Month: February 2019

Iestyn came to observe my class Monday this week. Unfortunately he just saw the beginning of the session and not the fun part where they started to make things from old mock ups from previous projects. It is really intimidating having someone watching you tech in a class – your mind is racing with questions – am I saying the right things? Am I paying attention to what the students are saying? Do I even know what I am talking about? But I guess that is what being observed is good for – highlighting anything you can’t see for yourself. I can’t wait to observe someone else’s class and hopefully pick up some teaching techniques  at the same time!

Because of the new block system, my students have all just completed a 15 week project and have not stopped and have leaped into their next project which is only 5 weeks long.

Feedback from our design sessions were that students were not listening in on other people talking so they were getting no peer feedback and some of the classes should be split into smaller groups. I have taken this on board and with the short time scale I have, I am trying to make these sessions more interactive.

We have just finished our first session and I got them into groups (trying to mix up friendship groups) and made them do a mind map of Vivienne Westwood (the brand we are working for) and a list of components on a bag (what they need to design). I also got them to each bring in 5 unwanted items and as a team they selected one item each and had to make something interesting from it.

The end result was good. Some students embraced it more than others and I did get feedback that they actually enjoyed the class, which is a positive. Unfortunately there were some in the class who made no effort to participate. I tried to be positive and encouraging, talking to them about possibilities with their waste materials but to no avail. It is these students I don’t know what to do with – am I failing as a tutor as I am not engaging with them? It cannot all be down to them and their attitude – can it?

I’ve been thinking how the last session we had with Iestyn has changed me as a tutor in these last few weeks. In the past, I always felt that if I was just walking around and looking at the students working or sitting on the side listening to what the students were discussing was not teaching. I felt I was sometimes maybe not doing my job. It’s so true what he said is that we always feel we need to be talking to be discussing but sometimes in being silent we can see what the students actually need. Iestyn mentioned ‘Silent Teaching’ where you go into a class and don’t say anything and ‘Monitoring Teaching’ where you go around and see what students are doing, observe them and check they are doing the correct thing. I now feel more confident that I am actually doing my job even though I am not speaking or actively showing them something all the time. Students need the time and space to disciver by themselves with the guidance of tutors close by if needed.