OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! I've got a job interview..........

[exasperatedmummy]

So i am pretty much panicing really.

It is for a part time science lecturer at the local college. Ive done nothing since i finished my Phd, oh apart from the small thing of looking after DD .

They want me to put together a presentation, to last ten minutes. I have to choose a subject and present it as if it were a class. I have to present a lesson plan too.

Can anyone give me any pointers?
Are there any websites that have lessons on there? I will have to aim this at about GCSE-A level biology and i am RUSTY!
What would be a good thing to cover in ten minutes

MartianBishop are you there?

I am a namechager BTW - im lucyellensmum, getting off my arse and trying to get a job.

Practise your presentation so you sound interested and enjoy your subject .. a lecturer who just reads and doesn't bring a subject to life is horrid.

What about picking something that you can get the class involved in?

oh well done you

ditto what nutterly said - look like you are having fun, and if you can come up with a good (short, uncomplicated, eye-opening) exercise to do with them that should go down well.

a tip would be don't use powerpoint, just think about something you can talk freely about perhaps with a few objects to keep you focussed. it's just too easy to hide behind powerpoint and it's used so much in education it can get v boring. maybe something from your phd would be interesting, so they can learn a bit more about you at the same time?

hello!

Can I help!?

when I had to do this, I did cystic fibrosis

It is on both the GCSE and A level sylabus

great demo of what CF 'feels like', idea for GCSE level was listed by the CF Soc, breath through a straw up one nose. Sounds mad, but it really brings the symptoms home to the kids. You can bring in dominant/recessive, nucleus, chromosome and gene. DNA makes RAN makes proteins

and ab fabbo, well done etc etc etc

Ah, i might do something like that MB. I only have ten minutes. Blimey, i really am rusty though - will have to do some research

That is interesting re the powerpoint actually. I was thinking that i might do a powerpoint, but it is prety dull isn't it. That was what we did during the PhD, lots of powerpoint presentations, but it doesn't really get the class involved. Straws up the nose though.....

Oh, thats another thing really, i don't really have a feel for what is on the syllabus - is there anywhere where i can find this on the net. I was going to have a look in my old biology book for some ideas. But be good to have something up to date that is definately relevant

Have just been sitting here breathing through straw, i feel all light headed now

What I would do is have a Powerpoint to talk around, to use as a cognitive prompt and focus, and then put in things like the straw.

so on your PP have a list of the symptoms....possibly link to a videao clip of the physiotherapy they have, and then demp the straw.

It makes it 'real' for them and stops it being to 'lecuurery' IYSWIM

Causes, and genetics first 3 mins the 1 in 25 stuff, on chromosome 7, 1 in 5000 births in the UK
Symptoms next 3
Current treatments with the new stuff on gene thrapy at the end

Jobs a good un

From the OCR website for the Biology GCSE

1. understand that most characteristics are determined by several genes

working together, for example, height;

1. understand that most characteristics are also affected by environmental

factors, for example, lifestyle factors contributing to disease;

1. recall that a small number of disorders are caused by alleles of a single

gene, limited to Huntington?s disorder and cystic fibrosis;

1. recall the symptoms of Huntington?s disorder and cystic fibrosis;
2. understand why a person with one recessive allele will not show the

associated characteristic, but is a carrier and can pass the allele to their children;

1. interpret (through family trees or genetic diagrams) the inheritance of a

single gene disorder, including the risk of a child being a carrier;

1. understand the implications of testing adults and fetuses for alleles which

cause genetic disease, for example: ? whether or not to have children at all; ? whether or not a pregnancy should be terminated.

1. understand the implications of testing embryos for embryo selection (preimplantation

genetic diagnosis);

1. understand the implications of the use of genetic testing by others,

(for example, for genetic screening programmes, by employers and insurance companies); 10. understand that gene therapy may make it possible to treat certain genetic diseases; 11. In the context of genetic testing (when provided with additional information about the reliability and risks of genetic tests) or gene therapy be able to: ? distinguish questions which could be addressed using a scientific approach, from questions which could not; ? say clearly what the issue is; ? summarise different views that may be held; ? identify and develop arguments based on the ideas that: o the right decision is the one which leads to the best outcome for the majority of people involved; o certain actions are never justified because they are unnatural or wrong; 12. in the context of use of genetic testing by others

Oh, thanks MB, that is really useful - i have had the day from hell today and im knackered and slightly tipsy - will have a look at the OCR website.

Bit worried that i might be too rusty for this though. You seem to be very "UP" on it.

Just taught it to year 10!

and the sixth form

ah!

I might run with it though, it seems something nice and interesting. I was thinking about doing the circulatory system, but i wonder if that could be too "this is this, this does this, that is that" sort of thing. Kids are pretty morbid, i always remember sitting up and paying attention to disease stuff. My favourite biology lesson was when i dissected a bulls eye and i popped it and it splattered all over the floor . Think sitting down to my interview armed with bio hazard bags and eyes might be a bit much though.

How much of your teaching is "lecturing" as in, standing in front of a class and talking for an hour? I have experience of giving talks, and thats how we did it. I did do a presentation on acids at a school a few months back, we used ants, that might be a bit much too - live animals .

My PhD is in fruit fly development, so genetics really. I could probably find if there was any fly stuff on CF, im pretty sure there is actually.

CF is caused by a defect in the pancreas isn't it? Shows how much i remember . Something to do with mucus production?

oh oh, i have to stop now - lol, i wont sleep tonight , i feel quite excited - thanks again MB.

resisting urge to google, i'll be here all night - hic

Teaching really isn't lecturing. At leats it isn't in school. Can't say what it is like in FE collages, but my gut reaction is that it isn't there either.

I went to school in the 70s and the days of Chalk and talk have long gone.

I taught a lesson on Mitosis day before yesterday (to year 11).

Lesson went like this.

Recap on the 7 functions of living things, which they discussed with me.

We then focussed on Growth.

I explained how growth required the duplication of cells.

Explanation of the stages of mitosis (without names)

They then used paper and string to model mitosis for me.

Recap on the stages on the board using an interactive flip chart.

Summary activity of two questions on mitosis

70 minutes

So pleased for you, LEM. You can do it, give it your best for the interview.

I really wouldnt like not having an interaction, lecturing wouldnt be something i want to do. I would ideally like to do my PGCE, a friend of a friend said i could shadow her for a day or two in a really rough school, that will be interesting im sure.

Do you think doing the lecturing job would be good for doing a PGCE or might it be a bad thing?

You need a nice quick starter activity - to get them thinking and settled. Then you can introduce it (the talky bit). Then get them to do something. Then have a plenary which reinforces and ideally assesses their learning. There are all sorts of ideas for starters and plenaries on the internet. You just need to pick a subject.

Good Luck!

A quick started for this type of topic would be a card sort activity, listing infectious and genetic disorders. It would let you test their level of understanding of the topic

Do you have a link?

A teacher friend of mine was talking to me about plenaries today, i was a tad confused

I only have ten minutes, can i compress it all in, or should i just present? I might feel a bit of banana asking the interview panel questions, even if i was supposed to be putting it together as a class

A girl on my college course did the a CF presentation (complete with straws). She made us get up, run on the spot for 30 seconds and then breathe throygh the straw. It certainly captured our attention and helped us understand her presentation more.

Good luck!

In 10 minutes I wouldn't bother doing a full 3 part lesson.

For your starter I would tell them what you are going to teach them, ir tell them the aims of your talk.

Tell them, pref with some form of activity for them to do.

then tell them what you told them for a plenary. If you want a dead easy real plenary you can do a T/F activity, or you can do 'This is the answer, what is the question' or 'Tell me three things that you know now, that you didn't know before the talk.

Thank you so much, you are all stars - i will enjoy researching this and putting it together. I feel really excited about it. I was offered an interview at the same college last year but i "bottled it". Also, it was for a supply lecturer position and it wouldnt have worked for me. My presentation would have been totally wrong.

LOL at the thought of making the interview panel run on the spot for 30 seconds. I did my access course at this college and the head of science is a rotund little man who smokes too much .

Thanks again, i feel quite good about this, even if i don;t get the job - it definately shows i have the interest to do it, because this seems like fun and not work