By all means let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out. Richard Dawkins

Yesterday I attended the induction session of my PGCAP. It was interesting today to have read my tutor Chrissi’s blog,  in which she documents feeling a little bit nervous as well as excited. I saw only excitement!

 The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  Sylvia Plath.

Chrissi has also reflected on using creativity in the session and this was embodied in several activities we were invited to participate in. One was the blowing up of a balloon, and then popping it. This was to illustrate freedom to learn (I think) once restricting parameters are released. Knitting wool and needles were also available, to demonstrate that we are knitting a community of knowledge and then later we were challenged to build a vehicle with provided materials  which was judged against criteria that hadn’t been made explicit to us. The purpose of this was to highlight that it’s difficult to work to your potential if the outcomes are not clear. We also learned that as a group we do not follow instructions properly, even those written in black and white. It’s reassuring to learn that I have  assumed student role nicely.

I  was not enamoured with these activities.  I  was less than enthused by the idea of them, the execution of them, and participation in them.  Chrissi and Neil suggest that we must be open-minded in order to  become more effective teachers and I do not dispute this one bit. But. I think that I  might  feel embarrassed and uncomfortable with this particular type of creativity in my classes purely because I don’t enjoy it myself.  I’m more of a let’s get straight to the point kind of person and my learning style (if you subscribe to that kind of thing is a theorist/pragmatist).

I can see that having a multifaceted approach to teaching with a little bit of everything included is more likely to ensure that most of my students needs are met some of the time. Sooooooo, do I overcome every instinct that I have to run screaming from this type of activity or challenge myself to feal the fear and do it anyway? (I think that’s the title of a book).

I’m going to give it a go. I will have a teaching session observed by Chrissi who will given me feedback and help me to reflect on my practice.  I  promise I will have some cringeworthy but educationally  sound activity included.  Probably.

Other points of note from this session are: I must find out about QR readers,  I will encourage students to use mobile technology in the classroom, I need a book about educational theories, I must work out how to send PDFs to my Kindle , I do enjoy learning and I never, ever, ever want to be responsible for teaching academics. Chrissi and Neil, I salute you.

The picture above is of my essential study items. These include module information and inspirational staionary. I do like stationary.