Um, Er, Um.

This week saw our first attempts at teaching a lesson. Not a lesson to actual pupils, but a five minute mini-lesson to our peers on a subject (of our own choice) from the "Health Physics" section of the Standard Grade physics curriculum.

I chose the use of Ultrasound, and given the fact that I have a fourteen year old scan from The Queen Mother's Maternity Hospital thought that a "real world" example of the technology might prove enough of a hook.

Now I've done a fair number of oily corporate PowerPoints, but this was wayyyyyyyyy tougher. Ever tried to explain the concept of sound when you don't know how much your audience already knows ? When you don't know how bright (or otherwise) they are ? When you don't know how motivated your audience is ? When you're not 100% sure of how the (ultra)sound is produced ? Why use ultrasound and not MRI? Is therapeutic ultrasound different to imaging ultrasound ? Where was it invented ? Is it dangerous ? How do you know ?

It is of course not difficult for an internet-capable dude like me to find the answers - once I've created a list of issues and questions. But my prep took me a day and half.

For a five minute lesson.

A full-time teacher is required to deliver more (probably way more) than twenty 50-minute lessons each week. Yikes.

Anyways, we were all a bit guilty of some umming and ahhhing (along with repeated use of "OK?") but some peer feedback told me that I had been "entertaining" and "engaging". "Educational" didn't feature as a comment, but then neither did "hopeless", so I guess I've avoided the dreaded crash 'n' burn for the time being.

This coming week I'll be able to see the whole lesson-planning and delivery in action as the time has arrived for us to spend a two-week induction block at our nominated school.