Dear flowers,
We did a problem-based learning (PBL) activity this week in class as you can see in the masterpiece we created above. The facilitator put up a slide of a scenario where we had to imagine ourselves as a teacher for a typical class composed of half boys and half girls including 3 disruptive children. We were asked to structure a classroom lesson on space and/or geometry, ensuring that we differentiate the curriculum for each of our students. So as a group we discussed the scenario starting with the possible reasons for the disruptive children's behaviour and decided to separate them into different groups. Thankfully we had a great group dynamic which was evident when we managed to bounce back and stay on topic whenever someone got bogged down on an issue. I think we did this by constantly recalling our main goal, integrating PAL concepts, we considered each others suggestions and negotiated solutions which was at challenging since everyone had such great views and experience. The constant questioning, clarification and negotiation is a unique characteristic of PAL and something I see as useful for my future primary classroom. For example, PAL can be used for Writer's Workshops and student-initiated scientific investigations.
Also, just thought I'd mention the hilarity of when the facilitator did a coffee run soon after he presented us with the PBL task. And when I asked for whiteboard markers he went all the way to his office to get them for us! I have learnt that the nature of PAL leaders is closely aligned with 'facilitators' who may be more cognitively congruent and hence more approachable compared to lecturers.
A confronting exercise was reflecting on our experience after completing the PBL activity and also writing down the worst things about the unit of so far. The facilitator actually read each reflection aloud which is something that I have never experienced. I thought that this was quite an effective strategy since we were all able to hear each other's genuine thoughts, free of judgement.
The essay I said I was working on in my last post is now complete. I felt a bit of added pressure to do better than usual for this assessment task since we constructed our marking rubric as a class. I felt more ownership and inevitably more responsibility for my piece of work. This anxiety translated into motivation which pushed me to monitor my research and the construction of my essay ensuring it was in line with rubric criteria. In hindsight this is definitely something I will do more often with future assessments. I'd also like to mention that we had to mark ourselves for this assessments, as in we had to highlight on the rubric how we think we did. For me it was surprisingly a hard task since I had to really step above myself, in a sense, and mark it objectively. I didn't give myself full marks because I knew that there was something lacking in my essay and also that it is extremely hard to get full marks at uni. (I wonder if we could ever see sample HD work for different assessments as evidence that HDs do exist and are not just given out to 2% of the cohort to satisfy norm-referenced assessment). The facilitator said that self-marking is quite an interesting exercise since you are forced to ask yourself, "Why would I hand this in if I don't think it deserves full marks?"
Within 2 days of handing the essay in I received feedback. Complete shock that a marker could mark like Speedy Gonzales. Never before have I received such constructive feedback. Have you ever read a journal article online, highlighted key text and annotated using that speech bubble function? Well, this is how I received my feedback. I think it reflected the effort of the marker since it meant that each of our essays were valued. Other lecturers should look into this method of marking that is both informative, aligned with the rubric and paperless! It is much more meaningful than tick-tick-BOOM, here's your mark!
Also thought I'd share my "teacher's haul" with you guys. I picked up all these goodies at Officeworks the other day. Did you know they close at 12am? Starting to collate materials for my PAL leadership assessment and also for another unit where we need to create maths and english resources for children to take home based on learning outcomes within the syllabus. I never knew how much fun laminating could be but sadly running out of things to laminate.
Looking forward to attending and observing a PAL session this week. I'll let you know how it goes down.
Love,
Miss Fun size.
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