As most of you I’m sure will know, I am currently completing a Masters in Education, specialising in learning and teaching the arts.  From time to time I like to share what is going on in my own learning! So here goes!

At the end of June I completed a teaching evaluation having designed and delivered a learning activity with my harp students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  This was observed by 2 peers and feedback was gathered from the students.  Here are some things I learned…
You Can’t Control Everything

I don’t generally consider myself a control freak…but maybe I’ve been wrong about that.  Something that came up a few times in feedback was that I stepped in too quickly to help my learners, and that I controlled tasks.  I could have given more space for learner freedom.  Sometimes my desire for my students to have a good, positive experience perhaps can hamper their learning.  Learning is as much about getting things wrong as it is about getting things right.  Allowing students to make mistakes and work out pathways and strategies for themselves is super cool – and it means I can learn from them too!  I definitely need to be ok about stepping back and letting people explore freely.

Future Planning is Key

It’s all very well to design a super engaging and exciting learning experience for my students, but if I don’t help them put action plans into place, I’m in danger of all the learning being forgotten and not absorbed.  I didn’t work with the students to ensure they mapped out how they might explore our topic further and how they might incorporate the new skills into their playing.  Planning is super important!

You’re Doing Okay Girl
It’s easy for me to dwell on critical feedback and focus all my attention on how I can improve and how to forge forward.  Whilst it’s great to consider improvements, I’m going to take my own advice, I give all the time to my students.  What I planned and delivered for the students was cool.  It was well received and there were lots of great comments as well as improvements.  Well done me!
I also got top marks!  Woooo!