Time to get reflective...

The first session of the new term with an entirely new year group…

How’d it go? Quite well, I think. Certainly the best prepared I’ve ever been for a first lesson. And with none of that slight but persistent trepidation aboutaddressing a roomful of unfamiliar faces after a long summer lay off.

The difference, most definitely, is in the planning. Sounds strange, but until it was spelt out to me, I never really grasped how crucial it is. To everything.

Because much of what I teach takes the form of feedback to students on the work they’ve produced, that’s how I’ve ‘planned’ lessons in the past: set the brief, sit back and wait for them to come up with something we can talk about.

And I wondered why so many sessions simply tailed off in a general air of apathy and uncertainty!

For last Tuesday’s lesson, on the other hand, I tried to make use of everything I’ve learned in the last four weeks. So there were aims and objectives. Planned outcomes. A definite structure with clear ‘staging posts’ for the whole three hours.

I introduced a ‘mini exercise’ on advertising and memorability. I tried to get the students to contribute their opinion and experiences to make things a little more discursive. I even bribed them with chocolate…

(Not strictly true; the chocolate was part of the brief. We were simply interrogating the product!)

OK, so where was there room for improvement?

First and most definitely, I’m still talking too much. Having a ‘script’ of sorts helps, but I know I’m still prone to over elaboration and the odd tangenital departure. Partly out of enthusiasm for the subject, partly a lack of self-discipline.

And I’d kill to know how to moderate a group criticism effectively. Despite my pleas to ‘chip in with your own comments’ and reminders that ‘your opinion is just as important as mine’, getting more than a ‘Yeh, ‘s ok’from students by way of comment on one another’s work is seemingly impossible.

I’d love to get a heartfelt, impassioned debate going on, but so far it’s eluded me - one of the reasons my first professional practice observation is going to be a group criticism overseen by a more skilled tutor.

On both the above counts, Andy – my mentor and curriculum leader – sets a good example.

In Tuesday’s PM session, I noticed he was careful to stick strictly to the bones of the brief and the outcomes he expected. There was no ambiguity, no room for misunderstanding on the part of his learners. Only when those ground rules were firmly embedded did he become more chatty and engaged with them on a more informal level.

He also has an effective technique for drawing comment from his students; on throwing open the debate with a ‘what does everyone else think?’, he isn’t scared of allowing the ensuing silence to draw itself out to quite excruciating lengths before one of them offers their opinion.

I know for a fact I’d be jumping in with my own comments – and scuppering the possibility of a group debate – within five seconds.

A tool to try out next week, perhaps …