PIDP3260 Assignment – Course JournalPIDP3260 Assignment 1 – Reflective Writing 1
Focused Conversation Model Questions Objective: P. 12 “Simply having experiences does not imply that they are reflected on, understood or analyzed critically. Individual experiences can be distorted, self-fulfilling, unexamined and constraining.” Reflective: What has caught my attention about this quote is the word “experience”, which appears twice in this quote. In the first appearance, the word “experience” tells me that experience is the knowledge of past events. This reminds me of the quote by George Santayana, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We all know that it is good to learn from the history, our mistakes, and our experience, but how do we actually we actually learn from them? Having knowledge does not mean we can apply it; it just means that we know something has happened. Knowledge has very little value, unless we can make good use of our knowledge. The key is to transform knowledge or experiences into wisdom. The key is to apply what we have learn from our experiences. If we want to learn from our experiences, we have to “reflect on, understand or analyze them critically.” Interpretive: My “Aha!” moment when I read this quote was I finally understand the difference between good experience and bad experience. When I was in school, I see instructors who have been teaching the same courses for past ten years, twenty years, and some even thirty years. I ask myself, “How can they do that? How can they repeatedly teach the same thing over and over again?” In the second appearance, the word “experience” tells us that there are different types of experiences. Some are good and some are bad. What is considered good experience (experience that adds value)? What is considered bad experience? A person once told me that "ten years’ experience of doing different things is different from the experience of doing the same thing repeated for ten years”. At that time, I did not understand why, but now I do. If a person is working in the same position at work for 10 years, that person is not improving and is not actually gaining any experience. I think this is so true. If we don't improve, we are basically falling behind as the world advances rapidly. This quote change my mind about being an adult educator in that learning does not stop after we have become an adult educator. The learning continues. Being an adult educator is just a new beginning of our learning. As adult educator, if we want to be able to continually add values to our learner’s education, we have to grow and develop ourselves as well. We cannot be the one who have “the experience of doing the same thing repeated for ten years”. Decisional: This quote and the insight that I have gained from reflecting on it definitely will influenced my teaching philosophy and how I will teach in the future. In society, we have been told to value experience. In school, students are told to go out and gain some volunteering or work experiences. I myself agree that working and volunteering are things that students should be doing. In the quote, it mentions that individual experience can be constraining. As adult educator, we cannot always rely on experience. As adult educator, we should be questioning things and allow ourselves to embrace doubt as a guide. We need to embrace changes and encourage our students to do so as well. This is what I plan to incorporate in my future teaching and personal development. I will embrace changes. The experience that makes one successful could be the reason why one fails in the end as well. As the world advances, I now understand that experience is good and can indeed be a valuable resource for myself. At the same time, I understand that things change and I must continue to learn and develop myself. In my future teaching, I will encourage my students to strive for continuous improvement. Reference: Brookfield, Stephen D. The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom. N.p.: Jossey-Bass, 2015. Print. Clairmont, Nicholas. "Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It." Really? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2017. Harrison, Guy P. Think: why you should question everything. Amherst, NY: Prometheus , 2013. Print. PIDP3260 Assignment 1 – Reflective Writing 2
Objective: P 17 “...there will be very few standardized practices that help students across the board learn essential skills or knowledge. An approach that one student finds particularly useful or congenial may well be profoundly unsettling and confusing to the student sitting next to her.” Reflective: This quote brings up a positive emotion as it reminds me of my past work experience at RBC. What has caught my attention about this quote is that it mentions about two components of teaching practise: 1) standardized practises and 2) customized practises. This quote reminds me of the time when I was working in the retail banking industry where it is structured that the tellers or the customer service representatives handle most of the day-to-day banking needs of the clients, such as cash withdrawals, bill payments, and cheque deposits. When a client has special requests, such as home purchasing and investment questions, then the client is referred to a mortgage specialist or financial planner. Interpretive: The “Aha!” moment when I read this quote is that this is so relevant to what I am doing at my school. This quote reminds me of program learning outcomes exercise that my school has recently been working on. I work in the School of Business Dean’s Office at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. In the exercise, my colleague and I talked about the individual program aim, the program specific learning outcomes (such as Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing etc.), and the general learning outcomes across all business programs (which we refer to as the Business Education Framework). The program aim is the intended destination of the program’s education process – what role or function will the successful student be prepared to fulfill upon program completion? The program specific learning outcome is what a successful program graduate will have reliably demonstrated in terms of knowledge, values, and/or abilities. The Business Education Framework is what all business graduates will have reliably demonstrated. It is also what is referred to by the quote as the “essential skills or knowledge” that the students across the board will have. This quote changes my mind about being an adult educator in that as the world advances, so must the educational industry. Educators need to change as well in terms of their teaching practices. Their teaching approach should be more “tailor-made” towards each student or specific group of students. The traditional way of teaching the same way to the whole class might not be the most effective way to enhance student learning experience. Indeed, an approach that one student finds particularly useful might not work for other students. Decisional: This quote and the insight that I have gained from reflecting on it influenced my idea of teaching and how I will teach in the future. They also reminded me of the TED Talk video “The Power of Introverts” by Susan Cain where she brought up a good point that in our society, school and workplace are designed for mostly extrovert which has lots of stimulation. In today’s education system, the classroom settings are designed for extrovert in most cases. For instance, we have heard about participation penalizing quiet learners and introverts not speaking up in class. In the classroom, in the workplace, we have both group of people (the introverts and the extroverts). The extroverted students and the introverted students perform differently in the classroom. Susan then mentioned that the key for individuals to maximize their talents is to put themselves in a simulation that is right for them. As an educator myself, I think about student learning and their educational experience. From my perspective, the key question that I am interested in is how can I create such an environment with the appropriate simulation level that will maximize the performance and learning of my students. In my future teaching, I will also adjust my grading criteria. Instead of allocating 10% participation marks (which will stimulate the extroverted learners), I would allocate 10% class-work marks. The class-work marks includes both participations, in-class assignments and group case studies. With this approach, I can create suitable learning environment for both the extroverted and introverted learners. Reference: Brookfield, Stephen D. The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom. N.p.: Jossey-Bass, 2015. Print. TED. (2012). The power of introverts | Susan Cain. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4 Assignment 1 – Reflective Writing 3
Focused Conversation Model Questions Objective: Which quote did you choose? p. 49 “...students say that such teachers ‘walk the talk’.” Reflective: What emotions did this quote bring up? What has caught your attention? The quote caught my attention as it bring up a mixed emotion that reminds me of the time when I was little when my parents would tell me to go to bed early while they themselves would watch the television. They would tell me to do one thing, but they would do the opposite. There is a saying “don't just talk the talk, but walk the walk”. It is easy to talk the talk. Many of us can say we are good at doing this and doing that, but if we cannot actually fulfill what we have said, what is the use? Actions speak louder than words. Interpretive: What was your ‘Aha!” moment when you read this quote? In what way(s) did this quote change your mind about being an adult educator? What was one key insight that you now have as a result of this quote? How does this tie into what you know already? How does it connect to what others have written? My “Aha!” moment when I read this quote was that just as children look up to their parents, students look up to their instructors as well. In other words, students will observe the actions, behaviors, and thinking of the instructors and will imitate them. This quote changed my mind about being an adult educator in that educator is not just an instructor who imparts knowledge and share his/her experiences with the students, but also a role model as well. Educator must practice what he/she preaches. All talk and no actions will not mean much to the students. If an educator only talks but does not walk, then sooner or later, the students will realize that and they will use it as an excuse to not do what the educator has told them. This is especially so when we look at it not from the technical aspect of the knowledge, but the integrity and the professionalism aspect. An example would be punctuality. If an educator expect his/her students to come to class on time, the educator should also come to class on time. Another example is honesty. On a personally level, many parents tell their children to be honest and if an individual makes a mistake, he/she should admit it and not hiding the mistake or altering the fact. However, how many parents are actually able to live up to that themselves? This is a question that we should all ask ourselves regardless whether we are a parent or not. Decisional: How has this quote and the insight that you gained from reflecting on it influenced your idea of teaching or how you will teach in the future? Please include specific examples of activities you will use in the classroom. This quote and the insight that I have gained from reflecting on it influenced my idea of teaching and how I will teach in the future. It taught me to look at education holistically from a program-learning-outcome perspective and not from a course-level perspective. If educator looks at education from a course level, then there might not be a need to teach about integrity and professionalism. However, if educator is looking at the student's’ education from a program level, where the educator looks at what a graduate of the program will look like, then teaching about integrity and professionalism is imperative. For example, I work at the School of Business Dean’s Office. For our business program, the program learning outcome is to produce business leaders with sound business and organizational acumen. In my future teaching, this is what I will do. I will teach my students with a “big brother” approach. In addition to sharing my experience and knowledge to them, I will also teach them about being a business leader, and I myself will lead by example, acting like one myself in term of my behavior and characters. Students might know it is important to become a business leader, but they might not know how to become one. Therefore, I will play a “role model” role. I believe that this “big brother” approach will enhance the student learning experience and better prepare them for their future career. Reference: Brookfield, Stephen D. The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom. N.p.: Jossey-Bass, 2015. Print. Walk the walk. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2017, from http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/walk the walk |
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