Compare_and_Contrast_Microteach_with_Observed_Lesson

In comparing and contrasting between my microteach and my observed lesson it should be noted at the outset that the microteach was not undertaken in front of “real” students, rather the microteach “students” were actually my peers on the Certificate in Education course. My class is an adult group studying for an HE qualification, and therefore they are already well versed in both the colleges and the tutor’s expectations of their behaviour as this is already established as part of the Cert Ed. course they are studying. This group of students can generally be considered to be well educated and of high self esteem, which means that they have high expectations, and set themselves more difficult goals, and have high levels of personal control. In contrast to the microteach, the observed lesson was with my GCSE fast track group. This group of students are all aged between 14 and 22 and have come to the fast track GCSE generally as a second chance route to qualifications as they failed to achieve GCSEs whilst in the school system. Some of the group are statemented for SENs, some have attendance issues, one girl has been pregnant this term and is now a teenage mum, some of the children are from home schooling backgrounds and are experiencing for the first time, education as part of a group in an institutional setting. These factors combine to mean that this group has an “abnormal investment in the question of self-worth” (Jones & Berglas, 1978, P.205) which results in varying displays of self-handicapping and low self-esteem within the group dynamic. Jones and Berglas (1978, p.200) discuss this phenomenon: “Self-handicappers choose impediments or obstacles to performance that enable them to deflect the cause of failure away from their competence and on to the acquired impediments.” Hattie (Hattie, 1999) explains this further: “Examples of self-handicapping include procrastination, the choice of performance-debilitating circumstances (e.g., the dog ate my homework), engaging in little or no practice for upcoming tasks, having low-challenge goals, exaggeration of obstacles to success, and the strategic reduction of effort (Thompson, 2004; Tice & Baumeister, 1990). In the event of failure, the person has an immediate excuse. Self-handicapping occurs more often when individuals are typically uncertain about their abilities and competencies (Rhodewalt & Agustsdottir, 1986)” I always take into account this sort of consideration about abilities and expectations in my GCSE group when planning lessons and assessment methods, as in the past I have found that the students low-levels of confidence, can quickly lead to frustration, which can spread like wild fire through the group and upset the balance of a lesson dramatically if left unchecked. During the planning stages for my Origami Box themed Microteach lesson, I was reading the book Teaching Today by Geoffrey Petty. Geoffrey Petty’s research states that most people find visual information easier to remember than verbal information. (Petty, 2004) Another advantage of visual aids, according to Geoffrey Petty, is that visual aids are a valuable tool to aid conceptualisation. I took this into consideration in my planning, as at first I was simply going to lead the group through the practical by means of a demonstration. Instead I decided to begin the lesson with a brief introduction to the history of Origami. I created a PowerPoint presentation to communicate this segment. I had to research and locate images of different origami pieces using books and the internet, the pictures were processed for ILT purposes using Adobe Photoshop and then imported into PowerPoint to be combined with text including keywords, translations from Japanese and also historical facts and figures. I sourced music from the same ancient era of Japanese culture, the Endo period, and played this audio track during the lesson introduction while I set out the aims and objectives on the whiteboard. The music maintained the students interest and set the mood at the start of the PowerPoint presentation. During the PowerPoint presentation, I asked students to guess the facts before giving them the answers using the smart board to reveal the answers. Once the presentation portion was over I realised that I had moved more quickly than anticipated through this segment, which I put down to mild nervousness. I checked myself at this point however, and made a conscious effort to work doubly slow for the next part, which was the practical exercise. This worked well giving more time for the practical session. During planning, I realised that even at this high level, some students may have trouble following the demonstration alone. So, taking into account Petty’s advice on making visual aid handouts, I created a handout using Microsoft word and Adobe Illustrator which used visual aids such as hand drawn technical diagrams, and symbols, as well as text and numbers, to illustrate the task to be undertaken in a step by step style. This handout was copied and given to each student to work from during the demonstration, which kept them focused on the task and kept talking to a minimum. Each student required a sheet of card to undertake the lesson, for which I chose brightly coloured card that I had to cut to size and pre-fold once before the lesson to start the learners off. I also brought in materials for my own purposes as I gave a demonstration of the basic folds before we began. The students then carried out the practical task alongside my demonstration from the front of the class. The demonstration was hard to do as I had to fold in the air rather than on the table so that everyone could see, and I was also folding in reverse for the audience, which made it slightly more complicated for me to deliver. My observed lesson took place in the darkroom. The lesson plan was written in advance and adhered to during the session. The aims and outcomes were set out in the classroom first and then in the darkroom the students were asked to state what their own aims and objectives were for the session. These were agreed with me before work commenced. In my differentiation planning I have to acknowledge the wide spread of ages and the ability range in this group and often employ a method of pairing stronger students with weaker ones during practical exercises. Jacky Ridsdale (2004, p.249) discusses the relationship between dyslexia, self-esteem and peer group support… “Utilising the support of the peer group to promote the successful inclusion of those with Special Educational Needs is a well established idea (Newton et al, 1996). This is particularly so, for the adolescent dyslexic student. Attempts have been made to use peer group support to promote skill acquisition and self-esteem. (Bagley & Mallick, 1996; Baum et al, 1995, Carabine and Downton, 2000). Their researches covered one to one mentoring, peer tutoring, and non-intensive group support. All were found to raise self-esteem, and problem-solving skills in dyslexic students. It is likely that the peer group is currently an under-used and potentially vital resource, which teachers might wish to consider in their attempts to meet the academic and environmental need of their dyslexic students.” In contrast to my GCSE group the levels of literacy and numeracy within the microteach Cert. Ed. group have all been assessed to at least reach the required literacy and numeracy for the DTLLS course, as the students undertook an initial assessment at the beginning of the course. I did plan carefully for the practical part of the lesson to allow for ongoing assessment of their progress as I gave the demonstration. During the practical folding part of the lesson I asked the students to point to where we were on the handouts to make sure that everyone was following. I also moved around the group to make sure that the students were making progress and helped any that needed assistance, this also served as behaviour management as I was able to keep the students focused and progressing, and break up any talking that may have distracted the student and their neighbours. I also asked peers to assist people who were having trouble with the folds. At the end of the practical I did a quick Q&A to assess the students recall of the PowerPoint presentation facts and figures and the names of some of the folds just undertaken. I created a quiz format on PowerPoint and used the smartboard to pose the questions and then after the group had shouted answers I used the touch screen to reveal the answers. The Q&A would have worked better if I had nominated people to answer, instead of saying “Who knows the answer….” which allowed some students to avoid answering and stronger students to dominate the segment of the lesson. In terms of behaviour management techniques used in my observed lesson, I have built up a good rapport with my GCSE group since the beginning of the year and this means that generally the lessons run smoothly and I rarely have to discipline my students as they are all keen to learn and progress with the subject. The group function well as a cohesive and supportive unit now, and are very good at both encouragement and peer teaching. At the beginning of the year I set the students a standard of behaviour and expectations that were required from them, this was cemented in the form of a good behaviour contract that I created for them which the group have all signed. The group are all exceptionally astute when it comes to matters of discipline, the assembly often reminds the individual of the correct health and safety procedures, best practice working methods and expected behaviour. The group also continuously self assess their work against that of their peers and learns from them as they go. The Q&A assessment session at the end of the observed lesson was not observed by my tutor as this lesson was over two hours, but this is when the students become quite excited and animated about what they have learned that day and what they will do to improve and build up their skills next time. Each GCSE student hands in their work books on an ongoing basis so that their written and cognitive skills can be assessed. Their work books are also regularly assessed to ensure that they are capable of making informed critiques of their own work and of their image research. It is the best method for assessing how their research is influencing and affecting their individual outcomes both practically and theoretically. The GCSE scheme of work is a work in progress as I am actually delivering this course for the first time and there are no pre-existing Lesson plans and schemes of work in place to follow. This has been an enormous and often over-whelming challenge to me as a brand new teacher, but I am doing my best to keep my head above water as it were, by setting out the scheme of work to at least the end of the current term. In the feedback from both sessions the main commonalities were that my strengths are a good rapport with my students and clear and concise communication was also noted. Also, it was noted in both sessions that my pace of delivery was rather fast, perhaps too fast at times, and I have taken this on board and am already finding it easier and calmer to teach while I make a concerted effort to slow down and deliver instructions and teaching at a more sedate pace. A by product of this adjustment on my part is that the learners have responded well, and their cognitive understanding of what is required of them is happening sooner, as perhaps they are more able to process the information given to them at this slower speed. The actual practical part of the microteach worked very well as the students had a demo to follow as well as an instruction sheet handout and also peer teaching was an option. In the microteach feedback, the musical accompaniment to the PowerPoint presentation seemed to please everyone, and helped set the mood well and catch people’s attention, I will definitely use music again. Overall the responses in the microteach feedback were that it was hard to see how the session could have been improved. Bibliography Books: Jones, E.E., & Berglas, S. 1978. Control of attributions about the self through self-handicapping strategies: The appeal of alcohol and the role of under achievement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, pp.200-206. Petty, Geoffrey. 2004. Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 3rd Ed. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ridsdale, Jacky. 2004. Dyslexia and Self Esteem. In Turner and Rack, eds. The Study of Dyslexia New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp.249 – 289 Electronic / Online Source: Hattie, John. August 2, 1999. Influences On Student Learning. Inaugural Lecture of the Professor of Education, University of Auckland. Available at www.geoffpetty.com/downloads/WORD/Influencesonstudent2C683.pdf Accessed: 12.12.08 Bibliography of further reading: Hattie, John. 2004 Models of Self-Concept that are Neither Top-Down or Bottom-Up: The Rope Model of Self-Concept [R], New Zealand: University of Auckland,. Available at www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/fms/default/education/staff/Prof.%20John%20Hattie/Documents/John%20Hattie%20Papers/self-concept/Hattie_-_Models_of_Self-concept_(2004).pdf. Accessed: 20.12.2008 Petty, Geoffrey. 1996. How to be Better at Creativity. London: Kogan Page