Students in a class are never identical with respect to their learning needs and preferences. As a educator it is important to recognize this and ensure that the instruction that one delivers in class addresses the varying needs of the learners. Throughout this course each of prepared lessons to teach our peers taking into account the diversity in our classroom with respect to academic background.
While preparing my lessons, I borrowed material from my discipline quite often. Every time I did this, I made sure I was attentive to the level of familiarity my peers had with content from my area of work. For example, during Micro Teaching #1, I was connecting the ideas of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky with the concept of Web 2.0. Before I began my lesson, I asked my peers to tell me how much they knew about Vygotsky to understand how much background information would be necessary.
Furthermore, when I was explaining constructs that are studied in my field, such as – self-concept and self-efficacy (Micro Teaching #2), I explained them by breaking the ideas down to what they would look like in the world around us. I tried my best not to use esoteric jargon and technical definitions while explaining ideas that were new to my peers.
Some learners prefer to work alone and some prefer to work in groups. All my lessons (Student led, Micro Teaching 1 , Micro Teaching 2) included activities that were both individual and collective in nature. This ensured that those who were not at ease working in groups or alone would each get the opportunity to contribute to class discussions.
Finally, each of my lessons incorporated various modalities of instruction – lecture, PowerPoint, videos – keeping in view that not all students learn the same way.