Peer Observation – me in the role of Observer

On Tuesday, 25th February, I observed Simon Kinneir teaching students at the Interior and Spatial Design department at Chelsea.

The section I observed was divided in two parts:

Part 1: The first half hour of the observation was a group tutorial with three students and two lecturers, Astrid and Simon. The students each presented their approach and first steps they have done towards the project “Life Stand”. At first Astrid took the lead in terms of who and what comes next. She moved from one to the next and could have each time asked Simon what his thoughts are as well. However afterwards the whole group got involved and now Simon also had the chance to input his thoughts and he got everyone involved in each other’s project. This worked well, I thought it was really good how he got the “cross-pollination” going. He also took care to summaries the students’ inputs and repeat them: first in their own words, then in more specific terminology and at times he also wrapped the content into adequate metaphors. This way the students had the opportunity to enlarge their vocabulary and learn more of the needed terminology.

Two of the students made notes and seemed engaged. The third did not take any notes and displayed overall a more challenging attitude. Without wanting to judge too harshly a student I have only observed for part of an hour, I nonetheless got the impression that this student did not have great interest in the course work. As far as I could see she hadn’t done much work and seemed resistant to suggestions. Simon and Astrid did their best to be encouraging and to give guidance, however the student seemed reluctant and tried to abdicate responsibility. I don’t think there is anything else Simon could have done. I myself often wonder how we should proceed with such students.

Simon did also another helpful thing: He referred back to the brief on several occasions, which is useful and important to keep the students and their work on track.

The resistant student admitted not having read or not remembering the brief. However that didn’t stop her from asking at the end if she could receive help on how to do “deep research” and she would need help as she doesn’t know what to do next week. Simon stayed calm and answered in a very professional way. I am aware we should try to stay encouraging and coax the best out of each student, however at this point I wondered if this particular student wouldn’t be actually helped more with a telling off and putting the responsibility for study progress right back into her caught. There is a balance to be struck that I myself find often difficult in my work at CSM as well. Often I feel I am too lenient, soft and encouraging and in the case of a student who is clearly resistant and hasn’t done anything I wonder about the negative impact my mild reaction has on the other students observing this: My behaviour might in their eyes devalue the seriousness and the level of the course and they might get enticed to drop their own game as well. Difficult question and I haven’t got an answer.

Part 2: A one-to-one tutorial with a third year student who discussed her project progress with Simon. It seemed the student was behind with her work and worried about being able to get everything done by the deadline. Simon did several things that I thought were really good: he established a good relationship and rapport with the student, showed empathy and understanding, but at the same time didn’t let her off the hook when she tried to scale down her project. Instead he gave good advice: how she can chop the work into chunks and how to divide the remaining time into days allocated to particular parts of the project. He also highlighted which parts can be ‘outsourced’ and which need more work by her. He got the student to see the bigger picture and encouraged her to take the right priorities.