My teaching of needs & motivations through Brookfield's Critical Lenses

Autobiographical
Students were familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Need (1970) prior to the lesson and I was conscious not to reinforce what they already knew. My aim instead was to relate the model to their current module of People in action, whereas they are required to assess group dynamics. Despite my awareness and attempt to assess prior knowledge, I do not feel  I adequately modified my planning so as to accommodate this. The main reason for this being that I did not successfully manage to assess the ability of individuals,  but exclusively those that chose to contribute. Consequently, I was worried that not all students may have the underpinning knowledge and so chose to start from the beginning, addressing the theory before moving on to the specific relevance to the module. As some students chose to leave before the end of the session, and so missed the teaching which was arguably most relevant, I think this may not have been the best approach. I do believe that for the majority of students new learning occurred and the learning outcomes were met, however admittedly the process may have proved in part repetitive and elongated. I am undecided as to how I would tackle this lesson the
 next time around, but will certainly be more aware of the need to fully assess prior learning so as to successfully differentiate.

Learner Perspectives
Although formal feedback from students was not requested, Brookfield (1995) identifies natural feedback and  responsiveness to learning as a means of evaluation (Atkinson & Irving, 2013).
Despite my limited differentiation, students appeared fully engaged for the first part of the lesson, and in particular researched and presented the level of need allocated to their group with enthusiasm. I expect this is due to the variation in activity. However, as the session progressed some students appeared to disengage, and remarked that they were tired or had enough. A selection of students were in a rush to leave and reported to have prior commitments, reporting they would work from home and requesting a copy of the power point to enable this. During the workshop which was held towards the end of the session, a number of students remained so as to discuss with myself how they could use Maslow's hierarchy within their personal poster presentations. These students admitted to now understanding how the model fits into their current projects, this being new learning for them.

Peer Perspectives
Speaking to my tutor at the end of the session made me realise that the happenings which I directly related with  my own shortcomings, were in fact the shared grievances of others. We discussed the fact that as the students I were teaching were second years, they had formed habits which were difficult to break: the main one being the expectation to finish the session early. My mentor also
advised me that for some students within the group it would have been worthwhile repeating the theory, this made me feel a little better in that the first 30 minutes of my teaching was maybe not all in vain. My tutor also praised my power point presentation and described it as "exceptionally good and inspiring" my intention is to now work out a means of transferring the high standard I demonstrate at the planning stage, into practice in the classroom.

Theoretical
My readings at present are concerned with the idea of a liberating education whereas individuals are encouraged to be critical thinkers, creative and reflective. The writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762, cited by Doyle & Smith, 2007), John Dewey (1897),  Richard Pring (2004), and Paulo Freire (Freire & Macedo, 2005) propose an alternate future for education, one which embraces prior student experiences as integral to decision making. Education for social reform as defined by the theorists, philosophers, psychologists and educational reformers, is an ideal which at present I need to research further so as to determine my thinking. However, their philosophies have proved thought provoking and my lesson of Individual Needs and Motivations was planned in consideration of these ideals. Activities were intended to encourage critical thinking and creativity, and take account of past experience. As aforementioned, I now require the skills to promote these concepts in practice.