Tag: reflection

What’s your (teaching) style?

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Today, one of my year 12 students asked if I taught all my classes using different methods.

Serendipity right there as I was thinking of blogging about the different teaching styles (the term pedagogy gags a bit) I’ve been using with 3 of my classes. In fact, I’ve blogged about all of them already:

Project-based Learning (PBL) – Year 12 Information Processes and Technology

Inquiry-based Learning – Year 11 Information Processes and Technology

Games-based Learning – Year 9 Information and Software Technology

Apart from PBL, I’m a newbie to the other two styles and totally loving the whole experience. It feels good to try different ways of teaching and expanding my pedagogical (gag) repertoire. I do believe a diversity in approach keeps me interested and ditto for the students. A win-win in my books.

I have no preference as such, as each approach has its strengths. I think what makes them work in my meagre experience is that each one is all about the learning, fostered through a regular dose of feedback (teacher-student, student-teacher, student-student). It is a community built on relationships built through constant connection. All approaches focus on the instructional core: student, teacher, content – and the interactions thereof.

I do not see myself as an innovative educator – that really is  not my aim. I daresay I am a learning (vs learned) teacher, with an eclectic approach to teaching and learning. Yep, that’s my style. What about you?

I like this “doodle” by Giulia Forsythe. Though I don’t claim to to pursue innovative pedagogy, there are some interesting points here methinks.

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Risks in Teaching and Learning

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I am filling in for another teacher to teach Year 12 Information Processes and Technology (IPT) for a few weeks.  My class was nervous (to say the least) when I said I would teach them in way that perhaps they were never taught before.

It’s not that I was being particularly innovative but I really wanted to leverage my years of (IT) industry experience to make the course as real as possible, within the shortest amount of time, i.e. the short weeks I had with this class.

About IPT

IPT lends itself well to Project-Based Learning (PBL) because the course is meant to be project-based.  That is, the core concepts of Project Management (PM), Information Systems and Databases and Communication Systems are meant to be explored within the contexts of (2 of 4) options Transaction Processing Systems (TPS), Decision Support Systems (DSS), Automated Manufacturing Systems (AMS) and Multimedia Systems (MMS).

The Proposal

I proposed to cover TPS and MMS together as one project. Far from charmed, doubts were palpable. This was eased somewhat when I showed I went through the PM process to create the (PBL) project plan.

In a nutshell, the project aimed to enhance the current Library system (a TPS) to incorporate a multimedia alert system for overdue loans. Students were to play different project team roles and generate products accordingly. Students were to pretend to be IT professionals and interview the school librarians.

Risks, Issues and Solutions

 I didn’t really know what the students already knew. They had supposedly covered all the core content and about to go into the options. We had a lesson of high-level revision (blank-page) strategy. This revealed that the students did not have a big-picture understanding of the course and how everything was connected.

The students didn’t really know me. Trust could not be built in one or two lessons. Showing an interest and coming in with loads of enthusiasm about the course and teaching and learning helped. I shared stories about my IT experience (it is somewhat tragic that the IPT course does read like my CV) and a little about my interests and family. I was always honest.

There is so much content.  My main strategy was to focus on keywords and concepts and connections; quite a good learning (and teaching) strategy. This actually helped build their confidence as guided questioning showed they can remember or work things out. There is still work to be done to get them thinking independently. Doing this approach, they eventually saw that it was possible to combine TPS and MMS.

Real Learning

Our meeting with the librarians was a hit with all parties involved. Students asked interesting questions and librarians happily obliged. Role-playing in a real context allowed students to experience a real interview with users. They saw the library system as a TPS and were pleasantly surprised to find out that it already had MMS elements and that the work they were doing could be useful for the school….alas, we don’t have the tine to really develop/build the solution.

Our meeting was capped with a debrief under the trees (see image), outside the library. We discussed our project, teamwork, professionalism. We discussed what we learned, especially the wrong (and right) assumptions we had. They seemed genuinely surprised that the librarians “owned” their system (in fact, most users of any information systems do).

So much was learned in that “lesson”.

lesson under the trees

Now what?

We’re at a crossroads. We have covered much ground regarding TPS. They can do MMS content on their own, if they have to. We have 5 lessons together left.

I want to keep going with the project but the class asked me to prepare them for the HSC – to consolidate everything, a brain-dump of sorts. They want to know how to unpack and answer questions. They want to know what they yet do not know and understand. They want me to explain. They want me to lecture (fancy that! and I said no). They want me to keep asking questions. They want to know so much.

What they really need is to learn how to learn. For that, I am willing to forego the rest of the PBL. Yep, another risk – chuck out the plan!

 

Listening diet: EAT

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TeachMeets are fantastic events for teaching and learning. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be part of a big one at the ATP (TMWR2012); big enough to be featured in the Sydney Morning Herald: Lesson in Numbers.

The TMWR2012 journey began for me from the moment I volunteered to be part of the organising committee, a cross-sectoral team of dedicated educators who really want to celebrate teaching and learning TeachMeet style (Simon Crook tells a better and more complete story in his post).  It was a joy to be at the Registration desk and say hello to my edu friends, old and new. I am deliberately not mentioning names here as this would end up like the sign-on sheet! 🙂

This post is also to share my 2-minute pecha-kucha entitled, “Are you listening?”  It’s about how challenging it is to listen nowadays and yet when we do, we learn.  I shared a few stories where this was definitely true for me and what listening entailed, ie. the listening diet.

E – empathy – feel the other, their questions, their struggles

A – attention – focus on what they are saying, or not saying

T – take the other seriously – what they are saying is true for them at that moment, in that context

The stories I shared are all in this blog – 2 minutes is not very long to share 3 stories and plant a seed; I don’t think I even stopped to breathe :).  These are:

  1. Claire’s art to express dyslexia
  2. Pedagogical shifts in teaching Algebra – Introduction via Rihanna, Big-Picture Style
  3. Crowd-sourcing “How do we teach empathy?“

These are among my favourite blog posts because these experiences were moments of real learning for me; real examples of me employing the listening diet.

As an aside, I’m really glad I’m doing the 365+1 photo project this year as my Flickr stream provided (CC-licensed) photos for my presentation.

I also decided to join SlideShare and embed my presentation here, such as it is.

Are you listening?

View more presentations from malynmawby

What makes people tick?

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In a social world, real and virtual, it is likely that we’ve been baffled by how people behave or what motivates them.  As a teacher, one of the biggest challenges I find is to understand what motivates students.  Ditto figuring out colleagues.  And if I’m truly honest, it is something I wonder as a wife, mother, friend and generally, as a citizen.

When I recently chanced on a TV show that teased “people are irrational beings and we should be surprised when they act in a rational way“, I was hooked.  The show was a talk by Hugh Mackay at the Sydney University on his book, What makes people tick?  The Ten Desires That Drive Us (show/broadcast also available on the internet; as well, there is a transcript of a similar talk but tailored for business which only mentions 7 of the 10).  Mackay is a psychologist, social researcher and author.

The 10 desires that drive people:

  1. to be taken seriously
  2. for ‘my place’
  3. for something to believe in
  4. to connect
  5. to be useful
  6. to belong
  7. for control
  8. for more
  9. for things to happen
  10. to love and be loved

The desire to be taken seriously

According to Mackay these desires are connected, complicated and sometimes in conflict (think dilemma).   He said that what we do is often a mix of the desires but that the one often present, and thus perhaps the most relevant to know, is the desire to be taken seriously.

 It [the desire to be taken seriously] is all about the desire to be acknowledged as the unique individual each of us knows ourselves to be – the desire to be noticed, appreciated, valued, accepted … perhaps even remembered.

This really struck me as a wonderful articulation of the interdependence of the “I” and the “other”.   As I was mulling over this, days after watching the show, blog posts from my PLN seemingly conspired to emphasise the point.  They all came in seemingly rapid succession.

@mrsdkrebs wrote “My one word – Voice”, a manifesto for finding and sharing her voice as well as to help develop the voices of others.

@whatedsaid wrote “A little empathy”, a story of an orderly who showed empathy to a distressed elderly patient at the hospital, when others failed to do so.  This post was also a call for educators to teach empathy. (aside: How to teach empathy post is personal favourite).

@colekpharm wrote “Uninvited Gift”, a personal reflection on the dilemma of medical professionals to ‘see’ the patient, constantly reminded of the “fragility of life” and “humanity laid bare”.   On one hand, it provides a flipside of @whatedsaid’s post.  On the other hand, it calls for the same thing – more empathy.

@billgx wrote “Overcoming Techno-Distance”, a personal reflection that echoes most of the desires listed by Mackay, particularly the human desire to connect and love.   Bill wrote about the death of teen Ashley Duncan whose suicide was voiced via social media.  In this, Bill echoes my question of how can we better decode social media to help those crying for help.

All of these posts do confirm what Mackay has said about desires that drive people, particularly in the desire to be acknowledged.  Perhaps knowing this is one step to understanding people, improving relationships and helping individuals.   It helps me, too, to know that yes, this is one of my desires.  This comprises empathy, respect and appreciation.

The desire to be taken seriously….

We desire it.  So does everyone around us.  Let’s try to fill it for at least one person everyday and perhaps the world will be a better place. How? Be there. Listen. Ask. Hold the hand. Hug. Say nothing. Acknowledge something said. Really, whatever feels as necessary….even if it is irrational; after all, we are irrational beings.  

A note to teachers

Students (and kids) express this in many ways.  In a classroom, this may be tricky and perhaps impossible to do all the time.  However, I think it is possible to address everyone’s desire to be taken seriously in the course of the day, week, year.  It probably is good to discuss this primordial desire with them.  I think it is easier to conceptualise than “Respect”.  Besides, quite likely, they too are wondering what makes people tick.

More of the same

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It’s amazing how a year can turn out really.  I like to plan and organise; I’ve learned to be good at these, in fact. Yet, looking back at 2011, I can say that much of the amazing things have not been planned at all.  No real agenda but an attitude of “Let’s see what happens if I….”

Here’s what happened:

My 2011

I abstracted a list of my 2011 highlights and popped the words into Wordle.  I think it’s wonderful that the main themes (patterns) are an alliteration: connect, create, community.  Rather belatedly and with a touch of personal surprise, this makes evident that in 2011, I have followed my bliss.  Fancy that!

I’ve long given up new year’s resolutions.  Change can happen any time especially if I’m open to it.  How can I not want more of the same?

So my 2012 wish is to have more of the same!

Happy New Year everyone.  

If you were a part of my 2011 (and if you’re reading this, you most likely were),

may we continue to connect in 2012.