Teaching Guides

What I read:

• Qualitative Voices in Educational Research - Michael Schratz
• How to Teach - Phil Beadle
• The Teacher's Toolkit: Raise Classroom Achievement with Strategies for Every Learner - Paul Ginnis

Sort of worth it, they're interesting but apply to the more conventional areas of teaching and don't really help given the distinct nature of a video - it's meant to be relatively informal but there is a clear teacher-student dynamic to the structures proposed. The platform I would be using (a digital video uploaded to YouTube) would certainly be applicable within a lesson as - in accordance with Michael Schratz - students are allegedly  fine with having information "poured" at them. The book focuses on the dynamics of group work vs the more traditional lecture style but the nature of my product allows for feedback and discussion on the subject within an online comments section; the aim of my project is to generate  interest and provide some overall knowledge in order to spur further historical interest and education, but the idea of entirely teaching something may not be possible in the time I am allotted. The Teacher's Toolkit was widely useless to me as it focused more on conventional teaching strategy; particular focus was placed upon methods of teaching such as class activities which would definitely not fit the format of my product.

Schratz makes an interesting point about structuring a lesson around an image, showcasing it at the start of a lesson then teaching about the subject and then having students reflect on the initial image at the end. With this, I could include a conventional crusader at the beginning of the video and have the student perhaps question the notion of "victorious crusaders" that the Media has generated. I believe the Western educational institutions fail to acknowledge the human aspect of the Muslims in this section of history; it appears to just be a clear Christian vs Muslim narrative however I would like to balance this out. I therefore have something  to take away from reading Schratz's work.
This method is rather unconventional and coincides with some suggestions  put forth by Phil Beadle. He explains that, within plenaries at the end of a lesson, the formulaic "What have you learned today" is likely to disengage the pupils and signal it is the end of the discussion. At least with this 'picture' method, I can allow for some reflection to occur - even if it is subtle and not outright. My attempt is to make them see the original image in a different light to the initial showing.

However,  there is one last thing surrounding Schratz's work in regards to 'voice'. Essentially it proposes some cultural assumptions are to be made in regards to a topic based on the origin and background of students along with the accent and format of the teacher's speech. In order to achieve some degree of  reliability in being neutral, it is important to tell both sides of a topic. This method is called 'Crosscultural, Comparative, Reflective Interview'; the idea of discussing the Christian and Muslim sides introduces a sense of neutrality and a lack of bias within my work, which I aim to achieve.