What did I learn from my Year 12 class?

As part of my Manaiakalani Class OnAir work, I managed to convince some of my Year 12 boys to teach a drawing skill to my Year 10 class (there may have been a food bribe involved here).
I wanted to see if a skill that had just been learned could be embedded any better once you have taught it to someone else.

What I had not quite been prepared for was how much they could teach me in the process.

The boys worked in pairs and the Year 10 class was split into 3 groups.
They started out really nervous, standing outside the room watching the Year 10 class go in.
When they got in, they were very quiet with their groups to start with but they soon got into it.

My three main points :-

The first point that took my attention was how the boys approached the demonstration. They did not show the group the whole thing like I showed them. They did a little, then passed a sheet round and let the whole group have a go at that small part before moving on. They were all together as a group and could see what each other was doing in the group. It was very much a team / group approach to this task. The Year 10 class gave very good feedback to this, as they felt supported in the small group and with everyone having a go together.

The second point I really noticed was how the boys automatically introduced themselves and started talking to the Year 10 groups, asking them who they were, what ethnicity they were, did they know any of their families etc...

The third point was how supportive they were to the Year 10 students through the whole process. They helped at every stage and gave feedback that was honest and supportive. One student who is not the most engaged you will ever see in Graphics tried really hard, got loads of help and was glowing from the praise from one of the Year 12 boys.

As a staff, we spent a lot of time last year having PD on Kia Eke Panuku and to be honest it was not the easiest PD that I have done. I had difficulties understanding what and where I could apply these things in how I appraoched my lessons.
What I saw from these boys was an absolute lesson on how to do it so naturally.
I was so proud of these boys after this lesson and they were rightfully feeling proud of themselves. Their confidence was soaring and they felt really good about themselves.

I may have been teaching for 22 years this September, but I was taught a lesson to remember today.
It was the best thing to happen in my classroom for a LONG time and I was actually quite emotional about it afterwards.

The whole Class OnAir lesson is here

Today is the day after the lesson, and here are 2 of the Year 10 class still busy with their 3D drawing skills.

Little added extra...
I left them in the class room "recovering" afterwards, over lunch time.
As I was leaving, I could hear them analysing what had happened, swapping stories, talking about individual Year 10 students and their attitudes.
They sounded like teachers in the staff room..... very funny.