week 2: will you be my PAL?

Dear flowers,

I'll be doing something different for the next 12 weeks.

I’ve recently started a unit called Theory and Practice of Peer-Assisted Learning where we are asked to write a reflective journal throughout the course. I was surprised that the convenor allowed me to use my blog for this assessment since it is the perfect outlet for me. What is a bit nerve-wracking about this assessment is that it doesn't feel like one. There are no real boundaries as to what we can write but we are to "assess our successes and ongoing professional development needs" to become "critically reflective teachers."

I thought that I would firstly share why I chose to enrol in this subject. Since high school I perceived effective study as something you do solo since it was ultimately a competition where other students were out to steal your hard-earned notes. In hindsight I find this perception shallow and quite hilarious after finally appreciating how much more meaningful study groups are.

My narrow view of effective study turned on me when I did a course at uni which required us to work together for a Writer's Workshop. The conditions of the workshop were that we could not say a word when each person read aloud their literacy autobiography, we had to take turns asking questions to clarify our understandings, we also had to provide 'praise' and 'polish'. Providing 'polish' meant giving suggestions as to how the reader may like to improve their work. I learnt from this exercise that receiving criticism is not all that bad and something that I ended up preferring over praise. Recently I read that the most effective way for lecturers to integrate PAL strategies is to make them explicit learning outcomes. Students experience the challenge of negative dynamics and thus learn to be more open and understanding. And in this instance, we learnt to get over the competitive side of things and appreciate the cooperative process.

I remember the sense of belonging and value I experienced throughout that assessment. My attitude towards co-operative learning definitely changed that day. For the first time it did not feel like we were out to do better than one another. We were all equal. We all had diverse literacy backgrounds. What also interested me was how the tutor did only 3 things that lesson: 1) told us to separate into small groups, 2) walked around the room, listening to our stories and discussion and 3) asked us how we felt after the exercise.

After this workshop I began to organise study groups that ended up being quite successful and productive. We, of course, went off on tangents but good tangents! I think that when people are engaged they see how concepts apply to their lives and so they can't help but share connections between the content and their real life experiences. This is a beautiful thing because from these connections you know that your study buddies have really learnt something that is meaningful and therefore will stick.

Some study groups I have been a part of hold 'mini lectures' in the pod area at the bottom of the library. This type of study is based on jigsaw learning where each person becomes an 'expert' of a particular lecture, writes big picture ideas on a whiteboard and discusses them with the rest of the group. So literally, like a jigsaw, we are actively constructing knowledge and we are all equally contributing to the masterpiece(: On the other hand I have also been involved with small group study where each member becomes responsible for a particular module, each typing up notes so that we have our own “version” of the course. We ending up with our own textbook that if we were lucky were able to take into exams that were open book.

So as explained it is only until very recently that I have realised the power of PAL and how if it is mutually reciprocated can produce amazing results for all involved. I think that the overarching requirement for PAL to be successful is the attitude of each member. If you all have a purpose for being there, whether that be to improve your understanding of the course, to revise or even to meet new people which may be the case for some first years, then you will naturally be more engaged and hence more open to negotiate meaning with others.

I have never done a course like this before where you get to hold the reigns on your essay topics, create a marking criteria as a class (as shown in the photo above) and write a reflective journal with no word limit. My uncertainty and anxiety, I feel, is beginning to motivate me to reflect on my teaching pedagogies more closely and to assess my conceptual understandings after each PAL seminar.

I am grateful for a unit that genuinely feels rather than claims to be learner-centred.

And now it's ESSAY TIME!


Love,
Miss Fun size