It has been a journey this term. Returning to education myself after 14 years has been challenging whilst working full time. Being a student at UAL (again) has had its ups and downs. The face to face classes were engaging and enjoyable, but I do struggle to focus during the online classes. The politics of having to get an ISA and DSA 14 years after my dyslexia diagnoses has been traumatic (3 months and still no one to one support in place), and it is eye opening to see what my students go through. The first few weeks I really struggled. Terminology that I did not understand, yet everyone else seemed too. Keeping up with the reading due to my learning difference. I generally felt like I was always behind everyone else and struggled to understand let alone apply theories to my own practise. I felt like I wasn’t good enough to do this course and that I was not learning anything.
That was until this week.
I was asked to be on a panel for interviews this week for 2 new costume technician positions. During the interview and asking the questions, I suddenly felt an “ah ha!” moment. I found myself answering the questions in my head and wondering why the candidates were giving the answers they were instead of what I was thinking. I realised how similar my answers were during my own interview 2 years ago and how differently I would answer them now. “How do you measure the success of your teaching?” Easy, formative assessments, student feedback forms, questions and answers in classes about previous sessions. Although I have been doing most of these things in my classes, I didn’t realise just how significant these things we do are. “Arguably the most powerful enhancement to learning is feedback during learning”. Biggs and Tang (2011 p64)
I have gained more confidence in my teaching this term, thanks to being observed by a peer and tutor and the microteaching session. Gaining really lovely feedback has been such a positive experience. I consider myself a self-taught technician, having come from industry instead of education, and to hear feedback such as “You are a natural teacher” made me feel really proud of myself and the journey I’ve been on to get here. I love my job, and I love teaching these practical skills to these future costumiers and I can’t wait to continue developing my knowledge on how to do this better.
I may not be the best student and the reading and writing will remain a challenge for me. But I know I am a good technician and I finally feel like I can do this.
References
Biggs, J. and Tang, C., 2011. EBOOK: Teaching for Quality Learning at University. McGraw-hill education (UK). Accessed (12/03/23)