The elements necessary to be both authority and alley as a successful teacher are credibility and authenticity.” Brookfield, S. D.

Since the beginning of this course, "Professional Strategies" of PIDP 3260,  and my quest to become a skillful teacher, I am digging deep inside "who I am" and "how can I be more skillful to be more meaningful" first to motivate myself and then to the rest of the world, which includes my students, fellow instructors and to the society in a bigger picture. 

I read Brookfield's chapter 2 for one of my reflections and I felt very comfortable reading his statement, “…And I know that I cannot motivate anyone to learn if at a very basic level they don’t wish to. All I can do is try to remove whatever organizational, psychological, cultural, interpersonal, or pedagogic barriers are getting in the way of them learning, provide whatever modeling I can, build the best possible case for learning, and then cross my fingers and hope for
the best.” Brookfield, S.D. (2015) 

Yes, this statement was very comforting to ease that feeling of tightness which I was holding in my chest when I was not successful in motivating few of my students enough in achieving their life goal or maybe they didn’t know/have a life goal, or they were forced by someone to be in the classroom, either by their parents, social pressure of the definition of “success” or by the government (who are employment obligated by the Ministry of Social development). There are multi-layers of conditions and reasons why every particular student sits in your classroom, especially in Adult Education.

After submitting my reflection, I felt, I have done my job in expressing myself well and my reflection aligns very well with Brookfield’s theory. I got 100% marks in my reflective writing, which further satisfied me!

But, something down there in my stomach it was still bothering me and I was asking this question again and again, “was I authentic enough for my students who were challenging in their life and couldn’t feel motivated in the class? Did I demonstrate my credibility well to my students that they felt interested to listen to me everyday and felt more curious about the subject?  Hundred and one questions visited my mind like a flash mob and I observed those questions coming and leaving my head un-answered but I couldn’t reach any conclusion. In general, I have been known as an empowering facilitator/ instructor as per students’ evaluations, then why this struggle in my head? 

One day, I came across this TEDx video when I was searching for some motivational speakers to share with my spiritual group about the benefits of Meditation. Dr. Daniel Amen, who is a renowned psychiatrist,  presenting his study on the basis of his 83,000 brain scans caught my attention. His body language is confident and what he is saying is backed by a visual proof of his own experiential learning based on his own hard work of last three decades. Every word he is saying proves his credibility and why he chose to look at human brains rather than guessing his diagnosis like other psychiatrists shows his empathy and extra care for human lives suffering from psychological disorders. I strongly felt, he went an extra mile and rather increased his work doing brain scans not to prove he is different but how caring he is for his patients. That feeling of “extra mile” was a big hook for me and I watched the video repeatedly five times in one stretch; and not only that, I shared it with my kids who are both in healthcare field, shared it with our spiritual group also. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKj1puoWCg

Dr. Daniel Amen made such a strong impact on my brain that I searched for more videos by him and I found this one …..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKj1puoWCg&t=11s

Now this video says about brain health plan and how we can improve our brain health by changing our lifestyle. I got motivated to learn about the brain health though Neurophysiology was not my favorite subject to teach when I was an instructor in the medical school in India. This “brain health and lifestyle combo” sounded interesting and I watched the second video again repeatedly five times. I got interested in neurochemistry and neurophysiology of our brain and dusted off my Human Physiology book after 10 years. I was surprised how these two videos changed my learning behaviours from not interested to highly motivated student. 

Within a week I started following the recommendations of Dr. Amen as mentioned in  his TEDx video. Once again, I felt he has gone an ‘extra mile’ in authenticity in sharing his personal and family stories because he doesn’t want to leave an inch of a scope for his patients in believing him. I am not his patient, but I already believed in him and started following his advice on my food habits, daily walks, exercise,surrounding myself with positive people and sharing a sense of gratitude more frequently than what I was already doing.

Once again, I reflected on my teaching skills and the challenging students in my classroom. After listening to Dr. Amen, my learning from his talks is:

1.     Every student is unique so we need to treat every student uniquely

2.     Authenticity matters!

3.     Credibility can be built with the students through visual examples and sharing the proven results

4.     There is always a room to go extra mile with our fellow human beings forgetting for sometime the hierarchy of our role as an instructor but demonstrating our very basic role as a human

5.     Empathy and compassion work to motivate people and help them outgrow their own perceptions

I re-visited Brookfield’s book, The Skillful Teacher, chapter 4, What students value in teachers and I seem to agree with what he says here, “ In students’ eyes, an important component of successful learning in regarding the teacher as both as an authority and an alley ………The elements necessary to be both authority and alley are credibility and authenticity.” Brookfield, S. D. (2015, P. 42) 

References:

1.Brookfield, S.D., (2015): The Skillful Teacher – On Techniques, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. (2nd Edition). The Jossey-Bass -Higher and Adult Education Series.  P. 42

2.TEDxOrangeCoast | Daniel Amen | The most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans 

3.TEDxOrangeCoast - Daniel Amen - Change Your Brain, Change Your Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKj1puoWCg&t=11s

“…And I know that I can not motivate anyone to learn if at a very basic level they don’t wish to learn" Brookfield S. D.

When I signed up for this course module PIDP 3260, the very first moment I felt my hook was the title of this book: The Skillful Teacher. I immediately started reflecting on my own teaching skills - am I a skillful teacher?

When I opened the moodle, my first assignment was writing my reflection from chapter 2 of this book titled, "What students value in teachers?" Here you go, I am already so keen to know what students value in teaching and learning itself in this fast-paced life and of-course what they value in teachers. As per my teaching philosophy,  teacher and students are constantly learning, both put themselves in fire again and again to get purified as once is not enough. I had already started self-evaluating myself and how can improve myself to become a "better" skillful teacher. Here I share my reflection with you on this topic. I hope you will correlate with what I am talking about and somewhat it makes sense to you, indeed!

Objective: “…And I know that I can not motivate anyone to learn if at a very basic level they don’t wish to. All I can do is try to remove whatever organizational, psychological, cultural, interpersonal, or pedagogic barriers are getting in the way of them learning, provide whatever modeling I can, build the best possible case for learning, and then cross my fingers and hope for the best.” Brookfield, S.D. (2006)

Reflective: The very title of the book “The Skillful Teacher” is catchy for me. The moment I got this book in my hand and got a feel of the cover, scrolled my eyes through and through the title and immediately flipped it to see the back cover …” Insights and practical suggestions to college educators…”Humm…”am I a skillful teacher…Am I always successful in keeping my students engaged?” My brain immediately ran into self-evaluation. Without even knowing which chapter I am supposed to read for my first assignment and reflective writing, I went to the river for a short walk and book reading. I felt my first sensation at the sentence, “I know that I will never be able to initiate activities that keep all the students engaged all the time”. I got interested to read further, because that was exactly what was happening with me while delivering Employment Skills workshops at WorkBC Centre and it happened all the time in my teaching career in India when I was teaching first year medical students. Yes, this sentence was compelling to read it further and I took a deep breath after I finished the paragraph wit the above said sentence, “….And I know that I can not motivate anyone to learn………cross my fingers and hope for the best.” I felt a sensation of electrifying tranquility that I am not alone! That I am not alone, indeed! Brookfield immediately bought my emotion. Everyone needs an answer to their challenges without getting stigmatized.

Interpretive: It means a great deal of relief, first of all. I got an insight from this quote that there are always very unique personalities and people from different walks of their lives who attended my classes and they were there in the course for the specific reasons:

1.       They are there not because they wish to learn how to do job search and make winning resumes to pursue a sustainable career; but they are forced to be in the class by systemic pressure (Ministry of Social Development) which is trying that these people must work and get off the Income Assistance soon.

2.       Who come from a higher economic background, sent to the class by their family members to teach them responsibility and a sense of self-reliability? These students are not matured enough to feel motivated to be serious learners in the class.

3.       Who have multiple issues in their life to resolve other than being focused in learning in the class; such as single mothers with toddlers, homeless people who are living in shelters but struggling for getting into a safe housing and meeting other necessary needs? Even though they wish to get into a sustainable career but that wish is pushed down the priority list.

I have come across many challenges to keep such populations motivated in the class.

Decisional: “All I can do is to remove whatever organizational, psychological, cultural, interpersonal, or pedagogic barriers are getting in the way of them learning, provide whatever modeling I can, build the best possible case for learning, and then cross my fingers and hope for the best.”

Yes, I have come across many challenges to keep such populations motivated in the class and tried to custom design my teachings for them or sometimes offered them one-on-one support depending upon the time availability. But that would not be possible for strict time frames of the curriculum and larger classes which was true in my University teachings. Being a humanistic and students-centric in my basic personality, I do care for my students. I take it seriously and research the ways to pull them up on the surface, but it was never that easy. Now, this PIDP course 3260 is providing me an opportunity to research better ways which can be helpful for such students and I came across this article by Sarah Rose (2020), “How to make your teaching more engaging”; which gives me a perspective to look at what I was not doing enough in my class. Her four principles of engaging students and her vision of “why caring about engaging students at all?” encouraged me to read the full article.  “Engaging Alex using a variety of methods to attract his interest and excitement doesn’t mean that you are taking on the work of learning for him, or somehow cheapening your material. Instead, it is an invitation — to take the initiative, to apply effort, to risk the daunting possibility of failure.

It is an open hand.

It is good teaching.

Here’s how to do it.”

I started incorporating her four Principles of student engagement: Emotions, Performance, Community and Stories in my small class of online informal teaching group about Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path https://www.buddha101.com/p_path.htm. I started incorporating my personally made videos to simplify the concepts, focused on being little more charismatic in my appearance and speech, building a community around me by posting some engaging open-ended questions and sharing my personal stories how I am practicing this noble eightfold path in my personal life and what challenges I am facing. I have observed a drastic change in the group participant behaviours. I called every participant personally and got the feedback how they are doing? The increased participation by few of them motivated others to respond to the “question of the day” or “story of the day” (Peer support). I have reached an understanding that it is difficult indeed, to keep every individual student in the class motivated and engaged but diligent and persistent efforts done by an instructor may, one day, bring success in cracking the hard shells.

References:

Brookfield, S.D., (2006): The Skillful Teacher – On Techniques, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. (2nd Edition). The Jossey-Bass -Higher and Adult Education Series.  P. 12

Cavanagh, S. R., (2020):  How to make your teaching more engaging. The Chronicle of Higher Education.  https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-teaching

Blog: The History, Philosophy and Practice of Buddhism https://www.buddha101.com/p_path.htm.

My professional goal in the next 5 years

My Professional Goal in the next 5 years

This question, “where you would like to be in the next five years as an instructor” has been knocking at my brain for the last few years. You may call it as my mid-life crisis or my increased sensitivity towards my purpose of life. What really, I want to be in next 5 years and where?

Of course, my heart takes me to the class-room whether it is a real brick and mortar classroom or a virtual classroom during this new Covid19 pandemic era; I have always seen myself well placed as an instructor. I have a lot of diversity in my trainings when it comes to the subject matter expertise. I was originally trained to teach in a University while continuing my Ph.D. in Life Sciences or more specifically as Medical Sciences as a Biophysicist and then after my Ph.D. as a Reproductive Physiologist. But after immigrating to Canada, my professional field changed to human and social services. Though, I always longed for University teaching but I naturally settled as community-based researcher and educator, workshop facilitator and adult educator, life coach and employment counselor. I guess, it was my transferrable skills as an instructor and a keen researcher evolved me who I am today.

In the last 15 years, though I have accepted various employment opportunities as they came along my way and I have enjoyed doing all my jobs from the core of my heart, but I never gave up my quest to become an instructor and that is still my life-long goal. That’s why I felt encouraged to start this PIDP diploma from VCC after meeting with the Head of Upgrading Department at University of the Fraser Valley, when he said, “we had a position to hire you as Biology instructor if you had PIDP diploma” and right after the meeting I enrolled for my PIDP course 5 years ago. Despite of the fact that I had lots of bumps in my personal life and couldn’t complete my diploma sooner, but currently I am almost there to finish it in 2020.

My three professional goals which would bring me closer to my long-term vision to work as an instructor in any Canadian University are:

1.       To complete my PIDP Diploma in 2020

2.       Remain focused on my professional development and personal growth by remaining current through active networking with the University of the Fraser Valley instructor community, students and changing trends in teaching methodology with time and ultimately meet my career aspirations which entails towards achieving qualified Instructor status. I network with them continuously through online networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and through emails.

3.       As I move towards my long-term goal, I am aware that the education industry is a very competitive market, especially the University teachings which is almost gearing towards 100% online status during this Covid19 era, so I plan on using the next five years to polish my teaching skill set learning all different online handles such as Moodle, blackboard, web-based e-teaching and e-learning, converting my teaching instructions in the form of video lectures and I will also focus on experiential learning from experienced teachers, and make a positive contribution to the universities and to the students.

 

 I see my teaching career as an ongoing cycle of learning and professional growth, and although I tend to dream big, I am aware that I need to approach career goals one step at the time. Right now, my goals entail gaining classroom experience and working for a post-secondary institution or a reputed college where I can build a successful career in education. I am a keen learner and a researcher and I will never stop researching newest ways of teaching and learning for the benefits of the students (I am student-centric) and my own professional growth as an instructor. I am very sure, completion of my PIDP diploma will add anther feather in my cap and significantly enhance my employability to work as a University Instructor!

I am open to suggestions and your positive constructive feedback which maybe helpful for me to achieve my long-term goal.

Kindly

Kusum Soni

 

 

 

What would you do when you have ethical dilemmas as an instructor ....or you have none?

Of course I am writing these blogs as my homework assignments for my PIDP diploma (3260) but they are true reflection of my personality, as a person who I am and how I like to work in my real life. Once my employer asked me, what are the three top priorities for you as a professional? Without even thinking for a second I said, "never compromising my work ethics is my top priority and then comes going above and beyond to help my clients/students and thirdly, never losing my human touch while serving my clients/students - Humanity First!"

I was given this scenario as an ethical dilemma (one of the 7 scenarios I chose this one) and I wish to share with you how I considered to resolve this dilemma.

Scenario 5 (PIDP 3260)

Your heart sinks as you calculate Tyler’s final exam grade. He bombed it, leaving him just one point short of passing your second-semester Pharmacology class in the Practical Nursing program.

Tyler struggled through his first semester, and ended up failing two classes, resulting in his being placed on academic probation. This semester, he took a reduced course load, and has been visiting the learning Centre to get extra help with math. You’ve met with Tyler during office hours throughout the semester and you’ve gotten to know him a bit better than most of your students. College life has been a big adjustment for him after the small- town high school he attended. He’s the first person in his family to attend college, and he has shared his anxiety over the student loan debt he’s already accumulated. You’ve seen first-hand how much he wants to succeed, and how many hours of extra work he is putting in trying to bring up his grades. Up until today, you have felt he has been improving.

However, you’ve also seen how flustered he gets in stressful situations like exams. On this final exam, he has made errors in drug calculations due to very basic math mistakes. If he can’t handle an exam, how can he handle the hectic environment of a real hospital? You are worried about patient safety if he were to get a job as a nurse. If he fails your class, he will be required to withdraw from the program. Should you find an extra point somewhere, and allow him to pass your class?

1.      Narrative: tell the story of the situation and give the context of the dilemma (who, what, where, when, why).

Hi, my name is Kusum and I am a past instructor from a Medical School in India where I taught Human Physiology and Pharmacology to first year medical students, dental students and nursing students. I can better correlate with the Scenario 5 as given in the assignment section of PIDP 3260 Course Moodle because I came across quite a few such students like Tyler in my 15 + years of teaching experience. So, I will keep this virtual name as Tyler in my story while sharing my narrative. Tyler made a special place in my heart when, on the very first day of the class, he shared during introductions that he’s the first person in his family to attend college! 

Further, many times when he visited my office for extra help and expressed his seriousness to pass the pharmacology exam with his added anxiety over the student loan debt he’s already accumulated and his academic probation due to failing two exams in the first semester. Tyler also shared that coming from a small town to the big city and a big Medical School have been quite a cultural challenge for him and then adjusting in the dorms, away from home among the other students of urban background turned him into an introvert. While living with his own fears of being judged as “less smart” and he took long time to adjust in the social culture of the college which affected his studies a lot. Few visits to my office for seeking extra help time to time, Tyler felt comfortable sharing with me about his challenges regarding his struggles in studies and he built a rapport with me because I always listened to him patiently. One day, he shared about his challenges especially pharmacology which involved some drug calculations, which he always found complex from the very beginning, (though he found physiology very interesting), but his love to become a Practical Nurse and helping the patients brought him to choose this profession.  

I could sense very clearly that Tyler was basically a very hard working, committed and self-motivated student who always maintained his interest to keep going and keep working hard in order to pass this course besides all the challenges he was facing. One thing which I strongly admired in Tyler was “not giving up” which motivated me to keep helping him even in the after- class office visits and I always took time out of my busy schedules.

2.      Dilemma: describe why this situation was a dilemma. What values were in conflict?

This situation was a dilemma because Tyler needed only one point to pass the exam and eventually that will move him forward in the program but I was feeling stuck how to give him one extra mark staying ethically right in my professional boundary. Yes, I was heart-broken when I finished my marking for the second semester pharmacology test papers. It was challenging to give one extra mark to Tyler so that he is declared “Pass” in the exam. On the other hand, looking at an overall situation of Tyler’s hard work and how much he had tried to put efforts this time to pass the exam, going to the learning Centre and coming to my office for extra help and not giving up in his motivation, I strongly feel that Tyler really deserves to pass this exam. And he was failing only by one point so he was almost there to pass the exam. I am in great ethical dilemma how to give one extra point to Tyler and I decided to call my instructor friend Ms. Lucy (arbitrary name given for this assignment) to discuss the situation, how can I make fair and ethical decision that Tylor doesn’t have to lose his professional goal and I am not guilty for what I am doing. Lucy is an instructor in the School of Arts at University of the Fraser Valley and we worked together for a short period of time last year.

3.      Framework: what decision-making framework have you used to help you think through the dilemma.

I discussed the whole situation with Lucy in depth. Actually, I had sent the scenario and Kidder’s Principles and paradigms in advance last night so that Lucy have some time to think about the solution. I told Lucy, “I didn’t want to rush to my conclusion in hurry” and immediately she said, “so you are using ‘care-based thinking’ of Kidder?” and I replied, “maybe both care-based and end-based”. I am a humanistic instructor, of course care-based is my intrinsic nature and I am always student-centric. Passing this exam will be good for Tyler’s mental health and it will make him very happy and successful, obviously. When I look at his overall life and how passionate he is to serve as LPN; and he is the first member of his family to come and study in any college, how much his family will be proud of him and benefit from his passing this exam so that he doesn’t have to give up his professional goal and he doesn’t have to deal with all the financial and emotional consequences. I was also thinking about his self-esteem, confidence and motivation in life. Lucy and I discussed as many possibilities as we could to resolve this dilemma in a positive way. I am very thoughtful how Tayler’s future life will reflect based on my decision of ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ when my pen has to write only four letters in any case? 

4.      Alternatives: describe several possible ways the dilemma could have been solved. What values and principles informed each alternative?

Lucy asked me the very first question: “what does your gut feeling says, Kusum?”. I told her my gut feeling is already mentioned in the opening sentence of the scenario, “Your heart sinks as you calculate Tyler’s final exam grade”. I am not at peace if Tyler fails, I sincerely want to see him completing the program with great success! I want to help Tyler, indeed!

In that response (of my gut feeling), Lucy suggested few options to consider:

A.      Review my own markings and in the short answer questions if I can consider giving ½ mark extra somewhere or maybe in few questions if I can consider giving partial marks for the steps which are genuinely right and where exactly I see Tyler got distracted in the end in calculating the final results where mathematical calculations were involved which could be a typo mistake or simply a manual miscalculation. Lucy’s recommendation emphasized that if a student understands the process of the calculation and demonstrates positive results in his critical thinking, then he deserves some marks better than zero.

B.      Considering the possibility of peer review for his answer sheet as I discussed in my last week’s reflection – team teaching. Getting his performance evaluated by three of my colleagues with a special request made to them, in order to get a holistic response for his performance and then taking the average / or taking the highest-grade point average as final result.

C.      Reviewing my evaluation sheet/ question paper with my team members and getting their feedback. If they feel, I have asked some really tough questions in this semester which are beyond the scope of intellectual capacity of average students and they are beyond the learning outcomes of the program, then I may consider giving 1 or 2 bonus points to the whole class as a correction quotient so that the average grade-point of the whole class will increase and eventually Tayler and few other students on the margin will also pass the exam.

5.      Resolution: what course of action did you choose to address the dilemma? Why?

I chose all three suggestions (A, B and C) as mentioned above as my course of action. First, I checked my own marking if I could consider giving some marks for the partial right steps (1/2 or ¾ depending on the degree of rightness in the steps) in some questions.

Next, I also considered to do peer review for Tyler’s answer sheet and my question paper. In the end, by giving bonus points to the whole class if my question paper was really a tough one, I will learn for future how to make a suitable question paper keeping in consideration the intellectual capacity of our students and guidelines of the program’s learning objectives; and moreover, I will resolve this dilemma ethically and fairly by giving  1 or 2 bonus points to the whole class. 

6.      Refection: what have you learned as a result of thinking through this dilemma? Did your initial reaction to the case change as a result of your discussions with your partner? If the dilemma was a real one from your experience, would you have done anything differently.

I have learnt a lot doing this exercise and by reading all the scenarios in the assignment. All of them have tough situations / dilemmas for instructors who are student-centric and who care for their students like their own family members. Here I reflect the summary of my learning in the following steps:

1.       There is always a way out to help our students do better in their performance if the instructor has a right attitude to help the student to do better. In a bigger picture, our role as an instructor is to motivate, encourage and provide with as many resources as a student needs within the time frame of his learning process and it is okay to go above and beyond some time to give an extra support to some students who  are at the margin of pass-fail fulcrum. By doing so, we are contributing to build a healthy and professionally successful society, rather than creating more failures in our society (End-based thinking).

2.       Team-teaching is very helpful. Whenever we feel any challenges to resolve the issues alone and stuck in a dilemma, discussion with a fellow team member(s) and taking help often brings positive results in our students’ lives. In the current situation, discussion with Lucy and taking further help from my team members for peer review of Tyler’s answer sheets prompted an opportunity for him to pass the exam and move to the next semester rather than being expelled from the program which is a life-changing event for Tayler.

3.       The whole exercise of reviewing my evaluation instrument (question paper) along with checking the program learning goals as well as understanding an average intellectual capacity of the students was helpful. It helped me to validate how much our students must know and how much it is good to know for them. I remember one of my training sessions as an instructor when we were getting training on Problem- Based Learning, and the trainer mentioned about three levels of learning for students and accordingly we should give them the problems in order to evaluate them:

4.       1) Must know    2) Good to know               3) May/ May not Know or Okay to know

If we set our evaluations mostly from good to know and may/may not know areas and ask tough and tricky questions for proving to our students how much we know the subject, then students will not benefit from that type of evaluation.

I learned from my peers that my evaluation instrument must be simple and cater to the learning objectives of the program. After I re-evaluated my evaluation instrument, I did have 2 questions which were tough for the average students and I gave 2 bonus marks to the whole class.

My reflection on doing this whole exercise is that staying grounded while teaching a program and not flaunting my ego how much I know and how much power I have in my hand as an instructor doesn’t bring satisfying results in terms of student learning. But, instead, utilizing that power in terms of “power to change” doing a paradigm shift and demonstrating how much I care for my students brought better results in the class. At the end of the day, as I said in my last blog, my authenticity as an instructor and winning my students’ heart by building a rapport with them as caring instructor is my top priority and then comes the credibility of my knowledge. I, kind of agree with this quote, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt

References:

Kidder, R. M. (1995). How good people make tough choices. New York: Morrow.

Soni, K. (2020): My journey from understanding students’ resistance to learning to resolve their confrontations by compassionately responding (not reacting). http://kusumsoni2014.blogspot.com/

Thanks You for your patience to read this long blog. I invite you to please leave your comments how did you like my approach of resolving the dilemma. Thank you 

My Professional goals in next five years as an Instructor

This question, “where you would like to be in the next five years as an instructor” has been knocking at my brain for the last few years. You may call it as my mid-life crisis or my increased sensitivity towards my purpose of life. What really, I want to be in next 5 years and where?

Of course, my heart takes me to the classroom whether it is a real brick and mortar classroom or a virtual classroom during this new Covid19 pandemic era; I have always seen myself well placed as an instructor. I have a lot of diversity in my trainings when it comes to the subject matter expertise. I was originally trained to teach in a University while continuing my Ph.D. in Life Sciences or more specifically in Medical Sciences as a Biophysicist and then after my Ph.D. as a Reproductive Physiologist. But after immigrating to Canada, my professional field changed to human and social services. Though, I always longed for University teaching but I naturally settled as community-based researcher and educator, workshop facilitator and adult educator, life coach and employment counselor. I guess, it was my transferable skills as an instructor and a keen researcher which evolved me who I am today.

In the last 15 years, though I have accepted various employment opportunities as they came along my way and I have enjoyed doing all my jobs from the core of my heart, but I never gave up my quest to work as an instructor and that is still my lifelong goal. That’s why I felt encouraged to start this PIDP diploma from VCC after meeting with the Head of Upgrading Department at University of the Fraser Valley, when he said, “we had a position to hire you as Biology instructor if you had PIDP diploma” and right after the meeting I enrolled for my PIDP course 5 years ago. Despite of the fact that I had lots of bumps in my personal life and couldn’t complete my diploma sooner, but currently I am almost there to finish it in 2020.

My three professional goals which would bring me closer to my long-term vision to work as an instructor in any Canadian University are:

1. To complete my PIDP Diploma in 2020

2. Remain focused on my professional development and personal growth by remaining current through active networking with the post - secondary instructor community in BC, students and changing trends in teaching methodology with time and ultimately meet my career aspirations which entails towards achieving qualified Instructor status. I network with them continuously through online networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and through emails.

3.  As I move towards my long-term goal, I am aware that the education industry is a very competitive market, especially the University teachings which is almost gearing towards 100% online status during this Covid19 era, so I plan on using the next five years to polish my teaching skill set learning all different online handles such as Moodle, blackboard, web-based e-teaching and e-learning, converting my teaching instructions in the form of video lectures and I will also focus on experiential learning from experienced teachers, and make a positive contribution to the universities and to the students.

(Photo taken from weblink google.ca/images) 

 I see my teaching career as an ongoing cycle of learning and professional growth, and although I tend to dream big, I am aware that I need to approach career goals one step at the time. Right now, my goals entail gaining classroom experience and working for a post-secondary institution or a reputed college where I can build a successful career in education. I am a keen learner and a researcher and I will never stop researching newest ways of teaching and learning for the benefits of the students (I am student-centric) and my own professional growth as an instructor. I am very sure, completion of my PIDP diploma will add another feather in my cap and significantly enhance my employability to work as a University Instructor!

I am open to suggestions and your positive constructive feedback which may be helpful for me to achieve my long-term goal. 

Kindly

Kusum Soni

My journey from understanding students' resistance to learning to resolve their confrontations by compassionately responding (not reacting)

How meticulously Brookfield (2015, P 213-238) is congruent with the flowchart of my mind mapping when it comes to an understanding of the psychology of our students' resistance to learning. I have always considered this topic very serious throughout my teaching career. I have often shared my curiosity with my fellow instructors, high school teacher friends and even some of my family members who are kindergarten teachers here in Canada and back home in India. "What do you think is the reason for students' resistance to learning?". My question doesn’t end there and I further add, "How do you bring them back to track that they leave your class with some significantly positive "change" so that they are better accepted in the society and seen as 'successful' human beings!?"

There is no single answer to this question because the problem is not that small, as you know it well!

This morning I called my niece, who teaches grades 6 to 8 in a middle school, and asked the same question. She has been working for the last 15 years in the same school and has come across more than one thousand students. Her very prompt answer was, "when, sometimes, the students are not able to build 'that connection' with the teacher... when they find the teacher "boring" and the topic which is taught in the class doesn't make any sense to their personal lives, and they don't know why they are learning all this? There is a missing piece between our teaching and the purpose of their life. How is classroom teaching going to benefit the students in their personal lives? For example, how is British or French history or cellular structures of a human cell going to make a difference in their everyday life? They are not sure why they are studying Sciences or History when they want to become an accountant. For the first time, I found myself an avid listener with not even a single word answer! I reflected immediately on my Spiritual teachings group that I am a part of, which involves the teachings of Buddha. I have noticed some participants in our group show resistance to learning because sometimes they are not on the same page as others, either because they are too busy or have different priorities in life.  Of course, some of them might be finding the teachings boring because it takes time to adopt to certain types of spiritual practices. I was speechless as she was absolutely right!

 It further motivated me to read chapters 16 and 17 of Brookfield (2015) in a single stretch as my curiosity to know the answer hovered like a flame in the air. I must know what he has to say about this issue because I have suffered enough throughout my teaching career with this unresolved issue. When someone says, I don't have any dilemma in my teaching career, I guess he/she lies. A teaching career without dilemmas is like living a married life without husband-wife fights in a modern world...yeh!

Some of Brookfield's fundamental truths for understanding the students' resistance matched with my niece’s response and in addition to that there is a big one, which he described in the very beginning, "The unacknowledged problem which exists the most - 'we teach what we love'. The more experienced we become, the more we develop a stronger passion for our favorite topics. We sometimes stop paying attention to what students’ "need" to learn to pass their exams or prepare themselves for the next step in their lives. Sometimes (or most of the time) the students don't raise their hands to let you know or write in the students' feedback form with a fear of failure or being knocked down from the class about what you are teaching them is not what they are here for.

The other most essential reasons discussed by Brookfield are also eye-openers for me, such as poor self-image as learners, fear of the unknown (change), denial to be a slow learner or dyslexic and avoidance to accept help as a particular need. Finally, what I found most interesting was, the disjunction of your teaching style vs. their learning style, especially when teachers change their teaching style without warning or introductions to their student. They just want to try this in the class because they learnt something new in their professional development training. First of all, students are not so used to the change, and if any change in teaching style is brought to the class, some students lose their interest, thinking that teacher is treating us like guinea pigs to experiment with new teaching styles. They think that the teacher doesn't care about them but only himself to get his promotion or keep his job. Such teachers sometimes lose both credibility as well as authenticity.  

I will admit that I have been such teacher in the past, teaching what I love to teach, and trying different methods when I learnt something new. For example, we were asked to use Problem Based Learning in our teaching to the medical students when we received training in 1990. Some of the students found me not doing my job appropriately, and some students who were slow learners, could not understand my instructions well. I was unaware of their issues at that time and considered that they were showing resistance to my teaching and I judged them “uninterested students”. After going through Brookfield’s insights, now, I am able to understand a different perspective about such students.

Whatever has happened in the past has happened, now the next step is: once I have learnt to recognize some of the reasons for students' resistance in the class through this study, I will be more vigilant in the class to rule out at least some of the causes of the confrontations. After doing this PIDP diploma, I am expected to be wiser and more observant in class not only to notice students' resistances but also, I should be able to resolve some issues to help the students learn better. I have made the following strategy to enhance my teaching skills in terms of responding to Students’ resistance:

1.      On my very first day of class, I will introduce myself warmly and get to know my students while getting to know everyone and their learning goals. Most importantly, what brought them in this class.

2.      Next, if I find some students showing resistance in the class, I will try to find the root cause of their resistance rather than spending time and energy pursuing irrelevant solutions. I will use various methods to find the root cause, such as Critical Incidence Questionnaire, feedback instruments, evaluations and daily/end of the topic muddiest point questions

3.      Occasionally inviting former students who resisted and turned into motivated students to the class as guest speakers to boost the morale of my current students

4.      With chronic resisters, I will try to meet one-on-one to understand their personality type, the root cause of their resistance and more deep background about their life-style, learning abilities and any other concerns they wish to share. I will assure them about the confidentiality of our conversations as a policy of our organization

5.      Most importantly, I will use a variety of teaching methods, which has shown to be effective but only after discussion with the students.

As I said in my last blog, my authenticity as an instructor and winning my students' hearts by building a rapport with them as a caring instructor is my top priority and then comes the credibility of my knowledge. I agree with this quote, "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." Theodore Roosevelt.

References:

Brookfield, S.D., (2015): The Skillful Teacher – On Techniques, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. (2nd Edition). The Jossey-Bass -Higher and Adult Education Series.  P. 213 – 238.

  

What stops students from participating in classroom discussions?

When I was preparing my feedback instrument for workshop participants (Assignment 2 - PIDP 3260), in the back of my mind it was running, "Will all the participants feel comfortable / interested in filling the feedback forms? Is it enough to tell them that it is mandatory due to our company policy?" 

From my 20+ years of teaching career in different faculties, I haven't come across even a single class or group of participants where I did not feel challenges about students' active participation in the class discussions. Again, it is a bit of relief for me to know that I am not alone, otherwise why would Brookfield (2006) write a full chapter on this topic in his book, Skillful Teacher (p. 133 - 152). 

Yes, in my workshops of Employability Skills (maximum 10 to 12 participants) and in the past while teaching in India in a Medical School (class size 50 students), I have come across shy and introverts who have inborn personality not to speak in the class until instructor asks them questions. Sometimes they feel intimidated when instructor asks them questions more frequently with a try to open them up in the class but sometimes, they show negative results - start missing the class or express in the feedback instrument about their discomfort of public discussions. Sometimes, nothing much can be done for such students in terms of enhancing their participation in class discussions, but otherwise they score reasonably high in non-verbal, written exams. 

Of course, there are all sorts of students categories I have come across in my professional career as mentioned in chapter 8 of Skillful Teacher (Brookfield, S. D., 2006) such as the ones who feel the fear of looking stupid if they talk, unprepared and still sleepy in the class, lazy, lack of self-esteem and self - confidence, those who don't feel welcomed in the class due to cultural diversity or due to their own pre-framed ideas about the classroom; or who are always burnt out when they come to the class because of their lifestyle or home responsibilities. As an instructor, I have been very observant about each and every student no matter how big or small class I teach. But my challenges, sometimes have been, how to motivate such students to participate in the discussions? Well, I have tried following methods which have sometimes shown successful results:

1. By giving an important responsibility to the shy students in a small group discussion, for example, notes taking, doing a research for the group respecting their naturally silent behaviours but still they are participating.

2. Talking to them one-on-one in my spare time and trying to dissolve the factors causing fear

3. Being empathetic to the ones who feel burnt out and providing them some resources in the community which may ease their lives to some extent. Again, I remember Brookfield's discussion in chapter 4, "what students value in teachers". Students always appreciate teacher's authenticity more than her credibility on certain days. I remember a single mother in my workshop one day who was attending my workshop and sitting quiet all the time. During coffee break, I asked her what's the matter? She immediately started crying and said, "I haven't eaten any grain for the last 48 hours because Ministry took my two months child away and sent the child to foster care....". I offered her coffee and gave her my lunch to eat and rescheduled the workshop to another day because she needed rest more than the workshop that day. She came back to my workshop next day and since that day she always participated in the discussions. 

Sometimes these methods work and sometimes they don't. In the last few years of my career as an instructor, I have learnt that I must keep trying different methods and don't give up. After all, I am a humanistic instructor and a lifelong learner myself. As an instructor, we also learn new concepts, new skills to keep our students engaged and participating in the class. I am a student-centric Instructor, indeed!

References: 

Brookfield, S.D., (2006): The Skillful Teacher – On Techniques, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. (2nd Edition). The Jossey-Bass -Higher and Adult Education Series.  P. (133 - 152)