Provincial Instructor Diploma Program is my first step towards my dream of teaching in post-secondary sector. I am currently in my sixth course in this program, the plan is to complete this program by June 2021. Let’s hope for the best!!
As part of my on-going professional development:
I plan to watch webinars and attend live workshops on topics related to instruction, curriculum, instructional strategies and more.
I also plan to learn more about facilitating online learning since it’s the new normal in teaching sector.
Apart from this, I would like to contribute and know more about open educational resources. I plan to apply for their ongoing call for proposals to develop open educational resources. This is one thing I am really excited about and would like to do soon.
Lastly, I’ll keep on researching more about what I could potentially do to keep me updated. This is fairly new to me so as I go forward, I am open to exploring more and more to upgrade myself and keep my knowledge and skills current to meet the needs to ever changing world.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
For my this week’s blog post, I will be sharing my thoughts and views on the Ted Talk by Kiran Sethi – Kids, take charge (TEDIndia 2009). This Ted talk focussed on the idea of how kids can bring major changes in a nation. The wonderful concept that Kiran shared in her talk is AWARE – ENABLE – EMPOWER, which means children go through these three stages. Aware is where they see the change, enable is be changed and empower is lead the change. I would say awareness is the key to empowering our kids and younger generation. The more they are aware, they more they are likely to get empowered and lead the change. And if they are aware right at their foundational stage, chances are they be will grow into responsible citizens of the nation.
The video clips shown by Kiran are a testimony that kids are no less than adults in bringing significant changes in a country. They have the power to change mind sets of the government and people in general. As shown in the video, kids came up with amazing ideas to some of the most serious problems of India – child labour, underage marriages, pollution, facilities available to disabled people and what not! Kids at such a young age could sensitise with the social issues. Their energy, ideas, efforts, hard work and commitment to solve the issues was truly inspirational. The fact is that you are never too young or immature to start making a difference in the community and translating the social issues (Kaur, 2019, Para 4) Things are always better learnt at younger age. The values that we learn while we are young stay with us forever.
Kids or children bringing the change is inspirational to other children as well. Remember how Malala Yousafzai, a teenage Pakistani activist, became the youngest Nobel Peace winner (at the age of 17 years) for advocating girls’ right to education. She raised her voice against the suppression of children and for the right of all children to education when she was only 11 years old. Thus she’s is an example for all young people that how your little but effective efforts can have genuine influence on the world around you (Kaur, 2019, Para 3).
I think we need to believe in their ideas and encourage them to lead. What’s important is for them to understand, be aware and take small steps if not big ones. The results might not be extra ordinary but little changes in the right direction counts. Schools and institutions’ should start working with students in coping up with social issues pertaining to the nation.
The ministries or school board might consider including this as part of their curriculum. I think this would be a big step in itself to bring a change. After all the school should be more than just a place for academic goals.
We often think that we can’t change the things around us but this talk had made me rethink on that – it has made me believe on the principle of “I can” and “We can”. No matter how tiny our efforts are but if they are in the right direction they matter and they do make a difference.
Students’ resistance to learning can often come across as a barrier for effective teaching. It’s important for us as adult educators to understand that many times students’ resistance to learning is beyond control. It is challenging to find out what’s the root cause for their resistance and moreover it could be for different reasons for different students. In order to aim at better addressing this problem, Brookfield has made an effort for us to understand what all encompasses resistance among students to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills.
Let’s first understand what are resistant behaviors?
Resistance-related behaviors include passively refusing to participate in an activity, actively complaining or disrupting groups during an activity, or giving low course evaluations to the instructors who use active learning (Prince & Weimer, 2017).
Now why are students resistant?
There could be multiple reasons but if we have to lay the foundational reason – it is the fear of change as Brookfield mentioned. Change brings discomfort when things happen without our will. Also, we as individuals grow and have different mind-sets which encompasses are beliefs and ideas and how we see things.
Some of the reasons Brookfield mentioned for resistance are:
Poor self-image as learners – Past experiences resulting in self-doubt and low confidence in one’s abilities.
Fear of the unknown – Perceptions regarding what’s in for the future has no limits. It leads to denial and resistance for change.
A Dis-junction of learning and teaching styles – Mismatch between teaching and learning style. Students learn in different manners and if the teaching method doesn’t match with their learning style, it may lead to resistance.
Apparent Irrelevance of the Learner activity – If students don’t believe it is benefiting them in any way, chances that they would oppose or resist it is high.
Fear of looking foolish in the public – Image in public is fragile so some students fear they would look silly publicly if engaged in some activity.
Lack of clarity in teachers’ instructions – Unclear guidelines can cause irreparable consequences. If students are confused what the teachers are expecting out of them, they feel highly demotivated.
There are many other reasons for students’ resistance which includes and are not limited too personal reasons, dislike for the teacher, mismatch with teachers’ philosophy, etc.
It’s nearly impossible to have the whole class full of active learners who are happy and paly with their teacher. Having resistance from learners is inevitable and by no means should it be concluded that it is due to the instructor’s fault. We should try to minimize it but not fully focus all our energies in retraining this group of learners. Of course, they are the ones who need to be handled carefully and efforts should be made to better engage them and address their challenges.
Remember you can’t force anyone to learn – all you can do is create an environment which is welcoming and safe for all learners and conducive to their growth.
References:
Brookfield, S.D., (2015). The Skillful Teacher on Technique, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. San Fransico: Jossey Bass
Teaching itself is a challenging job and with diverse population it adds another layer of complexity!!
Brookfield has touched various types of diverse learners ranging from racial and culturally diverse learners, self-directed vs teacher dependent learners, learners with disabilities, reflective vs experimental learners, etc. and the list goes on….
The first ideal step to do while teaching a diverse classroom is to find out the level of diversity. Instructors can do personality type or learning style assessments to gauge the diversity of learners. This helps them to understand the attitudes, skills, values etc. of their learners which helps the instructors to better engage with them. Another idea which Brookfield mentioned, was to ask students to introduce them describing their ethnic groups and to announce how they would like to be addressed. I believe this is a good idea as it would make students feel welcomed and accepted of their ethnicities.
Brookfield has mentioned some effective strategies to teach in diverse classroom. Some of them are:
Team teaching – teaching by two or more instructors who have different talents will cater to diverse needs of the students. It is certainly beneficial than individual teaching which is limited to the skills and personality of oneself.
Mixing student groups – mixing students with different skills and ethnicity is helpful as it acquaints the students with the real life work situation as well.
Mixing modalities – using a variety of approaches to teach can cater to student’s needs.
Silent or speech filed classroom – student silence is a challenge for most instructors. One of the way to tackle it is asking students to reflect and write the key points and then asking them randomly what they have written.
Some other useful tips to effectively teach in diverse classrooms are:
Representative curriculum – Include stories, case studies, real life examples from different cultures and countries so that students could relate more and understand it better.
Be inclusive and willing to address inequality – Ensure students that they have a safe space to talk and discuss their challenges. Shut down discrimination whenever you hear it and use language that promotes positivity and doesn’t reinforce existing stereotypes (Kampen, 2019)
Seek advice from fellow colleagues or other leaders – Sometimes we are unaware of how to best deal with a situation in hand. Seeking advice from peers or reaching out to cultural/community leaders can help us rethink our approach and better address the problem.
Learning adaptive technologies – If you have special needs students in your class who use adaptive technologies, it is important for you to know the basics of it so that you are approachable for your students in case they need help.
Trust is the key – In diverse classrooms, trust plays a pivotal role in students success. If they feel they are respected and they have a safe space to speak, they will have more trust in your course.
Teaching in diverse classrooms should be seen as a skill that can be learnt through research, reflection and practice rather than being considered a burden. We need to make conscious efforts to take the right steps to tackle diversity and it starts with being inclusive and empathetic towards our students’ needs.
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” ― Maya Angelou
This blog post is about “The Core Assumptions of Skill Teaching” that are mentioned in the book “The Skillful Teacher” by Stephen D. Brookfield.
Below are the four assumptions outlined by Brookfield:
I would say Brookfield has given a structure to our thoughts as teachers in the form of these assumptions. I am in agreement cent percent with his thought process.
Talking about the first assumption, every student is different so our approach to teach can’t be same for all especially when we are dealing with diversity in our classrooms. The need of the hour is to have a good mix of strategies that work with our students. Also, in the initial lectures, our aim should be to study the demographic of our class and the background knowledge they behold, so that we can make changes in our instruction, assignments, methodologies etc if needed. Asking our students how we can help them and creating a safe space for them to discuss their fears, struggles and insights could help in carving a path for their success.
With that said, this is not a once in all thing to do – always keep reflecting and asking yourself – Will my actions and decisions be helping my students to learn? What can I do differently to help them learn better?
Second assumption of adopting a critically reflective stance is the key to taking an informed action and revamping our teaching. Reflecting and seeing things from others’ eye (students, fellow colleagues, etc.) can actually help us in giving a new direction and outlook towards developing or changing our classroom techniques.
I would echo what Brookfield mentioned about showing students how we apply critical reflection to our teaching helps us in earning the moral right to ask them to engage in the same process.
Ultimately, trust is built when you do what you preach.
Third assumption of having a constant awareness of how students are experiencing their learning and perceiving teachers’ action is integral part of mindful teaching. All our classroom decisions are to be guided by how students are feeling about their classroom experience. Their feedback and suggestions helps teachers drive the instruction in the right direction.
In order to have truthful feedback from our students, creating a safe space to voice out concerns, is needed. The important thing to keep in mind is that we need to build trust and ensure that the anonymity of feedback is not comprised.
Lastly, college students should be treated as adults is a crucial. Some of the common expectations from students that entails that we are treating them as adults are being respectful towards them, not being bossy to them, believing that they are aware of what they are doing and are being responsible of their decisions.
As teachers we need be mindful that we don’t treat college students as high school students. They have already started their journey of being self-aware and taking control of their lives.
To conclude, these assumptions are guiding principles that would help us to be on the path of becoming a skillful teacher. Not saying, all of us would agree on these, but these are foundational for us exploring and developing more insights of being a skillful teacher.
My name is Ravneet and I am currently located in Burns Lake, British Columbia. My home town is Chandigarh (India) where I have lived for 27 years of my life. I moved to Canada in 2018 and ever since then BC is my new home. I never planned or dreamt of moving to a new country but then this is life – the journey to unplanned and unexplored paths!!!
In my student life, I used to help my younger brother and my friends in their studies. Growing up, I realized I had interest in teaching or I should say tutoring – that what’s we say it in India (when you teach/help students outside of class). Long story short, I used to spend my evenings/weekends tutoring high school and undergraduate students.
My professional Identity
I am currently working as an Academic Advisor with College of New Caledonia since June 2019. My past work experience includes working as an Academic Upgrading Instructor as well as Program Coordinator for post-secondary institutions of BC. It’s been more than 6 years now working in student services and I feel fortunate that I am able to help students with their education/career goals.
Personal and Professional Value that guide me as an Instructor
I would like to say here that our personal values are pretty much integrated into our values in professional life. One of my guiding values is self-improvement – we all are work in progress in our personal and professional life. My aim is to strive for continuously improving and building upon my skills and expertise and keep on exploring and learning new skills.
One more value that I would like to talk here about is Honesty. When I say honest – it means being honest with your own self and to others. It’s easier when you can acknowledge and be truthful about your strengths and weaknesses.
I am not currently teaching at the moment but one of the value that is a guiding principle for me is to be unbiased. When you are dealing with students, you can form bias quite easily. I ensure that I listen to my students/clients with a mind free of judgement and bias.
Being rational and flexible is another key value that takes you a long way. In our professional life, we all come across new and unique situations and every time following the rule book might not be the best solution.
In an era of diverse people working together, being inclusive and respectful towards others is another value that I pursue and abide by.
My truths of teaching
Some of my truths of teaching are:
Building relationship with each student is important.
You cannot expect a 100% success from your students.
Don’t hand hold students – work with them for their success.
Every teaching assignment is different. What works in one class might not hold true for another class.
I would like to conclude by referring to a quote by Socrates – “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.”
Today, I got an opportunity to connect with my learning
partner. It was quite a resourceful conversation. We both shared how the class
was going for both of us. My learning partner is quite honest in mentioning he
is not an academic person and he is more on the vocational side of education. I
too shared with that this is my first time taking up a teaching assignment in
Canada and first time enrolling for a Canadian program.
Our conversation was primarily around flipped classroom
model. For my blog – trends in adult education, I had posted my views on
flipped classroom so our discussion educated me more about this concept. He shared
with me how they tried to implement flipped classroom model (it was more of
online learning model) in their Recreational Vehicle Program but it didn’t turn
out to be a success. Ultimately, the instructors had to reteach most of the
concept in the classroom. Also, it took longer to complete the course curriculum
through this format. Our discussion came to a conclusion, where we both
concluded that flipped classroom model is not that effective for programs like
trades, quantitative courses like mathematics, accounting, etc. It’s only good for
such programs to the extent of explaining basic concepts, terminology, sharing
some videos, etc. Not only this, we both agreed that the mindset of the
students taking trades program is different from those who want to take up a
business/accounting program. So, the model of teaching has to be suitable for
the program. Well! That was quite a thought provoking conclusion.
I shared with him some basic ideas about my blog – like why
did I choose this topic, etc. I shared with him how shocked I was to see the
number of international students in Canada. Interestingly our discussion turned
around how it’s quite usual that people in Canada change careers after certain
years. However, it’s not a popular phenomenon in my home country – India. He
shared with me that it’s not being very long that this concept has gained popularity
here in Canada.
Our conversation ended with some regular updates about life
and some chit chatting. And of course lots of laughter 😀
I totally loved the idea of connecting and sharing our thoughts. It was indeed very engaging and one of my favorite part of this course. 🙂
Disclaimer: This post is part of one of the assignments for PIDP 3100 – Foundations of Adult Education. For more information about the program visit the facebook page for VCC – School of Instructor Education: https://www.facebook.com/VCCSchoolOfInstructorEducation/
With time, a lot of theories have evolved regarding adult
learning. After introduction of andragogy, it was realized that “adults” are
different from “children”. Considering the various assumptions of Andragogy
given by Knowles, it is evident that the learning model for adults has to be
different – that is it should involve the learners in the delivery and
evaluating of their learning. The demographics of adults is quite diversified –
some of them may not have the best of experiences at school, and they have
different social and professional roles. For them, being in the traditional
classroom model may not bring fruitful results.
The introduction of flipped classroom model seems to be more
suitable and objective for adult learners. What is flipped classroom model? As
per Wikipedia definition, “A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and
a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment
by delivering instructional content, often online, outside of the classroom. It
moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered
homework, into the classroom. In a flipped classroom, students watch online
lectures, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home
while engaging in concepts in the classroom with the guidance of a mentor.”
Flipped classroom model caters to the needs of the adult
learners – they can watch the videos and online lectures anytime, they can go
through other online resources before coming for lecture. By this means, they
have the opportunity to jot down their doubts for discussing in the following
lecture. Not only this, going through the material beforehand makes them more
confident while participating in the class. Let’s be mindful that the adult
learners maybe returning to school after long and might be having their have their
own apprehensions. Checking out the material beforehand definitely makes them prepared
and feel better. Some instructors are able to even adjust their class-time as
per the requirement of the learners, in that case it’s a cherry on the top.
The flipped classroom model gives the opportunity to the
instructors to address the students’ queries. It also encourages peer- learning
– students can interact and share their experiences with each other. It helps
adult learners to be good time managers and how to instill self-discipline in
them. Students also learn how to be tech savy as a by-product (although most
people nowadays are). The benefits also accrue to the instructors. Their effective
time is not lost in the standard delivery of lectures. They can introduce new
ways of doing things. Some instructors like to add simulations, and role plays
for the effective understanding of the concept.
By and large, I would say that the flipped classroom model
may not be the greatest model for every adult learner. But it’s certainly
revolutionary and is evolving every day.
Disclaimer: This post is part of one of the assignments for PIDP 3100 –
Foundations of Adult Education. For more information about the program
visit the facebook page for VCC – School of Instructor Education:
https://www.facebook.com/VCCSchoolOfInstructorEducation/
Record
breaking – 494525 international students in Canada – exceeding Government of
Canada’s International Education Strategy Goal 5 years early {as per report
Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE)}. Isn’t it amazing?
Well! For
Canada, internationalization has done wonders!
For most of us, internationalization is directly linked to more collaborations and partnerships among educational institutes across the globe, ultimately aiming at larger international student recruitment or providing study abroad programs to Canadian students. Institutions from all over the world have partnered with Canadian Universities and colleges to provide educational opportunities to its students. The students these days want more options to choose from for their education and want to be successful in their careers. And to achieve their goals they want to be a part of the best global institutes.
As per one
of the reports by CBIE “95 per cent of international students recommend Canada
as a study destination’’. This is certainly an accomplishment statement for
Canada. It’s due to number of factors – quality of education,
non-discriminatory society and all in all it’s a safe country to be in.
Internationalization leads to many implications as well. With the growing number of students from other cultures, there arises a need to hire people from other ethnicities as well – specially the recruiting team who are responsible for recruiting the international students. Most colleges and universities these days hire people who in a way belong to the partner nations. This helps them understand the culture of these nations better and reduces the language barriers with the students. This adds to workplace diversity as well and promotes oneness.
Despite all
the good things about internationalizing, the one thing which keeps on hovering
on my mind is that it’s time to flip the coin and look at the other side too!
Maybe there is a deeper meaning to it. Education is the foundation stone for
every country which makes me feel that it should be standardized. By this, I
mean that education which Canadian institutes provide should be globally
accredited. They should carry the same value and importance in other nations as
well.
Digging into the figures, 51 per cent of international students plan to apply for permanent residency in Canada. It clearly means that they don’t want to go back to the country of their origin. The reasons could vary – not much opportunities back home, may be their foreign education is not recognized in their home country, etc. Taking this into consideration, it seems like the benefits of internationalization is lop sided – more for Canada and less for the partnering nations. If this is the case – Who will build the developing nations? When will their social economic profile change? After all “academics” aka educated citizens can only change the fate of the nation. And they are not willing to go back and contribute to the development of their nation – this process in not mutually benefiting.
We should be
able to find out more ways so that internationalization adds value to both
nations. It should be more than just teacher student exchanges. We can
incorporate more transnational research projects in which both the nations have
their researchers for collective research. After all it should not always be
the case that international partners are always at the receiving end.
The
upgrading programs to international students to bridge up any gaps in their
education could be facilitated in the partnering nations. Also, the pathway
programs should be aimed at providing students with the option to move anywhere
in the world.
To
conclude, all I want to say that let’s broaden the horizon of internationalization
and not marginalize the need of partner nations. Let both nations benefit from INTERNATIONALIZATION else it would just be a shallow concept where
one remains “giver of knowledge and the other receiver of knowledge” as rightly
said by the University President of McMaster – Patrick Deanne
Disclaimer: This post is part of one of the assignments for PIDP 3100 – Foundations of Adult Education. For more information about the program visit the facebook page for VCC – School of Instructor Education: https://www.facebook.com/VCCSchoolOfInstructorEducation/
From living in an Indian city of a million people for around 28 years of my life to moving to a Canadian village of two thousand people, my life has taken different turns and has been quite an adventure! Little did I know an year back, that I would land up here in Burns Lake, a beautiful small village in the heart of Northern British Columbia.
Hiii.. Myself Ravneet.. I have been born and brought up in India.. I moved to Canada last year along with my husband.. I have been working in the education sector both as an administrator and an instructor. I developed my passion for teaching when I was pursuing my undergraduate studies. I started of with tutoring students at home and then eventually teaching part – time at educational institutes in India. I have worked with University of the Fraser Valley (India campus) and Ashton College, Canada as an administrator. Currently, I am working as an Academic Upgrading Instructor with College of New Caledonia. Teaching has always been my first love! It’s been a while now that I have been to school. I am excited and nervous at the same time!
This is my first time blogging! I will be posting articles, videos, etc relating to our course. Excited and looking forward to a great learning experience with you all. 🙂
Ravneet's blog 