The focus for the Micro Teaching session is on Curiosity.
Curiosity is one of the first motors that drive us to learn new things. With that comes the art and the courage to asking questions.
Workshop content
During my years of teaching at the foundation in Art and Design I often noticed that the continuous curiosity of students on a chosen subject, much more than the subject itself is the key for a personal and thoroughly developed project. The commitment to investigate and find out in more and more detail, visually and contextually help the students to find their own approach to a subject. Therefore curiosity is a key driver.
Asking a good questions, is the act of executing curiosity, as Dan Moulthrop, in TED talk ‘the art of asking questions’ points out.
Curiosity begins with a thought and typically what follows is a question and ultimately what follows from that is a lot of learning. The points that he highlights are the following
- Don’t be afraid
- Be curious, Why things are the way they are?
- Try to ask the obvious question
- Words you use matter a lot by Karen Maeyens
- A sincere questions that seeks to understand
These points are the starting point for my micro teaching session.
The Teaching Format and Structure
The initially there were two possibilities for the workshop. Regarding the short time window, I decided to refine the second version.
Draft Version 1
One was the participants were invited to find an object in their surrounding that they were interested in. Through blind drawing of the object the physical connection to the object is built. From that the participants were invited to collect arising questions and through a short talk on the bandwidth of questions the learners would then explore deeper questions in relation to the object.
Draft Version 2
The second option was with a digitally displayed image and the brainstorm of questions would take place without the physical engagement.
As the teaching session is an online format it holds some restrictions and possibilities of how to create an engaging experience for the participants.
the technical variety of whiteboard use, breakout groups, group discussion, Padlet and physical work as well as the variation from the teaching direction i.e. teacher to student, student to student, student to group, student to teacher creates an engaging change in the teaching format.
The session should have the following structural elements of
Introduction– framing the workshop and preparing the participants what will happen in the workshop, ‘How?’ as well as giving context to the subject, ‘Why?’
Enquiry – Learners explore the subject area and have the chance to find their own answers
Conclusion – Bringing the learning together to a conclusion, the exploration of the enquiry gets evaluated in a constructive feedback.
To make this workshop work in the 8min frame, I decided to simplify the workshop even further. The participants were all working with the same set of images from one chosen object. The workshop had the following structure
The detailed lesson plan includes how to check the learning progress of the participants and detailed structures.
Reflection after the workshop and feedback
The time planning of the workshop was very tight and it would have needed another 2-3 minutes to complete the workshop. In the 8 minutes we went through the workshop structure and gathered some interesting and engaging questions on the whiteboard. The conclusion was very rushed.
The feedback from the group included following points
- The use of Padlet and the breakout groups worked well for the participants
- The lesson plan was useful to participants who lost part of the session due to failing internet connection. So they could follow the lesson independently
- The participants structure of the session, that the participants were encouraged to ask questions and tied it back together with the theory
- With more time meant that the conclusion was missing
- Some participants could not access the images on Padlet
Conclusion and learning
Following the workshop and the feedback, the next workshop will need to give more time for activities with a potential back up activity in case there is time. When teaching on line a technical back up is important so students can download and find the relevant course information in various places.
The structure of the introduction, exploration and conclusion in a theory works well. Also the changes in format with breakout rooms, main group space and individual work resonated well with the participants.
All in all that mini workshop worked well and with a little bit more time I will be able to use it as an introduction piece for various courses and projects with my students.