questions, part 2

How did my teacher training presentation on WICR go yesterday?  That is a great question, and I honestly can’t say for sure, which I find unnerving.  I’m a teacher, and it’s my job to be an expert at reading people.  In China, oooooh, it’s hard to understand the nonverbal communication. 

I didn’t do a lecture, and that’s probably what the 40 teachers in the international studies department expected.  Instead, I started with a jigsaw activity called “expert groups,” with a Forbes article, Creating Innovators: Why America's Education System is Obsolete, to demonstrate a student-centered WICR activity.

I showed a simple prezi that I made, explaining WICR and talking about some current trends in US education.  I followed that with giving them a handout, an activity: The Text Rendering Protocol, explaining that it can be used in any content area.  I thought I had done a professional, organized, and non-threatening presentation. 

Questions?

Blank stares.  

Hmmm, did I talk too fast?  Was it too much information?  Was it difficult to understand in a second language?  Was it not what a teacher-centered education system wanted to hear?  

Then, a few questions about using WICR in content areas, like political science, managing large class sizes, and applying it in university classrooms.

Afterward, a few teachers came up to me in the hallway with excited questions, so I found that encouraging, and the dean seemed truly grateful.  Given the sideways communication style of this culture, I may never know how it was actually received.

At the very least, they saw a very American teacher with a very American teaching style in action.  Maybe that is success enough.