Entry 2

I thought the whole concept of three-way teaching was going to be an entirely new idea to me. In a way, I was right. Yes, we have given feedback countless times but it was the first time we’ll comment on how feedback was relayed.

Initially, I thought it was about giving complete feedback so our group mainly gave comments on how one could have pointed our more good and bad points. However, during the debriefing, I realized it was not only about completeness. There is actually a proper and effective way of giving feedback. In between comments for commending the correct things s/he did, it is also important to note down areas for improvement.  In this way, you could facilitate change while still encouraging them to continue doing the things they did right.

Aside from these, as a teacher, I also learned the importance of preparing well and making sure to set expectations for your learner. I have failed to do this for the activity so I had a very unstructured session. I ended up asking my learner to write and pronounce all letters correctly and sing the Arabic alphabet in order to familiarize her with the new knowledge I have introduced. I realized this actually defeated the purpose of the session since I bombarded her with instructions. It would've been better if I taught her the song first considering she did not have any knowledge of the alphabet; and as learning occurs, increase challenge appropriately (i.e. for next session, recognizing which letter is which).

All in all, it was a very introspective experience for me. This activity also confirmed the importance of knowing your learners and providing feedback in facilitating learning. Since teaching is integral in our profession, a PT should be competent in these aspects.