Monday, 18 February 2013

PP enhances student 'voice' - looking for honest relationships


Although we presented the lesson to other teachers it was still a bit difficult to relay that lesson to the students. We experienced technical difficulties and some of the teachers did not come to the ‘lesson’ and so did not know what to do. 

In our reflection there was no clear evidence that learning was taking place. The nature of our group does not allow for learning but rather understanding of the process to follow in order to complete the pro project. In today’s discussion we decided that the only genuine source they have is each other. They are all experiencing the project and having to complete it. We, as the teachers, are not. It has been very teacher centered in the past couple of weeks. Despite our hooks and CFU’s we were doing all the heavy lifting: student work ratio has been minimal. 

We realised that is time to hear their voice. Therefore, the next couple of weeks are going to be student centered and collaborative. We will observe how much more or less of the required tasks they can understand and complete, without us ‘interfering’ and dictating all of the time. Again it came up that the only way to encourage learners’ thinking, to push themselves beyond themselves, is if there is a positive relationship between Advisors and Advisees. This remains the teacher's responsibility to create. You have to trust yourself and trust them just as much as they have to trust you. This will empower them to ask the challenging questions, to take a leap and know that we are there to break their fall. It will also empower us to know that they will be honest with us about their learning.

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