Microteach session 17 March 2021

I found this session fun and enjoyable with some really positive interactions between everyone in the group. It was really interesting to see how everyone had taken such individual approaches to the task, depending on specialism as well as personality, interest and experience. I have added some bullet points below on each of my peer’s 20 minute session with a summary of feedback comments / something I learned / found inspiring etc. Although it is all positive, for privacy reasons I have kept this anonymous.

1. Good idea to show the the time plan / schedule for the session. This helped me feel prepared for what was to come. There was a technical issue early on which took up a lot of time – in the future it could be better to accept the video is not going to play and move on with an alternative plan to avoid running out of time.
2. Interesting subject with some very aesthetically pleasing slides (well yeah, it matters). Good idea to ask someone to read out the text on the slides – gives a break from the tutor talking and breaks off the session. Really fun and different session, where we got to interact in a virtual space CLICK HERE. I would love to try this with my students in my community sessions. There was a moment where I cried with laughter, so this one made my day.
3. Nice to do an interactive session. I noted how the tutor seemed very calm, which rubbed off on me too. Nice idea to do an ice breaker and kept to time very well. In the future, to help support connection and community between students and tutor, it would be nice to keep cameras on as well as music playing throughout the task. Others in the group noted that it was good not to have too much time for the task as there is value in imperfection – really good point.
4. This session about inclusive design inspired me because it was so well structured, organised and researched but presented in a very clear and simple way. The tutor had a very natural, clear and engaging way of speaking and delivered the session at a very good pace. We were given a question to answer (using Padlet), before being given the answer. This reminded me that I should take more time to prepare this type of teaching methods in my own session.
5. This may sound simple, but I really appreciated seeing how the Padlet for this session had been prepared with a column for each of our names. It somehow gave me a sense of belonging and made me feel included knowing that the tutor had thought of me (and all of us of course) when preparing for the task. It will keep this in mind for my own teaching.

As for my own microteach, I decided to deliver an interactive colour session similar focused on primary research and taking time to observe objects in our everyday surroundings. Following some slides about colour CLICK HERE, we used THIS PADLET to upload photos whilst I shared my screen and played some music in the background. To round up, we gathered to talk about what people had found and photographed.

When preparing, I looked through the list of learning outcomes and noted that almost all of the suggestions given would in some way be included in my delivery – added in bold:

‘Object-Based Learning’ may be used to develop any of the following (not an exhaustive list):

• Observational skills – observing objects in everyday surroundings
• Visual literacy (ability to ‘read’ objects, to find meaning from them)
• Design awareness and knowledge – choosing colour being part of the design process
• Team working – collaborate colour board
• Critical analytical skills – analysing WHY you are inspired by this colour
• Drawing skills
• Communication – photography being a type of visual communication
• Aesthetic judgement – having an ‘eye’ for colour and choosing something that is aesthetically pleasing
• Understanding of key concepts (e.g. branding, style, ethics). 
• Research skills and confidence – primary colour research
• Inspiration – visual inspiration

Overall, I felt that the session went well, although the limited time meant it was difficult to include everything I wanted to do. As mentioned in my peer feedback, it would have been good to add more context in my slides with examples of colour psychology etc. I also ran out of time at the end and was not able to talk to everyone individually, which felt non inclusive. Other feedback received:

• Enjoyed the session
• Nice to get up and move around
• Interactive – giving focus with intention
• Making me on what I have photographed
• It was a good idea to keep the music on in the background
• Not having much time made me work instinctively
• More information on slides – expand
• Made me connect to objects and colour
• Nice way to communicate
• Good functionality of Padlet
• Fast pace – bringing on emotion
• Enjoyed the individual sharing of inspiration at the end

I also received some lovely extended feedback from Sarita Wilkinson:

Collective Colour Session (Erica Weide)

“This was a really inspiring micro-teaching session for me, partly because I’m a CMF obsessive (colour, material, finish), but also due to the visual nature of it and the structure. It was wonderful how we were encouraged to get out of our seats and hunt around our homes for inspiration. I thought it was a great use of Padlet to upload our photos, in a far more visual way than I have seen it used for before. And the session ended well with everyone being invited to talk about a couple of their images. It was made quite exciting by the tasked being introduced in real-time and we just had to get on with it and upload things instantly! No chance to over think, no chance to edit – it was quite liberating. I can imagine students engaging with this really well – it’s something I want to try with my students!”