Part of the GCP is practicing teaching, paying specific attention to the concpets that have been introduced in the program.

At the end of October, I taught a guest lesson in a graduate course on case study research methodology.  One of my GCP mentors came to the class and participated as well as evaluated me.
My goals were 1) to work on using Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) while teaching (I define PCK as a good understanding of the appropriate and effective pedagogy for the content and learners in a specific class), and
2) to give students a chance to learn by communicating with me and with each other.

To begin the lesson, I introduced myself and had all of the students introduce themselves to me.  I made sure to write down their names, and their research areas if possible, so that I could refer to them by name later in the class.
The first thing I did was talk about the process of doing case study research (the students had read an article I had published based on a case study), to give the students idea of what is involved that they would not read about in a journal.  I did not want to focus on my findings specifically, because the class was about case study, not early childhood or environmental education (the topic of my paper).  I set aside time for questions, and answered them during my short lecture as well.  I believe this kept the class engaged.
Next I introduced a small group discussion, based on the principles and characteristics of case study that the class already knew.  I highlighted three questions the groups could discuss.
The discussion and question part of the class went on for much longer than I expected it to, but it was very fruitful.
I showed some of the children’s drawings from my research to illustrate some of my points.
I also talked about my method of data collection, observation, and then had the class do an activity to practice observing one another.
After this, I read the poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant”.  In retrospect, I was pretty rushed at the end, and probably should have skipped this.

Before the class, I was worried about having adequate PCK, as I was just dropping in to the class as a guest teacher.  To alleviate this, I spoke with the regular instructor about how she understood the overarching narrative of the class, what they had already covered, what they would cover, and what she thought would be helpful for me to discuss.  I checked my ideas for the lesson with her.  As well, she was able to tell me who was in the class, and since some of the students were familiar to me, this was very helpful.  Finally, I had taken a class from the instructor previously, so I was familiar with her pedagogical style.
Ultimately, my mentor gave me quite positive feedback on my level of PCK.  She commented that I created a comfortable classroom climate by learning people’s names, showing a sense of humour, and explaining clearly what I planned to do during the lesson.  She indicated that I showed content knowledge as I was able to answer questions that emerged.
She also pointed out areas where I can improve: instead of answering all of the questions myself, I could turn the question back to the class so that students can participate more and teach each other more.My mentor also suggested that I could have reviewed the article at the beginning of the class.  I specifically did not do this, because, as a student, I find this incredibly boring and annoying.  However, since I did not know the class very well, I probably should have checked to see how many students had read the paper.

Teaching this grad class was an enjoyable challenge.  I felt prepared, and as usual had to adapt my plan on the fly.  The comments I received from the students indicated that they enjoyed most of the class, and that they thought the part I taught best was either when I was talking about my own work, or the chance I gave them to do the observation activity.  This tells me that I am not as comfortable with the content knowledge about case study as I should be, if I were to teach a whole case study course.  It confirms my belief that students enjoy active learning and learning through interactive communication instead of lectures.