Professional Practice
September 11, 2015
I think that 3260 is going to be my favourite PIDP course because I am very interested in learning more about analyzing dilemmas and finding resolutions to problems. I have been at instructor for three years and have a passion for learning as much as I can in order to provide the best possible experience for my students. Monday night I put away my fiction and started reading The Skillful Teacher. This book is surprisingly enjoyable and easy to read, I find myself going back over pages and finding the links to all four of the PIDP courses that I have completed so far. I am really looking forward to this course.
More to come from the statement on page 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 or confusing to the student sitting next to her."
September 17, 2015
One of the favourite parts of this course is reading the blogs of my classmates in the PID Program. Everyone has a story and I gain so much by the experiences and links shared. Check out the the motivated group in this course:
Mike Volke
Wendy Samaroden
Gary Franceschini
Debra Bartraw
Joanna Jagger
Kimberly Williams
Michael Bignell
Alix Hotsenpiller
Yesterday I took the Teaching Perspective Inventory survey after viewing the video from UBC. This process is going to take me some time to figure out, how can I grow from here? What are my next steps? I certainly have my work cut out trying to decipher this. I plan to review the video again and check my results against the interpretation stage. I found it interesting that the student in the video saw major changes on his results a year and a half after his first survey. It would sure be nice to have that professor sit with me!
I think that 3260 is going to be my favourite PIDP course because I am very interested in learning more about analyzing dilemmas and finding resolutions to problems. I have been at instructor for three years and have a passion for learning as much as I can in order to provide the best possible experience for my students. Monday night I put away my fiction and started reading The Skillful Teacher. This book is surprisingly enjoyable and easy to read, I find myself going back over pages and finding the links to all four of the PIDP courses that I have completed so far. I am really looking forward to this course.
More to come from the statement on page 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 or confusing to the student sitting next to her."
September 17, 2015
One of the favourite parts of this course is reading the blogs of my classmates in the PID Program. Everyone has a story and I gain so much by the experiences and links shared. Check out the the motivated group in this course:
Mike Volke
Wendy Samaroden
Gary Franceschini
Debra Bartraw
Joanna Jagger
Kimberly Williams
Michael Bignell
Alix Hotsenpiller
Yesterday I took the Teaching Perspective Inventory survey after viewing the video from UBC. This process is going to take me some time to figure out, how can I grow from here? What are my next steps? I certainly have my work cut out trying to decipher this. I plan to review the video again and check my results against the interpretation stage. I found it interesting that the student in the video saw major changes on his results a year and a half after his first survey. It would sure be nice to have that professor sit with me!
September 23, 2015
Assumption # 3 from Chapter 2 of the skillful teacher states: Teachers need a constant awareness of how students are experiencing their learning and perceiving teachers' actions. This statement has made an impact as I have not received feedback during my courses. I have provided an end of course questionnaire however I now realize that the timing of these questions were too late to help students learn. I just finished a Ted Talk Video called Teachers Need real feedback by Bill Gates and found that his ideas and suggestions for change in education is worthy. He pointed out that not only do we need to understand how students are learning we need to hear feedback from experts and colleagues in order to improve teaching and the profession. I am anxious to start my feedback instrument and implement questions into my courses. It is exciting to think that I can continue to develop and receive guidance from my own students in order to provide a better learning experience. I suspect that I will have a few stormy days during this process however the effort will certainly pay off.
Assumption # 3 from Chapter 2 of the skillful teacher states: Teachers need a constant awareness of how students are experiencing their learning and perceiving teachers' actions. This statement has made an impact as I have not received feedback during my courses. I have provided an end of course questionnaire however I now realize that the timing of these questions were too late to help students learn. I just finished a Ted Talk Video called Teachers Need real feedback by Bill Gates and found that his ideas and suggestions for change in education is worthy. He pointed out that not only do we need to understand how students are learning we need to hear feedback from experts and colleagues in order to improve teaching and the profession. I am anxious to start my feedback instrument and implement questions into my courses. It is exciting to think that I can continue to develop and receive guidance from my own students in order to provide a better learning experience. I suspect that I will have a few stormy days during this process however the effort will certainly pay off.
October 4, 2015
Week 4 has been a busy one, I am feeling the same burn as my students this week. Once I realized that the assignments due are worth over 25% of my final mark and that my work schedule was not providing me with any free time I started to panic. Empathy is certainly one of my strengths this week. My oldest son has started his first year of college in September, watching him work and dedicate so much time to his education makes me proud. If he can handle 7 classes I should have no problem with 1 class. He actually came to me this week with a worried look on his face and said. "Mom, my brain just stopped and I can no longer think". As luck would have it, I just completed Instructional Strategies last spring and spent a lot of time on motivation and metacognition. I was able to provide him with some tips that I learned during that course, his favourite tips came from watching Barbara Oakley's Ted Talk. Responsiveness is mentioned in Chapter 18 (The Skillful Teacher) and as an online instructor and a mom this is an important skill to have. One needs to be prepared for questions related to content and to learning, I feel that I am improving in my responsiveness. I try to be reflective, encouraging and provide useful information for each issue that a student (or child) raises.
After discussing the learning strategies with my son I became motivated myself to get to work and try to get out of this weeks assignments as much as I could. I made a lot of progress! I have a much better understanding of the TPI survey that I took two weeks ago and made a good first attempt at a student feedback instrument. Enough blogging for now...my list of things to do today include working on my rationale for the feedback instrument and email my partner with my thoughts on Steps 5-7 for our Ethics assignment.
Until next week...
Week 4 has been a busy one, I am feeling the same burn as my students this week. Once I realized that the assignments due are worth over 25% of my final mark and that my work schedule was not providing me with any free time I started to panic. Empathy is certainly one of my strengths this week. My oldest son has started his first year of college in September, watching him work and dedicate so much time to his education makes me proud. If he can handle 7 classes I should have no problem with 1 class. He actually came to me this week with a worried look on his face and said. "Mom, my brain just stopped and I can no longer think". As luck would have it, I just completed Instructional Strategies last spring and spent a lot of time on motivation and metacognition. I was able to provide him with some tips that I learned during that course, his favourite tips came from watching Barbara Oakley's Ted Talk. Responsiveness is mentioned in Chapter 18 (The Skillful Teacher) and as an online instructor and a mom this is an important skill to have. One needs to be prepared for questions related to content and to learning, I feel that I am improving in my responsiveness. I try to be reflective, encouraging and provide useful information for each issue that a student (or child) raises.
After discussing the learning strategies with my son I became motivated myself to get to work and try to get out of this weeks assignments as much as I could. I made a lot of progress! I have a much better understanding of the TPI survey that I took two weeks ago and made a good first attempt at a student feedback instrument. Enough blogging for now...my list of things to do today include working on my rationale for the feedback instrument and email my partner with my thoughts on Steps 5-7 for our Ethics assignment.
Until next week...
October 10, 2015
The first chapter that I read in Brookfield's The Skillful Teacher was Responding to Student's Resistance to Learning. I was completely caught off guard the first time I experienced this with one of my students and was grateful to find two chapters dedicated to the subject. What I found most interesting about this chapter is that resistance is considered normal. I was under the impression that anyone signed up for a class was 'all in' and ready to learn, clearly resistance is a much bigger topic and has many layers.
Essentially the key to resistance is to understand your students. Time spent with students asking the right questions and considering their background and motivations will help to improve outcomes.
I found the Six Causes of Resistance to Learning from the Teaching Professor (2009) very interesting, Brookfields list is much longer however the lists are closely related. It is important to realize what is causing resistance in order to respond to student needs. This list will come in handy the next time I come across real resistance.
1. Poor self-image as learners
2. Fear of the unknown
3. Disjunction between learning and teaching styles
4. Apparent irrelevance of the learning activity
5. Inappropriate level of the required learning
6. Student's dislike of teacher
I do not want to make my students do anything they do not want to do like the picture above, what I want to do is engage and motivate the student with the content presented. I will continue to provide formative feedback, explain why content is important and get to know my students in order to provide a better learning experience.
The first chapter that I read in Brookfield's The Skillful Teacher was Responding to Student's Resistance to Learning. I was completely caught off guard the first time I experienced this with one of my students and was grateful to find two chapters dedicated to the subject. What I found most interesting about this chapter is that resistance is considered normal. I was under the impression that anyone signed up for a class was 'all in' and ready to learn, clearly resistance is a much bigger topic and has many layers.
Essentially the key to resistance is to understand your students. Time spent with students asking the right questions and considering their background and motivations will help to improve outcomes.
I found the Six Causes of Resistance to Learning from the Teaching Professor (2009) very interesting, Brookfields list is much longer however the lists are closely related. It is important to realize what is causing resistance in order to respond to student needs. This list will come in handy the next time I come across real resistance.
1. Poor self-image as learners
2. Fear of the unknown
3. Disjunction between learning and teaching styles
4. Apparent irrelevance of the learning activity
5. Inappropriate level of the required learning
6. Student's dislike of teacher
I do not want to make my students do anything they do not want to do like the picture above, what I want to do is engage and motivate the student with the content presented. I will continue to provide formative feedback, explain why content is important and get to know my students in order to provide a better learning experience.
October 15, 2015
Accreditation has been a hot topic in the pharmacy technician program that I teach during the past year. Our program was recently granted full accreditation status until June of 2018. The process involved is very thorough and educational as it is supposed to help us prepare students to successfully enter into the field of pharmacy as assistants and pharmacy technicians. The foundation of our program must be aligned with the competencies and expectations from all associated governing bodies across Canada.
The mission statement from the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) is:The Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs is to evaluate the quality of pharmacy professional degree programs in Canadian universities and pharmacy technician programs to promote continued improvement of such programs.
I find this mission statement is comforting as an educator because I have learned that in order to provide the best possible learning experience for students I must continue to improve my courses and my teaching techniques. I stay current in the field of pharmacy by working as a Regulated Pharmacy Technician on a part-time basis and by continuing education programs throughout the year. The guidance from CCAPP provides our institution with information that will help to improve outcomes for our students.
The Standards for Accreditation for Pharmacy Technician Programs in Canada has been a very useful document that I reference often. I am currently working with another program within the college in order to provide more intra-professional collaboration activities for our students. This particular standard is an area that I feel can be improved upon. I am looking forward to continued improvement!
Accreditation has been a hot topic in the pharmacy technician program that I teach during the past year. Our program was recently granted full accreditation status until June of 2018. The process involved is very thorough and educational as it is supposed to help us prepare students to successfully enter into the field of pharmacy as assistants and pharmacy technicians. The foundation of our program must be aligned with the competencies and expectations from all associated governing bodies across Canada.
The mission statement from the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) is:The Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs is to evaluate the quality of pharmacy professional degree programs in Canadian universities and pharmacy technician programs to promote continued improvement of such programs.
I find this mission statement is comforting as an educator because I have learned that in order to provide the best possible learning experience for students I must continue to improve my courses and my teaching techniques. I stay current in the field of pharmacy by working as a Regulated Pharmacy Technician on a part-time basis and by continuing education programs throughout the year. The guidance from CCAPP provides our institution with information that will help to improve outcomes for our students.
The Standards for Accreditation for Pharmacy Technician Programs in Canada has been a very useful document that I reference often. I am currently working with another program within the college in order to provide more intra-professional collaboration activities for our students. This particular standard is an area that I feel can be improved upon. I am looking forward to continued improvement!
October 23, 2015
A lifelong learner is not a term that I have used to describe myself. Now that I look back, I have not taken much time off from continuing my education since high school 30 plus years ago. I did not complete my formal education with an actual degree however I have continued taking courses and upgrading education my entire life. This quote: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” by Henry Ford makes a lot of sense because as I keep learning, keep questioning and keep discovering new things I find it truly makes me feel alive.
I recommend you check out this TedTalk http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_dunlap_talks_about_a_passionate_life . This is a story of life long learners who were passionate and curious. This video will make you proud to be an educator and will help to motivate you to become and even more passionate life long learner.
A lifelong learner is not a term that I have used to describe myself. Now that I look back, I have not taken much time off from continuing my education since high school 30 plus years ago. I did not complete my formal education with an actual degree however I have continued taking courses and upgrading education my entire life. This quote: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” by Henry Ford makes a lot of sense because as I keep learning, keep questioning and keep discovering new things I find it truly makes me feel alive.
I recommend you check out this TedTalk http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_dunlap_talks_about_a_passionate_life . This is a story of life long learners who were passionate and curious. This video will make you proud to be an educator and will help to motivate you to become and even more passionate life long learner.
October 30, 2015
This quote articulates the most important things that I have learned so far from PIDP courses. Intrinsic motivation, social cognitive theory, active learning, heutagogy, professionalism, metacognition...I could go on and on with terms that I have picked up while enrolled in this program. The terms are great however I realize that I need to implement this new found knowledge into my instruction and keep a tool kit of information available so that I am a prepared and flexible instructor.
My instructors have given me the confidence to try new things and create learning environments that support students and provide them with the best possible education. Every time that I send an email I ask myself what would Doug Mauger say...how would he word this one...I realize that they main reason I submit my assignments on time is so that I can hear feedback and what I have discovered is that I must provide this same feedback in order to connect and teach effectively. I will continue to align, research, ask for feedback and evolve as an instructor by applying what I learn and doing what is necessary to offer the best possible learning opportunities for my students. This PIDP journey has been very worth my while. As my fifth course comes to a close I find that I appreciate the opportunity to learn from my fellow classmates, collaborate on projects and document my journey with this blog.
This quote articulates the most important things that I have learned so far from PIDP courses. Intrinsic motivation, social cognitive theory, active learning, heutagogy, professionalism, metacognition...I could go on and on with terms that I have picked up while enrolled in this program. The terms are great however I realize that I need to implement this new found knowledge into my instruction and keep a tool kit of information available so that I am a prepared and flexible instructor.
My instructors have given me the confidence to try new things and create learning environments that support students and provide them with the best possible education. Every time that I send an email I ask myself what would Doug Mauger say...how would he word this one...I realize that they main reason I submit my assignments on time is so that I can hear feedback and what I have discovered is that I must provide this same feedback in order to connect and teach effectively. I will continue to align, research, ask for feedback and evolve as an instructor by applying what I learn and doing what is necessary to offer the best possible learning opportunities for my students. This PIDP journey has been very worth my while. As my fifth course comes to a close I find that I appreciate the opportunity to learn from my fellow classmates, collaborate on projects and document my journey with this blog.
November 1
Here is the link to my feedback digital project: https://www.canva.com/design/DABfhkcvaCE/QKFcw0hr0in0lZcYhr6MBQ/view?cc_from_uid=UABe8bWTQ_s&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_content=DABfhkcvaCE&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sharebutton
Here is the link to my feedback digital project: https://www.canva.com/design/DABfhkcvaCE/QKFcw0hr0in0lZcYhr6MBQ/view?cc_from_uid=UABe8bWTQ_s&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_content=DABfhkcvaCE&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sharebutton