Personal Teaching Project

As a teacher, I have many areas of experience I can draw from, starting from my own childhood experiences through to my present professional teaching experience. I started working as a lecturer at ******* College in March 2001 where I teach six subjects, they are personal computer hardware, operating systems, ECDL, NCFE certificate in computer technology, ITSS and key skills IT. Having recently been a student myself in the department, I have a student's perspective of the course in terms of the workload, academic level and the effort necessary to succeed. I feel this has given me an immense advantage over some of my colleagues, as I can relate to the concerns and needs of my students.

As I am able to determine at what level to pitch the session at, I can reflect upon my own concerns that I had at the time. From this, I can try to reduce or alleviate the main areas of concern. This may be anything from the level the course is delivered , the amount of information to be absorbed, to simply attending classes on time. I also have to remember that what may have been a concern to me, which may be a major learning factor to others. From this I try to highlight the key areas of learning for me as a teacher and learner, I say learner because part of human nature is to constantly learn whether it be from education or life itself. Everyday experiences can provide essential knowledge without you actually realising it. This can be as simple as an experience with a group of students or a discussion with management.

One negative experience I can reflect upon happened in November 2001 with a group of national diploma in computer systems students whose age range was 17-18 yrs old. I was teaching a computer based subject when a colleague called me out of the room for approximately five minutes, when I returned to the room, it was locked and in darkness. The students had pushed the blackboard against the door and had sprayed deodorant onto a table and ignited it. Once I settled the group, I had to be very diplomatic in my approach of the situation as I had my own inkling of the culprits and did not want to accuse anyone not involved. My own personal assessment of the situation was to report the incident immediately to my head of department but I could not risk leaving the students again. Fortunately, another member of staff was passing the room at the time. After briefly explaining the situation, I asked him to watch the class while I reported the incident. I first went to my line manager to seek advice and I was given instructions as how to proceed. I then went to my head of department and informed him of the situation. The head of department dealt with the incident in an appropriate and efficient manner, resulting in the student who was the main instigator being dropped back down a year to first diploma. Although I was not involved in this process, I was kept informed by the personal tutor of that particular group.

The main affect this incident had on me as a teacher is that I should never underestimate students' ability and I should never put myself into that kind of situation and leave the class under any circumstances without supervision. I also have learned to give the students ownership of the responsibility for their learning, by explaining the importance of the need to learn. In this way, I have placed the onus is upon them to behave and act in an appropriate manner that will enable them to receive education by the most efficient means possible.

Reflecting on that particular situation has taught me as a learner and teacher is that one student can make a vast influence on the rest of the group, and the whole group should not be judged. After the incident, I carried out a one to one informal chat with the group and soon became aware of the true feelings amongst the group. They felt embarrassed and ashamed of breaking the trust I had built up amongst them and myself. The main outcome I noticed after the informal chat was the bonding between the group peers and understanding of the need to behave and learn.

Just as one bad situation may arise, there is a multitude of positive experiences to experience, although as part of human nature we tend to remember the bad ones more often.

One of my most positive experiences I have ever had during my role as