The thought of presenting a 20-minute micro-teaching session to my peers was a bit daunting when it was first proposed to me, this was my first experience of micro-teaching, and the term was a bit unfamiliar to me. Once I got a better understanding of it, and I thought of it more as a “mini-session” I was a bit less anxious. Our task was to prepare and deliver a 20-minute learning activity for fellow PGCert-ers, based around an object.

On the day of the presentation, our group turned out to be quite intimate and only 4 of us presented, below is a screenshot of our group.

I approached the activity planning to teach my peers a little about bag making (a crash course in a basic construction method). The object I chose to present was a T-base tote bag.

Firstly, I showed the participants the object and asked them to use their observational skills to describe it. Their response was varied and interesting, some described the aesthetic whereas others commented on the construction or even how they would use the bag. Following this I explained a bit about the bag, how to cut the pattern, how to recognise this construction, why it’s such a popular choice, and then a bit of its history too. Reflecting and listening to the feedback from the group, I included too much information here; my micro-teaching could be interpreted more as a lecture than an activity (please see example below).

The reason for me doing this was I was anxious my teaching session would be too short, and I was trying to present something educational, but looking back, I should have focused more on the activity. For the activity at the end of the session, I asked the participants to create their own T-Base tote bags using a Padlet page and A.I. technology. I hoped the activity at the beginning describing the bag would help the participants with this activity. The participants were asked to use their identity/brand and combine these elements with a written description of the bag, then the A.I. technology would generate designs of bags based on what each designer inputted. The A.I technology for me was a great option as I was teaching online, the participants might have limited drawing facilities to hand. It turned out to be a great hit – My peers enjoyed how immediate it was, and even wanted to know more as they could use this technology in their teaching. It was easy for all participants to “draw”/create and communicate their design visions without difficulty using the technology. Please see the images of the tote bags created during the session.

If I had more time, I would have asked the participants to evaluate and explain their designs to help get to know them (their identity) better as an ice-breaking session too.

I was the last to present, James started the morning sessions, and we all agreed his was a great ice-breaking storytelling session to start, It also eased us all into the right mood. We got to know each other better by creating mini-stories based on an object found around our home. James’s session was professionally presented, and he was very enthusiastic and confident in his delivery. He explained all the steps we were required to follow carefully, and I liked how he clearly set out the learning objective at the beginning and then closed by bringing us back to what we had learnt over the session. It was interesting to see everyone’s different approach to the storytelling.  

Emma was the second to present, she had created a “Playful soft system workshop”- When I first saw the title of the presentation I was intrigued as to where the session would take us, but when she presented an example of her work – a touch to a sound instrument (please see image below – Installation Project) it all made sense. Learning more about her work and what she does at the university was great. I felt I learnt much from the presentation. I enjoyed the activity and getting to make up an instrument of our own, using the concept of input and output (examples of inputs and outputs below)

I agreed with Georgina, it would be a great workshop to do in person in pairs, (or even breakout rooms if you had more time online). Emma also presented very confidently, and I felt at ease during the session, it was great to see her passion towards the work.

Georgina was the third to present, her presentation felt more personal due to the more relaxed approach to presenting (No formal PowerPoint). I felt I learnt more about Georgina as a tutor and personally during the session. This would usually be a session Georgina would present early in the academic year with her MA students to break the ice; this is a perfect way for both students and tutors to get to know each other, break down boundaries and learn new methods of appreciating an object. Georgina focused on one object a shell she’d collected at her home, she had captured the object in beautiful images clearly showing all the details, so the viewer could understand and come to their observational conclusions. As I mentioned on the day, I found it tricky to find the right words to describe the object, so being able to create movement or drawings would have helped me a lot. I can see how this session would lend itself to a workshop-based session. Overall, I think it was a very successful morning despite the initial nerves, each presentation was unique, and I learnt much from all the presenters.

Please find below my Presentation for the Micro Teaching exercise.