I Had A Plan

 

As I get deeper into teaching on line I am reminded of the above diagram - what I *think* my plan will be and how it *actually* is.

There is a theme meme going around the internet that shows two images - one with 'how it started', the other with 'how it's going'.  

I am in the midst of the 'how it's going' part.

Teaching isn't just opening one's mouth and letting words fall out.  

(Well, it can be, but generally that's not the best way to teach a group.)

So.  

Every teacher has a lesson plan.  We spend quite a lot of time, usually, coming up with The Plan.  If the knowledge we want to convey is extensive or deep, it may take a number of sessions to set it all out in a way that makes some kind of logical sense.  At least to the teacher.

And that sense is pretty highly tuned after years (decades?) of presenting various aspects of the information, in various formats, for various groups, within different lengths of time.

(For example, my Zoom presentations are intended to be 60 minutes, usually go to closer to 90.  Today someone asked if I could do one of my Zoom presentations in 30?)

If anyone thinks that a teacher just blithely says to themselves, oh, I'll teach that, then starts a Zoom meeting (or walks into a guild room) and just wings it?  Rare.  Very, very rare.

So, length of time.  Given the time limit, a teacher has to consider which points they will make.  What do they need for examples to illustrate those points?  Do they need to incorporate demos?  How will they do that?  What equipment will they need to hand, especially if they are on a tour, doing multiple topics in multiple locations?

For a Zoom, how many cameras (views) are available?  One?  How to make the most of it?

For a longer presentation, what gets added in?  If the program runs long, what can be left out?  Questions from the audience will also direct what gets covered.  Sometimes the tangents are the most interesting bits of any presentation.  And sometimes tangents knock some of the prepared material out of the presentation.  Because time limits exist.

After years of teaching in person, I am well practiced at my information delivery.  I have built on that experience as I pivot to on line presentations.  Doesn't mean I just pick up the mic and start talking.

Now I have to consider how being on camera affects what I can do.  What I can show, how I show it.  The viewpoint is close in, close up.  No large physical demos of body mechanics.  So, photos then.  Videos, maybe.  

Power Point presentations are my friend at the moment.  I've gotten pretty good at generating them.  Setting out what I want to cover, the steps I will take to get from one point to the next.  But it takes time. And mental concentration, which is tiring.  And communication via the written word plus photos still needs to be clear.  Being able to show the slide and expand on the concept is useful.  But when I'm talking, people can't always be reading.  So just having the live presentation isn't ideal.

But Zoom allows for recording the live meeting.  So then depth can be added because I'm not just relying on the actual slides.  I can add commentary, knowing that people will be able to link to the video to review and even pause it to read the slide content.  Or if they can't make the live presentation, they can still get the recorded version.

Good, good, all that sounds good.  Except now I needed to purchase the program, learn how to operate Zoom.  How to generate a meeting.  Share the link.  Record the meeting.  Process the video, upload to You Tube.

Surprisingly, that part is going relatively well, given that Zoom has built basic functionality into their platform.  For which this 'old dog' will be eternally grateful.

It still takes time, and I still make mistakes, need to do 'do overs'.  And while I'm processing the video, I choose to not weave because I'm doing it all on the laptop that runs the Megado.  I thought I could do other stuff, but mostly I pace the studio, fretting in case anything goes wrong and I damage or lose the file.  Chew nails until it's finally done and posted.

And then - how to run the groups?  I know FB is 'evil incarnate'.  But it has a level of functionality that I can use without too much extra effort to learn how to do it.  So, Facebook it is.  

Have you noticed we haven't gotten to the actual Zoom meeting yet?

Teaching is so much more than what you see happening in front of you.  

Essentially, my philosophy is that a good teacher will show you where to look, not what to see.  My intent is to show how the principles of the craft work, letting students choose to use - or ignore - them as they find appropriate.  I don't hover in real life and I will sometimes ask questions, not because I don't know the answer but because when you don't know *what* you don't know, you don't know *that* you don't know it.  So I ask the question to spur people to think about the question because having the question is the first step in figuring out what the answer might be.

When I wrote Magic in the Water, I wanted people to understand the principles of wet finishing.  That was a large chunk of weaving knowledge that wasn't being shared widely.  It was fairly simple in terms of planning because it was just one slice of the craft.

The Intentional Weaver was much broader and deeper in scope.  I tried to distill the important bits.  Now, I'm taking slices, in much the same was as I did for Magic, and peeling more layers back, hopefully in a way that makes sense to people.

Will I succeed?  Who knows.  That will not be for me to judge.  All I can do is try to convey the information and let others do what they will with it.

Currently reading Battle Ground by Jim Butcher