Laidlaw LiA Reflection Week 2: Picking Up The Pieces

Given our rough patch on the first week, we went into the 2nd week initially with mixed feelings. We were glad we managed to sail through the first week, but at the same time, the challenges were still ahead of us. As people say, Rome wasn't built in a day. We couldn’t expect things to transform from the way it was last week completely, and suddenly, things became better. 

This proved to be true, the challenges from last week were still quite apparent despite our best efforts. A fair portion of our class was still disengaged. We also noticed difficulties that arise due to the small age gap between us scholars and the students in our class. This led to difficulties in maintaining proper class conduct which proved another challenge for us scholars.
However, as we went through this week, we started to see a few improvements. As we spent more time with our students and got to know them better interpersonally, we saw slight progress in maintaining a conducive class. The rapport we developed with them led to a certain degree of respect toward us as instructors. This experience was quite eye-opening for me, as despite having done multiple instructor roles in the past, this time I had to take a different approach in regulating the class and the students. It further sheds light on how respect is earned and not something one is entitled to and how leadership requires nurturing a connection with the whole team.

These new changes that we observed motivated me and my fellow scholars to keep the class engaging and interesting. Luckily for us, this week we pivoted into the 2nd part of the curriculum where we learn and teach about Python coding and Arduino. This made an interesting change of pace in our teaching, and it kept the students participating in every section. In this part of the module, I participated as an assistant instructor to my fellow scholars who led this section. This role taught me a lot of valuable lessons as well, especially as someone with a minimal coding background. I tried to be as useful and supportive as possible for my fellow scholars, which further forced me to stay creative and find ways to assist the students as best as I could. I ended up fulfilling this responsibility by checking up on the student’s progress and giving one-on-one consultations about their ideation for their prototypes.

Reaching the end of this week, I can see that things are starting to be somewhat more on track compared to last week. This sense of progress keeps me driven and excited to see this LiA through and make the most of this opportunity. These weekly journals have also managed to keep me in check and remind me of the lessons I’ve learnt personally and my own growth, both as a teacher and a leader-in-training. 

To summarise, this week has taken a turn for the better and it has been filled with eye-opening experiences. It also provided a sense of accomplishment to see our progress in bridging the gap between us as scholars and students, firing me up for what’s to come.