Session Nine
17th August 2010
Venue NQ 106
Classroom Behaviour Management
During this session we were engaged in a number of useful activities. We were first asked to participate in an activity named “Bus Stop”. Kate had considered four questions as regards to “Classroom Behaviour Management”. We answered the four questions as appropriate. The questions were as follows:
1. Can I develop strategies that will improve the learning behaviour of my classes?
2. What impact does the way I manage my class have on what the students learn?
3. What would happen if I ignored bad behaviours and focussed only on my teaching practice?
4. How effective are my current methods of managing my classes?
We have provided a variety of answers and a number of concerns were developed. A lecturer from the School of Sports asked how could we do these activities with students who may not be cooperative?
Kate believed it was a good question and wanted answers and methods of implementing this activity.
Kate later retrieved a slideshow titled “PMI”. PMI stands for plus, minus and Improvement.
Plus: what have you done well throughout the year that had a positive impact on the learning environment of your class?
Minus: describe an incident or a time that was difficult for you to manage the classroom behaviour of your students. What could you have done differently?
Improvements: What can you set as target for yourself in terms of improving your responses to poor classroom behaviour?
Time to think
We were asked to pair up with someone (who does not do the same subjects) to discuss an incident that was difficult to manage the classroom behaviour of your students and what we could have done differently.
I chose Samson Mudapakati to be my partner for this activity. We were asked to give one and get one, one minute each.
He started first. He mentioned that there was a student who kept asking irrelevant questions that he did not like. He mentioned that approached the student very politely and asked him to ask the questions (as many as the student wished) after the class. Samson believed that he could solve the issue and managed the situation successfully.
Then it was my turn. I mentioned that one day I was delivering a workshop to a class of students who were not interested in the topic at all. Furthermore, many showed that they were willing to leave the class instantly and expressed physically that the session was boring. I realized that I needed to do something urgently before I lost my students. I retrieved a PowerPoint presentation which contained a number of interesting interactions that many students in the past loved a lot. I did my best to link the new topic with the original topic I was doing. I was able to get them engaged and involved in a meaningful activity. I was then able to deliver the workshop very successfully and students displayed interest and appreciation.
Later we were introduced to a gust speaker, E. Catherine Dicky. She retrieved her presentation named “Leaving no one behind”. I really liked her approach and I was really interested in the topic.
First she mentioned that technology had contributed largely to delivering and designing lessons effectively. She also mentioned that we should have a clicker, a remote control, to be able to control and manage the class more effectively. The main reason is that we could move freely in the class without being stuck in one location behind the computer or somewhere around. Then she gave an example of how to get students involved and make topics more interesting. She gave the example of “APA” being an important academic requirement and relatively hard to comprehend by many students. She stated that APA was mainly about punctuation, fullstop, coma and semicolon. She gave three simple musical instrument to three students in the class and had put up a reference in its APA format and asked the student to play the instrument according to the feature they were assigned for.
It sounded interesting indeed. I was thinking that if I were the lecturer I could have made this topic more interesting and more engaging by showing them how to include proper APA referencing style properly using Microsoft Word 2007 and newer versions. As a matter of fact using this function will enhance more learning and will provoke more interactions. Adding to that it saves time and effort.
Catherine later introduced a new topic named “Withitness’’. I really liked this topic. I did enjoy it and I agreed with everything mentioned. Later we were asked to create a group of five and discuss certain features of a good or effective teacher. My group consisted of Chris Wearing, Kamla Prakash, Marelene, myself and another lecturer from the School of Business. Chris started first and suggested a number of important features. I was the last. I truly believe that to be an effective teacher you need to have 16 features. The features are as follows:
1. Teachers accepting students for who they are
2. Teachers making lessons fun
3. Teachers having a sense of humor and friendly attitudes
4. Teachers having a thorough grounding in their topic
5. Teachers being able to teach effectively rather than talking needlessly
6. Teachers understanding learner needs and requirements
7. Teachers encouraging students to answer questions
8. Teachers being humble and honest
9. Teachers being able to guide and advise
10. Teachers being able to communicate with learners effectively
11. Teachers being able to include all students in meaningful learning activities
12. Teachers being learning counselors
13. Teachers being able to enhance equality and eliminate discrimination in the class
14. Teachers being able to enhance confidence
15. Teachers being able to play a role model
16. Teachers being able to be there for students
Session Ten
31st August 2010
This session was entirely interactive and totally different to all the previous sessions. During this session we were introduced to the era of technology energetically and very fruitfully.
At the beginning we were given tags to wear. The tags contained a number, a shape and a letter. I was given the tag: 4 B Square.
Then we were asked about the best teaching or learning practice or experience we ever had and to explain why and how.
Personally I believe that the best learning experience I had was when I was taught organic chemistry clearly in one hour. We were then asked to give it to some and take his/her one.
Fred received my note and I received his.
We were then asked to reveal what other people experienced. It was a nice activity. Naidu later mentioned that he had learnt this activity just recently.
Nuddy Pillay later asked us what we thought of the activity in terms of advantages. People gave him a number of thoughts including:
· Less detailed thoughts
· Sharing of experiences
· Better than raising hands
· A safe method of expressing
· Building confidence
· Meaningful inclusion of learners
Later we were grouped into four groups of four each and asked to discuss our blog progression in connection with reflection, personal and professional development and critical analysis.
Nuddy Pillay asked us how far we were. My group consisted of five and one lecturer said that she had completed 25% of the blog and she mentioned that she was busy and just did not have time. Another lecturer mentioned that he had completed 75% of the total work.
Then they asked me how far I had gone. Well, according to their description of progress and reflection, I thought I had done 100% and of course that would not be perfectly right as no work can reach this level. However, they thought that I was the only one who was able to complete the blog to this level. They might be wrong anyway.
Ben from School of Sport was the leader of my group and I truly believe he is a very nice man and very polite.
Nuddy Pillay assured us that no one was going to fail this course and he also mentioned that he had taught for a long time and no had ever failed his courses. He mentioned that he was proud of that and indeed that is a priceless achievement.
Nuddy Pillay later mentioned that if a student fails his course that means he is responsible and would simply reflects his bad teaching (or something like that).
He later clarified the criteria for the assessments being the following:
1- Personal and professional development
2- Critical analysis
3- Teaching practicum
4- Professional conversation group
Later after dinner, we were grouped into groups according to the shape of our badge. We were asked to evaluate our current learning space design from our perspective and learners’ perspective.
My group consisted of Murray Clark, Marlene and myself. We were the group of the square. Murray suggested that we should talk about the current space we use for our teaching purposes. He thought that the space he was using was really small and did not enhance lots of interactions and activities. He summarized his findings into five main findings as follows:
1- The space was not comfortable for sitting and learning
2- Teachers could not move freely in the class and would not have control over the class
3- The space was only good for small group students, 3-5 no more
4- Not too many facilities such computers. He mentioned that it only contained three computers.
He also mentioned that from his students' perspective, they simply do not care.
We were later asked to go to NR109 to use the computers and utilize online tools to initiate a group discussion about the previous question.
Nuddy did a great job. He well organized and controlled the class and successfully created a page on wiki Pbworks. He named the page as mitwikiners and can be accessed at http://mitwikiners.pbworks.com/FrontPage?show_all_comments=1
It was great to see lots of students-students, students-content and students-teacher interactions.

Nuddy Pillay is indeed an effective teacher. He has a lot to offer. He is very friendly and approachable. He has a very special approach to teaching and attracting learners’ attention. He is highly experienced and always would like to share his knowledge and experience with us. He is a very generous teacher.
Session Eleven
14th sept. 2010
Session Eleven
14th Sept. 2010?
Session eleven was a very interesting session and perhaps the most interactive session we had ever had since we started this session.
Veraneeca and I arrived a little bit late. Nuddy Pillay Kindly expressed that it was nice to see Veraneeca again. I responded in a very comic and friendly manner, it was nice to see me too. Nuddy Pillay Replied and said it was always nice to see me. He is a very lovely person and I respect him a lot.
At the beginning of the session we were given a sheet to include our responses to four questions as regards to the wiki designed for the class in terms of strengths, weaknesses and how well it was. I personally thought it was well organized, well formatted, fun to do and was a new learning space for the class. My colleagues provided similar feedback.
Later we were asked to respond to an activity which was the most interesting learning activity I had ever experienced.
We were divided into six groups and were asked to respond constructively and demonstratively to a scenario about a group of students who have just come out of a class and are excited y the way in which their teacher teaches them.
My group consisted of Veraneeca, Dennis, Fred and myself. Veraneeca is a very good actress. She acted out her role brilliantly.
We agreed on a topic and it was APA. We acted out the scenario under Veraneeca’s directions and instructions. She is an amazing person. She is just a character. She led the role of the student who really liked the librarian who conducted the session. The scenario simply was about Fred, a librarian delivering a lesson about APA. Veraneeca seemed very excited and enthusiastic about the scene. I was playing the role of this student who still did not have any idea about what APA was and thought it was AVA. Fred then corrected me and ...well I am not going to talk more about the scene as it has been recorded and Nuddy will upload the films soon.
Later we were asked to comment on an article titled: Giving control to students: But will they pick up the ball and run? …….
My group thought that 20% would be “yes” and 80% “No”.
Yes due to:
1- Young students find it fun
2- Students want to pass especially if it is a requirement
3- Some students would like to follow up on the others
No: supported by the following thought:
1- Lack of time
2- Lack of interest
3- Lack of motivation
4- Laziness
5- Lack of access to the internet
Later we were asked to identify two issues and reflect on our acting I terms of learning and teaching or design and delivery relate aspects.
My group had identified a multiplicity of negative issues and a number of positive findings.
Negative findings:
1- Disruptive attitudes
2- Noisy students
3- Lack of interest
4- Lack of pre-existing knowledge
5- Lack of student-stent interaction
6- Lack of learning activities
7- The use of difficult terms (language barriers)
Positive findings:
1- The librarian having sense of humour
2- The use of realia
3- The librarian having tolerance and patience
4- Positive learning attitudes (the librarian: Fred)
5- The use of a multiplicity of visual demonstrations
6- The use of technology to enhance learning such as computers and smart screens
Session Twelve
During this session we had two interesting events, a video presentation utilising youtube and brief teleconferencing utilising skype. The youtube presentation was really engaging and triggered a number of thoughts, concerns and questions. The presentation was At GoogleTalks: Leading@Google by Ngahi Bidois. Ngahihi is an indigenous native Maori from New Zealand and the author of “Ancient Wisdom: Modern Solutions”. “Ancient Wisdom: Modern Solutions is the inspirational story of one man's journey. It is a very intimate account of the life of Ngahihi o te ra Bidois recording the highs and lows as he joined the ranks of the unemployed to relearn the language he'd once spurned... reconnected with his Maori heritage, and finally made the life-changing decision to receive the gift of ta moo from his ancestors. Now sharing his people's ancient wisdom, Ngahi can finally say - "for this I was born"”. (Google Books).