This morning Jamie Mackay offered his mentoring skills to me. I ran over my concept for Thursday’s assignment, outlining my intentions for the assessment. He asked me to fill out a worksheet with concentric circles drawn on it. The first thing on the form was a box in which I wrote down the main aspects of the session, the goals I most wanted to attain. I came up with the following (in no particular order):
- Contextualization (7)
- Reflection (5)
- Evaluation (7)
- Content
- Learning Experience (8)
I then had to draw two lines, quartering the circles. In the center circle I wrote four of the five goals from above (I dropped content, judging it to be too vague and not as directly pertinent to learning). Next to each I noted a mark out of ten which indicated at what point in the process I had reached in attaining a perfect score (of 10) in that particular field. This gave me a clear indication of the work I still had to do. Within the next circle I wrote what a perfect 10 would be, within the parameters of the project. I noted the following:
Contextualization - Student feedback would relay (or not) that a context had been reached.
Reflection - A fully critical analysis of the session would be reflected on.
Evaluation -Critically positive feedback through an excellent evaluative process.
Learning Experience - A ’sense’ of focus and commitment in the session.
Onto Circle 3: This was the ‘barriers’ circle i.e. what would stop me from reaching that perfect 10. I noted the following:
Contextualization - The session would be only partially in context due to a poor briefing.
Reflection - Student and my own personal commitment to the reflective process.
Evaluation – Evaluation tainted by the perception that the session wasn’t ‘real’.
Learning Experience - Time restraints.
Circle 4 was designed to outline actions I would take to break down the barriers and achieve my goals. I considered the following actions:
Contextualization - Ensure that the brief outlines ‘learning’ as well as the subject goals.
Reflection - Create questions that the students may want to reflect on.
Evaluation – Center session around learning.
Learning Experience - Summarise well and simplify instructions.
The next circle was meant for to schedule my actions appropriately, I committed myself to:
Contextualization - write a briefing paper at 9pm tomorrow evening (Tuesday).
Reflection - Prepare a list of questions at 8pm tomorrow evening (Tuesday).
Evaluation – Write script at 8pm tonight and research evidence for my decisions at 9pm.
Learning Experience - As Evaluation
The final circle was a commitment out of 10 (1 being totally non-committal) pledged by myself to carry out the actions i had prescribed:
Contextualization - 10
Reflection - 10
Evaluation – 10
Learning Experience - 10
During the course of the session I had made an important shift in my thinking towards the assignment. As we discussed the finer points of the class, I stumbled upon an idea that, to my mind, would deepen and enhance the experience for the students. I added another learning outcome which would underpin the students learning experience further i.e. I was going to attempt to ‘weave’ and introduction to learning styles into the class. The evaluation of the learning experience would also be designed to prompt this learning. The second learning outcome would be relayed after the lesson. It currently reads as:
Learning Outcome 2: To introduce the concept of learning styles through a framework of discovery within a stage management specialist subject.
By doing this I hope to make the students aware of what their preferred style of learning is. The session has 4 out of the 4 styles associated with inclusive teaching practice (VARK):
Visual – Learning through the sense of sight: podcast, demonstration and slides.
Auditory – Learning through the use of the spoken word, podcasts and video.
Reading – The written word, represented by a briefing paper, written instructions, Power Point print out, captioned video and podcasts.
Kinaesthetic – Learning by doing, taking part in both blocking and blocking notation.
I have yet to work out exactly how I can blend this new design element in….
