New normal
July 4, 2020I have been planning, shifting furniture plotting and preparing. Online teaching isn’t a natural fit for me, but then again teaching at all isn’t. I always said it was one of the jobs I would never do, along with public speaking. I now do both so I am hoping I can adapt to online as well. Hating cameras and the sound of my own voice recorded is going to be tricky but I have some ways around that, and I finally have a webcam. Oddly tech companies were as unprepared for this as the rest of us, so kit is in very short supply. The Tuesday group has given me, and the students a chance to feel out this new environment and so far it is going pretty well. We are getting back the feel of my regular classes, and yes that does mean tangents and side learning no one planned. Given that is what makes my classes mine, I am thrilled.
On the back of that we are having a technique class this Monday at 3pm BST on curved piecing. It was prompted by the Monday quilt this week and this being a new or under used skill for most. So I will be covering three techniques and hopefully answering some questions about curved piecing. We still have a couple of places if you would like to join us on google meet.
Thanks to some friends helping me test camera angles and visibility I think I have a teaching space that will work. Trying to film yourself from 3 angles with one camera is trickier than I considered. I have a new found respect for Youtubers, especially those making and doing, rather than just talking to the camera. I have found that it is much more relaxed for me to be showing what I am doing than having me fill the frame though, that’s a real incentive for me to demonstrate more.
I am hoping as we go along we can get to the point where students will feel comfortable showing their work and their issues. I want to get back to much more interactive sessions, and the skills we learn online will help us once we get back to physical classes. It sounds like we will need distancing for quite some time, and being together virtually gets us doing that. We learn to teach and be taught at a greater distance. I can’t reposition you or your tools, I HAVE to find a verbal way to get you where you need to be. I suspect it will mean that more often I grab props and show people what I mean, but I will be getting used to using my props not others tools. I don’t know how this new normal will shake out, but as we have it I for one want to see what we can do with it. One plus side is people who can’t attend physical classes can now join us. That alone is valuable and possibly a lot of fun.
Tomorrow I hope to get some sewing done, but we will see. I may sew something completely different downstairs to save me moving my room about again. I guess I will decide tomorrow.