silent and monitoring teaching

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.