Reflection 2 :
After reading ‘Embracing the silence’ I immediately thought about how I could bring some of the ideas and reflections from this paper into my BA2 design class sessions. Although this article focuses on the movement into online teaching that happened during covid it also reflects on how to bring silence into the physical classroom.
The challenges I have faced in my design class is that the students have been reserved with answering questions in-front of other class mates, that the same students tend to speak up and therefore it is hard to gauge the overall development of my students learning, it is hard to tell if they are enjoying the topics, if they understand them fully and if they have any opinions/challenges on the design tasks they do.
Although in these cases it is easy for me to jump in and fill the silence out of awkwardness; after reading this article I can see the benefits of leaving a question more open ended for thinking time rather than pushing for an answer or opinion.
‘While students are working or thinking, don’t use this as a time to share information. Resist the urge to break their concentration’ (Philips, 2017).
Although it would be impractical for me to move the design class online, I do see the benefits in adjusting my teaching to create less of a clear power imbalance between the student and teacher with the way I structure questions and even set up the room. My class sizes are small, and I could transfer from presentation mode Infront of the class to smaller discussion tables that allow for more informal conversion and interactions.
‘When a student is dreading the prospect of being picked upon and asked to contribute long before they are ready, it puts them in a state of continual stress. And that, clearly, is a distraction and a block to any meaningful or joyful learning.’ (Harris, 2022).
For me one of the main takeaways of the article was the notion that “..activity and productivity are the true measures of success” (Fox-Eades, 2015).
It is easy for me to think the students who are contributing more must be higher achievers and getting more out of the session, but from grading this unit I am discovering that is not the case. Many students who never raised their hand ended up doing very well and embraced the design methods taught across the 8 classes. Like online learning and having space to think, many of my students liked to take away the idea of the design task but start or continue it at home alone before working in front of a group. Although this could be seen as being lack of engagement, I am going to stay open minded and understand this as another form of introverted learning as I continue exploring my teaching practice.
References:
Fox Eades, J. (2015) ‘Silence and stillness in the classroom’. Available at:https://jennyfoxeades.com/2015/02/12/silence-and-stillness-in-the-classroom/ (Accessed:28February 2022).
Harris, K. Embracing the silence: Introverted learning and the online classroom, (2022).
Phillips, K. (2017) ‘Howtousesilenceasateachingtool’.Available at: https://theartofeducation.edu/2017/11/06/silence-teaching-tool/ (Accessed:28 February 2022).