Tutor Observation Reflection 2: Suicide, Traffic, Panic Attacks and Ambulances.

Major traffic on roads

Cause by potential sucide on road!

                                                   I MEAN COME ON!!  
                                                      What else could go wrong?

Learner Taken ill

Tutor Observation Reflection 2 using Gibbs (1988).

Description

This session was my second tutor observation and third observation overall.  The observation took place in a Function Skills English session on descriptive texts covering both reading and writing.  The session is usually three hours long but was cut short today due to group presentations so a lot of information had to be covered in a short space of time.  The cohorts are all mature adult learners preparing to move on to GCSE with hopes of moving into the nursing profession.

Feelings.

Since my previous observation my placement with Doncaster Council’s AFCL department has begun after a delayed start, in which I have been observing tutors in a range of courses in the community and taking part in some of the sessions myself.  I have also secured a new placement at Doncaster College which began in late February which has allowed me to increase my actual practical teaching experience massively since then.  I am beginning to feel much more confident in my ability to teach now that I am being given the chance to teach sessions for myself.  I have been working closely with this group for the past month and have taught three full sessions myself.  This has allowed a good rapport to be built and has had a huge effect on the problem of nerves which was hindering the teaching process massively.  As there are no longer huge gaps of time between my teaching experiences I am quickly becoming more and more confident and knowledgeable with each session I take, adapting any future sessions to reflect what I have learned.   As a result of this the observation today was overall a much more positive experience than the previous session in which I was observed.  Although there was still an element of nerves to my delivery as I am still relatively new to actual teaching, added to observation nerves this was still a huge improvement on my previous observation.  The observer commented on the improvement made here mentioning the fact that I did not seem nervous at all.  I am happy with the improvement although I know that nerves are still impacting on my delivery and will continue to improve as I become more comfortable in the environment.  I am able to recognise when my speech becomes to rushed and pull myself back and count to five in my head to allow learners to speak their answers themselves without jumping in too early with praise or follow up questions.  A technique learned from one of my mentors which I now also employ is to take a literal step back after asking a question as a reminder to give the learners time.

Evaluation.

The session brought up some issues that I have not had to deal with in my teaching experience so far.  Due to problems with traffic only two learners were present at the beginning of the session and the rest of the group arrived at the session in gradual increments.  The planned session had to be adjusted slightly to accommodate this.  The first task/game was omitted which as a consequence did not allow the leaning to be broken up as much as I would have liked.  However overall I feel that I coped with the situation well and ensured that all latecomers were welcomed and acknowledged and were brought up to date on the lesson content and direction.  During this session a learner was taken ill and an ambulance had to be called. I endeavoured to stay calm during this incident and although I had to leave the room momentarily I ensured the other learners were put at ease and the lesson was resumed as soon as possible.  According to Glasser's Choice Theory Maslow’s 5 basic i needs are at the forefront of motivation and learning he states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself. 
This is supportive of Glasser’s choice theory (1999) in that our basic inborn needs are at the forefront of motivation and learning .  On this occasion the lower order needs of the learner concerning physical and emotional wellbeing needed to be addressed.  This impacted the other learners; all were becoming concerned, meaning they could not concentrate on their higher-order needs of learning, fun and self-actualisation. These experiences can impact on teachers and learners everyday and while it was vital experience for me, and I coped well with the situation and received positive feedback from the observer regarding this, it was quite challenging to have my first experience of this occur during an observation.   These are experiences that can impact on teachers and learners everyday and although I know it was vital experience for me, and I feel I coped well with the situation and received positive feedback from the observer regarding this, it was quite challenging to have my first experience of this occur during an observation.  

Overall I feel the session went well.  The learners all engaged with the topic, slides, sound-effects and tasks and all produced a well written piece of descriptive writing which showed the progression of their learning while also enjoying a fun relaxed but informative session.  I can already determine areas that can be altered in order to deliver a truly multi-sensory session for the learners.  Multi-sensory learning asserts learners should experience visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approaches in order to fully understand a concept or topic.  Kolb’s (1984) Experiential learning is a philosophy of education based on the work of Piaget, Lewin, Jung and John Dewey (1938) which believes learning should come through a synthesis of experience and knowledge.  To learn experientially learners must first of all own and value their experience and knowledge and understanding is constructed from what learners already know and believe based on previous experience and an effective teacher must build on exploration of this knowledge and beliefs.  Kolb and Kolb (2005) write:

        Beginning with these or related concrete experiences allows the learner

        to re-examine and modify their previous sensemaking in light if new ideas (207).

A more kinaesthetic approach would have been beneficial here allowing a more interactive experience for learners to with and describe what they feel and touch.  I convinced myself the ideas I had in this respect were too juvenile for this group and was worried about offending learners. This observation session could have been developed into a multi-sensory lesson and included objects to touch, smell and taste.  My initial idea was to have objects in paper bags for the learners to describe.  If I was working with children this would have been the method I would have used however I decided against it as I was concerned the mature students would not engage with this.  However this judgement was incorrect.  The learners really engaged with the sensory aspects of the session and this would have only improved the learning and the atmosphere of the session if I had included objects to touch, smell and taste.  I intend to research further into new and emerging technologies available in my subject area and utilise these where available; this is another target for my ILP.   My experience and ability is increasing daily and as my rapport with the learners increases too the sessions should continue to improve.      

Analysis.

The fact that my interaction with the learners was identified as a strength is a real positive for me. The observer picked up on my support of the learners and development of their skills in preparation for the exam and every day life.  My interaction with learners is something I have been working really hard to improve on as my nerves and lack of experience had caused me to talk too much and not spend enough time with the learners.  This is also continually improving I believe, due to a particularly difficult young group I have been working with in which we have been making huge strides forward.  My work with this young group is not only improving my classroom/behaviour management and questioning skills but also allows me to see the differences in the mature learners of the observation group and identify the areas where I can step back and allow these learners to take over.  I will continue to work on this in the future it is important to me to become a supportive and encouraging teacher as this is the corner stone of successful learning.  

I agree with the comments referring to continuing to improve my question techniques.  I have been researching questioning methods and am planning to devise a system in which I ensure to include at least four techniques per session in all my future sessions to determine through trial and error the best techniques for certain learners, topics or situations. 

During group work I have been attempting to ensure the quieter learners work with different group members to engage them in the tasks and discussions.  I will speak to my mentors about this and get their perspective and ideas in how to engage the quieter learners without making them feel singled out.  In previous sessions learners have written and performed radio advertisements for Sport Relief in which the quieter learners in the group really engaged and responded to.  This is something which I can attempt to build on in the future.  I also intend to ask the learners their ideas on the types of tasks done in the session and will develop the tasks round this.  Functional Skills is a particularly dry subject in which the learners understandably become bored with the content and resources.  I have been endeavouring to improve the content of the session to include more interesting and diverse resources such as the choice of text for descriptive writing, using sound effects and visuals.  During a previous persuasive writing session I incorporated a video of Martin Luther King’s famous speech to illustrate persuasive techniques which was a really successful session. 

The breaking up of the tasks is something I will continue to work on in the future. Although there would have been more time and an extra task had the session begun on time with all learners, the later tasks could have been broken up more to make learning easier for some learners.  I intend to ask advice of my mentors in this area it is also a topic I am hoping to cover in my subject specialist interview.  It is important to stop and recap and although I think I have allowed for this during my planning I need to pay more attention and allow more time for recap and tasks.  The observer has given some advice to research the Accelerated Learning Cycle as a tool to improve in this area.  

The strengths identified are positive and can be built on (appendix 10).  My subject knowledge is something that is commented on often and although this is important I am also conscious of my subject knowledge becoming too noticeable or impacting on the session too much.   Although I attempt to include a small amount of more critiquing points for differentiation and also to allow learners to think in new ways I do not want to force my knowledge on the learners or influence their viewpoints.  I am still making the transition from higher level student to tutor and although it is great to have the recognition of my subject knowledge I believe it is the learner’s knowledge that should be the basis of learning. As my research into teaching theory continues it is cognitivist and constructivist based theories and particularly more postmodern adaptations of them such as Problem/Inquiry based learning and philosophical and literary approaches from theorists first encountered in my degree study such as those of Deluze and Kristeva that I find most interesting and relevant and want to build my future practice on.

Conclusion.

As a result of the observation I have learned that although I still have a long way to go in my training and development as a teacher my skills are improving greatly.  I have learned that my attempts to condense the content of sessions and make them more learner led rather than tutor led has been successful up to this point and I will continue on working to improve this even further in future sessions.  I do not need to do all the work and can let the learners have more control of the session. 

This session introduced me to classroom issues which I had not yet encountered in my training and so I gained vital knowledge and experience on how to cope in such situations in a professional manner.  It also gave me first hand experience of how a teacher needs to be able to adjust the lesson plan to accommodate any issues which may occur.  I have learned I do not need to put so much pressure on myself to rigidly follow the lesson plan.

My interaction with learners has improved since previous observations but there is still a lot of work to be done in this area.  I can break down tasks into smaller chunks which will make them more manageable for some learners.  I have learned not to over think tasks or dismiss them as something the learners would feel is aimed at children and insulting.  The session was good but could have been great if I had included all the multi-sensory resources I had initially though of.

Action Plan.

In future sessions I intend to break up the session into smaller sections and include more tasks and activities at the end of each section to make learning more manageable, even more engaging and more learner led.  I will include more recaps in my sessions rather than just one at the start and end of the session.  This was a short session compared to the amount of time usually spent with this group and shorter still due to the unforeseen issues which occurred during and so I may have tried to move past things too quickly in order to include the important information.  In future I will omit less important information and pick them up in a future lesson.  I will research the Accelerated Learning Cycle to help me in this area.

I will also continue to improve my questioning techniques.  I will Experiment with techniques and aim to include at least four techniques per session in all my future sessions to determine through trial and error the best techniques for certain learners, topics or situations. I will continue to work on condensing the content of sessions to allow for more tasks and questioning.

I will implement a recap and assessment method which allows learners to assess and reflect on their learning and progress which I will speak to my mentors about.  I would also like an improved method of tracking and assessing the progress of learners for myself rather than relying on the information given to me.  This is a great starting point but as I am getting to know these learners more I would like some kind of record to show progression.

I also need to devise a better method of recap and assessment as question and answering is adequate for some part of the session however, the learners should have some access to self-reflection and future targets.  The target for my ILP is to develop a method for learners to reflect on their learning and progression during the session.  In my placement with DMBC learners have a Learner Journey Booklet which they complete at the end of every session.  This may be something I can replicate or use as a template to design something similar for Doncaster College students. I will talk to my mentors in the college about the best way to achieve this.