I shall meditate upon the problem -.-

Stardate 23 Jan 2008

The morning class went fairly well a section of it was filled with end of term paperwork. In the past, well and in the present if I’m honest. Learners have complained about the regular chore of filling in end of term assessment forms and progress reviews. With the extra training I have been able to more convincingly argue the relevance what on the face of it appears a meaningless task. Explaining how it allows me to sculpt the class to their needs. Also we completed most of the reenrolments for the new term. Unlike the evening ncfe level 2 there is no exam fee to be paid so numbers are fairly good again that said I’m fairly concerned that a few learners haven’t re enrolled but this appears to do with illness either theirs or their families or travel plans rather than anything I’m doing wrong .

The evening class numbers are still concerning me if everyone who has told me they are definitely coming comes we will have 11. Two of these learners 4 weeks into the course haven’t yet attended. But have contacted me regularly to pledge that they will. Regardless I have to withdraw them this week and re instate them next Wednesday, reflecting on the pgde lesson I’m somewhat at a loss how to run a course with such a shifting sand of attendees. I’m honestly not concerned that they will all achieve just how it will appear to an inspector. These are adults with real life commitments; they come because they enjoy it not because of the qualification. We will always lose out to a sick relative of a foreign holiday and if we chastise them they will not come and the course will close. This isn’t a course populated with 14-19 year olds these are adults they receive reward from the process and completion of a project not the certificate.

Back to the lesson

I demonstrated the leading up process that I had intended to do the week before. The demonstration ran long for a couple of reasons. Firstly the cartoon was overly complicated for the time allowed the explanation to why I didn’t do a simpler demonstration is two fold. Firstly it was loosely based around one of the learners own intended projects so I felt it valuable to tackle some of the challenges she would face and allow her to see some of the technical solutions. Secondly a number of the learners have already done traditional leaded lights and they could use the demonstration to compare my method to those they use. Talking through my demonstration I was able to discuss the ncfe workbooks further and as a group we argued the answers to the questions contained within. This was useful and I tried in the extra time allowed by the demonstration to relate it to what each of them was doing. And also I think convincingly argued the benefit of keeping all the source material for inclusion with the workbooks. I say convincingly because in the past, myself included, I haven’t always seen the relevance of assembling the research process as you would the working out for a maths problem. But as I progress in my teaching (I want to be an educator if the students are being called learners) I find the visual gathering of source material be it torn from library books or looted from churches, inspirational to the surrounding learners and the walk through step by step development process allows us to question what would happen if u went this route or that. The learner is the able to argue their choices consciously and say “I decided this I did this for that reason and chose not to do this because”

Woo isn’t that reflective learning (which I shall for the purposes of my own journal refer to as “Meditative Learning” for no real reason other than 1 it sounds cooler and 2 I can nod my head to questions and say “I shall need some time to meditate on the problem”. Perhaps at some point I can get a druidical robe but my mind has wandered so ill end

weak 2 our flexable friend

Woo a little success assignment one was returned and it passed, this is a relief. I haven’t done this type of academic course before and I’m finding it challenging. The new teacher is more flexible in his approach to the sessions relying less on media presentations and more on acquired knowledge to teach us. This term I’m more aware of how each topic relates to the assignments and will focus my efforts to them. I need to pass the course wasting effort outside of this goal for the time being is useless.

The lessons again the acl course went well I am using the workshop lesson plan concept to describe the learner goals, and I’m trying to push some of the learners to explore new skills they haven’t covered to keep the group motivated

The evening glass I had planned to demonstrate leading up but we had an influx of returning learners which I hope will save the class but they all had questions relating to their projects so I decided the time would be better spent getting everyone started. I also feel the demonstration next week will allow a little more time for a few more students to return. Again I’m using the individual session learning plans and its working well the simple fact I’m writing down what their up2 helps focus their minds on their aims and objectives.

Back to it

Well a new term a new “teacher teacher” out with the old in with the new. The variety of people we have had leading us has at least provided us with arrange of different approaches. Interestingly they all appear to pass on the same information just in a range of different ways. It was useful to be apprised of our place in the syllabus and what was left to do.

The lessons on Wednesday the morning class went well the learners are busy with individual tasks and I am attending them as necessary. The evening class a grand total of three learners attended the numbers are a problem. I ran around all the expected learners to find a headcount of who will actually be returning .I decided it’s best to have a reply for my boss when she comes knocking on my door. In the lesson I used the session to describe the methods to use when designing a window. I was keen to develop my presentation skills. I feel I made a good session despite the numbers and again was surprised how much I had to say about design once it was broken into its individual parts. I used questioning throughout my talk and demonstration and I was pleased with the outcomes.

May the earth open up and swallow me

Stardate last lesson before Christmas
May the earth open up and swallow me
Bad does describe how my first mentor inspected session went. I don’t entirely blame myself for the disasters it was just one of those things I think. Starting at the beginning I arrived in plenty of time for the session collected the projector id booked in advance for the session, I’m good with pc’s a regular nerd iv had my laptop plugged into displays of all varieties and never had any trouble. But I plug this projector into my laptop and it all goes haywire, effectively killing it dead. I still fully don’t understand what happened to it but it wouldn’t even boot in safe mode it somehow destroyed the master boot section of the laptop, forcing me to have to undertake a lengthy repair session. This put me in a good mood for the session. I have mentioned previously that the week before Xmas isn’t perhaps the best time to commence a new course. But this was only the least of it we had been informed that classes with less those 13 learners would be closed. Learners not enrolled on the system should be asked to leave. Week one and the college enrolment system is offline. Learners had been arriving attempting to enrol and were being turned away; really slick. What was I to do if I follow the instructions given? My course would close, I would not have enough hours for the pgde and these people hade made the effort to come it wasn’t our faults so I proceeded with the lesson. My nicely crafted power point had gone out the window forcing me to adlib .But as I was just getting into the wring of thing a learner came into the class announcing that “I’m not paying thirty quid for a fucking exam I don’t want to do, I could buy a grinder for that I’m going home” well believe it or not this threw me but I decided against the traditional policy of arguing the point and let him leave and got on with the session. Weirdly this little outburst brought about a strange bonding session with the group and everyone relaxed into the session well and the tasks were completed. Part way through the session the woman from the office came in and asked I we were running the following week I told her we were. She informed me that we would be the only people in the building and would need to remain open especially for us. I asked the group who would be attending. From the 10 walking wounded remaining three would be coming due Christmas commitments, so we resolved to bump the lesson till after the holidays and she informed me she would make the necessary arrangements. This weirdly helps me as many of the explained absences should have returned by the 9th and will ultimately help the retention figures. Once we knew their was going to be this unexpected break in the session the returning learners were able to continue existing project and the new learner I assisted in completing a festive sun catcher project that she admirably completed within the session and should be festively decorating her Xmas tree as we speak.