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May 2016

Teaching like strawberries

They grow

and run

and make fabulous fruit

This morning I was mentioned in a tweet by Simon that pointed me to this post by Autumn. We are connected through a filament in the ether.

Her post was written as a prelude to #Rhizo16 and this is a big collective that is hung together by emergent themes- and I followed it a bit last year, but didn’t get too involved exactly for a reason that Autumn mentioned. She called it IMB –

Interpersonal Multitudes Barrier (IMB) it is a simple equation – the more voices you add to a synchronous conversation the more you see a reduction in intimacy in that conversation.

I find that very difficult. I find small talk very difficult exactly for that reason. I am interested in what makes people tick. I want to know and be known. Connection is so fulfilling.

Read More »Teaching like strawberries

Feedback is all around us: SEDA Workshop 2016

Linking Skills, Feedback,

and

Assessment to develop Student Agency and Achievement

 

That was the title of my workshop at the SEDA (Staff and Educational Development Association) Conference on Assessment & Feedback and I had great fun. There were 40+ in the room and the plan was to talk to them for the first bit, presenting core ideas and a context for assessment. Then we broke into five groups, around tables and I gave them the brief to write an essay based on the information given so far…

What happened next was very interesting indeed. Everyone did something very different to what I expected. In my naive mind, I imagined that people would ‘get on with the task’ and just write an essay.

This was the beginning of a fantastic lesson for me. I know I was presenting, but I was learning.Read More »Feedback is all around us: SEDA Workshop 2016

Looking back and moving forward

Last week I held the last of three sessions for the Connected Classes project. They wove themselves into one of my university modules and became the content. The students in my class were studying one-to-one teaching in music, and they all had taught a student of their own throughout this term. Our usual ending sessions had to do with looking at the wider picture, troubleshooting, and reflecting on the experiences over the term and and so we used (and expanded) those ideas to engage with them as part of our #cclasses sessions.

We had one of the librarians visit us and watch what was going on. She wanted to see me teach, but I told her this would be like no other session she had ever seen, I probably wouldn’t even seem like the teacher! I invited her to bring her headphones and join in. She did listen, but didn’t tweet – instead she made notes, and I asked her permission to share some of her notes with you. So here you have an observer’s account of what went on…Read More »Looking back and moving forward

What makes you tick? Musical inspiration

This is the last of our three sessions for the Connected Classes project and this week the class decided to celebrate moments/people/events that were pivotal in their musical development.

I set about gathering these moments (anonymously) from anyone and everyone, and it was funny (odd) to be met with such varied reactions. I had everything from blank faced looks to nervous laughter at the idea that I was interested in what made them musically tick.Read More »What makes you tick? Musical inspiration

Respectfully yours… from the parents

Last week we heard from the parents in our #IVTchat and it was certainly interesting. I’m not going to soliloquise about it here. The good thing was that it made us think and we had a full discussion afterwards. I sometimes feel my head spin as I could (and did) contribute as teacher, parent, and learner. All I will say here is that life is a complicated cocktail, and with the right ingredients it can be completely magic. Just being aware that there is always more to the picture than we can see is a first step – and understanding that the impact of a teacher can be so very valuable – either to instigate and then reinforce the positive support from home, or to be a source of support where there is less to be found outside the lesson. There was so much to think about! It made us reflect on our own experience and perhaps look at the wider picture of lessons in a slightly different way.Read More »Respectfully yours… from the parents