Seeing Results

As this semester moves on, I get more opportunities to be involved in the teaching process in the classroom. It is a little unnerving at times but exhilarating just the same. I am never quite sure how to prepare and if what I have prepared will fly, but it is good to try my hand at various aspects of teaching. Yesterday's experience was enlightening.

I was given the opportunity to write the family interactions and to facilitate the interaction time. There are four family units in the class and the interactions needed to be specific to each family. It was important that the topic be strong enough that the students would be able to engage and talk for about 30 minutes. The interaction also needed to spark some level of revelation to the students in their family groups about who these people they portray really are. Cliches and outrageous scenarios are a temptation; cliches because they are safe and simple, outrageous scenarios because they force students to think outside their knowledge and experience bases. So the situations have to be forceful enough to prompt conversation but realistic enough to promote genuine family conversation and communication.

All in all, the experiment was a success. Three of the four family groups ran with the interactions and broke some new communication ground in the process. Real feelings came to the surface and there was a level of intensity that indicates that the experience moved them along in the learning process. There is still a group that seems not to "get it" and that can be frustrating, but for once I am going to choose to look at the success of 75 percent of the groups and take heart!

My next assignment is to prepare and present a section of the lecture for the next chapter on Tuesday. Tomorrow is exam day, so it is just a matter of attendance. Nice respite after the high-anxiety teaching experience yesterday.