What a day yesterday. 

We had our first face to face all day session and it was fantastic. Not just because I was in a room full of people with similar ideals, values, issues and concerns, but also the content we have covered. 

The morning was all about different quotes and what they mean to us, how do we interpret them. The discussions were very insightful and what resonated with me was turning fear into excitement, risk into opportunity. The students and us as teachers have a level of fear in us, but that fear is manifested with the same body reactions as excitement. It’s only our brain telling that we are scared rather the excited. Working on the our and our students thoughts will hopefully turn a quiet group sessions into lively atmospheric events. 

We also talked a lot about risk and how students don’t want to talk, express themselves as there is a risk of failure. We, again as teachers, need to instil in them safety so there is a constant flow of information without the risk of losing face in front of their fears. There was a great comment from one of my peers, about how different cultures have different levels of risk and we have to very mindful of that. 

The afternoon was about different sizes of group work their pros and cons. Lectures, seminars, tutorials and crits/presentations. It was very insightful listening to everyone’s opinions about different sizes of group sessions and how they find them. What I found very interesting is how many negative things come out for tutorials and I always thought these are the best, most enriched sessions. This brought of pastoral care for students and another huge discussion began. Why are we taking on so much responsibility for students wellbeing and there is so much pressure on us. Some great suggestions were made, but this has left me feeling a bit vulnerable. It is my duty of care and being a mother of 3, the students are someone’s’ child, so it’s my duty to protect them and help them while they are not in the safety of their own families and homes. Or is it? Something to think about. 

Silva