The grapevine now tells us we have a stand in teacher for the rest of this term (only 3 days of teaching) and that the Vice Principal will be speaking to the class on Friday. He should be warned that the class is in fighting mood and only one response will do.
Realitically, we are hoping that Mike will take his case to arbitration and/or tribunal and that the college will reinstate him asap. It's simply not possible to replace the relationships built between a really good teacher and a group as diverse in learning styles, abilities and personalities as ours at this stage of the course. All of us relied on his support and one-to-one tuition as well as his excellent class style and management. At this moment we have many questions, no answers and no one to go to with them.
Given that the college and course are supposed to be modelling good teaching and learning practice - designing and delivering a high quality course for trainee teachers - it seems a questionable way to be going about it.
21 November 2009
Post Presentation
It's been a heavy week - and it's only Wednesday.
Today we had to give our 15-minute presentations on a subject specialist resource we had designed. It sounded like a reasonably simple assignment, but typically I made my Adult Literacy resource relate to my previous area of expertise, psychology and well-being. James W Pennebaker has long been a hero of mine for proving, in controlled clinical research, that writing about trauma - in a freestyle, but structured way - promote psychological and physical well-being.
The result was I didn't finish writing the presentation and preparing the Powerpoint until late the night before so there was no time to rehearse and I ended up reading from notes - which I'm sure I'll get marked down on. But in a choice between free delivery but losing my place and thread and leaving out important info, and sticking to a script which progressed with clarity and got in all the necessary points, I chose the latter.
This course is making me feel strangely de-skilled in many ways. I've delivered management training, talks, seminars, workshops and creative writing classes for many years; ok, I may not have done so in a technically perfect way, but feedback has always been good and I've always thought that I can get information over to people and relate well to an audience/class. Now I feel like I don't know how to do it right any more at all; that my natural style has been compromised and I may be too old a dog to learn new tricks successfully. When I have presented research reports in the past to an academic audience, there has been no problem with working from notes - in fact it's expected.
I feel the same about writing, after the marking of Module 1 essays - though these are now being re-checked and it has been admitted that they were marked at Level 5 standards instead of Level 4, which this course is.
And yet I'm not impressed with the administration of the course nor the modelling of how to run a satisfactory course for students (not "learners", we've now been told - "students" is college policy). The teaching of our two main tutors has been excellent, but the surrounding admin and support pretty useless.
Today we had to give our 15-minute presentations on a subject specialist resource we had designed. It sounded like a reasonably simple assignment, but typically I made my Adult Literacy resource relate to my previous area of expertise, psychology and well-being. James W Pennebaker has long been a hero of mine for proving, in controlled clinical research, that writing about trauma - in a freestyle, but structured way - promote psychological and physical well-being.
The result was I didn't finish writing the presentation and preparing the Powerpoint until late the night before so there was no time to rehearse and I ended up reading from notes - which I'm sure I'll get marked down on. But in a choice between free delivery but losing my place and thread and leaving out important info, and sticking to a script which progressed with clarity and got in all the necessary points, I chose the latter.
This course is making me feel strangely de-skilled in many ways. I've delivered management training, talks, seminars, workshops and creative writing classes for many years; ok, I may not have done so in a technically perfect way, but feedback has always been good and I've always thought that I can get information over to people and relate well to an audience/class. Now I feel like I don't know how to do it right any more at all; that my natural style has been compromised and I may be too old a dog to learn new tricks successfully. When I have presented research reports in the past to an academic audience, there has been no problem with working from notes - in fact it's expected.
I feel the same about writing, after the marking of Module 1 essays - though these are now being re-checked and it has been admitted that they were marked at Level 5 standards instead of Level 4, which this course is.
And yet I'm not impressed with the administration of the course nor the modelling of how to run a satisfactory course for students (not "learners", we've now been told - "students" is college policy). The teaching of our two main tutors has been excellent, but the surrounding admin and support pretty useless.
14 November 2009
DTLLS Class Song
I wrote this in a moment of madness/creativity in half an hour last weekend - who knows why?
To be sung to the tune of ABBA's "Dancing Queen"
We can learn, we can teach; distinction, merit or pass.
Take it down, feed it back – diggin’ the DTTLS Class.
Thursday night and the essay’s due;
Will our theories in use ring true?
Have we referenced our sources; Gravells, Petty, Race -
Got Bloom and Schon in place?
Anybody could mark our work,
Can’t assume they’ll accept our quirks.
Add a plug for Vygostsky; Maslow motivates -
We’re in child ego state,
Let’s differentiate!
We are the DTTLS Class, SMART of aim and truly diverse;
DTTLS Class – reflective journals all getting worse?
We can learn, we can teach; distinction, merit or pass:
See those guys, watch those girls diggin’ the DTTLS Class.
We're assessing and feeding back,
Formative, summative – got the knack!
Struggling with our mentors – if there’s one in reach –
We’ve done our microteach;
My ILP’s in breach...
We are the DTLLS Class, SMART of aim and truly diverse;
DTLLS Class – trying hard not to swear or curse.
We can learn, we can teach; distinction, merit or pass;
Write that SOL, cloze that gap; diggin’ the DTLLS Class.
To be sung to the tune of ABBA's "Dancing Queen"
We can learn, we can teach; distinction, merit or pass.
Take it down, feed it back – diggin’ the DTTLS Class.
Thursday night and the essay’s due;
Will our theories in use ring true?
Have we referenced our sources; Gravells, Petty, Race -
Got Bloom and Schon in place?
Anybody could mark our work,
Can’t assume they’ll accept our quirks.
Add a plug for Vygostsky; Maslow motivates -
We’re in child ego state,
Let’s differentiate!
We are the DTTLS Class, SMART of aim and truly diverse;
DTTLS Class – reflective journals all getting worse?
We can learn, we can teach; distinction, merit or pass:
See those guys, watch those girls diggin’ the DTTLS Class.
We're assessing and feeding back,
Formative, summative – got the knack!
Struggling with our mentors – if there’s one in reach –
We’ve done our microteach;
My ILP’s in breach...
We are the DTLLS Class, SMART of aim and truly diverse;
DTLLS Class – trying hard not to swear or curse.
We can learn, we can teach; distinction, merit or pass;
Write that SOL, cloze that gap; diggin’ the DTLLS Class.
Been Too Long
Nearly a month, I see, since I lasted "reflected" here - I'm supposed to be doing so at least once a week so might lose marks for this in some formative assessment! The fact is, I've been finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the demands of the DTLLS course.
The week after I last posted, my old life made a bit of a come back and I had a morning off co-presenting a radio show, an evening talk to a writers' group, a day in London judging a work-life balance competition - and it was my birthday. The week after that was half term - a good time to get assignments and extra studying done for most of my co-students, but for me impossible to do any work at all with children also on half term, visits to both sets of grandparents planned, another book talk to give and my eldset son to stay for the weekend. In some ways it was very healthy to step out of DTLLS-world for a time, and realise that the course is not the be all and end all of my existence.
Last week, though, when we came back to college after the break, it all seemed to close around me again and with an assignment which I hadn't even started to be handed in on Friday, I went into a bit of a meltdown. My mentor, Laura, suggested I might go part-time (it's possible to do the DTLLS course in two years rather than one, but you don't get the bursary for that, and the financial imperative of finding actual teaching work asap after finishing makes that a non starter for me); Scott was very sympathetic in my tutorial with him, ordered me to take some time out and asked whether I had ever been told how much work the course would involve - given that my only working times outside college are the Thursday we have off and after 9pm in the evening. The answer was no - nothing about the course was explicit until I was actually enrolled on it. Mike gave me a two week extension, but with that as a backstop position, I just worked long nights and got the "Assessment Strategy" and accompanying essay in on time - last Friday.
This week I've had little chance to recover from the exhaustion that produced as we all had to give another microteach on Wednesday. Working in groups of three, we had to research and prepare a 45-minute Functional Skills Numeracy lesson. I was working with Hugh and Sarah on "Fractions, Decimals and Percentages and Eequivalences Between Them", with my section being the introduction then Fractions and Decimals. It was a rush, but Hugh is great on creating Powerpoints, we came up with some good activities and it went ok, if no more than that. There was a lot of material to incorporate (normally that would have been covered in several sessions), so some of it was certainly a bit rushed.
Developmental Feedback from Scott was: not enough differentiation, more directed questions and time activities so learners focus and teachers can time-manage better. All quite fair enough and will be taken on board. Positives were good communication, eye contact, clarity of info - in Powerpoint and on the whiteboard, creative activities.
The minute that was over, I had to start working on the next assignment - a "Resource" for my adult literacy learners and a 15-minute presentation of same, which is to be given to tutors and the class next Wednesday. This means I have several more long nights before then looming, though I'm rather pleased with what I've put together - a simple writing template to combine cognitive and affective understanding (Bloom's Taxonomy) based on James W. Pennebaker's work on Expressive Writing - which can be used to consolidate/explore learning or to manage challenging behaviour or incidents. Very Vygotsky - not just his Zone of Proximal Learning stuff, but also his theories on how children learn language. I have the PowerPoint and structure of the presentation to put together before next Wednesday.
Then, before the end of term we have to prepare a 15-minute Professional Discussion (ie viva voce examination) on "Positive Behaviour, Communication and Barriers to Learning" - and start work on Module 7's assignment, a reasonably major piece of research: only 2,500 words for the report, but with demanding criteria.
Talking of criteria, we got our Module 1 assignments back at the beginning of this week. I got Merits for everything - microteach, reflection, essays.... I was quite happy with the grade and feedback for the teaching, but disappointed with the essay grades - and lack of constructive feedback about why I hadn't achieved a Distinction (which Mike had been quite clear I had on the drafts I submitted to him) or how I could do so in future. The fact is, as he too had succumbed to work-overload, Mike didn't mark our work and almost everyone was disappointed by their grades and feedback. As I got ticks, "good", "excellent" or other positive remarks on almost all paras, and notes consisted of a few minor quibbles about word choices, in the main, I - along with several others - have resubmitted mine for independent assessment or at least clarification. In one sense the grades don't matter, as the end result is either Pass or Fail - no grade for the DTLLS course - but the work all goes into your Professional Portfolio, and it was intensely demotivating to find I had the same grade as some people who don't write as well as me, or have the same academic background. Having helped Nat shape and structure her essays, I know for sure that mine were a grade above, at least. What use is it to know that I got a "strong" merit, when merits are not differentiated within the grading system?
At the end of this week we had a role play session on providing each other with a badly behaved class to see what sort of behaviour management we could achieve. My session came towards the end, by which time the group had become semi-hysterical with acting out pregnant chavs, violent teenagers, recalcitrant leaners, over-smart students and a range of other disruptive scenarios for each other. My class had two people smoking out of the window and one drawing rude pix on the whiteboard. I can't claim to have managed them remotely effectively, devolving instantly into "controlling parent" ego state (Transactional Analysis), yet failing to control. It wasn't very lifelike, but did make me think about my own habits: one of which is I never give of my best in fake situations, rehearsals, hypothetical scenarios - but reality and real people bring out the best in me and I can surprise myself by how effectively I can deal with difficult situations in real life. Also, I don't get much challenging behaviour when I'm teaching or chairing or managing groups, perhaps because I like and understand people and on the whole they like me.
The week after next, class work reduces to one day a week and teaching practice starts in earnest - 3 x 3-hour classes a week for me, probably two in Literacy and one in Numeracy - following the discussion about my placement and which Laura has been very helpful in sorting out. I'll be starting by observing all classes, then taking small sections with Laura present, then when I get to the stage of being in charge of an hour's worth of class, she'll leave me to it... then at some stage next term I shall be taking all three classes full time and madly writing lesson plans, finding resources, creating Powerpoints, understanding where everyone is in terms of assessment and learning outcomes.
In the mean time I'd better give myself some SMART(ish) objectives:
Teaching style: Don't: get freaked by outlandish, hypothetical situations; get competitive or undermined in class/group situations.
Do: ask direct questions for inclusion and to check learning; be clearer about instructions for activities; think about differentiation in all activities
Assignments: Don't: panic about time - it will all get done in the end and Merit is perfectly acceptable, given I have so much less time than most people to do the work.
Do: start work on the Professional Discussion as soon as Wednesday's presentation is over, and write at least the Proposal for the Research Project before the end of this term (check it with Mike).
The week after I last posted, my old life made a bit of a come back and I had a morning off co-presenting a radio show, an evening talk to a writers' group, a day in London judging a work-life balance competition - and it was my birthday. The week after that was half term - a good time to get assignments and extra studying done for most of my co-students, but for me impossible to do any work at all with children also on half term, visits to both sets of grandparents planned, another book talk to give and my eldset son to stay for the weekend. In some ways it was very healthy to step out of DTLLS-world for a time, and realise that the course is not the be all and end all of my existence.
Last week, though, when we came back to college after the break, it all seemed to close around me again and with an assignment which I hadn't even started to be handed in on Friday, I went into a bit of a meltdown. My mentor, Laura, suggested I might go part-time (it's possible to do the DTLLS course in two years rather than one, but you don't get the bursary for that, and the financial imperative of finding actual teaching work asap after finishing makes that a non starter for me); Scott was very sympathetic in my tutorial with him, ordered me to take some time out and asked whether I had ever been told how much work the course would involve - given that my only working times outside college are the Thursday we have off and after 9pm in the evening. The answer was no - nothing about the course was explicit until I was actually enrolled on it. Mike gave me a two week extension, but with that as a backstop position, I just worked long nights and got the "Assessment Strategy" and accompanying essay in on time - last Friday.
This week I've had little chance to recover from the exhaustion that produced as we all had to give another microteach on Wednesday. Working in groups of three, we had to research and prepare a 45-minute Functional Skills Numeracy lesson. I was working with Hugh and Sarah on "Fractions, Decimals and Percentages and Eequivalences Between Them", with my section being the introduction then Fractions and Decimals. It was a rush, but Hugh is great on creating Powerpoints, we came up with some good activities and it went ok, if no more than that. There was a lot of material to incorporate (normally that would have been covered in several sessions), so some of it was certainly a bit rushed.
Developmental Feedback from Scott was: not enough differentiation, more directed questions and time activities so learners focus and teachers can time-manage better. All quite fair enough and will be taken on board. Positives were good communication, eye contact, clarity of info - in Powerpoint and on the whiteboard, creative activities.
The minute that was over, I had to start working on the next assignment - a "Resource" for my adult literacy learners and a 15-minute presentation of same, which is to be given to tutors and the class next Wednesday. This means I have several more long nights before then looming, though I'm rather pleased with what I've put together - a simple writing template to combine cognitive and affective understanding (Bloom's Taxonomy) based on James W. Pennebaker's work on Expressive Writing - which can be used to consolidate/explore learning or to manage challenging behaviour or incidents. Very Vygotsky - not just his Zone of Proximal Learning stuff, but also his theories on how children learn language. I have the PowerPoint and structure of the presentation to put together before next Wednesday.
Then, before the end of term we have to prepare a 15-minute Professional Discussion (ie viva voce examination) on "Positive Behaviour, Communication and Barriers to Learning" - and start work on Module 7's assignment, a reasonably major piece of research: only 2,500 words for the report, but with demanding criteria.
Talking of criteria, we got our Module 1 assignments back at the beginning of this week. I got Merits for everything - microteach, reflection, essays.... I was quite happy with the grade and feedback for the teaching, but disappointed with the essay grades - and lack of constructive feedback about why I hadn't achieved a Distinction (which Mike had been quite clear I had on the drafts I submitted to him) or how I could do so in future. The fact is, as he too had succumbed to work-overload, Mike didn't mark our work and almost everyone was disappointed by their grades and feedback. As I got ticks, "good", "excellent" or other positive remarks on almost all paras, and notes consisted of a few minor quibbles about word choices, in the main, I - along with several others - have resubmitted mine for independent assessment or at least clarification. In one sense the grades don't matter, as the end result is either Pass or Fail - no grade for the DTLLS course - but the work all goes into your Professional Portfolio, and it was intensely demotivating to find I had the same grade as some people who don't write as well as me, or have the same academic background. Having helped Nat shape and structure her essays, I know for sure that mine were a grade above, at least. What use is it to know that I got a "strong" merit, when merits are not differentiated within the grading system?
At the end of this week we had a role play session on providing each other with a badly behaved class to see what sort of behaviour management we could achieve. My session came towards the end, by which time the group had become semi-hysterical with acting out pregnant chavs, violent teenagers, recalcitrant leaners, over-smart students and a range of other disruptive scenarios for each other. My class had two people smoking out of the window and one drawing rude pix on the whiteboard. I can't claim to have managed them remotely effectively, devolving instantly into "controlling parent" ego state (Transactional Analysis), yet failing to control. It wasn't very lifelike, but did make me think about my own habits: one of which is I never give of my best in fake situations, rehearsals, hypothetical scenarios - but reality and real people bring out the best in me and I can surprise myself by how effectively I can deal with difficult situations in real life. Also, I don't get much challenging behaviour when I'm teaching or chairing or managing groups, perhaps because I like and understand people and on the whole they like me.
The week after next, class work reduces to one day a week and teaching practice starts in earnest - 3 x 3-hour classes a week for me, probably two in Literacy and one in Numeracy - following the discussion about my placement and which Laura has been very helpful in sorting out. I'll be starting by observing all classes, then taking small sections with Laura present, then when I get to the stage of being in charge of an hour's worth of class, she'll leave me to it... then at some stage next term I shall be taking all three classes full time and madly writing lesson plans, finding resources, creating Powerpoints, understanding where everyone is in terms of assessment and learning outcomes.
In the mean time I'd better give myself some SMART(ish) objectives:
Teaching style: Don't: get freaked by outlandish, hypothetical situations; get competitive or undermined in class/group situations.
Do: ask direct questions for inclusion and to check learning; be clearer about instructions for activities; think about differentiation in all activities
Assignments: Don't: panic about time - it will all get done in the end and Merit is perfectly acceptable, given I have so much less time than most people to do the work.
Do: start work on the Professional Discussion as soon as Wednesday's presentation is over, and write at least the Proposal for the Research Project before the end of this term (check it with Mike).
17 October 2009
Unconscious competence - the flip side
This week we've been learning about and discussing professional skills development (module 5) with Scott and assessment and feedback (module 3) with Mike.
In development models we've looked at the journey from Unconscious Incompetence (not knowing what you don't know), to Conscious Incompetence (aware that you need to increase skills), then Conscious Competence (applying new skills with clumsy awareness) through to Unconscious Competence (skills embedded so you use them without having to think about it).
In Berliner's model, a teacher goes from Novice (Stage 1: Novice. At this stage teachers are labelling and learning the different elements that make up classroom tasks. Performance in the classroom is rational, relatively inflexible and requires purposeful concentration. Students on school experience and into their first year of teaching are likely to be at this stage.) to Expert (Stage 5: Expert. This stage is characterised by an intuitive grasp of situations and non-analytic, non-deliberate sense of appropriate behaviour. Teaching performance is fluid and seemingly effortless as teachers no longer choose the focus of their attention, but operate on automatic pilot and have in place standardised, automated routines to handle instructions and management. Expert teachers are likely to have difficulty in unpacking or describing their cognitions.) via Advanced Beginner, Competent and Proficient. (As an aside, this journey is expected to take up to five years - long enough to take me almost to official retirement age; is it worth it, I'm wondering?)
In assessment and feedback we've discussed the necessity for methods which promote equality and diversity in the former; and ensuring that the latter is constructive and, ideally, given in the postive/development/postive "feedback sandwich", or "medal and mission" model.
The two areas came together for me with a resounding clash in Friday's last session. We'd been doing an exercise in pairs, rewriting some viciously presented feedback on a theoretical student's assignment in a more appropriate way, and presenting our results on the visualiser. Hugh and Beth's joint rewrite had produced a piece of feedback which was still fairly negative and hadn't followed the model of finishing off with some positive, motivating remarks. Several of us remarked on this - perhaps I was the most critical, I'm not sure - but there was some general discussion.
While this continued, I was unconsciously re-reading their three paragraphs up on the wall screen and clocking the fact that their last two paras repeated each other, that the third para was better constructed so that if they cut out the second, replaced it with the third and wrote a brief, positive final para, they would have a well-written piece of sandwich-style feedback.
It wasn't until Mike picked me up on my use of the phrase "incredibly repetitive" that I realised I'd actually pointed this out aloud and unfiltered. I mean, I was, of course, aware that I'd been speaking, but had fallen so automatically back into my normal Unconscious Competence of writing/re-writing/editing my own work or that of other writers who actively want that sort of explicit and robust exposition, that it had completely over-ridden my Conscious Competence (or Incompetence) of giving positive and polite feedback to trainee teacher peers.
It took me literally several seconds to connect with what Mike was implying in relation to my using the word "incredibly" - that it was harsh and inappropriate. Beth told me to stop being so competitive. But I wasn't intending to be either critical or competitive; I was simply and automatically doing the job I've been doing all my life (in various forms), which is to turn clumsy or badly constructed text into meaningful and flowing prose which effectively delivers the message it is intended to.
I don't like the fact that I've come across as both rude to two people I like and respect, and arrogant in a group of people where my age and life experience already gives me certain advantages. As well as that, though, it's scary that my Novice teacher status can so easily be undermined by my "Expert" writer/editor status - what if it happened in a real classroom situation, and I didn't even notice?
In development models we've looked at the journey from Unconscious Incompetence (not knowing what you don't know), to Conscious Incompetence (aware that you need to increase skills), then Conscious Competence (applying new skills with clumsy awareness) through to Unconscious Competence (skills embedded so you use them without having to think about it).
In Berliner's model, a teacher goes from Novice (Stage 1: Novice. At this stage teachers are labelling and learning the different elements that make up classroom tasks. Performance in the classroom is rational, relatively inflexible and requires purposeful concentration. Students on school experience and into their first year of teaching are likely to be at this stage.) to Expert (Stage 5: Expert. This stage is characterised by an intuitive grasp of situations and non-analytic, non-deliberate sense of appropriate behaviour. Teaching performance is fluid and seemingly effortless as teachers no longer choose the focus of their attention, but operate on automatic pilot and have in place standardised, automated routines to handle instructions and management. Expert teachers are likely to have difficulty in unpacking or describing their cognitions.) via Advanced Beginner, Competent and Proficient. (As an aside, this journey is expected to take up to five years - long enough to take me almost to official retirement age; is it worth it, I'm wondering?)
In assessment and feedback we've discussed the necessity for methods which promote equality and diversity in the former; and ensuring that the latter is constructive and, ideally, given in the postive/development/postive "feedback sandwich", or "medal and mission" model.
The two areas came together for me with a resounding clash in Friday's last session. We'd been doing an exercise in pairs, rewriting some viciously presented feedback on a theoretical student's assignment in a more appropriate way, and presenting our results on the visualiser. Hugh and Beth's joint rewrite had produced a piece of feedback which was still fairly negative and hadn't followed the model of finishing off with some positive, motivating remarks. Several of us remarked on this - perhaps I was the most critical, I'm not sure - but there was some general discussion.
While this continued, I was unconsciously re-reading their three paragraphs up on the wall screen and clocking the fact that their last two paras repeated each other, that the third para was better constructed so that if they cut out the second, replaced it with the third and wrote a brief, positive final para, they would have a well-written piece of sandwich-style feedback.
It wasn't until Mike picked me up on my use of the phrase "incredibly repetitive" that I realised I'd actually pointed this out aloud and unfiltered. I mean, I was, of course, aware that I'd been speaking, but had fallen so automatically back into my normal Unconscious Competence of writing/re-writing/editing my own work or that of other writers who actively want that sort of explicit and robust exposition, that it had completely over-ridden my Conscious Competence (or Incompetence) of giving positive and polite feedback to trainee teacher peers.
It took me literally several seconds to connect with what Mike was implying in relation to my using the word "incredibly" - that it was harsh and inappropriate. Beth told me to stop being so competitive. But I wasn't intending to be either critical or competitive; I was simply and automatically doing the job I've been doing all my life (in various forms), which is to turn clumsy or badly constructed text into meaningful and flowing prose which effectively delivers the message it is intended to.
I don't like the fact that I've come across as both rude to two people I like and respect, and arrogant in a group of people where my age and life experience already gives me certain advantages. As well as that, though, it's scary that my Novice teacher status can so easily be undermined by my "Expert" writer/editor status - what if it happened in a real classroom situation, and I didn't even notice?
12 October 2009
Refelctive Journal 2: Micro-teach
Too long between reflections (posts). The micro-teach assignment (an observed/assessed 30-minute lesson to the DiTLLS class with all the preparation, resources, knowledge we've covered in the course so far) has taken up almost all available headspace, woken me up in the night and kept me in a state of permanent anxiety until I actually delivered it a week ago.
Having learned about Initial Assessment - checking learners' ability in advance of teaching them - I thought I'd apply my specialist diagnostics experience (previous life) and distribute a survey to my "learners" (classmates) about what aspects of punctuation and grammar they'd find most useful for writing essays. The result was that two subjects were equally popular, and I was fixated with the need to get them both into my half-hour lesson. They were: uses of the semi-colon; and broadening vocabulary for better writing. For the latter, I had this brilliant idea of demonstrating how to use the Thesaurus tool on Word on the visualiser (great chance to embed functional ICT skills) to enhance a piece of writing, and was very resistant to the suggestion from Asif - who is an experienced ESOL teacher - that I shouldn't be over-ambitiout.
After much stressing, I prepared a detailed lesson plan for my tutorial with Mike, with all this material crammed into half an hour and emailed it to him beforehand. Thank god for good tutors. The college admin and infrastructure may be dodgy, but the standard of teaching is ace. Without making me feel like the complete idiot I was being, he pointed out that I'd never get through it all in 30 minutes, particularly with my grandiose technological plans, and suggested that I choose the simpler subject of semi-colons. What's more he recalled a literary debate on the semi-colon in The Guardian as source material, helped me slash my lesson plan, recast my aims, revise my learning outcomes and generally design a plausible micro-teach. What a relief - the stress decreased by about 50%, though it was still a strangely terrifying prospect.
It took me a couple of days to work up the lesson plan, create the PowerPoint, write the handouts and practice it, as far as was posssible without an audience. I found it far harder than I'd anticipated to find pieces of text punctuated, or punctuatable, with semi-colons, but eventually I got there.
The micro-teach day was a buzz - a bit like a school concert for which everyone had long been rehearsing their solos, and now we were all into high adrenalin performance mode. Each of the other eight sessions was wonderful in its own unique way: Dan gave us a practical lesson on putting up and taking down mic stands. I admired his relaxed, confident style, if not his timing; Nat delivered an exuberant and entertaining lesson in underwear design, for which we all ended up designing a pair of knickers; Sarah relied on simple props and a graphic experiment to illustrate Field Theory; while Hugh, the other psychologist, fed us fascinating - if somewhat free range - information about eating disorders. Asil, whose teaching experience shines out in his calm control of the class and casual use of physical space, inducted us into the Muslim practice of fasting; Kelly produced a simple but brilliantly resourced teach on skin conditions in hairdressing; Jay gave us an ebullient and enthusiastic introduction to the origins and contemporary uses of rhetorical devices; and Beth brought theory and practice perfectly together in a lesson on how to draw faces. I learned from all of them.
So how did the semi-colons go? Well, not too badly, in the end. After a few seconds of initial panic, I felt sufficiently confident and at home with teaching to enjoy my own session. One of the great pleasures of doing this course is finding - after years of delivering presentations, seminars and management training sessions without ever having had any training myself - that there are right and wrong ways ("positives" and "areas for development") of teaching, but they are learnable; that there is a structure of theory and practice which, if you allow it to, will support your strengths and minimise your weaknesses.
I was intensely relieved to find that my lesson plan went to time and that I remembered the flow of the lesson without resorting to notes - not even the print out of the PowerPoint slides, which I've been used to relying on. The first two practical tasks went well, were at an appropriate level and consolidated learning effectively. I think my enthusiasm for punctuation (and writing) came over and I was clear enough in my explanations.
What I realised I lacked, skillswise - especially after watching the videoed version - was an effective questioning technique, with varied ways of assessing understanding and learning, keeping students involved and included. My worst mistake, though, was in designing a final task that was inappropriately difficult for most people, with poor instructions about what they were supposed to do and wrongly assessing which "interest groups" (in terms of content) to assign people to. I was fixated (again) on the need for everyone to finish the lesson by punctuating a proper piece of text relating to their specialist subjects, and ended up giving them complex excerpts from books, the comprehension of which diverted them from the basic task of working out where to use semi-colons. I didn't find any resources of this kind on the net - obviously, in retrospect, because they are inappropriate as learning materials at this level. What I had found were handouts of simpler sentences, and rejected them as too boring. As Laura pointed out, the Literacy curriculum works in the domains of Word, Sentence and Text. I should have stuck with the first two and left the last till a later, putative, lesson.
At some point I will be having a tutorial with Mike where I get his summative assessment, and also that of Pearl, who sat in on a number of the micro-teaches as a second assessor. I know there will be plenty of points for development that come out of there, but in the meantime, from evaluation forms (learner assessment), class discussion (peer assessment) and watching the video myself (self assessment), I'm happy enough that I was able to achieve the standard I did, and that I can see what I need to work on and how.
A final thought: the micro-teach experience has really bonded us together as a group. We had a sessions in the cafeteria where we looked through each other's lesson plans and offered ideas for resources and activities. On the day we were all strongly supportive of each other's lessons as learners, and genuinely impressed by everyone's skills, creativity, subject knowledge and unique teaching abilities. The relief of having got this hurdle over with has also, perhaps, made us rather over-excitable in the subsequent week and perhaps more of a handful to teach. I'm not sure which phase this comes under in the Forming, Norming, Storming, Performing paradigm of teamwork, but we've had lots of shared jokes, raucous moments, exchanges of personal info and the kind of honesty that allows, for instance, Hugh to tell Jay that he hated him at first, but now really likes him (several people said they felt the same and Jay told us he hated us all at first, but now...). We haven't got into socialising together, but some of us have long and somewhat manic conversations on Facebook (last weekend, one after one, we reported on the cringeworthiness of our micro-teach videos and were reassured by the others; this evening we've been chastising each other about bad language in class); and on Sunday afternoon, Nat, Jay and I all took our children to the same showing of the film "UP" - coincidence or telepathic team bonding....?
Having learned about Initial Assessment - checking learners' ability in advance of teaching them - I thought I'd apply my specialist diagnostics experience (previous life) and distribute a survey to my "learners" (classmates) about what aspects of punctuation and grammar they'd find most useful for writing essays. The result was that two subjects were equally popular, and I was fixated with the need to get them both into my half-hour lesson. They were: uses of the semi-colon; and broadening vocabulary for better writing. For the latter, I had this brilliant idea of demonstrating how to use the Thesaurus tool on Word on the visualiser (great chance to embed functional ICT skills) to enhance a piece of writing, and was very resistant to the suggestion from Asif - who is an experienced ESOL teacher - that I shouldn't be over-ambitiout.
After much stressing, I prepared a detailed lesson plan for my tutorial with Mike, with all this material crammed into half an hour and emailed it to him beforehand. Thank god for good tutors. The college admin and infrastructure may be dodgy, but the standard of teaching is ace. Without making me feel like the complete idiot I was being, he pointed out that I'd never get through it all in 30 minutes, particularly with my grandiose technological plans, and suggested that I choose the simpler subject of semi-colons. What's more he recalled a literary debate on the semi-colon in The Guardian as source material, helped me slash my lesson plan, recast my aims, revise my learning outcomes and generally design a plausible micro-teach. What a relief - the stress decreased by about 50%, though it was still a strangely terrifying prospect.
It took me a couple of days to work up the lesson plan, create the PowerPoint, write the handouts and practice it, as far as was posssible without an audience. I found it far harder than I'd anticipated to find pieces of text punctuated, or punctuatable, with semi-colons, but eventually I got there.
The micro-teach day was a buzz - a bit like a school concert for which everyone had long been rehearsing their solos, and now we were all into high adrenalin performance mode. Each of the other eight sessions was wonderful in its own unique way: Dan gave us a practical lesson on putting up and taking down mic stands. I admired his relaxed, confident style, if not his timing; Nat delivered an exuberant and entertaining lesson in underwear design, for which we all ended up designing a pair of knickers; Sarah relied on simple props and a graphic experiment to illustrate Field Theory; while Hugh, the other psychologist, fed us fascinating - if somewhat free range - information about eating disorders. Asil, whose teaching experience shines out in his calm control of the class and casual use of physical space, inducted us into the Muslim practice of fasting; Kelly produced a simple but brilliantly resourced teach on skin conditions in hairdressing; Jay gave us an ebullient and enthusiastic introduction to the origins and contemporary uses of rhetorical devices; and Beth brought theory and practice perfectly together in a lesson on how to draw faces. I learned from all of them.
So how did the semi-colons go? Well, not too badly, in the end. After a few seconds of initial panic, I felt sufficiently confident and at home with teaching to enjoy my own session. One of the great pleasures of doing this course is finding - after years of delivering presentations, seminars and management training sessions without ever having had any training myself - that there are right and wrong ways ("positives" and "areas for development") of teaching, but they are learnable; that there is a structure of theory and practice which, if you allow it to, will support your strengths and minimise your weaknesses.
I was intensely relieved to find that my lesson plan went to time and that I remembered the flow of the lesson without resorting to notes - not even the print out of the PowerPoint slides, which I've been used to relying on. The first two practical tasks went well, were at an appropriate level and consolidated learning effectively. I think my enthusiasm for punctuation (and writing) came over and I was clear enough in my explanations.
What I realised I lacked, skillswise - especially after watching the videoed version - was an effective questioning technique, with varied ways of assessing understanding and learning, keeping students involved and included. My worst mistake, though, was in designing a final task that was inappropriately difficult for most people, with poor instructions about what they were supposed to do and wrongly assessing which "interest groups" (in terms of content) to assign people to. I was fixated (again) on the need for everyone to finish the lesson by punctuating a proper piece of text relating to their specialist subjects, and ended up giving them complex excerpts from books, the comprehension of which diverted them from the basic task of working out where to use semi-colons. I didn't find any resources of this kind on the net - obviously, in retrospect, because they are inappropriate as learning materials at this level. What I had found were handouts of simpler sentences, and rejected them as too boring. As Laura pointed out, the Literacy curriculum works in the domains of Word, Sentence and Text. I should have stuck with the first two and left the last till a later, putative, lesson.
At some point I will be having a tutorial with Mike where I get his summative assessment, and also that of Pearl, who sat in on a number of the micro-teaches as a second assessor. I know there will be plenty of points for development that come out of there, but in the meantime, from evaluation forms (learner assessment), class discussion (peer assessment) and watching the video myself (self assessment), I'm happy enough that I was able to achieve the standard I did, and that I can see what I need to work on and how.
A final thought: the micro-teach experience has really bonded us together as a group. We had a sessions in the cafeteria where we looked through each other's lesson plans and offered ideas for resources and activities. On the day we were all strongly supportive of each other's lessons as learners, and genuinely impressed by everyone's skills, creativity, subject knowledge and unique teaching abilities. The relief of having got this hurdle over with has also, perhaps, made us rather over-excitable in the subsequent week and perhaps more of a handful to teach. I'm not sure which phase this comes under in the Forming, Norming, Storming, Performing paradigm of teamwork, but we've had lots of shared jokes, raucous moments, exchanges of personal info and the kind of honesty that allows, for instance, Hugh to tell Jay that he hated him at first, but now really likes him (several people said they felt the same and Jay told us he hated us all at first, but now...). We haven't got into socialising together, but some of us have long and somewhat manic conversations on Facebook (last weekend, one after one, we reported on the cringeworthiness of our micro-teach videos and were reassured by the others; this evening we've been chastising each other about bad language in class); and on Sunday afternoon, Nat, Jay and I all took our children to the same showing of the film "UP" - coincidence or telepathic team bonding....?
27 September 2009
Reflective Journal: 1. Lesson Observation
My friend S (letter of the post before last) was quite right in saying a "Reflective Journal" was a learning tool. Not just a personal option, but a part of the assessment criteria of DiTLLS. I was going to write this blog just for me - and anyone else who happened upon it - but as I have to keep a similar log of the course anyway, and there's soooo much to do, I'm not going to write it twice. So from now on, this is my official Trainee Teacher Reflective Journal. It might not be as frank now as it would otherwise have been... but then again, why not?
So, official reflection No 1:
Last Wednesday I sat in on (not sure if technically this was "observing" or "shadowing") a Literacy class taught by my subject specialist mentor, Laura. As I said before, Laura's a delightful woman - calm, warm, humorous and cogent; her classroom style reflected all of these traits and made me wonder if I could ever emulate them. Especially the calmness!
There were eight learners; two women 30+, one younger Portugese woman (unusual, as she would normally be in an ESOL - English for Speakers of Other Languages - class), three young men, one of whom could have been at school and two in perhaps their very late teens. Then there was an older woman in a wheelchair, brought in by a member of college staff, and Sue, a woman on crutches (a permanent disability) who came in late having burned her hand trying to pour a cup of tea and been bandaged by the nurse. An older man, (Teaching Assistant?) sat near the boys and... assisted.
The subject of the class was Nouns - Common and Proper. Laura explained to me that one of her other objectives was to check out the abilities of some of the learners as she has recently taken over this class and is not convinced that all members have attained the Level 1 skills that they are supposed to have. She started the class with a word grid on the whiteboard, from which everyone was asked to make up words of 4 or more letters, always including an S. While they were working on this, Laura took the register and would have put up the Learning Objectives for the class on the Powerpoint screen - but it failed to work. She called a technician, who came, but all he could do was order a new bulb!
Undeterred, Laura went back to the results of the word grid. Most had quite some difficulty with this and Laura negotiated her way through misspelt words, words which included letters other than those she had put up, and other issues. But clearly they all enjoyed and engaged with the exercise, and either learned or consolidated information. Laura continually asked gentle questions to ascertain that they had got it, and praised everyone for whatever she could. The ablest learner was one of the young men; the two disabled women possibly had the most difficulty grasping concepts.
Technology having failed, nouns were addressed on the whiteboard; what they were, how to identify them. Again, it took some time for most of the class to get to grips with this - but Laura found different ways to clarify and gave out handouts for one-to-one working - underline the nouns in sentences, basically. As Sue was having difficulty writing with her bandaged hand, I was tasked with helping her, which gave me a chance to understand what sort of ability she was working at. On the one hand, it seemed, she had neat writing and could spell reasonably well (especially words relating to football: David Beckham, Manchester United!); on the other her conceptual capacity was limited and she sometimes suggested adverbs or adjectives might be nouns. I think she gained some clarity from my explanations, and felt we struck up a bit of a rapport.
After this exercise, all the other learners went off to work on (differentiated, I assumed) tasks on the classroom PCs. They all seemed familiar with the technology and happy to use it. Laura asked me to keep working with Sue as she had to do a test which would normally involve listening to passages on a headset, but she thought it would work better if I read (and reread and reread) the necessary passages. It was interesting for me to find out what sort of Literacy was involved; I read short texts involving discussions (who said/thought what), descriptions (a car accident - put the events in order)), someone's work history (dates and time order - embedded numeracy!) and Sue had to answer multiple choice questions about the content. She got the first one right and when she was hesitant about the second one, I read it to her several more times (this was permitted!), but trying to emphasise what she needed to understand. I even started to give her a hint, but quickly realised that I was not supposed to be helping her learn, at this point. Her learning was being formally assessed and any help I gave would skew the results. I played it straight for the rest of the test; she got most of the answers wrong.
The class came together briefly at the end - Laura having been working with the others on their individual PC-based tasks while I'd been with Sue. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it and feel they'd achieved something. They all wrote something at the end - possibly a summary of what they'd learned - and while doing so, Sue asked Laura what "that lady"'s name was (mine) - which felt like something of a compliment.
So what did I take away from my experience?
In terms of content, in a Literacy class of this level a little goes a long way (this applies to my Microteach, too - even with highly intelligent learners).
Patience is a virtue.
Always have a Plan B for technology
There's a difference between teaching and assessment. And perhaps my experience with Sue was an illustration between Formative (ongoing) Assessment and Summative (final) Assessment. Formative Assessment can include continued teaching, using feedback to understand what learners know and don't know, and filling gaps; Summative Assessment has to be a stand alone process that evaluates exactly what the learner does and doesn't know at this particular moment in time.
I liked Laura's teaching style, which was egalitarian, warm and sympathetic but with an underlying authority which I imagine would be quite unassailable in the face of disruptive behaviour. The wheelchair learner came the closest to being "difficult", and Laura dealt with her reasonably but firmly. It felt like it came from a depth of self-possession and a wealth of experience. Obviously I don't have the teaching experience, but can I draw on comparable resources? I guess my microteach is going to reveal some of the answer.
So, official reflection No 1:
Last Wednesday I sat in on (not sure if technically this was "observing" or "shadowing") a Literacy class taught by my subject specialist mentor, Laura. As I said before, Laura's a delightful woman - calm, warm, humorous and cogent; her classroom style reflected all of these traits and made me wonder if I could ever emulate them. Especially the calmness!
There were eight learners; two women 30+, one younger Portugese woman (unusual, as she would normally be in an ESOL - English for Speakers of Other Languages - class), three young men, one of whom could have been at school and two in perhaps their very late teens. Then there was an older woman in a wheelchair, brought in by a member of college staff, and Sue, a woman on crutches (a permanent disability) who came in late having burned her hand trying to pour a cup of tea and been bandaged by the nurse. An older man, (Teaching Assistant?) sat near the boys and... assisted.
The subject of the class was Nouns - Common and Proper. Laura explained to me that one of her other objectives was to check out the abilities of some of the learners as she has recently taken over this class and is not convinced that all members have attained the Level 1 skills that they are supposed to have. She started the class with a word grid on the whiteboard, from which everyone was asked to make up words of 4 or more letters, always including an S. While they were working on this, Laura took the register and would have put up the Learning Objectives for the class on the Powerpoint screen - but it failed to work. She called a technician, who came, but all he could do was order a new bulb!
Undeterred, Laura went back to the results of the word grid. Most had quite some difficulty with this and Laura negotiated her way through misspelt words, words which included letters other than those she had put up, and other issues. But clearly they all enjoyed and engaged with the exercise, and either learned or consolidated information. Laura continually asked gentle questions to ascertain that they had got it, and praised everyone for whatever she could. The ablest learner was one of the young men; the two disabled women possibly had the most difficulty grasping concepts.
Technology having failed, nouns were addressed on the whiteboard; what they were, how to identify them. Again, it took some time for most of the class to get to grips with this - but Laura found different ways to clarify and gave out handouts for one-to-one working - underline the nouns in sentences, basically. As Sue was having difficulty writing with her bandaged hand, I was tasked with helping her, which gave me a chance to understand what sort of ability she was working at. On the one hand, it seemed, she had neat writing and could spell reasonably well (especially words relating to football: David Beckham, Manchester United!); on the other her conceptual capacity was limited and she sometimes suggested adverbs or adjectives might be nouns. I think she gained some clarity from my explanations, and felt we struck up a bit of a rapport.
After this exercise, all the other learners went off to work on (differentiated, I assumed) tasks on the classroom PCs. They all seemed familiar with the technology and happy to use it. Laura asked me to keep working with Sue as she had to do a test which would normally involve listening to passages on a headset, but she thought it would work better if I read (and reread and reread) the necessary passages. It was interesting for me to find out what sort of Literacy was involved; I read short texts involving discussions (who said/thought what), descriptions (a car accident - put the events in order)), someone's work history (dates and time order - embedded numeracy!) and Sue had to answer multiple choice questions about the content. She got the first one right and when she was hesitant about the second one, I read it to her several more times (this was permitted!), but trying to emphasise what she needed to understand. I even started to give her a hint, but quickly realised that I was not supposed to be helping her learn, at this point. Her learning was being formally assessed and any help I gave would skew the results. I played it straight for the rest of the test; she got most of the answers wrong.
The class came together briefly at the end - Laura having been working with the others on their individual PC-based tasks while I'd been with Sue. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it and feel they'd achieved something. They all wrote something at the end - possibly a summary of what they'd learned - and while doing so, Sue asked Laura what "that lady"'s name was (mine) - which felt like something of a compliment.
So what did I take away from my experience?
In terms of content, in a Literacy class of this level a little goes a long way (this applies to my Microteach, too - even with highly intelligent learners).
Patience is a virtue.
Always have a Plan B for technology
There's a difference between teaching and assessment. And perhaps my experience with Sue was an illustration between Formative (ongoing) Assessment and Summative (final) Assessment. Formative Assessment can include continued teaching, using feedback to understand what learners know and don't know, and filling gaps; Summative Assessment has to be a stand alone process that evaluates exactly what the learner does and doesn't know at this particular moment in time.
I liked Laura's teaching style, which was egalitarian, warm and sympathetic but with an underlying authority which I imagine would be quite unassailable in the face of disruptive behaviour. The wheelchair learner came the closest to being "difficult", and Laura dealt with her reasonably but firmly. It felt like it came from a depth of self-possession and a wealth of experience. Obviously I don't have the teaching experience, but can I draw on comparable resources? I guess my microteach is going to reveal some of the answer.
23 September 2009
No Placement in Place
An email to my course tutors and Director of the School of Lifelong Learning
Hi Mike, Scott and Pearl,
I had my first meeting with my subject mentor, Laura, yesterday; and sat in on one of her Literacy classes today, which was an interesting and very useful experience. The discussion I had with Laura, though, raised two issues which are worrying me somewhat.
1. My teaching placement.
I had assumed, when I was told I had "a place on the FT DTLLS programme with a placement in Literacy in the School of Lifelong Learning", that a set of classes enabling me to cover my required 150 hours of teaching had been earmarked, and that my mentor would be aware of this and able to tell me what my teaching timetable would be and who I needed to contact.
It seems that this isn't the case; that there is no "placement" in place and that it may be my responsiblity to sort this out. This feels like a rather precarious situation to find myself in and a stressor I could do without while getting to grips with the intensive learning and demanding course work of the first few weeks of DiTTLS.
2. Literacy Core Curriculum Training
As the relevant people were aware, I have a degree in English and Drama but no previous experience in teaching Literacy. Laura suggested that in order to do so, I might need to do a two-day course in Literacy Core Curriculum Training - which I would have to source myself, as there isn't one at our college, and would have to be paid for. However, Laura did also wonder whether the Functional Skills/Minimum Core element of DiTLLS would give me enough Literacy background to cover this. I can't see when I can fit two days of an external course in before Christmas and certainly can't afford to fund another set of fees. How have previous Literacy placements worked?
Does anyone else have any thoughts about this?
All the best
Literata
Hi Mike, Scott and Pearl,
I had my first meeting with my subject mentor, Laura, yesterday; and sat in on one of her Literacy classes today, which was an interesting and very useful experience. The discussion I had with Laura, though, raised two issues which are worrying me somewhat.
1. My teaching placement.
I had assumed, when I was told I had "a place on the FT DTLLS programme with a placement in Literacy in the School of Lifelong Learning", that a set of classes enabling me to cover my required 150 hours of teaching had been earmarked, and that my mentor would be aware of this and able to tell me what my teaching timetable would be and who I needed to contact.
It seems that this isn't the case; that there is no "placement" in place and that it may be my responsiblity to sort this out. This feels like a rather precarious situation to find myself in and a stressor I could do without while getting to grips with the intensive learning and demanding course work of the first few weeks of DiTTLS.
2. Literacy Core Curriculum Training
As the relevant people were aware, I have a degree in English and Drama but no previous experience in teaching Literacy. Laura suggested that in order to do so, I might need to do a two-day course in Literacy Core Curriculum Training - which I would have to source myself, as there isn't one at our college, and would have to be paid for. However, Laura did also wonder whether the Functional Skills/Minimum Core element of DiTLLS would give me enough Literacy background to cover this. I can't see when I can fit two days of an external course in before Christmas and certainly can't afford to fund another set of fees. How have previous Literacy placements worked?
Does anyone else have any thoughts about this?
All the best
Literata
22 September 2009
Week Two: Stressing
It's Tuesday of Week 2 and I'm feeling exhausted again. I should be writing one of the short essays that make up Task 3 (of Module 1). I could pick "Current Legislative Requirements (only 150 - 200 words), but we're having a tutorial on that tomorrow and, I think "Embedding Functional Skills" (300 - 400 words). We got all the info on "Evaluation of Assessment Methods" today, but I can't face 300 - 400 words on that tonight; or, indeed, "Methods of Feedback" - which is only 200 - 300 words. But there is a short (150 - 250 words) one on "Record Keeping" which doesn't seem too demanding.... I'll see how I feel when I finish this entry in my Reflective Journal.
One of the reasons I feel tired is the pressure of the Microteach coming up a week on Friday. It's both exciting me and stressing me out. I keep having ideas - and they wake me up at 5am, buzzing round my head, but not usefully or coherently. I'd decided to do something that will help everyone with essay writing, so punctuation and grammar orientated, and spent yesterday evening creating a little survey to see which areas might be most popular. But then in the car coming into college I heard this man on Radio 4 talking about the need for debating in state schools and thought - A Debate! Structure the Microteach as a mini debate, which would involve reading, writing, speaking and listening, assessing and responding....
But I gave out the survey anyway, and all the girls seem to be really excited about me teaching them basic punctuation stuff. Even Jay, the English specialist and novelist, asked for an explanation of when to use "past" and "passed". He knows all the terms - "homophones" in this case - but not, apparently, every last thing about them. So, ok, it's going to be punctuation. Lesson plans, learning outcomes, resources, a video, powerpoint - feels like it's going to take weeks to prepare! And some people (the girls!) seem to have frighteningly high expectations of me.
The other stress/exhaustion factor is that I met my Subject Specialist Mentor today, Laura. She' a very nice and interesting woman, about ten years younger than me, and we had a good discussion. But she thinks I need to do a two-day course on Literacy Core Curriculum Training - which I would have to source myself as they don't do it within the college, and possibly even pay for - though my "provider" (the college) should do. So that's a worry, especially as I can't see many free two day slots before Christmas. The other worry is that Laura doesn't see it as her job to sort out my teaching placement. She only teaches three literacy courses a week for college (one of which is off-campus anyway) - and even if I were to take over all three of them for the next two terms, which she's hardly going to want, it would only just be enough to make up my required 150 hours. So I have to find some other courses taught by someone else to work with. She's given me another name, but I'll have to talk about it in my Professional Practice tutorial tomorrow.
I'm sure it will get sorted out, but it feels like a mess and that the responsibility is on my shoulders. And just as I'd got to grips with the weekly timetable and workload, there's a new and unforseen extra load. It's probably the least impressive part of the organisation of the DiTLLS course. None of our mentors seem to know what they're supposed to be doing and the placements are completely unco-ordinated. I suppose I'm ahead of the game in that I've got and met a mentor - which is more than Sarah has. But still, the uncertainty of it is unhelpful when there's so much else going on simply in terms of course content and assignments.
It's now 9.45pm. I don't think I can bear to start on Record Keeping now, so I might just cut my losses and go to bed.
Over and out....
One of the reasons I feel tired is the pressure of the Microteach coming up a week on Friday. It's both exciting me and stressing me out. I keep having ideas - and they wake me up at 5am, buzzing round my head, but not usefully or coherently. I'd decided to do something that will help everyone with essay writing, so punctuation and grammar orientated, and spent yesterday evening creating a little survey to see which areas might be most popular. But then in the car coming into college I heard this man on Radio 4 talking about the need for debating in state schools and thought - A Debate! Structure the Microteach as a mini debate, which would involve reading, writing, speaking and listening, assessing and responding....
But I gave out the survey anyway, and all the girls seem to be really excited about me teaching them basic punctuation stuff. Even Jay, the English specialist and novelist, asked for an explanation of when to use "past" and "passed". He knows all the terms - "homophones" in this case - but not, apparently, every last thing about them. So, ok, it's going to be punctuation. Lesson plans, learning outcomes, resources, a video, powerpoint - feels like it's going to take weeks to prepare! And some people (the girls!) seem to have frighteningly high expectations of me.
The other stress/exhaustion factor is that I met my Subject Specialist Mentor today, Laura. She' a very nice and interesting woman, about ten years younger than me, and we had a good discussion. But she thinks I need to do a two-day course on Literacy Core Curriculum Training - which I would have to source myself as they don't do it within the college, and possibly even pay for - though my "provider" (the college) should do. So that's a worry, especially as I can't see many free two day slots before Christmas. The other worry is that Laura doesn't see it as her job to sort out my teaching placement. She only teaches three literacy courses a week for college (one of which is off-campus anyway) - and even if I were to take over all three of them for the next two terms, which she's hardly going to want, it would only just be enough to make up my required 150 hours. So I have to find some other courses taught by someone else to work with. She's given me another name, but I'll have to talk about it in my Professional Practice tutorial tomorrow.
I'm sure it will get sorted out, but it feels like a mess and that the responsibility is on my shoulders. And just as I'd got to grips with the weekly timetable and workload, there's a new and unforseen extra load. It's probably the least impressive part of the organisation of the DiTLLS course. None of our mentors seem to know what they're supposed to be doing and the placements are completely unco-ordinated. I suppose I'm ahead of the game in that I've got and met a mentor - which is more than Sarah has. But still, the uncertainty of it is unhelpful when there's so much else going on simply in terms of course content and assignments.
It's now 9.45pm. I don't think I can bear to start on Record Keeping now, so I might just cut my losses and go to bed.
Over and out....
20 September 2009
Letter From A Friend
I thought this email from a friend in the middle of a qualification for secondary school teaching was just so insightful that I'd post it.
Dear Literata,
I checked out the blog. A 'reflective journal' is an educational tool (me too with the jargon!) Actually I liked being a student until it came to voicing criticism. My faculty pays lips service to being student-centred, Vygotsky-influenced and so on, but plays hardball with things. My disappointment has been that however nice and encouraging individuals are, the system itself is still punitive, competitive and based on fear: do it this way or you fail. If your citations aren't in order, you fail. Talk back, question authority, dare to be different etc. Truly!
Despite education being an extremely creative field and really being stretched by new technologies and new research into the psychology of motivation and engagament, universities are too often rushed, rigid and unimaginative. I am fascinated by education but sometimes struggle with my own learning: it is so personal and so mixed up with fragile self-regard! It is impossible to be all the things they want you to be: a researcher, a facilitator, a sociologist, a one-man band, a 'good' teacher, a disciplinarian, a leader amongst men etc.
Been teaching at high school and I don't think you would have any trouble with classroom management. The kids are fine (and what parent really minds a bit of chaos?) I try to be relentlessly positive (my core belief is that people can't learn when they are unhappy), so I praise them for every baby step and tell them 'yes you can' like Mr President. Bit by bit I feel they will take another step and another, if you believe in them they will try to become the person you see in them. Sometimes I feel like I am feeding ducks in a pond, casting tasty morsels before them, getting their trust, trying to get the ones hanging at the back to take a scrap. Or like painting a wall, adding a touch here and there, then coming back fro a second coat, then a third. So much of what they are 'supposed to know' is crap — really tedious. As if art or life follows a template: sometimes it feels like teachers take the amazing world and reduce it to a flow-chart or a set of boxes to be ticked.
I think what I like about teaching is what appeals to my heart, not my head. I like the social and emotional challenges, and getting to know these little (and not so little) people. We were discussing heroes in Year 8 and a girl from Nicaragua gave a totally unexpected speech about her hero: "My hero has known me before I was born, will always love me, is the person I want to be." Quite amazing (God, of course). Then a boy at the front asked me "Who was she talking about?". Who do you think, I asked back. "Tony Blair?" he said innocently, so perfectly uncomprehending.
My Year 9, fourteen-years old and on the verge of adolescent disaffection, were sleepy on Monday morning. So I searched in my pockets for some Magic Fairy Dust to help them — 'Found it, Year Nine!' — and proceeded to sprinkle it over them, much to their surprise. The look on their faces still makes me laugh.
My Year 10 class are a defeated bunch, they are not the brightest, but I taught them Animal Farm and kept at it, trying to relate it to their lives. But the task they had to do at the end was so abstract: a formal 'English' essay. Why can't they talk about it, draw it, why do these kids have to conquer an academic essay? Sometimes the education system really does seem stupid. We just want them to think and feel and appreciate and grow, don't we? And archaic forms of assessment just convince them that they are failures, which is exctly the opposite of what we are there for, or at least I think we are there for.
So anyway I am excited but wary, and I hope that with your high expectations of yourself and the course, and your conscientious approach, you don't get overwhelmed. You could do the job now, without all the claptrap, so don't let the need to put in a perfect essay distract you from being confident that you are you, and you are already a great person with or without a distinction stamped on your forehead.
Love S. And I hope to keep this conversation going.
Dear Literata,
I checked out the blog. A 'reflective journal' is an educational tool (me too with the jargon!) Actually I liked being a student until it came to voicing criticism. My faculty pays lips service to being student-centred, Vygotsky-influenced and so on, but plays hardball with things. My disappointment has been that however nice and encouraging individuals are, the system itself is still punitive, competitive and based on fear: do it this way or you fail. If your citations aren't in order, you fail. Talk back, question authority, dare to be different etc. Truly!
Despite education being an extremely creative field and really being stretched by new technologies and new research into the psychology of motivation and engagament, universities are too often rushed, rigid and unimaginative. I am fascinated by education but sometimes struggle with my own learning: it is so personal and so mixed up with fragile self-regard! It is impossible to be all the things they want you to be: a researcher, a facilitator, a sociologist, a one-man band, a 'good' teacher, a disciplinarian, a leader amongst men etc.
Been teaching at high school and I don't think you would have any trouble with classroom management. The kids are fine (and what parent really minds a bit of chaos?) I try to be relentlessly positive (my core belief is that people can't learn when they are unhappy), so I praise them for every baby step and tell them 'yes you can' like Mr President. Bit by bit I feel they will take another step and another, if you believe in them they will try to become the person you see in them. Sometimes I feel like I am feeding ducks in a pond, casting tasty morsels before them, getting their trust, trying to get the ones hanging at the back to take a scrap. Or like painting a wall, adding a touch here and there, then coming back fro a second coat, then a third. So much of what they are 'supposed to know' is crap — really tedious. As if art or life follows a template: sometimes it feels like teachers take the amazing world and reduce it to a flow-chart or a set of boxes to be ticked.
I think what I like about teaching is what appeals to my heart, not my head. I like the social and emotional challenges, and getting to know these little (and not so little) people. We were discussing heroes in Year 8 and a girl from Nicaragua gave a totally unexpected speech about her hero: "My hero has known me before I was born, will always love me, is the person I want to be." Quite amazing (God, of course). Then a boy at the front asked me "Who was she talking about?". Who do you think, I asked back. "Tony Blair?" he said innocently, so perfectly uncomprehending.
My Year 9, fourteen-years old and on the verge of adolescent disaffection, were sleepy on Monday morning. So I searched in my pockets for some Magic Fairy Dust to help them — 'Found it, Year Nine!' — and proceeded to sprinkle it over them, much to their surprise. The look on their faces still makes me laugh.
My Year 10 class are a defeated bunch, they are not the brightest, but I taught them Animal Farm and kept at it, trying to relate it to their lives. But the task they had to do at the end was so abstract: a formal 'English' essay. Why can't they talk about it, draw it, why do these kids have to conquer an academic essay? Sometimes the education system really does seem stupid. We just want them to think and feel and appreciate and grow, don't we? And archaic forms of assessment just convince them that they are failures, which is exctly the opposite of what we are there for, or at least I think we are there for.
So anyway I am excited but wary, and I hope that with your high expectations of yourself and the course, and your conscientious approach, you don't get overwhelmed. You could do the job now, without all the claptrap, so don't let the need to put in a perfect essay distract you from being confident that you are you, and you are already a great person with or without a distinction stamped on your forehead.
Love S. And I hope to keep this conversation going.
18 September 2009
One Week Down
Well, what a week!
I went back into College on Monday after a dreadful night due to something of a crisis at home, so very tired and not particularly looking forward to the course, and found at some point late morning that I was... really enjoying myself. The worst thing, truly, has been finding a space in the student carpark in the morning, and after getting a Warning sticker on my car on Wednesday, took the Park and Ride bus from nearby today and even that problem is now solved.
The nine of us on the course have now really gelled, the other five being Dan, a laid back musician / backstage media man in his thirties, just done a degree and has a part-time teaching job at the college which counts as his placement; Sarah, a quietly intelligent psychology grad - early 40s, I think, who's been working as a legal secretary; Asif, an experienced teacher of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) from Turkey and in his late 20s; Kelly, a 24-year old working hairdresser who wants to teach her subject and struggles from being ineligible for a bursary as hairdressing is not a "needed" subject, and also severe dyslexia; and Bethany, a cool graphic designer also in her mid-twenties.
For four days this week we've all been holed up together for most of the day in a single classroom, taught mainly by Mike, who everyone likes but some people (those less used to academia) find a little confusing at times, for Module 1 "Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector"; and also by Scott, who is taking us for Module 5, "Subject Specific Professional Practice".
Alongside the intensive input of information, we've all pretty much got the measure of each other, and some alliances and the odd antipathy have developed. I've bonded most with Nat; Kelly and Beth are a pair and the rest float around singly as we work in shifting small groups in class and chat in the student cafeteria. The less academic find Jay's extreme extroversion and need to succeed somewhat intimidating, though to be fair he is also very keen to assist and "mentor" others in any skill or knowledge he possesses.
So, this week we've covered the Roles and Responsibilities of a teacher, diversity, inclusivity and learners' needs and learning styles, the legislation and professional bodies that form the current framework of teaching in the Post Compulsory Education sector, setting groundrules and embedding functional skills (literacy, numeracy and ICT) within our subject classes. Among probably other things I've forgotten at this moment.
I'm enjoying the format of teaching - which is of course modeling the lessons we will be planning for our learners (not students or pupils!). There's a certain amount of teacher-centred information-giving (note how I'm assimilating the jargon!), interspersed with small amounts of independent working and longer times for group work which will usually include one member presenting the results of our discussions. We get video clips (YouTube - great source) and Powerpoints, lots of handouts - and I've remembered my facility for taking extensive notes which help me memorise and then regurgitate info in assignments.
I spent our day off this week clearing my desk at home and then writing our first assignment - devising an Icebreaker exercise for "my" class of Literacy students which would also enable the setting of class ground rules. I designed an exercise called "We Love School (not?)" based on the fact that most adult literacy learners will come to college after a poor school experience. So to get to know each other I ask them to create their own class register (asking each other their names) and then take a brief survey of each classmate on whether they Liked or Disliked learning at school in terms of The Teachers, The Work, The Classroom and The Rules. This would lead to discussion of what they didn't like then, would like now and what ground rules will underpin their learning and my teaching. I wrote my "Analysis" of same and emailed a first draft to Mike. Within half an hour he'd responded - very positively, but with some insightful and focused suggestions for improvement. He also said it was definitely distinction level work - so, I'm thrilled to bits.
Note to self (and also to others who have been asking): the game in homework is to reference or quote authoritative sources to back up every single assertion you make. Harvard referencing is simple enough - as a neat handout from the "Information Centre" (college library) makes clear.
So - a surprisingly satisfactory week, leaving me tired but energised and as determined as Jay (but quietly so) to do really well on the DiTLLS course.
I went back into College on Monday after a dreadful night due to something of a crisis at home, so very tired and not particularly looking forward to the course, and found at some point late morning that I was... really enjoying myself. The worst thing, truly, has been finding a space in the student carpark in the morning, and after getting a Warning sticker on my car on Wednesday, took the Park and Ride bus from nearby today and even that problem is now solved.
The nine of us on the course have now really gelled, the other five being Dan, a laid back musician / backstage media man in his thirties, just done a degree and has a part-time teaching job at the college which counts as his placement; Sarah, a quietly intelligent psychology grad - early 40s, I think, who's been working as a legal secretary; Asif, an experienced teacher of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) from Turkey and in his late 20s; Kelly, a 24-year old working hairdresser who wants to teach her subject and struggles from being ineligible for a bursary as hairdressing is not a "needed" subject, and also severe dyslexia; and Bethany, a cool graphic designer also in her mid-twenties.
For four days this week we've all been holed up together for most of the day in a single classroom, taught mainly by Mike, who everyone likes but some people (those less used to academia) find a little confusing at times, for Module 1 "Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector"; and also by Scott, who is taking us for Module 5, "Subject Specific Professional Practice".
Alongside the intensive input of information, we've all pretty much got the measure of each other, and some alliances and the odd antipathy have developed. I've bonded most with Nat; Kelly and Beth are a pair and the rest float around singly as we work in shifting small groups in class and chat in the student cafeteria. The less academic find Jay's extreme extroversion and need to succeed somewhat intimidating, though to be fair he is also very keen to assist and "mentor" others in any skill or knowledge he possesses.
So, this week we've covered the Roles and Responsibilities of a teacher, diversity, inclusivity and learners' needs and learning styles, the legislation and professional bodies that form the current framework of teaching in the Post Compulsory Education sector, setting groundrules and embedding functional skills (literacy, numeracy and ICT) within our subject classes. Among probably other things I've forgotten at this moment.
I'm enjoying the format of teaching - which is of course modeling the lessons we will be planning for our learners (not students or pupils!). There's a certain amount of teacher-centred information-giving (note how I'm assimilating the jargon!), interspersed with small amounts of independent working and longer times for group work which will usually include one member presenting the results of our discussions. We get video clips (YouTube - great source) and Powerpoints, lots of handouts - and I've remembered my facility for taking extensive notes which help me memorise and then regurgitate info in assignments.
I spent our day off this week clearing my desk at home and then writing our first assignment - devising an Icebreaker exercise for "my" class of Literacy students which would also enable the setting of class ground rules. I designed an exercise called "We Love School (not?)" based on the fact that most adult literacy learners will come to college after a poor school experience. So to get to know each other I ask them to create their own class register (asking each other their names) and then take a brief survey of each classmate on whether they Liked or Disliked learning at school in terms of The Teachers, The Work, The Classroom and The Rules. This would lead to discussion of what they didn't like then, would like now and what ground rules will underpin their learning and my teaching. I wrote my "Analysis" of same and emailed a first draft to Mike. Within half an hour he'd responded - very positively, but with some insightful and focused suggestions for improvement. He also said it was definitely distinction level work - so, I'm thrilled to bits.
Note to self (and also to others who have been asking): the game in homework is to reference or quote authoritative sources to back up every single assertion you make. Harvard referencing is simple enough - as a neat handout from the "Information Centre" (college library) makes clear.
So - a surprisingly satisfactory week, leaving me tired but energised and as determined as Jay (but quietly so) to do really well on the DiTLLS course.
13 September 2009
Back To The Classroom
Enrollment was fine. The usual start of term university chaos, which didn't seem so different than last time I was there. Except it really was quite organised chaos and technology meant that forms were filled in with an Advisor online, photo taken on webcam and a student card produced on the spot. No more running off to queue for the nearest passport photo booth!
The queues turned out to be a good place to meet most of the others on the DiTLLS course. A strange and diverse group of people, most of whom trouped off to the pub together after enrollment to start a team bonding process of sorts.
Hugh was probably the youngest, fresh out of his Psychology degree at the College, sweet and serious but an instant team leader as he knew his way round and the answer to most of our questions. He was a little shocked to find he was younger than both of my sons.
Then there was Jason. Big Jay, as he likes to be called, is big in every sense. Tall and 24+ stone in weight, as he boasted, he came across as confident, loud, in yer face and full of himself. In fact he's another writer with a couple of novels self-published and, having been made redundant from a high powered sales job in February, is now planning to become the best teacher ever in this new career. Almost certainly his super confident exterior hides a multiplicity of insecurities. Throughout the day I went through phases of liking/hating/liking/hating him, but ended up thinking he was intelligent, interesting and no doubt a catalyst for much discussion on the course.
Natalie was a stunning lovely, tall slim woman in her late thirties. An clothes designer with a three year old son and the irrational low self esteem of a first time mother returning to work, she and I took to each other immediately. In fact we became a strange little foursome, containing the youngest (Hugh), oldest (me), most attractive (Nat) and most ebullient (Jay) members of the course. More about the other four (and possibly more to appear on Monday) later.
Mike, our Course Leader facilitated our induction session in the afternoon. It was fine, reasonably enjoyable and showed us all how much work this "intensive" course is going to be. Within the first six weeks we have to do a "microteach" (here comes the jargon!) - in other words, a short lesson - for our course colleagues, on our chosen subject. Nat, who presents with confidence and clarity found this a terrifying proposition, but is probably even worried more about being able to cope with the academic side.
Our first assignment was to post something about our fears, expectations and aspirations on the college website. When I'd mastered the technical issues, such as having been given the wrong user name, this is what I posted:
CLASSROOM CHALLENGES
I was happy to meet everyone on Friday and find I'd be working with an interesting and diverse group of people. I came away from the Induction session slightly shell-shocked - not because I didn't enjoy it or it wasn't a good sessions, but perhaps something to do with....
FEAR: I've worked for myself and in my own space for a long time, and I've developed an effective (for me) learning/working style which involves taking processing breaks whenever I need them by doing mundane things like washing up or paying bills. I work in short bursts on elusive ideas, or without taking breaks when I'm really nailing something I want to say. I often stop and watch Neighbours at lunchtime (so does Philip Pullman!). I'm wondering how well I'll adapt to the classroom learning scenario with its more formal structure, ground rules and -- other people!
EXPECTATION: Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I'm looking forward to being thoroughly challenged this year; in taking on new ideas, new ways of working and reflecting on what I currently do and how I do it. Though I might initially react against some of the challenges.
ASPIRATION: I'm not big on predicting my own success - quite the opposite in fact - in case I fail. But if I'm honest, I really would like to meet my own and other people's expectations that I have it in me to be an inspirational sort of teacher, and also to do well on the course itself. I'd like to think that might start with the microteach which, at this distance, I find more exciting than frightening. This may change as it gets closer!
Actually, I'm most worried about getting a place in the student carpark tomorrow morning.
The queues turned out to be a good place to meet most of the others on the DiTLLS course. A strange and diverse group of people, most of whom trouped off to the pub together after enrollment to start a team bonding process of sorts.
Hugh was probably the youngest, fresh out of his Psychology degree at the College, sweet and serious but an instant team leader as he knew his way round and the answer to most of our questions. He was a little shocked to find he was younger than both of my sons.
Then there was Jason. Big Jay, as he likes to be called, is big in every sense. Tall and 24+ stone in weight, as he boasted, he came across as confident, loud, in yer face and full of himself. In fact he's another writer with a couple of novels self-published and, having been made redundant from a high powered sales job in February, is now planning to become the best teacher ever in this new career. Almost certainly his super confident exterior hides a multiplicity of insecurities. Throughout the day I went through phases of liking/hating/liking/hating him, but ended up thinking he was intelligent, interesting and no doubt a catalyst for much discussion on the course.
Natalie was a stunning lovely, tall slim woman in her late thirties. An clothes designer with a three year old son and the irrational low self esteem of a first time mother returning to work, she and I took to each other immediately. In fact we became a strange little foursome, containing the youngest (Hugh), oldest (me), most attractive (Nat) and most ebullient (Jay) members of the course. More about the other four (and possibly more to appear on Monday) later.
Mike, our Course Leader facilitated our induction session in the afternoon. It was fine, reasonably enjoyable and showed us all how much work this "intensive" course is going to be. Within the first six weeks we have to do a "microteach" (here comes the jargon!) - in other words, a short lesson - for our course colleagues, on our chosen subject. Nat, who presents with confidence and clarity found this a terrifying proposition, but is probably even worried more about being able to cope with the academic side.
Our first assignment was to post something about our fears, expectations and aspirations on the college website. When I'd mastered the technical issues, such as having been given the wrong user name, this is what I posted:
CLASSROOM CHALLENGES
I was happy to meet everyone on Friday and find I'd be working with an interesting and diverse group of people. I came away from the Induction session slightly shell-shocked - not because I didn't enjoy it or it wasn't a good sessions, but perhaps something to do with....
FEAR: I've worked for myself and in my own space for a long time, and I've developed an effective (for me) learning/working style which involves taking processing breaks whenever I need them by doing mundane things like washing up or paying bills. I work in short bursts on elusive ideas, or without taking breaks when I'm really nailing something I want to say. I often stop and watch Neighbours at lunchtime (so does Philip Pullman!). I'm wondering how well I'll adapt to the classroom learning scenario with its more formal structure, ground rules and -- other people!
EXPECTATION: Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I'm looking forward to being thoroughly challenged this year; in taking on new ideas, new ways of working and reflecting on what I currently do and how I do it. Though I might initially react against some of the challenges.
ASPIRATION: I'm not big on predicting my own success - quite the opposite in fact - in case I fail. But if I'm honest, I really would like to meet my own and other people's expectations that I have it in me to be an inspirational sort of teacher, and also to do well on the course itself. I'd like to think that might start with the microteach which, at this distance, I find more exciting than frightening. This may change as it gets closer!
Actually, I'm most worried about getting a place in the student carpark tomorrow morning.
10 September 2009
Last Day of Freedom
Tomorrow is Enrollment and Induction Day.
I haven't received my official letter from Admissions, along with the CRB Check form I should have filled in. I can't teach adults on my placement without being cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau, and each organisation has to do their own check. It doesn't matter that I was checked recently for a friend who is going to be a foster carer, and had a clean record. I suppose I could have committed any number of horrendous crimes since then.
I'm feeling quite apprehensive.
It's... almost exactly 30 years since I left university - with a degree in English and Drama - and now I'm going back to being a full-time student. It's a one year, post-graduate Diploma, but I still expect to be far and away the oldest person on the course. Which is fine. It's just going to be a shock to the system.
For the last four years I've worked from home and worked at being a writer. I've had three novels published and a couple of self-help books as well as business and research publications. There are a couple of proposals for more in with publishers, but since my partner was made redundant a few months ago and hasn't yet found another job, I can't really sit at home hoping to write a best-seller. The initial lure of the DiTLLS course was that it offered a £6,000 bursary, and - in our present financial condition - the likelihood of qualifying for as much again in student grants and loans.
I've just finished applying for everything I can get.
Now it's payback time.
Well, not literally. I won't have to pay back any loans until I'm employed and earning money. What I mean is, I now have to go and do the work. I have to be in college from 9.30am to 4.30pm four days a week, with Thursday devoted to preparing for my "placement". My placement will be 150 hours of teaching Adult Literacy courses, mainly in the summer term. That seems quite far away at the moment, so I'm not worrying about that yet. I'm worrying about my two children, aged 10 and 7, who I'm not going to be able to collect from school any more (except hopefully on Thursdays). At the moment their dad's around and can pick them up, but it's still not the same. And if he does get a job - which of course is emminently desirable - then I'll have to organise childcare.
Anyway, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. My life as a teacher? I never wanted to be a teacher, though adults have got to be less stressful to teach than children. I'm just struggling with the idea that I must be a failure as a writer to be doing this. But maybe, just maybe, working with the building blocks of language and helping people to change their lives through better literacy, might just be... really cool.
I haven't received my official letter from Admissions, along with the CRB Check form I should have filled in. I can't teach adults on my placement without being cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau, and each organisation has to do their own check. It doesn't matter that I was checked recently for a friend who is going to be a foster carer, and had a clean record. I suppose I could have committed any number of horrendous crimes since then.
I'm feeling quite apprehensive.
It's... almost exactly 30 years since I left university - with a degree in English and Drama - and now I'm going back to being a full-time student. It's a one year, post-graduate Diploma, but I still expect to be far and away the oldest person on the course. Which is fine. It's just going to be a shock to the system.
For the last four years I've worked from home and worked at being a writer. I've had three novels published and a couple of self-help books as well as business and research publications. There are a couple of proposals for more in with publishers, but since my partner was made redundant a few months ago and hasn't yet found another job, I can't really sit at home hoping to write a best-seller. The initial lure of the DiTLLS course was that it offered a £6,000 bursary, and - in our present financial condition - the likelihood of qualifying for as much again in student grants and loans.
I've just finished applying for everything I can get.
Now it's payback time.
Well, not literally. I won't have to pay back any loans until I'm employed and earning money. What I mean is, I now have to go and do the work. I have to be in college from 9.30am to 4.30pm four days a week, with Thursday devoted to preparing for my "placement". My placement will be 150 hours of teaching Adult Literacy courses, mainly in the summer term. That seems quite far away at the moment, so I'm not worrying about that yet. I'm worrying about my two children, aged 10 and 7, who I'm not going to be able to collect from school any more (except hopefully on Thursdays). At the moment their dad's around and can pick them up, but it's still not the same. And if he does get a job - which of course is emminently desirable - then I'll have to organise childcare.
Anyway, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. My life as a teacher? I never wanted to be a teacher, though adults have got to be less stressful to teach than children. I'm just struggling with the idea that I must be a failure as a writer to be doing this. But maybe, just maybe, working with the building blocks of language and helping people to change their lives through better literacy, might just be... really cool.
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