Asked to describe my 'best ever lecturing (or teaching) experience', I skirted around the edges of which experience to write about. I knew in my heart immediately, but questioned the validity of what is a small example. I even considered delving back into my accountant days of teaching Double sided accrual accounting or my business and health consulting time running Yoga at the Beach. But I kept coming back to a workshop I co facilitated with my mentor, for field researchers: Research Interviews and Focus Groups. She had delivered similar workshops by herself in the past. She had notes and handouts. I took her information and built on it creating a cohesive package of information content, examples, activities and discussion.
Largely unrehearsed we launched into the morning in a tag team manner. Serendipitously I had written the lesson with a perfect ebb and flow between us. On reflection, we work like this on many projects; teaching, meetings, co writing. I describe us as the Yin and Yang of Teaching. We gave structure and context to theory and practice, then presented an authentic unscripted live interview, followed by questions and critique, where the participants explored with enthusiasm their experiences as questioners in the research process and the validity of self in the reflexive research process. The participants were transfixed. They wanted to stay, and talk, and stay...
This was an amazing example of authentic inquiry being grounded in constructivist endeavour, positioning learning as an active process where the learners construct their individual meaning. For me, it really marked the point where I felt authentic in the teaching role at university.
