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1. John Tillson Narrative of Practice Classroom Practice
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A REFLECTIVE NARRATIVE ON THE DESIGN AND DELIVERY
OF A COURSE ABOUT MORAL EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
In this reflective narrative I discuss a course on Moral Education that I developed for and delivered to final
year Education Studies undergraduates at Liverpool Hope University during Autumn Term 2017 (October
2nd
– December 12th
). I describe the course aims, content, assessment design, the resources made available,
lecture input, and seminar activities. Throughout, I incorporate critical reflections, student feedback, notes of
changes implemented during delivery, and plans on how to alter delivery for future iterations. I include
details of the course (including an outline, essay guidance, course resource list, and seminar preparation
activities) as appendices.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Course Aims: The course was designed to introduce students to a small number of significant discussions
and theories that bear on the single overarching question of whether moral education might be possible, and
if so, how it might be possible. Moreover, the course was designed to empower the students to give a robust
answer to the question for themselves (be it an affirmative or negative answer).
Previous Learning: Students came with some prior knowledge about Plato, having read excerpts from the
Republic. Before the start of the course, they had not learned about moral education as such, although they
were very familiar with normative discussions within Education Studies including issues to do with fairness,
justice and equitability in educational provision and access. Previous learning about philosophy of education
to date had focused around significant figures within the twentieth century Post-Kantian tradition and had
not been issue-driven. The course did not require this as background knowledge, but their engagement could
benefit from bringing this background knowledge to bear. In future years, I will become increasingly able to

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draw connections to previous learning at Levels C and I, as I become more familiar with the programmes
taught.
Course assessment: The form of assessment was designed to track the twin aims of the course by having the
students produce a 2,500 word essay answer to the question: How (if it all) is moral education possible?
Refer to at least two theorists from the course. The question gives students a significant degree of flexibility
in the sort of answer that they would prefer to give. Firstly, from the eight theorists’ work covered and the
requirement that two theorists be utilised, students are challenged to exercise some initiative as to which two
they select. Secondly, there is an open-ended range of ways in which they may respond, including: creating
and defending a synthesis of scholars’ work, defending one scholar’s answer from the criticisms of another,
and critiquing the answer of one scholar with the resources provided by another. I produced essay guidance
which I explained at the outset and I will explain in the last lecture (Appendix 2). This tasks the students
with a problem to solve creatively (Isaksen & Treffinger 1985, Treffinger 1995), discovering relationships
between ideas and drawing them together in a cohesive and meaningful, goal orientated manner (Marton &
Saljo, 1976a, 1976b).
RESOURCES
Reading Guidance: Essential readings were provided online (via MOODLE), together with a list of 3–4
questions designed to help guide their reading, five days ahead of classes (Appendix 3). All other resources
were also provided in the same way. The questions that I used to guide reading were initially open ended
concerning their thoughts about texts. As the course went on, it seemed more useful to provide focused
questions that would demonstrate a more basic familiarity with the text, and supplement these with open
ended questions prompt critical reflection (Appendix 4).
Complexity of readings: As discovered by talking with students about the set readings, it became apparent
that one particular reading – McDowell, J. (1979) – was very hard for even the most engaged students. So as
not to deny students the chance to extend themselves, but not to make material too inaccessible, I intend to
provide two readings: a standard text and an advanced text. I received more positive student feedback about

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one particular standard text: Savulescu, J. and Ingmar Persson (2012) and was pleased to see that some
students extended themselves and read the more advanced text: Persson, I. and Savulescu, J. (2013).
Non-text based resources: For each week, at least one additional resource including either a podcast or a
video was provided. Supernant (2015), Adamson (2011), Magee (1987) are typical examples (see Appendix
3). Some students commented that audio and video resources were helpful for them, since they were less
confident with accessing complex texts. These resources were left for students to access in their own time if
they wanted, but they might equally have been made essential viewing/ listening and accompanied with
questions to help guide students’ attention. Excerpts could easily have been included in seminars in order to
vary delivery style, and provide stimulus for students to respond to in group discussions.
FACE TO FACE SESSIONS
The lectures and seminars were focused around the essential readings. Each lecture introduced two essential
readings that were united by a common theme, each of which would receive special attention in one of the
subsequent tutorials (cf Appendix 1).
Lectures: In the lectures, I wanted to introduce sections of texts in order to demonstrate how to decode them
for meaning. I also wanted to provide evidence for my interpretations of the texts by referring to them. From
a design point of view, I avoided the glare of white slides, and used the ‘appear’ and ‘disappear’ and other
animation functions to guide student’s attention to relevant bits of text. I included pop-culture references and
metaphors that students responded to, including A Clockwork Orange, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I
also included some animations of e.g. dice rolling and leaves falling as visual aids in making points about
determinism and indeterminism in the debate about free will. However, the slides were text heavy and
despite the use of animations, and ‘slow reveals’, could have benefited from less focus on sections of text. In
future lectures, I plan to spend less time demonstrating how to decode central pieces of text, and more time
introducing them to the Threshold Concepts (Meyer & Land, 2006) and arguments.

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Seminars: in an early seminar, I reproduced a short excerpt from Aristotle on a giant landscape A-3 handout
in a large font and asked the students to suggest how we might represent the theory that he defends in that
excerpt in a table. With a little teasing out they were able to create a table and, as groups, take responsibility
for filling in parts of it before feeding back to complete the table as a whole-class effort. This enabled the
students to develop a systematic understanding of the text. Most were then able to the key organising
principle in future sessions. Unexpectedly, it also seemed to help bond the group.
In another seminar, I wrote a different open ended question on each of four separate, large sheets of paper,
each of which I explained at the outset (Appendix 7). I divided the group into four mini-groups, each with a
distinctive coloured marker, and gave them a set time to answer the question on the sheet. When the time
was up, I rotated the sheets. Each group fed back on the last question they had discussed. This model offered
the students to engage in collaborative dialogue which in some ways mirrors that which they see modelled in
Plato’s Meno (Classics.mit.edu, 2017); it was dialogue based tasks like this that students said they found the
most useful (Appendix 5).
In the second to last seminar, I created a table listing each of eight thinkers that we had studied over the
course along one axis, and, along the other axis, listing each of the five questions that I had introduced at the
outset. The students were divided into four groups, assigned two thinkers each, and asked to fill in the
answers that each of their thinkers gave to these questions. When they had finished, I asked them to explain
which of the pairs of answer they found to be more convincing. This exercise gave them a pair-wise
comparative judgement opportunity (Bradley & Terry 2952, Jones & Alcock 2014, Jones 2014). It helped to
systematize their knowledge, and provide a more focused ‘in’ for critical evaluation.
In the final seminar of term, I briefly discussed each student’s essay plan with them 1:1, suggesting ways in
which they might improve them while the other students engaged in a structured essay-explanation speed-
dating task. This involved students pairing up and one asking the other ‘is moral education possible?’
Depending on whether their partner’s answer was ‘yes’ or ‘no’, they then asked: ‘how is it possible?’ or
‘why isn’t it possible?’ After hearing their partner’s answer they then had the opportunity to share what had

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occurred to them while listening, after which they reversed roles before repairing and repeating. The
students found it useful to hear a range of approaches to answering the assessment question, and found that
it built their own fluency in answering the question. Those who came most prepared got the most out of the
session, something I will say in advance before doing it again.
COURSE EVALUATION
Student Evaluation: I distributed a questionnaire to gather student perspectives on the course and how it
might be improved, also of the ‘Stop, Start, Continue’ form (Appendix 5). I received 13 forms back 11/ 13
suggested that I did not need to stop anything in particular, one suggested that I pause more, and another that
there be a lectures each week. Three suggested that I need not start anything in particular, five wanted longer
seminars, other suggestions included making more mind maps as groups, breaking down topics more, giving
more examples and providing an exemplar essay answer. Among the things that I should continue, four
mentioned group work and discussions.
Peer Evaluation: I asked two lecturer/researcher colleagues--one female, early career (Observer One), one
male, mid-career (Observer Two)—to observe my practice. And they gave the following feedback of the
‘Stop, Start, Continue’ form (Appendix 6). Observer One suggested that I start “offering more opportunities
for engagement during the lecture” including using the edtech platform, Socrative, that I stop “picking on
specific students for answers”, and that I continue “parsing quotations” which, “considering the introductory
level of this course,” they called a “big strength” by “supporting student comprehension” and modelling
“good academic reading skills”. Observer Two suggested that I include more background information in
introducing topics, that I “begin lectures with a 'hook'” such as “a question which will get students thinking”
and continue “modelling close reading of the text with students”.
CONCLUDING REMARKS

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Overall I can be pleased that the first iteration of this course was well received, and can see ways in which to
improve it for next year. In particular, I plan to make use of learning technologies including edtech and
Socrative, to continue incorporating discussion and group work in tutorials, and to give more opportunities
to students to systematize and so consolidate their learning throughout the course.
REFERENCES
Adamson, P. (2011). Aristotle | History of Philosophy without any gaps. [online] Historyofphilosophy.net.
Available at: https://historyofphilosophy.net/aristotle [Accessed 28 Dec. 2017].
Bradley, R. A., & Terry, M. E. (1952). Rank analysis of incomplete block designs: The method of paired
comparisons. Biometrika, 39: 324–345.
Classics.mit.edu. (2017). The Internet Classics Archive | Meno by Plato. [online] Available at:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/meno.html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2017].
Isaksen, S. G., & Treffinger, D. J. (1985). Creative problem solving: The basic course. Buffalo, NY: Bearly
Limited.
Jones, I., & Alcock, L. (2014). Peer assessment without assessment criteria. Studies in Higher Education,
39: 1774–1787.
Jones, M. (2014, December). Teacher scoring as professional development. Panel Discussion at the
California Educational Research Association Annual Conference. San Diego, CA.
Magee, B. and Nussbaum, M. (2017). Aristotle - Martha Nussbaum. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIKHmUWICWc [Accessed 28 Dec. 2017].
Marton F., & Saljo, R. (1976a). ‘On Qualitative Differences in Learning 1: Outcome and Process’, British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 46: 4–11.
Marton F. & Saljo, R. (1976b). ‘On Qualitative Differences in Learning 2: Outcome as a Function of the
Learners’ Conception of the Task’, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46: 115 - 127.
McDowell, J. (1979). Virtue and reason. The Monist, 62: 331–350.
Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge – Linkages to ways of
thinking and practising within the disciplines. in Rust, C. (ed.) Improving student learning – ten years on.
Oxford: OCSLD.
Persson, I. and Savulescu, J. (2013). Getting moral enhancement right: The desirability of moral
bioenhancement. Bioethics 27: 124–131.
Savulescu, J. and Persson, I. (2012). Moral enhancement. Philosophy Now, 91: 6–8.
Superant, C. (2017). PHILOSOPHY - The Good Life: Aristotle [HD]. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFPBf1AZOQg [Accessed 28 Dec. 2017].
Treffinger, D. J. (1995). Creative problem solving: Overview and educational implications. Educational
Psychology Review, 7: 301–312.

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Appendix 1
LEVEL H PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION (ED STUDIES): MORAL EDUCATION: COURSE OUTLINE
ASSESSMENT
QUESTION:
How (if it all) is moral education possible? Refer to at least two theorists covered on
the course.
SESSION WEEK
STARTI
NG
EVENT TOPIC
1 October
2nd
Philosophy Lecture:
Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
FOUNDATIONS: PLATO AND SOCRATES
2 October
9th
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
FOUNDATIONS: PLATO AND SOCRATES
3 October
16th
Philosophy Lecture:
Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
FOUNDATIONS: ARISTOTLE
4 October
23rd
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
FOUNDATIONS: ARISTOTLE
5 October
30th
Philosophy Lecture:
Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
A ROLE FOR PRINCIPLES IN MORAL
EDUCATION?
6 Novembe
r 6th
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
A ROLE FOR PRINCIPLES IN MORAL
EDUCATION?
7 Novembe
r 13th
Philosophy Lecture:
Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
A ROLE OF BLAME IN MORAL EDUCATION?
8 Novembe
r 20th
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
A ROLE OF BLAME IN MORAL EDUCATION?
9 Novembe
r 27th
Philosophy Lecture:
Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
A ROLE FOR DRUGS IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
10 December
4th
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
A ROLE FOR DRUGS IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
11 December
12th
Philosophy Lecture:
Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00
Philosophy Seminar: Tues/
Weds 09:00 – 10:00
ESSAY GUIDANCE

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Appendix 2
PHILOSOPHY ASSIGNMENT ADVICE
How (if it all) is moral education possible? Refer to at least two theorists covered on the
course. (2500 words)
1. Introduction:
a. B iefly sket h you a s e to the uestio e.g. Mo al edu atio is possi le i the follo i g ay … ,
o Mo al edu atio fa es the follo i g i esol a le p o le s … a d so is ot possi le .
b. Explain what steps you are going to take to argue that your answer is correct (a brief overview or
road map).
c. This section should probably be between two hundred and three hundred words
d. It will usually comprise just one paragraph
2. Main body:
a. Take the reader through each of the steps announced in the introduction
b. Sign post these steps briefly (saying what each section is doing, and saying what you will do next).
c. To make your argument convincing you may like to formulate and respond to one or two of the most
credible and potentially damaging objections to your position.
d. You may use examples to illustrate your points.
e. The main body will usually be made up of several paragraphs
3. Conclusion:
a. This section will remind the reader what it is that you have tried to argue, and recap the argument
that you have given.
b. It should probably be around three hundred words
c. This ill i so e ays epeat you i t odu tio , ut ha ge the te se: I ha e sho , athe tha I
ill sho .
Musts:
1. Answer the question.
2. Make it clear what you answer is.
3. Argue for the answer you give.
4. Defend you answer from possible objections.
5. Draw on at least two theorists from class in doing so.
General points and reminders:
1. Avoid over-flowery, vague, or ambiguous language.
2. Economy of expression is a virtue, and allows you to cover more ground.
3. It can be acceptable to use the first person, but is to be avoided.
4. Remember to follow the Harvard referencing style exactly.
5. The reference list will not count towards your 2500 words.
6. It may be useful for your reader if you define some of your key terms.
7. But most importantly, be sure to use words consistently.

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Appendix 3
COURSE RESOURCES
FOUNDATIONS: PLATO AND SOCRATES
ESSENTIAL READING
Plato, Gorgias, AVAILABLE AT: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/gorgias.html
 Week 1: 447a – 481b
 Week 2: 481c – 527e
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 Podcast: Peter Adamson, ‘Method Man: Plato's Socrates’, available
at: <https://historyofphilosophy.net/plato-socrates%20>
 Podcast: Peter Adamson, ‘Virtue Meets its Match: Plato's Gorgias’, available
at: <https://historyofphilosophy.net/plato-Gorgias>
 Video: Myles Burnyeat and Bryan Magee on Plato, available
at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0_N4nX2G5w&t=5s>?
FOUNDATIONS: ARISTOTLE
ESSENTIAL READING
Aristotle, Nicomachean ethics, available at: http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html
 Week 3: Ch. 1
 Week 4: Ch. 2
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 Podcast: Peter Adamson The History of Philosophy Without any Gaps, Aristotle,
<https://historyofphilosophy.net/aristotle> (2011)
 Video: Bryan Magee and Martha Nussbaum, ‘The Great Philosophers: Aristotle’
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIKHmUWICWc> (1987)
 Video: Chris Surprenant ‘The Good Life: Aristotle’,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFPBf1AZOQg> (2015)
A ROLE FOR PRINCIPLES IN MORAL EDUCATION? (FIVE AND SIX)
ESSENTIAL READING
 Week 5: Hand, M. (2014) ‘Towards a theory of moral education’, Journal of Philosophy of
Education 48:519–532 <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9752.12116/abstract>
 Week 6: McDowell, J. (1979) ‘Virtue and Reason’, The Monist 62: 331–
350, <https://doi.org/10.5840/monist197962319>
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 Video: Hand, M. ‘Religious Education’, available at: <https://vimeo.com/35099562>
 Video and article, Michael Hand on Moral Education, available
at: <https://www.tvm.com.mt/en/news/l-etika-tghallem-lill-iethics-helps-students-to-appreciate-
universal-values-in-lifestudenti-jghixu-l-hajja-fuq-valuri-universali/>
 Video: Jonathan Dancy on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, available
at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CLMPD50JGs>
 Text interview: with Jonathan Dancy on 3:AM magazine, available
at: <http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/ethics-without-principles/>

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 Jonathan Dancy on Philosophy Bites, available at: <http://philosophybites.com/2012/06/jonathan-
dancy-on-moral-particularism.html>
A ROLE OF BLAME IN MORAL EDUCATION? (SEVEN AND EIGHT)
ESSENTIAL READING
 Week 7: Smart, J. J. C. (1961) ‘Free will, praise and blame’, Mind 70:291-306, available
at: <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2251619>
 Week 8: Williams, B. (1995). ‘Internal reasons and the obscurity of blame’. In Making Sense of
Humanity: And Other Philosophical Papers 1982–1993: 35-45. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, available at: <https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/making-sense-of-humanity/internal-
reasons-and-the-obscurity-of-blame/963978B639E1BD60FB5C1F3D1D38BF7F>
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 Podcast: Miranda Fricker on Blame and Historic Injustice on Ethics Bites, available at:
<http://philosophybites.com/2008/03/miranda-fricker.html%20>
 Video: Galen Strawson on Free Will Closer to Truth, available
at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV5_bHwaUBM>
 Podcast: Thomas Pink on Free Will on Ethics Bites, available
at: <http://philosophybites.com/2008/03/thomas-pink-on.html%20%20>
A ROLE FOR DRUGS IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT? (NINE AND TEN)
ESSENTIAL READING
 Week 9: Focquaert, F.& M. Schermer (2015) ‘Moral Enhancement: Do Means Matter
Morally?’. Neuroethics 8:139–15, available at:
<https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/7054372/file/7054669.pdf>
 Week 10: Savulescu, J. and Ingmar Persson (2012) 'Moral Enhancement', Philosophy Now vol. 91:
pp. 6-8, available at: <https://philosophynow.org/issues/91/Moral_Enhancement>
Or
 Week 10: Advanced Reading: Persson, I. and Savulescu, J. (2013) ‘Getting Moral Enhancement
Right: The Desirability Of moral Bioenhancement’, Bioethics 27 (3) pp 124–131, available at:
<https://www.academia.edu/12899438/GETTING_MORAL_ENHANCEMENT_RIGHT_THE_
DESIRABILITY_OF_MORAL_BIOENHANCEMENT>
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 Video: Focquaert and Schermer on "Moral Enhancement: Do Means Matter Morally?" available
at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbuRQdrjAU>
 Podcast: Julian Savulescu on 'Moral Enhancement', virtual philosopher, available
at: <http://virtualphilosopher.com/2011/05/julian-savulescu-on-moral-enhancement-.html>
ESSAY GUIDANCE
 Week 11: no essential reading

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Appendix 4
PREPARATION TASKS
To guide your reading attempt to answer these questions
FOUNDATIONS: PLATO AND SOCRATES
Week 1
1. Is rhetoric a dangerous or useful skill?
2. Is rhetoric an acceptable means of persuasion?
3. Do we harm ourselves when we do wrong?
Week 2
1. Can an immoral life be good for the one who lives it?
2. Is the life of satisfying pleasures best?
3. If you know the good, will you do the good?
FOUNDATIONS: ARISTOTLE
Week 3
1. What does all activity aim at?
2. What is the human good?
3. What kinds of virtue are there?
Week 4
1. How is moral virtue acquired?
2. What is moral virtue?
3. How can we tell what the moral virtues are?
A ROLE FOR PRINCIPLES IN MORAL EDUCATION? (FIVE AND SIX)
Week 5
1. What is the problem that Hand identifies for moral educators?
2. How does he propose to solve it?
3. Do you think his solution works?
Week 6
1. What idea of Socrates' does McDowell defend?
2. What ideas of Aristotle's does McDowell defend?
3. What problem does McDowell see existing for people who make morality a matter of formulating and
following principles?

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A ROLE OF BLAME IN MORAL EDUCATION? (SEVEN AND EIGHT)
Week 7
1. What theory does Smart attempt to refute?
2. What connection does that theory have with the practice of blame?
3. What alternative role does Smart suggest for the practice blame?
4. When is blame appropriate, according to Smart?
Week 8
1. What is the difference between internal and external reasons?
2. What sorts of reasons does Williams say do not exist?
3. What implications does this have for practice of blaming people?
4. What role does Williams see for the practice of blame?
A ROLE FOR DRUGS IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT? (NINE AND TEN)
Week 9
1. What faults do Savulescu and Persson identify in our moral psychology?
2. What do they attribute these faults to?
3. How do they suggest we make good on for these faults?
4. Why do they think that these methods are necessary?
Week 10
1. How do Focquaert and Schermer characterize moral enhancement?
2. What do they contrast moral enhancement with?
3. What do they mean by ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ enhancement?
4. What problems do they foresee with ‘direct’ enhancement?
5. How do they suggest that these can be overcome?
ESSAY GUIDANCE
Week 11
 Prepare an essay plan that you will explain to everyone else in the class in speed dating exercise.

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APPENDIX 5

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15. John Tillson Narrative of Practice Classroom Practice
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APPENDIX 6
AUTHENTICATION OF PRACTICE
I asked two lecturer/researcher colleagues--one female, early career (Observer One), one male, mid-career (Observer
Two)—to observe my practice. And they gave the following feedback of the ‘Stop, Start, Continue’ from:
Observer One:
Start: Engaging a bit more with students (or offering opportunities for engagement) during the lecture. In a 50
minute session and in a lecture hall where students rarely offer comments without a lot of encouragement, it is
understandable that we go into conventional lecture mode in which students listen and take notes. However, it
might be useful to pause some more (especially considering the nature of the dense material you cover) to ask
students to participate. Socrative is an edtech platform which can be a useful way to do live polls or invite
comments from students' own personal devices that pop up on the projector. This may remove the fear
students have when it comes to contributing out loud, and ensure that they are in fact engaging in the material
as it is unfolding.
Stop: Picking on specific students for answers. This approach can at times make a student feel quite
vulnerable and embarrassed, or at the very least like they haven't had the chance to formulate an answer they
are confident about. It seems best to always make answering voluntary as a reflection of respect for them/their
comfort level. If there is low engagement there are approaches (noted above) which can build confidence and
encourage engagement.
Continue: Parsing quotations. A big strength of your lecture was the way in which you presented difficult
quotations bit by bit and spent the time to rephrase the passage (making it more intelligible for the students)
and giving clear examples of how the concept could be applied to a real life situation. I feel this was not only a
benefit in terms of supporting student comprehension, but it modeled good academic reading skills. Especially
considering the introductory level of this course, it is so valuable to offer this modelling - it gives students a
way to approach texts without feeling overwhelmed when at first they may seem dense and confusing. I could
see that students were attuned and taking notes when you honed in on the text in this way.
Observer Two:
Stop: Generally your lecture was very positive, though I did wonder whether you lost some of the students
early on. You 'jumped in' with theory that students were unfamiliar with, and I wonder if it struck you as a
surprise, initially, that students weren't familiar with Plato.
Start: In the same vein, you may want to begin lectures with a 'hook', a contemporary educational issue, or a
question which will get students thinking, and that you will aim to answer, or, better, give them the theoretical
resources to answer for themselves, by the end of the lecture.
Continue: Deep and thoughtful engagement with the reading, including modelling close reading of the text
with students. You set high expectations for students' level of theoretical engagement with the lecture, and the
students seem to be happy to live up to that.

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APPENDIX 7