PID 3260 Journals
One more course to go
Feb 22, 2017
I started this course on Feb 13, 2017, and yes, I am really excited taking this course. It is the last course before the capstone project and it makes me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am doing the reading part for my first assignment and I am pretty sure that I will be able to submit all my assignments on or before their due dates.
I will be looking forward to start the teaching career at the earliest possible, however, I may not be able to practice before Spring 2018 until I complete at least two years of nursing experience as a registered nurse of which I am enjoying for the time being.
I started this course on Feb 13, 2017, and yes, I am really excited taking this course. It is the last course before the capstone project and it makes me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am doing the reading part for my first assignment and I am pretty sure that I will be able to submit all my assignments on or before their due dates.
I will be looking forward to start the teaching career at the earliest possible, however, I may not be able to practice before Spring 2018 until I complete at least two years of nursing experience as a registered nurse of which I am enjoying for the time being.
Experience at work
Mar. 04, 2017.
At my workplace, it happened to have nursing students who work effortlessly to impress their instructor and the nurses in the unit. I saw only future nurses who care for their clients and also respect their colleagues. I did all what I could to support them on their learning and I was seeing myself as their instructor although formally I am not.
It is a matter of few months or maybe a year before I take my first group of students for their clinical training, however, I still can practice my teaching skills whenever I can.
At my workplace, it happened to have nursing students who work effortlessly to impress their instructor and the nurses in the unit. I saw only future nurses who care for their clients and also respect their colleagues. I did all what I could to support them on their learning and I was seeing myself as their instructor although formally I am not.
It is a matter of few months or maybe a year before I take my first group of students for their clinical training, however, I still can practice my teaching skills whenever I can.
Teaching does not always lead to learning
Mar. 09, 2017.
Education includes teaching and learning as concepts, however, students or in other word learners, rely heavily on their teachers to learn rather than finding their own ways to learn. The first thing learners should learn is how to learn? Teachers teach of course but it does not mean that students learn what has been taught. I remember that example about the same topic "I sold him the car but he didn't buy it", similarly, I taught them the lesson, but they did not learn it. I really loved this concept and I am writing a fairly deep reflection for my next assignment.
Education includes teaching and learning as concepts, however, students or in other word learners, rely heavily on their teachers to learn rather than finding their own ways to learn. The first thing learners should learn is how to learn? Teachers teach of course but it does not mean that students learn what has been taught. I remember that example about the same topic "I sold him the car but he didn't buy it", similarly, I taught them the lesson, but they did not learn it. I really loved this concept and I am writing a fairly deep reflection for my next assignment.
Does Teaching Experience really counts?
Mar. 12, 2017.
I assumed that experienced teacher have it all and they area able to make learners learn no matter what differences they may have. However, soon after I read few chapters of Brookfield's textbook, I realized that some teachers are experienced with the contents they teach rather than the experience I assumed that every experienced teacher has of which, the experience to manage the classroom and the ability to make learners learn. Anyways, I wrote a reflective writing on this topic and it was my first assignment on reflective writing, and I am attaching it here for further reading.
I assumed that experienced teacher have it all and they area able to make learners learn no matter what differences they may have. However, soon after I read few chapters of Brookfield's textbook, I realized that some teachers are experienced with the contents they teach rather than the experience I assumed that every experienced teacher has of which, the experience to manage the classroom and the ability to make learners learn. Anyways, I wrote a reflective writing on this topic and it was my first assignment on reflective writing, and I am attaching it here for further reading.
reflective_writing_1.pdf | |
File Size: | 115 kb |
File Type: |
It is a disaster when learners learn nothing
Teachers expect that learners learn on the go and they assume that teaching is effective unless evaluations or structured feedback show otherwise. It is the teacher responsibility to seek any type of feedback from students to ensure they are learning and to align teaching strategies to make learning happen. Brookfield (2015) shared his experiences about this issue and provided many solutions to obtain constructive feedback from students during their learning journey. The attached reflective writing is my second reflective writing, I hope you enjoy reading it.
reflective_writing_2_firas_haddad.pdf | |
File Size: | 115 kb |
File Type: |
Teaching Perspective Inventory
Teaching Perspective Inventory (TPI) by definition is "The Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) is a free survey that asks teachers to reflect on their teaching beliefs, intentions, and actions. The TPI then generates a report highlighting the teacher’s dominate, moderate, and recessive teaching perspective. The TPI survey has been used internationally for teacher’s individual reflection and for groups of teachers to reflect on their collective teaching perspectives." (http://facdev.med.ubc.ca/teaching-perspectives-inventory/).
I found the survey and the report generated at the end of the survey is quite helpful throughout the teaching profession as teaching-learning settings are dynamic and continuously change and of course the TPI help teachers align their teaching perspectives accordingly (http://www.teachingperspectives.com). My report show couple spikes in the apprenticeship and the transmission perspectives, and just below average for the developmental and nurturing ones, and lastly, the social reform perspective is recessive. I am not surprised of these results as it tell exactly what I really focus on in my teaching in nursing. Anyways, as I said earlier, this may change overtime and it is my responsibility as a teacher to learn about all the variables that I encounter in teaching such as the students ages, their backgrounds, their values, their goals, and the class settings whether it is a physical classroom or online and so on.
Although the results show that my social reform perspective is recessive, it is just below my overall average, however, it does not mean that social reform is not important to me but it is just a bit secondary to the main healthcare primary teaching requirements.
Nursing teaching needs experienced professionals who have mastered nursing skills as much as they have mastered the knowledge and the theory part of it. Learners need to learn with high level of confidence, not only in themselves, but mostly in their teacher who should be a model or an idol due to the complexity of this profession. Learners will learn how to develop their critical thinking skills of which considered a survival tool in nursing, however, the developmental and the nurturing perspectives focus on such skills for success.
Attached is my TPI survey results/report for a better understanding of my focus on the teaching five perspectives indicated in the tool and it also show more details on the percentages of three sub-categories: belief, intentions and actions.
We need Skillful Teachers
Teachers may count on their experience in teaching to teach and to embrace others, and yet, other teachers are passionate about teaching and would do anything to make their students learn. The latter may or may not have the experience that some learners think it is the key for good teaching. However, between this type and the other, there are tons of skillful teachers who have unique skills that promote learning one way or another. In Ramsey Musallam TED talk "3 rules to spark learning," (https://www.ted.com/playlists/182/talks_from_inspiring_teachers) he is suggesting three rules to spark learning, first: curiosity comes first, second, embrace the mess, and third: practice reflection. Musallam found that these rules promotes better learning than sticking to the curriculum rigid layout. curiosity, asking questions and reflecting upon these learning outcomes have been proven effective in the teaching-learning process as her I am reflecting upon his talk in conjunction with my learning from the Professional Practice course. Below is a link to the TED talk, I hope you enjoy it.
The Core Assumptions of Skillful Teaching
In his textbook "The Skillful Teacher," Brookfield holds four core assumptions about skillful teaching, of which to a high degree I agree with him although the gap in experience between mine and his is huge. To make it clear to the reader, I am listing the four assumptions here first:
1- Skillful teaching is whatever helps students learn
2- Skillful teachers adopt a critically reflective stance toward their practice
3- The most important knowledge that skillful teachers need to do good work is a constant awareness of how students are experiencing their learning and perceiving teachers' actions.
4- College students of any age should be treated as adults
I would like to comment on the first assumption of which attributes learning to skillful teaching. I have commented earlier in this blog / journals about the importance of skillful teaching to help students learn. Many of us have learned nothing from teachers who believe that they are the masters in their field, yet, knowledge and the number of years are not enough for students to learn. No one doubts the importance of knowledge of the subject matter to teach it, but yet, learners have different learning needs and they are individually unique persons and of course they do not learn the same using conventional teaching methods. This uniqueness in receptive learning made it clearly that conventional teaching will not produce learning as it would if teachers use different skills and strategies. Learners are encouraged to provide different types of feedback so teachers keep adjusting their teaching approaches to make learning possible.
Teaching in a diverse classroom and teaching anti-racism
The diversity of Canada's population shapes our classrooms with the same vulnerability of minorities as it appears in communities. Teachers need to promote equality and anti-racism in the classroom if they wish to be fair and caring about the quality of their teaching. We all know that racism cannot be eliminated totally even with the support of the law. Racism continue to exist even if people do not reveal it with actions, it may exist in one form or another. My awareness of this diversity and racism as a teacher is fundamental to the classroom discipline and to avoid individual conflicts between each other or with myself. Seeking help from other teachers and the administration would sometimes be necessary if things went south. However, I agree with Brookfield that using some students of these minorities to break the ice and to better understand their differences without compromising my authority in the classroom and neither their rights for equal and fair treatment.
My Professional Growth
Sometimes it is hard to exactly see where you can be in the future unless you are working diligently to be something or somewhere. Personally, I have been working on the Provincial Instructor Diploma before I even finish my degree in nursing because I realized that teaching is what I want to do and to take as a career. I enjoy bedside nursing and helping people who are in need and their families, however, I don't think I will abandon nursing when I start teaching because bedside nursing is needed to continue feeding me with knowledge and skills. So, in five years, I see myself standing in a classroom enjoying the learning moments with my students and of course I enjoy seeing them successful in their new career and in life.
In nursing, there are many conferences and professional associations, and I believe there are the same for adult educators, of which I will make sure I continue to stay up to date in my field of both teaching and in nursing.
In nursing, there are many conferences and professional associations, and I believe there are the same for adult educators, of which I will make sure I continue to stay up to date in my field of both teaching and in nursing.
What Should I do with students resistance to learning?
It is hard to see students resistance to learn in colleges and universities because they are their by choice. It is also true to see many elementary and high school students with resistance to learn, however, as they grow up they either choose to leave school and the whole education system or they fix themselves and pursue some higher education. Resistance to learn is different from difficult to learn as people's abilities differ greatly especially in learning. For those who are resistance to learn, they will find that colleges and alike have their policies that do not nurture these kinds of behaviours, however, difficult to learn because of their limited learning abilities still have the chance to work closely with their teachers and classmates to overcome learning obstacles as they arose. Skillful teachers use continuous structures feedbacks to help learners learn.
Professional Code of Ethics
Nursing bodies in British Columbia and across the country have their own professional code of ethics. Although they all talk the same principles, they just chose to use different wording to list the code. It is mandatory for all nurses to know their code of ethics because nurses deal with many ethical issues everyday of their practice. Some issues are simple and some are really complicated and go beyond one's ability to solve such as ethical dilemmas. On the other hand, I believe that every workplace has policies and procedures manual in place. In my workplace, we have an electronic policies and procedures on the intranet in addition to the nursing skills and procedures.
Creative Lecturing
March 25, 2017
Brookfield's (2015) Creative Lecturing provide many alternatives for teachers to keep learners engaged in the classroom and on online learning alike. He provided few techniques that some of it already well known such as the use of social media (e.g., Twitter) and the use of TodaysMeet of which is "A backchannel (think online chat room) for students and teachers. It was designed with teachers in mind allowing students to ask/answer questions while a lecture is taking place, although there are countless other ways to use this tool in your classroom." (Smore.com). And Wordle of which "is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text." (Wordle.net).
In addition to the above, I found the way Brookfield is managing large size classes is really helpful such as moving around in the classroom/auditorium to eliminate Siberia effect and to keep everyone in the classroom fully engaged. However, I found it hard to follow what Brookfield was trying to say about the differences between discussions and lectures. I found that one way lecturing occurs more frequently in the extra large size classrooms because the large number of students do not allow for discussions, moreover, lecturing is such an environment has its own roles and discussion type won't be an option.
I believe, teachers should be aware and flexible when choosing type of lecturing as long as they are aware of the implications of each technique and their learners preferences.
Reference:
Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Brookfield's (2015) Creative Lecturing provide many alternatives for teachers to keep learners engaged in the classroom and on online learning alike. He provided few techniques that some of it already well known such as the use of social media (e.g., Twitter) and the use of TodaysMeet of which is "A backchannel (think online chat room) for students and teachers. It was designed with teachers in mind allowing students to ask/answer questions while a lecture is taking place, although there are countless other ways to use this tool in your classroom." (Smore.com). And Wordle of which "is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text." (Wordle.net).
In addition to the above, I found the way Brookfield is managing large size classes is really helpful such as moving around in the classroom/auditorium to eliminate Siberia effect and to keep everyone in the classroom fully engaged. However, I found it hard to follow what Brookfield was trying to say about the differences between discussions and lectures. I found that one way lecturing occurs more frequently in the extra large size classrooms because the large number of students do not allow for discussions, moreover, lecturing is such an environment has its own roles and discussion type won't be an option.
I believe, teachers should be aware and flexible when choosing type of lecturing as long as they are aware of the implications of each technique and their learners preferences.
Reference:
Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Sal Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education
March 26, 2017
It is quite interesting how videos can flip a classic classroom to a 100% interaction based class where teachers spend all class time interacting with students and students with each other applying new learnings that they have acquired earlier from those videos. Mr, Khan through Khan's Academy has provided a complete solution for teachers and students to make this classroom flip possible. Recording and videotaping all lectures and post it online is the key to this successful experience, and yet, it is doable and affordable and it takes only one or two video recordings for each topic and benefits unlimited number of learners indefinitely. What a great idea Sal?! It inspired me to do the same for my classes and to encourage my colleagues to do the same because digital learning is dominating the education systems as we see more online courses and programs become a part of adult education. More information about this great idea can be seen on the below video:
It is quite interesting how videos can flip a classic classroom to a 100% interaction based class where teachers spend all class time interacting with students and students with each other applying new learnings that they have acquired earlier from those videos. Mr, Khan through Khan's Academy has provided a complete solution for teachers and students to make this classroom flip possible. Recording and videotaping all lectures and post it online is the key to this successful experience, and yet, it is doable and affordable and it takes only one or two video recordings for each topic and benefits unlimited number of learners indefinitely. What a great idea Sal?! It inspired me to do the same for my classes and to encourage my colleagues to do the same because digital learning is dominating the education systems as we see more online courses and programs become a part of adult education. More information about this great idea can be seen on the below video:
What Students' Value in Teachers
March 29, 2017
Teachers are not just lecturers who stand in front of the class and deliver instructions. Teachers are interconnecting with students through many activities and interactions throughout the course, hence, a relationship is built between teachers and students. It is not necessary to mean that this relationship is a friendship or any other type of intimate relationship, yet, it is professional and the goal behind building this relationship is to trust teachers on their learning potentials. Genuine teachers care for their students' learning, and of course attributes such as authenticity, expertise, humble, and credibility are just few of what learners appreciate in their teachers. Further elaboration on the topic is well explained and addressed by Brookfield in his textbook The Skillful Teacher On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom.
Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Teachers are not just lecturers who stand in front of the class and deliver instructions. Teachers are interconnecting with students through many activities and interactions throughout the course, hence, a relationship is built between teachers and students. It is not necessary to mean that this relationship is a friendship or any other type of intimate relationship, yet, it is professional and the goal behind building this relationship is to trust teachers on their learning potentials. Genuine teachers care for their students' learning, and of course attributes such as authenticity, expertise, humble, and credibility are just few of what learners appreciate in their teachers. Further elaboration on the topic is well explained and addressed by Brookfield in his textbook The Skillful Teacher On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom.
Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Lifelong Learning as a Professional
March 29, 2017
Learning in the classroom is just a small portion of all learning that any human being can have. Professionals are required by their professions to expand their learning beyond the ordinary boundaries of a classroom or in their social life such as travelling, attending seminars, conferences, and many other industry specific courses to maintain their professional academic and non-academic knowledge up to date.
To me for example, with this diploma of the Provincial Instructor Diploma I will be having three degrees and three diplomas in total. Various learning opportunities and interrelated industries lead me to study and learn and achieve these credentials. I started with a diploma in the Medical Laboratory Medicine, then a degree and an MBA in business, then a diploma in nursing followed by a degree in nursing, and finally the PID diploma. Each of these credentials brought me enormous academic knowledge, however, I gained much more knowledge and experience by working in that particular field. I consider myself so fortunate to be exposed to all these learning opportunities and I can tell for sure that these opportunities will never end and I will never close my doors for any. On the other hand, I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to share this knowledge and all past experiences with my future students, so wish me luck.
Learning in the classroom is just a small portion of all learning that any human being can have. Professionals are required by their professions to expand their learning beyond the ordinary boundaries of a classroom or in their social life such as travelling, attending seminars, conferences, and many other industry specific courses to maintain their professional academic and non-academic knowledge up to date.
To me for example, with this diploma of the Provincial Instructor Diploma I will be having three degrees and three diplomas in total. Various learning opportunities and interrelated industries lead me to study and learn and achieve these credentials. I started with a diploma in the Medical Laboratory Medicine, then a degree and an MBA in business, then a diploma in nursing followed by a degree in nursing, and finally the PID diploma. Each of these credentials brought me enormous academic knowledge, however, I gained much more knowledge and experience by working in that particular field. I consider myself so fortunate to be exposed to all these learning opportunities and I can tell for sure that these opportunities will never end and I will never close my doors for any. On the other hand, I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to share this knowledge and all past experiences with my future students, so wish me luck.
PIDP Most Important Learning Experience
April 05, 2017
It is really hard to summarize all the learning opportunities and skills that I learned in the Provincial Instructor Diploma program over 18 months. Of course there are tons of new things that this program offer to learners to equip them with skills that every teacher should have. I liked all the textbooks that I have read for this program such as The Skillful Teacher, Teaching Naked, and Student Engagement Techniques.
I learned how to prepare a lesson plan and how to deliver a 10 minutes instructions in class. I learner how to develop a curriculum, and of course how to evaluate learning and all types of assessments and so on.
The skills of managing the classroom and the difficult students are also important to me especially that I am new to teaching as a career, and I am so grateful to learn all these skills ahead of time before stepping into the classroom.
From the last course "Professional Practice" PIDP 3260, I learned two important things: the first was how to deal with ethical dilemmas and the use of Kidder's Framework for analysing the dilemma and the decision-making process. The second was about the feedback strategies that teachers can use to adjust their teaching and the delivery of instructions to meet the learners' needs. These feedback strategies such as Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ), The Muddiest Point, Peer Review Strategy, and others found to make a huge difference in the learning outcomes if used in a timely manner and utilized efficiently.
One last thing to mention here is the blog itself. I have been commenting and reflecting here not only for this course, I have been using this blog since the beginning of this program and I found it very helpful platform for reflection and sharing my thoughts with the readers.
It is really hard to summarize all the learning opportunities and skills that I learned in the Provincial Instructor Diploma program over 18 months. Of course there are tons of new things that this program offer to learners to equip them with skills that every teacher should have. I liked all the textbooks that I have read for this program such as The Skillful Teacher, Teaching Naked, and Student Engagement Techniques.
I learned how to prepare a lesson plan and how to deliver a 10 minutes instructions in class. I learner how to develop a curriculum, and of course how to evaluate learning and all types of assessments and so on.
The skills of managing the classroom and the difficult students are also important to me especially that I am new to teaching as a career, and I am so grateful to learn all these skills ahead of time before stepping into the classroom.
From the last course "Professional Practice" PIDP 3260, I learned two important things: the first was how to deal with ethical dilemmas and the use of Kidder's Framework for analysing the dilemma and the decision-making process. The second was about the feedback strategies that teachers can use to adjust their teaching and the delivery of instructions to meet the learners' needs. These feedback strategies such as Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ), The Muddiest Point, Peer Review Strategy, and others found to make a huge difference in the learning outcomes if used in a timely manner and utilized efficiently.
One last thing to mention here is the blog itself. I have been commenting and reflecting here not only for this course, I have been using this blog since the beginning of this program and I found it very helpful platform for reflection and sharing my thoughts with the readers.
Digital Project - Critical Incident Questionnaire CIQ - Assignment #5
April 5th, 2017
Assignment# 5 is the Feedback Strategies Digital Project, of which I chose the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) to be my strategy for this project. Below is the link for the project, please watch and comment.
Here is the URL to my YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZkZk9UQJjo&rel=0
Assignment# 5 is the Feedback Strategies Digital Project, of which I chose the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) to be my strategy for this project. Below is the link for the project, please watch and comment.
Here is the URL to my YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZkZk9UQJjo&rel=0