Hampstead Downstairs. 5 second-year BA-DATE students in attendance.
Collaborative Outreach work group. One group present who have been working together all term. S is offering advice for an upcoming presentation, after having viewed their work in Manchester a few weeks ago.
Roundtable discussion. No notebooks. Nothing in hands. The students are captivated.
Until I arrived all were gathered 'round, on level. They are all teachers here.
Active thinking. Sylvan is doing most of the talking but there is ample room to interrupt. He responds to faces that look inquisitive, as though they are containing something to say.
Vocabulary is jargon-heavy, very academic. No one requires definitions or clarification--shorthand is comfortable. Literary references likewise feel well-ingrained.
S's hand movement is constant, for punctuation and emphasis--it does not significantly contribute to content.
"I've blathered about a lot of stuff" "Whoop, I'm on my toes today!"-- humility and humour regularly highlighted. He appears to want to not be taken too seriously, but the students definitely want to take him seriously.
His delivery is stream-of-consciousness, but riddled with concrete and documentary examples. The research is ready in the forefront of his mind. He's effectively citing his research in a spoken essay. Neat. Do the students appreciate this multi-layered delivery style? It is so well-integrated it is elegant.
"Does that make sense?" with eye contact with the question-asker, to round off a line of discussion. The question is genuine, not just punctuation, but do the students ever say no? He is a person, a teacher, they not only want to please, but want to appear clever and worldly for. But this isn't a cocktail party: they need to let him know if they are lost!
"Tie a flag to that. A red ribbon. A yellow ribbon. Any ribbon. Pick a colour. Flag your ability to do it justice. I don't know if I can describe it fully or fairly. Maybe it didn't even happen. Poof! Mind blown!" --ways of playfully encouraging the students to honestly reflect on what they believe happened in the sessions they ran, versus what they can quantify.
"Work out what you're worth." This is not a declaration of "you're great!" but a reasonable assessment. Very human. S gives regular insights into his feelings, which are normal, mere-mortal feelings: I get the impression that he fights the academic tendency to maintain emotional distance. His feelings resonate with the students. He easily maintains their trust and energy while speaking in a low tone. Not monotone, but he just rambles along and they're highly attuned.
Memories invoked--collective reminders of what we've all experienced this term. Remember what we did. Remember why we did it.
Group Googling: S spells out names clearly so a phrase can be looked up in the moment, but also so that the student who is recording this on her phone can look it up later. Phones! Effective use of modern technology in the classroom! Weird. She uses AirDrop for Mac, as all of her group own iPhones, and they all share each lecture and discussion through this service.
Recommendations for reading that are just bubbling to the surface: "Ooh, I want to tell you about..." Writing and thinking prompts which are taken as direct questions to be answered in the moment. Not quite what he meant, I think, but listened to.
What really is the impact of forum theatre?
Recommended reading: no one goes for the phones until he begins to spell the author's name. Subtle? Not really. "Sara Ahmed is worth looking into." beat. "That's Sara, no h." Phones are grabbed. Implied "no really, this is useful, it will be good to remember this before we carry on and you forget."
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Peer Observed Me: Phil Rowe, 3 May 2018, 10:00 - 13:00
**Copy-Pasted from .doc format official form. Original document e-mailed to course support.**
PEER OBSERVATION OF TEACHING FORM
Tutor being observed: Kristen Gilmore
Person observing: Phil Rowe
Date of observation: Thursday 3 May 2018
Peer observation of teaching is an exercise that should be carried out at least once, on a bi-annual basis. It is a reflective exercise and should enable you to take creative risks within your learning, teaching and assessment work, and provide a vehicle for focused discussion between you and a colleague. In short, this exercise is about enhancement of learning, teaching and assessment.
Session (student group, unit title, brief session description):
TUTOR:
Intro to Welding for BA-TP Prop Making first year students. The students will be inducted to use the cold saw, angle grinders, and MIG welders. They will also be taught to clean, clamp, square and finish a steel project.
Tutor’s considerations in planning for the session / tutorial. Please include any considerations regarding Health & Safety:
Welders must wear steel-toed boots and a flame-retardant coverall throughout. They will be provided with hoods, gauntlets, gloves, earplugs, face shields, screens, extractors, and training to communicate in the space.
The equipment is regularly tested for safety and function. Other users of the workshop will be aware that hot work is ongoing and to keep themselves and flammable items (such as dust) clear.
The workshop and class will be loud, so I must speak loudly, clearly, and as simply as possible while keeping it interesting, and reinforcing earplug use.
The group will represent a range of experience and preparedness levels, and a few students will likely find welding exceptionally frightening. I will need to be sensitive to students’ emotions, explain how we manage hot work’s inherent hazards, and reinforce safe working practices.
Areas of focus for the peer observer:
I’ve introduced a new, hopefully dyslexia-friendly supporting document this year (that I will try not to drift too far from) that should reinforce some of the lessons from the day. It has already been sent out, along with PPE requirements. I aim to test this document’s usefulness and take note of where I can improve it and how I use it. It is my aim to improve the clarity of my lessons, as I tend to get carried away or try to explain too many things at once—I know I might overwhelm students who are already a bit overwhelmed!
I would appreciate pointers where possible to help me stay on-task and relevant.
PEER OBSERVATION
My thoughts before the class:
1st year student so probably little experience.
A very tricky class to teach. Potentially scary skill to learn.
Very noisy environment.
Welding by its nature requires a mask therefore very difficult to be able to clearly demonstrate.
Hand out was very good and thorough.
Is the number of students relevant to the class?
How do you address teaching students of different skill/experience/ability?
SESSION AND ASSESSMENT/ TEACHING STRENGTHS:
Firstly. Well done! A really interesting session to observe. It presented several issues worthy of discussion.
The hand out was useful. It gave a good heads up of what kind of activity and learning objectives were going to be covered. Did they read it?
The way you deliver information was accurate and clear to understand but I think you were hampered by a couple of things.
1. The workshop is a loud space. For the students hearing this information for the first time, it’s a difficult environment for them to best take it in.
2. Demonstrating an activity which is inherently difficult to see! And difficult to ‘gather round’ to view.
Having a small group meant you were able to give fair time to each student. Enough time for them to have ago with enough time to observe the other student without losing concentration – which I imagine would be a consideration if there were more people. I understand you cap the session at 4 max.
It was interesting to see how nervous/anxious they were on having a go for the first time. I heard the sentences “This is difficult to get the hang of” and “It’s slightly terrifying”! Perhaps there are ways of making it less intimidating for the students. You did go on to talk about how if it goes wrong, It goes wrong. Perhaps that would have been useful before the first go?
I liked how you brought in the point about the table height. A useful example of how you can discuss the variety of ways people like to work and how it comes to individual preferences. How could you make it comfortable for all?
Thoughts After the class:
We discussed ways that could be introduced to make practicing welding easier without actually welding. What different formats could be used to help build up confidence or a bit more confidence in what they are about to do. Could videos help so people could see better? Could a theory session in a quiet space pre the workshop be helpful? Practice without the machine turned on for technique skills?
We also discussed breaks for the students. Around 12:10 a student asked for a break. I had noticed that they were starting to flag a little earlier. I appreciate there is a lot to get through. With a very technical, information heavy session there was a real risk of fatigue. Worth also keeping in mind that one student had English as a second language, Its hard work listening and learning and translating at the same time. In a loud workshop!
Would more demonstration be useful?
A really tricky session to teach – I think you did really well dealing with a difficult lesson to plan. Well done.
REFLECTION AND DEVELOPMENT
(to be posed as questions by the peer for the tutor to consider)
How do you make a potentially intimidating/scary skills lesson more approachable?
How do you maintain concentration in students on very technical and information heavy sessions? Are you attempting to cover too much in one session?
Are there better ways to deliver sessions in a loud workshop environment?
The two students you had in this session were fairly balanced in terms of experience and skill level. How would the session be different if you had experienced welders already? Or more outgoing over confident students. I would be interesting to see how that would change the dynamics of the session.
SIGNED: Observed Person:
Peer Observer:
Phil Rowe
Date:
Do you give your permission for this document to be stored in a shared archive? YES NO
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Observation: Fran Johnson leading fit-up of Caucasian Chalk Circle 13 June, 10am-12pm
Safety. This is paramount today. The students are all in steelies (of course), and hard hats are popped onto heads when people go into the grid. The loading doors are open into the workshop and the back of the theatre--uninvolved students from other courses can't help but look in, so spotters and crossing guards are deployed in hi-vis while scenery is being moved. Smart!
There are about 20 people on stage, mostly electrics and technical and production management students. The scenic construction students must work safely around these varied and energetic activities. Noise is constant but also not as high-impact as the workshop typically is. The noises are more erratic, though, and the students are prone to being distracted by it.
Many first-year students, particularly GS, are on their first real fit-up.
Second-year construction student CS is HOD, and FJ wants her to be in charge of the other students. This is challenging for her, as FJ is right there and seems to know what he's doing. She is anxious about being in charge and doesn't really seem to have a clue what comes next. She does, but she's acting like she doesn't.
FJ repeatedly expresses his trepidation about this to other non-students on stage. Has his confidence taken a blow?
Fit-ups at Central are not the most efficient undertakings. But that's not really the point of them, is it? Everyone gathers 'round to observe GS trimming a flooring panel, under FJ's guidance. He's measuring to remove the obvious excess, one step at a time, to fit a floor panel around the proscenium, and the second years have stopped what they're doing to listen in. It is a worthwhile teachable moment, but don't you have something else you're supposed to be doing? The students respect and like, but do not fear FJ. They appear very comfortable around him, ask him questions and tell him their concerns and worries.
FJ pauses a moment to offer CS some reassurance. "It's like spinning plates, doing a fit-up: if you aren't sure what to do just look around and monitor what you've got people doing. If they're not doing what you asked them to do, check and see if they're doing something useful. If not, give them something useful to do."
GS's communication immaturity continually poses a challenge to FJ. It is difficult to be sure he understood you, as he starts saying "yeah, yeah, I got it" before FJ's finished talking or reached the crux of his point. He seems impatient to be free of teaching. FJ responds to this tendency similarly to me: you can see on his face he's not confident that GS understood, and repeats "does that make sense? I'm not making it clear." while GS tries to dismiss him. Is there a better way to deal with this attitude among clever, well-liked undergraduates? He's not giving him sass exactly, nor is he being oppositional-defiant, but he routinely cuts people off before he actually understands what they're trying to teach him, inhibiting his own learning.
Excellent use of chunk-based teaching: FJ breaks down the process of fitting the sheet materials around the proscenium into individual steps, and sets GS to do each step, then come back. Start Simple: cut the sheet length to the longest point needed. Now measure how deep the kick-out is based on the available overhang. GS whines that surely this has been done before--why don't we keep a template? The classic "we don't keep a template specifically so you have to learn how to do it. You're not going to have a template for every theatre you work in in your career." gets a uniform groan from everyone, and then a laugh.
FJ is teaching GS primarily, which makes sense. The other students, however, crave his attention. CS resists decision-making: she continues to try to get FJ to instruct them. Tough love here.
RM savours opportunities to teach. He wants to be seen methodically showing a first year TPM how to safely use the circular saw. JM has been inducted on this tool but he's listening anyway. Positive engagement with PPE all around, which is great to see.
There are about 20 people on stage, mostly electrics and technical and production management students. The scenic construction students must work safely around these varied and energetic activities. Noise is constant but also not as high-impact as the workshop typically is. The noises are more erratic, though, and the students are prone to being distracted by it.
Many first-year students, particularly GS, are on their first real fit-up.
Second-year construction student CS is HOD, and FJ wants her to be in charge of the other students. This is challenging for her, as FJ is right there and seems to know what he's doing. She is anxious about being in charge and doesn't really seem to have a clue what comes next. She does, but she's acting like she doesn't.
FJ repeatedly expresses his trepidation about this to other non-students on stage. Has his confidence taken a blow?
Fit-ups at Central are not the most efficient undertakings. But that's not really the point of them, is it? Everyone gathers 'round to observe GS trimming a flooring panel, under FJ's guidance. He's measuring to remove the obvious excess, one step at a time, to fit a floor panel around the proscenium, and the second years have stopped what they're doing to listen in. It is a worthwhile teachable moment, but don't you have something else you're supposed to be doing? The students respect and like, but do not fear FJ. They appear very comfortable around him, ask him questions and tell him their concerns and worries.
FJ pauses a moment to offer CS some reassurance. "It's like spinning plates, doing a fit-up: if you aren't sure what to do just look around and monitor what you've got people doing. If they're not doing what you asked them to do, check and see if they're doing something useful. If not, give them something useful to do."
GS's communication immaturity continually poses a challenge to FJ. It is difficult to be sure he understood you, as he starts saying "yeah, yeah, I got it" before FJ's finished talking or reached the crux of his point. He seems impatient to be free of teaching. FJ responds to this tendency similarly to me: you can see on his face he's not confident that GS understood, and repeats "does that make sense? I'm not making it clear." while GS tries to dismiss him. Is there a better way to deal with this attitude among clever, well-liked undergraduates? He's not giving him sass exactly, nor is he being oppositional-defiant, but he routinely cuts people off before he actually understands what they're trying to teach him, inhibiting his own learning.
Excellent use of chunk-based teaching: FJ breaks down the process of fitting the sheet materials around the proscenium into individual steps, and sets GS to do each step, then come back. Start Simple: cut the sheet length to the longest point needed. Now measure how deep the kick-out is based on the available overhang. GS whines that surely this has been done before--why don't we keep a template? The classic "we don't keep a template specifically so you have to learn how to do it. You're not going to have a template for every theatre you work in in your career." gets a uniform groan from everyone, and then a laugh.
FJ is teaching GS primarily, which makes sense. The other students, however, crave his attention. CS resists decision-making: she continues to try to get FJ to instruct them. Tough love here.
RM savours opportunities to teach. He wants to be seen methodically showing a first year TPM how to safely use the circular saw. JM has been inducted on this tool but he's listening anyway. Positive engagement with PPE all around, which is great to see.
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