For this session we needed to present a 5 minutes talk to introduce ourselves, our teaching context and share some thoughts about pedagogy. I misunderstood the task and reflected upon the learning I had extracted from my reading of the two texts we had to read and reflect upon for the session (Gloria Dall’Alba and John Holmwood). I wasn’t the only person who had misunderstood the brief and Frederico was kind enough to reassure us all that “different is good too!”.
It was interesting and refreshing to hear the different paths each one of us took to arrive to this PG Cert course. These feelings were reinforced in the following session when we discussed in small groups our understanding of the texts within our teaching and learning context. Our group started by realising that none of us had an academic background which was clearly a relief to all. Thanks to this newly found commune ground we embarked into a fascinating conversation about pedagogy as a teacher and a learner today but also as most probably one of the reasons as to why none of us had engaged with academic teaching in our younger age.
During the conversation we realised that we had highlighted the same sentences from the texts (sentences in my Teaching Context Presentation). “If you are not learning while you are teaching then you are not teaching” was one of the sentences that had been highlighted the most amongst the group. Reading that line was a relief as it showed me that what I was doing instinctively was necessary and expected. Indeed, as a teacher I have many times reflected on my teaching and realised that I could improve it by modifying certain aspects such as better visualisation of the lecture (use of graphics and images), use of inclusive vocabulary to improve teacher/learner model or promoting peer to peer’s collaboration and communication etc. The time allocated to the group conversation went very quickly and we resumed the session.
Reflecting on the session, it is interesting to see that the way we were taught was solely based on the principles that we were taught. By this I mean that the pedagogy used during the session (openness and inclusivity, peer to peer’s collaboration and communication in groups etc.) fully reflected the pedagogic principals that Gloria Dall’Alba advocates in her text. I therefore thanks Frederico for letting me learn and my peers for such a great insight.