What went well?

What went well? I started off my presentation by introducing myself to the class. When introducing myself I informed the class of my name, job title, workplace, the type of students that I teach and what I teach. I do this to give a clear outline of who I am and my job role. During my presentation I tried not to speak too fast, tried to make eye contact with the whole group and ensured that I didn’t remain static. I chose to include graphics in my power point and used handouts to help my audience understand how I embed minimum core in my subject delivery. The handouts that I provided were used as a visual aid to support my presentation. I felt that they gave clear examples of the content of my presentation and noticed that at one of my peers asked if they could a copy away with them for their own reference. I also used gentle humour to draw in my audience. This is something I feel can be used as an ice breaker. Although I didn’t feel calm, I tried to remain calm and relaxed in front of the class and ensured that I tried to engaged with everyone. What didn’t go so well? Once I had completed my presentation I felt there were a few things that didn’t go so well. I felt that my presentation wasn’t long enough for me to be able to explain my role in depth. Although I received good feedback from my peers, my self evaluation of my presentation wasn’t quite as positive. “ Peer assessment is another means of encouraging reflection. ” Petty (2004: 323) My peers felt that at times I talked to the board rather than made eye contact with the group however they felt that this improved as time went on. I have identified that I am more comfortable in my workshop than I am in a classroom situation. Through teacher training and self evaluation of my own practice, I feel this will help me to improve my confidence over time. What are barriers to communication, and how might they be overcome? My strong accent can be a barrier to communication. To overcome this, I am aware that I must speak clearly and slowly to enable everyone to understand me. As Petty states “ Are you worried about your accent? Given time, your students will soon get used to it; but try to speak particularly slowly and clearly at first if your accent is strong. ” (2004: 39) I use quite a lot of technical terms in my subject delivery and I try to simplify these terms so that my students can understand them. “ It goes without saying that teachers should not use unexplained jargon, but again this is not as easy as it sounds. ” Petty (2004: 39) As I work in a noisy construction workshop, this can cause problems when I am trying to communicate with my group of students. To overcome this, I ensure that I communicate the task to everyone at the start of my session and then display the task on a white board which is clearly visible to the whole class. This enables them to refer back to the task in hand at any time during the session without the need to stop what the whole class is doing. Petty, G (2004) Teaching Today 3rd Edition