I’m doing too much. That’s the feeling I can’t shake at the moment. Perhaps it’s the subject that I have chosen? It does require pre-requisite knowledge of the rehearsal process. The student would also need to know about mark ups, the Prompt Copy and blocking symbols. Could I deliver this all in 30 minutes without rushing or leaving time for the information to soak in before moving on? Would there be time for questions and answer’s? What if something goes wrong? It’s all very ‘tight’ time-wise. Maybe a reduction in complexity is required.
I still want to create a podcast and see how effective it is, though the scenario is somewhat synthetic. In a real situation I would want the student to have subscribed, downloaded and watched it prior to the class as a pre-cursor. It would then be used afterwards as a memory refresher, perhaps along with a supplementary conclusive podcast. I am determined to follow this through, but I must be careful not to spend all my time on this and neglect the actual teaching.
So, what do I simplify?
I still want the class to be dynamic and interesting, so creating a budget sheet is out. The students should be involved physically as well as mentally, that suggests moving around in a space to me and satisfying their kinesthetic needs (for those who learn that way). The podcasts and supporting Keynote (Apple’s equivalent to PowerPoint) slides will provide the visual and auditory support required and the use of ‘back up’ hand out’s will complete the VARK model. All the learning styles are covered I feel.
Maybe I am panicking over nothing. As there is no stipulation to who the students (and at what level) are, perhaps I shouldn’t begin with novices. My 2nd Year students would be too advanced and using ‘blank sheets’ such as the students in Teaching Club (with the exception of Ros of course) would require far too many pre-requisites. I think I will ask 4 or 5 of the 1st Year TPA Production students, who already have the required background but haven’t studied blocking notation in any depth as yet. The solution lies with them I feel as the balance ‘feels’ right.
I’ll ask them tomorrow for their time.
I have secured a ‘loan’ of the 2nd Year SM students iPod Touch units for the assignment (they were only too happy to help) and I shall pre-load the introductory and practice podcasts on them early on next week. On Friday I have arranged to video some rehearsal footage of the Opera Scenes (I can film from above in the AGOS studio, giving me a plan view of proceedings) and edit this into the introduction. I also set up a Micro-teaching temporary course on Moodle with supplementary content on it, including an online evaluative survey (for after the event) based on Brookfields Critical Incident form.
I have yet to begin working on the supplementary hand outs and session brief, which I shall begin shortly.
Julia Fotheringham said,
March 20, 2009 at 10:05 am
I’m thorougly enjoying browsing your blog John. I thought I might make you smile when I tell you that further to your quick demo of the ipod touch, I went out and bought one for myself – like you, I’d like to explore the benefits of podcasting, although I know I shall have a much steeper learning curve on the technology side!
On another note altogether, one of the observations that I’ve made on your Micro T feedback sheet is that I think there could be an advantage in your shifting your thinking more towards the learning, and less towards the teaching. That’s not to say that you’ve neglected this aspect – in fact quite the reverse (- learning styles etc), but I think that if you could adopt this high level of reflection to think even more about how the learners can learn then this might have a profound influence on how you use technology with your learners.