Muddiest Point

Here is an Infograph that I made about a Classroom assessment technique called ‘Muddiest Point’.

Muddiest Point

How to Help Learners Prepare for Learning?

I would like to share my reflective journal from PIDP 3260 as part of this post. I decided to do this because of my challenges about understanding my own learning habits. Maybe someone reading this can relate.

Objective:

       Brookfield (2015), states that “another way teachers can help learners prepare to take more responsibility for their learning is to help them to become aware of their own instinctive learning preferences and habits (p.203). I will discuss this quote further in the coming sections.

Reflective:

       In his book The Skillful Teacher Brookfield (2015) mentions some ways of helping students prepare to take on more responsibility for their own learning. Some of these ways include: Finding out what learning methods work best and finding out what tasks cause the most difficulties (p.203). Reading all of these suggestions made me wonder why didn’t anyone guide me to find out my learning methods and learning difficulties? I had to research all of this information on my own. I had to fail and triumph on my own. Although this was a good learning experience, I did waste a large amount of money towards repeating university classes, and took quite a beating on my self esteem. You see high school is very different from university. The pace, for one, is different in high school, it is much slower, where we take a month to go over one chapter. In university however, three chapters are covered in one week. The freedom is also more attainable in university. There are scheduled courses, but no one will call your mom at home if you skip any of them. Your grade will just suffer, that is all. Coming out of high school where I was monitored closely and entering university, a world where no one cared about my success (except my parents of course), was a shock to my system. I used the same tactics to study in university as I did in high school and by the end of the semester I was placed on academic probation. After that semester I spent two years learning how to study better and improving my very low GPA. I succeeded in my task to learn about my study habits and learned a great deal about myself in the process.

Interpretive:

       So why was it that the learning train passed by my station when I entered university? Should I have developed good learning skills in high school or was it the University’s job to ensure I have those skills. The university did a great job telling me that I don’t have those skills, and high school’s pace of learning (at least in the regular program) could never properly prepare me for the expectations of College/ University. There are some high school programs like International Baccalaureate that prepare high school students for university but I was not smart enough to be in one of those programs, let me restate that, I did not think I was smart enough to be in one of those programs.

       Looking at a university professor’s work load and the hundreds of students he/she lectures on a daily basis, it is not surprising that they do not take the time to go over each student’s ‘learning preferences and habits’. It is just not possible to do due to the large amount of students in each lecture theatre. The Santa Clara University Website (2016) advices instructors to find out their students’ learning preferences by:

1. “Choosing a learning style model”(p.1).

2. “Finding ways to augment your course” (p.1).

3. “Ask students to take a learning preferences survey and review the results” (p.1).

Decisional

       The best decision I can make to prevent my students from experiences such as mine is to dedicate a lesson on determining students’ different learning styles as the Santa Clara University website suggests. It is also important to be open to changing my course to adjust to the different learning styles of my students. Of course it is not realistic to adjust to every learning style but keeping an open rapport with the students will help them learn best and for me to teach at my best. A good way to start a course would be with a learning assessment survey at the beginning of the class to determine what learning styles my students perceive are best for them.

References

Brookfield, Stephen, D. (2015). The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in

       the Classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

SCU.EDU. (2016). Retrieved June 20, 2016, from

       https://www.scu.edu/provost/teaching-and-learning/digital-resources-for-teaching-drt/planning/learning-preferences/

Importance of Lifelong Learning

Why is lifelong learning important?

I believe that I am one of those lifelong learners. I have been in school since I graduated high school. So that means I have been in school 27 years and counting. But after thinking about the above question a little longer, I think that most people are life long learners, since lifelong learning is not just school oriented. Learning can involve a new activity, new sport, new craft, new recipe, and many more new skills. Learning can also be emotional and psychological, like for example, when a person discovers something about their personality through encountering a difficult time in their life. In fact I believe that it is extremely difficult not to learn new things throughout our life. One would have to completely isolate them selves and be uninterested in learning anything new. I guess that is possible to do, but I have never met a person such as this.

So why in my opinion lifelong learning is important? I believe learning is growth. The more you learn the more you grow as a person. Growth as a person can provide one with wisdom, fun, and better life quality.

Nancy Merz Nordstrom, an author from the website www.selfgrowth.com includes 10 reasons why lifelong learning is beneficial, especially in older adults.

Nordstrom, N. M. (n.d.). Top Ten Benefits of Lifelong Learning. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Top_10_Benefits_of_Lifelong_Learning.html

 

Dealing with disruptive students

To stay on the same topic as my previous post (Siberia) here is a video on tips to deal with students who disrupt class by going off topic, talking too much, talking to their neighbours, etc. Take the time to look over each scenario. To me some of the ways that the instructor deals with the situation appear as if he is picking on some of the students. But otherwise he handled the situations pretty well.  What do you think?

Dealing with disruptive students–Adult training techniques, how to deal w/disruptive learners.

 

 

Lecturing in Siberia

Brookfield (2015) refers to the area at the back of each classroom furthest away from the teacher as ‘Siberia’ (p.75). I found this comparison very entertaining. Brookfield mentions that generally the students who choose the back of the class do so because they assume that the teacher will not bother them there. I have noticed the students Brookfield is talking about. Generally not high achievers, using laptop as a decoy for pretending to take notes and checking their Facebook instead.

Brookfield (2015) gives advice on how to tackle the lack of attention of such students and suggests for the teacher to move frequently to the back of the classroom while lecturing.

Not Siberia but cold none the less

This is a genius idea and I am amazed I never thought of it. I remember how when I was a student I always perked up a little when the instructor approached the area that I was seated in. I would imagine that just the change of volume as the instructor approached would rouse me from my daydreams.

I will definitely try this technique the next time I teach.

 

 

Brookfield, Stephen, D. (2015). The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Are Millennials’ expectations really that unique?

In his book The Skillful Teacher Brookfield (2015) mentions that “millennials need up front reasons why it’s worth their while being in class and have little respect for teachers who assert ‘you need to learn this because I say its important'” (p.42). Yet the writer, who I assume is not a millennial (he mentions he has more than 30 years teaching experience), also writes “I have been a resistant learner in situations where the teacher seemed unqualified or where learning was prescribed for me without any attempt to justify how it would be in my own best interests” (p.215).

To me the above two quotes are contradictory. The author is not a millennial and has the same expectations as millennials. I would argue that it is multigenerational to expect learning to suit a person’s learning needs and interests.

I got 99 Problems

I use this Ted Talks video in one of my classes that focuses on developmental disabilities. It is one of the most inspiring and funny talks I have heard to this day. It does bring up some ethical issues related to choosing non disabled actors to portray disabled characters. Maysoon a comedian and actress with Cerebral Palsy shares her trials and tribulations of living with CP and trying to get into the limelight as an actress.

Maysoon Zayid: I got 99 problems…Palsy is just one

 

Where am I professionally?

As I am nearing the end of the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program, I wonder more and more on what the next steps of my professional development will be. To be honest I am unsure. When I started this program I was planning on continuing on with the Simon Fraser University Master of Education program, however, I am still undecided.I just want to finish this program first.

Being a nurse I am continuously taking courses to improve my practice and learn new skills so I feel I am always learning. I have been involved in improving my education for the majority of my life and I think that pattern will continue until the end of it.

Racism in the clinical setting

While reading Stephen D. Brookfield’s chapter eight on ‘Teaching in Diverse Classrooms’ in the book The Skillful Teacher (2015), I remembered an experience from my own teaching history.  I teach in a community college that has a very large diversity of multicultural students. Although racism is prevalent in multicultural settings, I have not been privy to it in my experience, until I was out with a group of students in a clinical practicum setting. I had a black student who was expected to provide care in a highly asian residential care home. I have worked in that care home with many students and never heard of any racial issues towards myself, my students or any of the staff working there. As I was marking her weekly journal (an assignment I ask the students to hand in on a weekly basis to gauge what they are experiencing emotionally) this student wrote an entry about how she has been racially judged by some of the residents she was supposed to provide care for. There has been one resident that refused her care, but I had assumed it was because the resident did not want a student looking after her (which happens very frequently). The concept of racial non acceptance did not even cross my mind. I didn’t imagine issues like that existed because I was never in a situation like that before. When I had a conversation with my student about this journal entry she broke down in tears telling me about how some of the residents looked at her with disgust because of her race. Whether that was truly the case I will never know. It could be that she was highly sensitive to the subject because of previous racist experiences or the events of disgust truly happened. To me it didn’t matter, what was most important for me was to make sure my student felt safe and comfortable to work and practice in the clinical environment. I am glad I had the journal assignment to help me understand what my student has been experiencing and I am glad she decided to disclose her feelings to me. What caught me by surprise is how unaware I was of these issues. Because of this experience my teaching process had changed. I now ensure to remind my students to tell me about any racist behaviour they may be faced with. Although I may not be able to change the racist person’s outlook, I may be able to provide the necessary support and guidance for my students on how to handle these situations.

Should college students be treated as adults?

In the book The Skillful Teacher, Stephen D. Brookfield (2015) points out that he holds an assumption that “college students of any age should be treated as adults”(p.23). I have the same belief, but I would change the wording of the above quote a little to express the reality that I personally have experienced. College students of any age want to be treated as adults but don’t always act as such.

I agree that since we are teaching adults (18-99 years old) we should treat our students as adults. It is just respectful to do so. Especially since many of the students I teach are actually 10-20 years older than I am. Alas, believe me, treating adults as adults is not an easy task.

Since I work in a clinical nursing setting and regularly evaluate students’ skills, I realize I hold power over their success in the clinical. That power, can occasionally make me forget that I must remain respectful and refrain from treating my students as children. The power struggle within me is one issue (I’m not perfect, boo hoo) but when students actually act like children another issue arises.  Adults are not always responsible, reliable, or accountable for their actions. So often do I have students skipping labs and skills demonstrations and extra prep days and then blaming the teacher for not giving them the time to prepare. I have students lie to my face because they don’t want to get in trouble (forgetting that it’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them). I have students missing very important clinical shifts without any notice to me about their absence (after I gave them specific instructions, more than once, to not do that). The list goes on and on. I understand all circumstances are different and issues exist with language barriers, learning difficulties, financial or psychological problems, but still sometimes adults just act like children.

When teaching adults who act like children, it is inevitable that eventually we will start treating them as such. Even worse, after ‘getting burned’ with a bad experience generally educators will try to avoid making the same mistake twice and make their classroom rules of conduct and expectations by initiating attendance lists and strict (and often outrageous) classroom rules. Unfortunately that can become a pattern which is hard to stop for the educators and therefore have a negative effect on students who are actually being responsible .