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When I first stepped into the first classroom I was supposed to teach, my body was tense, my palms were sweating, and my gut was nauseous. Building up my courage, I faced my students and started to talk shakily: \u201cI am Putri. I came from Indonesia, and I will be your tutor for this term.\u201d As they looked back at me with an intense stare, my anxious mind rushed into a spiral: What are they thinking? Do I sound incompetent? Is my English funny?<\/em> I started with an icebreaker where everyone had to repeat three names they had heard. A few smiles and laughs spread through the room. My gut whispered, \u201cOkay, they are cooperating. Maybe it\u2019s not so bad.\u201d I felt a huge sense of achievement after running four classes that day. I wanted to throw up, for sure, but I felt incredibly proud.<\/p>\n As an introvert who has never taught before and struggles with social anxiety, the idea of me teaching was, frankly, mental. I spent the first two years of my PhD battling mental health challenges. It was only after a long period of self-care that I felt ready to sign up as a Teaching Assistant (TA). I acknowledged that I was ready to learn something new for my personal development, even if it terrified me.<\/p>\n Several weeks have flown by, and truthfully, I still feel like I might throw up every teaching day. I planned meticulously, writing slides and designing handouts. Yet the reality was often messy. I saw students who come unprepared, students who stare at their handouts and refuse to discuss anything with classmates, and the “dominant” students who fill the air with their own theories.<\/p>\n But the hardest part for me has been the awkward silence. When I asked a question and it was met with total stillness, I felt an urgent need to “feed” them ideas just to stop the quiet. I wanted to treat them as adults responsible for their own learning, but my own nerves often made me rush to fill the void.<\/p>\n I realised these struggles are not mine alone. I attended the workshop \u201cFostering Confident Classroom Interaction,\u201d led by Richard Chinn from King\u2019s College London. The atmosphere was immediately supportive. In our first task, we worked in groups to identify the issues and the causes in our specific contexts.<\/p>\n My colleagues shared familiar pains: low attendance in early morning slots, the struggle to balance lesson objectives with student needs, and the delicate balance of being appreciative of a dominant student without feeding their ego at the expense of others. We even discussed how to handle controversial topics in a way that remains fair and equal.<\/p>\n Richard introduced us to Classroom Interactional Competence (CIC), defined by Walsh (2013) as the ability of teachers and learners to use interaction as a tool for mediating and assisting learning. It puts interaction at the very centre of the teaching experience.<\/p>\n I realised I had been trapped in the IRF (Initiation-Response-Feedback) cycle. I would ask a “display question” (one where I already knew the answer), a student would give a short response, and I would say “Correct!” before moving on. This pattern limits engagement. Instead, Richard advocated for referential questions, which are open-ended prompts that encourage learners to express genuine opinions.<\/p>\n Most importantly for my “silence anxiety”, we discussed Wait Time. Allowing learners time to process a question leads to more thoughtful, deeper responses. I realised that by rushing to fill the silence, I was actually stealing my students’ “space for learning”.<\/p>\n A highlight of the session was applying Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy to our seminar questions. It provided a ladder to move students from basic recall to complex creation:<\/p>\n Using these verbs\u2014appraise, contrast, formulate<\/em>\u2014has taught me to ask better questions.<\/p>\n One of the most impactful strategies we discussed, which I am eager to implement, is the importance of student reflection at the end of a class. Often, we are so rushed to finish our content that we skip the conclusion, but the workshop materials highlight that providing moments for reflection strengthens retention and comprehension.<\/p>\n I learned that ending with a takeaway task\u2014like a one-sentence summary or a question to think about\u2014helps consolidate learning and signals the value of the session. Richard also introduced the metacognitive reflection stage, where students write down three takeaways and one question they still have. Sharing these ideas with a partner before giving feedback to the whole group is a powerful way to end.<\/p>\n I will be honest here: keeping the time limit is tough. It is so easy to let the main discussion run over. However, I realise now that this reflection is a “two-way” learning process. Not only does it help the students process the material, but it also gives me (the teacher) immediate feedback on what they actually understood.<\/p>\n Richard and the handouts provided a “toolkit” of 22 strategies that I\u2019ve started to memorise and reflect on. Here are a few that shifted my perspective:<\/p>\n I entered the workshop feeling like an incompetent TA who wanted to throw up. I left feeling like a more equipped one. The workshop taught me that teaching is a skill to be acquired, much like our PhD research. It is okay if a strategy does not work the first time; the key is to reflect on why<\/em> and try again. To my fellow TAs who could not attend: it is okay to be nervous. It is okay to be an introvert. As Richard showed us, being “warm but bossy” and using the right interactional tools can turn that nauseous gut feeling into a sense of real, shared discovery with our students.<\/p>\n Downloads:<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_button=”on” button_icon_placement=”right” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_use_icon=”off” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_size__hover=”null” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover=”null” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover=”null” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover=”null” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover=”null” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover=”null” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover=”null” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover=”null” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover=”null” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover=”null” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover=”null” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover=”null” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover=”null” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover=”null” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover=”null” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover=”null” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover=”null” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover=”null” \/][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.0.106″ area=”sidebar-1″ orientation=”left” show_border=”off” background_layout=”light” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.106″ in_same_term=”off” show_prev=”on” show_next=”on” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” locked=”off” parent_locked=”off” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Connect Title” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” _builder_version=”3.0.90″ background_color=”#1d1d1d” module_class=”footer-section” prev_background_color=”#ffffff” global_module=”380″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” global_parent=”380″ locked=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” parallax_3=”off” parallax_method_3=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” make_equal=”off” module_id=”footer-row” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us Title” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us” global_parent=”380″ text_text_color=”#aaaaaa” parent_locked=”off” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_class=”contact-us” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n +44 (0) 161 306 6000<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Find Us Title” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Address” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_id=”address” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\nThe Reality of the Seminar Room<\/h4>\n
Learning the Language of Interaction<\/h4>\n
Climbing the Mountain<\/h4>\n
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Analysing & Evaluating: Now, I was learning to ask, “Which parts of the argument depend on evidence vs. interpretation?<\/em>” or “How convincing is this argument to you?<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\nThe Art of the Closing<\/h4>\n
The TA Toolkit<\/h4>\n
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Final Reflections<\/h4>\n
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Contact Us<\/h4>\n
Find Us<\/h4>\n
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