(Week 4) Could Taekwondo be a Pathway for Somatic Ways of Knowing?

Another very strong takeaway from this class will be "whole person learning" which is often overlooked in Western culture.  We tend to separate the mind from the body and think that all our learning is in our head.  I like the example the article, "Creating Space for Somatic Ways of Knowing with Transformative Learning Theory" (Amann, 2003) where it talks about disease and how a person can research the symptoms, but until they actually experience the symptoms, this knowledge is all external.  It is only through the somatic experience that the symptoms can be understood internally.  The article goes on to explain that somatic learning is "felt by the body" and describes the four main areas of somatic learning: kinesthetic, sensory, affective and spiritual.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I took at course in kineselogy which helped me increase my awareness of my own body movement which was a powerful learning moment.  As I read through each of the other areas, I kept thinking of which sport or activity that would tap into each one.  I have my kids taking Taekwondo, a Korean martial art, twice a week and they love the exercises that they do for breathing and how the class all shout out at once when they do power punches or kicks.  I believe that these practices allow the students to become sensitive to their senses.  The whole idea about spiritual learning is also evident.  For example, the class reciting the following chant, "discipline, respect,confidence, patience, honour - combine them for good attitude" is very representative of Buddhist thought which aims to create balance in life.  I believe my children have had a spiritual awakening through Taekwondo and are developing a cultural awareness of their Korean background through this martial art form.

(Week 4) Critical Reflection

In this post I would like to reflect on Jack Mezirow's article "Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood", which was very helpful in differentiating between meaning schemes and meaning perspectives.  The former is based on habit or event sequences such as the sun rises in the east and set in the west.  The latter, are made up of higher order schemata, which are open to assumptions based on one's past experiences, belief systems, cultural assimilation, etc.  I like the example, given in the article about the painting and how one might judge it to be beautiful whereas another person may think it is ugly based on certain stereotypes and/or ways of knowing which are usually imprinted upon us at a very young age.

Reading through Mezirow's article, I learned that critical reflection is to "challenge the validity of presuppositions in prior learning".  In this sense, "to be critical, one has to challenge what has already been established as far as the problem and reassess our own orientation to perceiving, knowing, believing, feeling and acting".

The article goes on to identify 3 common areas of distortion in meaning perspective where meaning perspectives can be transformed - epistemic, sociocultural and psychic.

I would like to reflect on the socio-cultural distortion by using the following video:

Socio-cultural distortion is about our "belief systems that pertain to power and social rlationships, especially those currently prevailing and legitimized and enforced by institutions".  In the video, it talks about labels which are given from birth.  The world "force feeds" us these labels which we must swallow, digest and accept.  I really like the part of the video where the speaker talks about his body as a vehicle that he drives around and how people judge him for his body, not for who he is on the inside.  The dealership is society who labels certain editions "black" or "white" and once you have a car you are forced to drive it the rest of your life.  Growing up in a small town like Sault Ste Marie there are many stereotypes against people who are not white, middle class, "ordinary folk". As such, it is difficult for many of our International students to feel comfortable when they leave our campus which is very diverse.  They feel like they do have labels attached to me especially if they wear their customary dress from their home country!

(Week 4) Poppy Field - Mindfulness Exericise

At the beginning of week 4, Lorayne shared a picture, similar to the one above, showing a field full of poppies.  She directed our attention first to the flowers and then to the warmth of the sun in the distance.  I find these short moments of reflection in this class very powerful because I'm not able to set aside much time for personal reflection.  Like many of the participants in this class, I have a full-time job and a family that requires my attention outside of work hours.  With this said, I do cherish all the small moments spent with my kids.

One  moment I remember fondly in Korea, was a sunny afternoon spent with my wife and daughter, Myles, along a river bank near our apartment.  We found a field of yellow flowers and we managed  to take some time out of our busy day to appreciate their beauty.  I remember the feel of the warm sun on this day, how clean the air felt and the smell of the flowers.  It is crazy how this moment seems so fresh to me - I believe it is because I paused to appreciate the simple beauty of this occasion.  

As written in his book, "mindfulness means paying attention is a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmental.  This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present moment reality.  If we are not fully present for many of these moments, we may no only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the richness and depth of our possibilities for growth and transformation."

Based on this reading, I will try hit the "pause" button on life more so that I'm able to enjoy more moments like these with my family.  As Jon states, "Mindfulness is the polar opposite of taking life for granted."

I'm confident, this is one of the most profound lessons I've learned through this course.  For this reason, I believe Lorayne's lessons really do transcend her course objectives!

(Week 3) Reflection-in-action!

In my last post, I reflected on real-life example of how Schon's idea of the high-ground vs. swamp in my local context here at Algoma University.  In this post, I would like to reflect on Schon's  "reflection-in-action".

While I was completing my education undergraduate degree at Lakehead, my two teachables were Geography and Physical Education.  I remember taking this one course in Kinesiology (also known as human kinetics), where the professor asked me to explain to the class how to "perform a free throw".  Having played basketball my whole life, I quickly, and confidently, accepted the challenge.  However, at that time, I didn't realize that I had never really thought about the mechanics behind the movement and I simply wasn't able to verbalize the motion much to my embarrassment.   The professor then used my failure to explain about tacid knowledge and knowing-in-action. It was a powerful learning moment for me and it taught me, through my own ridicule, to think more from the body, not just the mind.  

In the one of Schon's articles, he gave the example of refection-in-action with the crooked fence.  I relate to this description, because woodworking is one of my favorite hobbies.  I agree that there is a lot of problem solving and reflection-in-action involved within this trade. The whole expression "measure twice, cut once" is a great representation of how a woodworker goes about any project constantly reflecting on each measurement and how the project will all finally fit together in the end.  My father, a seasoned carpenter, always tells me that the real secret to good woodworking is covering up all your mistakes as you work on any project.

The woodworking example, above, is a great representation of how a typical layman might go about refection-in-action. In Schon's article, the Crisis of Professional Knowledge", he explains how many teachers, as practitioners, have a hard time describing what they know and do not know and, as such, might view reflection-in-action as a threat or sign of weakness .  However, Schon's sees this reflection-in-action as part of competent practice and that it is of critical importance.  Can teachers be taught to have a capacity for reflection-in-action or invent on the spot to help students before them?  This is a good question which was posed in class which resulted in a great discussion for Week 3.  I believe that refection-in-action comes intuitively because I've met very few teachers, who don't want to improve their practice.  To do so, there has to an inbuilt system of checking and/or reaffirming that what you are doing at the moment, as a teacher, is meeting the needs of your students.   In this sense, it is like an internal set of checks and balances.   

Week 3: Schon's High-ground vs. Swamp

In the assigned readings for Week 3, Donald A. Schon uses the metaphor of the "high-land" and the "swamp" to explain the difference between the rigors of science and real world problems.  This description of the swampy lowland which is "messy" and full of the "real-world problems" as separate from the higher ground, where science prevails is very powerful for me.  My family grew up on a farm where the common lay person, who faces the problems did not (and still does not) have much say in the decision making.

Reading this article, I can not help but to reflect on a situation which occurred at Algoma University when I first started working here in the Fall of 2012.  Around this time, our university was able to secure a big contract with the Saudi Arabia Cultural Bureau to start accepting Saudi students into our academic programming.  From the high ground, the university saw this as a quick way to increase our enrollment and made easy revenue. Over the next two years, we accepted over 250 Saudi students into our university, mostly in Computer Science and Business, resulting in first-year classes which were between 80-90% Saudi.  Talk about messy!  As the higher administration focused on the #s and $, hence "the business model", the problems in the trenches were left up to the staff and faculty to sort out which really impacted the quality of our offerings.      

As a new employee of the school, I saw this situation as a ticking "time bomb" because our university had put all their energy into recruiting student while committing few resources dedicated to retention efforts.  The students, not fault of their own, often came ill equipped with the skills competences and language proficiency required to pass first-year academic classes.

As a knee-jerk reaction, the University decided to open a Foundations Program to help prepare the students for first year classes which was poorly designed and managed which compounded to problem.  To make things even messier, our university, with the help of a government grant, decided to conduct research into whether or not the Foundations program was in fact meeting the needs of the Saudi students even though everyone who was involved with these students at the school knew that it was failing.  Talk about bureaucracy!

Hired as the part of the International Support Team at this time, I was thrown into the swamp where I ended up conducting focus groups for the Saudi students to help understand why their attrition rates were so high at AU.  In these focus groups, I found out that many of them were accepted into AU because our institution had some of the lowest entrance requirements in Ontario especially for Proof of Language Proficiency.  At that time, many of our pathway partners (ESL providers) in Southern Ontario were also sending us Saudi students who were well below the IELTS 6.0 entrance requirement for academic study.

The solution to all the above problems, from the lowland, was a cry to raise our entry requirements and a better monitoring system for the quality of our pathway partnerships.  However, the argument from our higher administration was along the lines that if we cast out a smaller net, we wouldn't be able to catch as many fish.

It is no secret that any smaller institutions within Ontario, and across Canada are facing steep decline in enrollment.  As universities accept more foreign students to bolster their enrollments numbers, I beg to ask the question - What happens to the quality of education?   I really enjoyed Schons article because I work in a university where there is a big divide between higher administration and staff/faculty.  I wonder if other publicly funded universities in Ontario are experiencing the same problems.

(Week 2) Could too much student-centred instruction be impacting teachers' health?

I noticed the following article entitled, "Why Introverted Teachers Are Burning Out" while I was on Facebook and it really struck a cord with me.     

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/01/why-introverted-teachers-are-burning-out/425151/

As I mentioned in my first post, I have been thinking a lot about my friend Mike who lost his vision over Christmas and the role burnout may be factoring into his ill health.

Even though I'm not currently in the classroom, I can definitely relate to how teachers can, at times, feel exhausted by the constant demands for collaborative learning.  As described before I aught overseas for about 15 years and while  I enjoy group-work, I did have times when I felt drained by the daily contact and interaction with students, not to mention fellow teachers.   I can also relate to how hard it is to find a quiet space to decompress and to reflect as a teacher on the job. In my current position at Algoma U, I'm required to attend numerous meetings and work collaboratively with other departments. It is a different kind of stress and it is important to take the time to, what the article calls "decompress". 

The article makes some very strong points about how the education system doesn't take into consideration how many teachers may have introverted personalities and the lack of break time provided between classes.   This could lead to what the author refers to as “collaborative overload” in the workplace. With these concerns in mind, I'm still a strong supporter of collaborative education and I believe students learn best when they co-construct knowledge with others.   

I believe the key is balance and mindfulness exercises could be one of the methods used by teachers to find that much needed quiet space for introspection.  Everyday, I am able to go home for a one-hour lunch break and I feel that this time provides an opportunity for me to recharge away from students and/or other distractions.    

(Week 2) Does Technology force classes to be more student centred?

In the second class, as Lorayne was given her critique of the presentations on student vs teacher centered approaches, she made a comment about how she thought some of the groups got off-topic by talking too much about technology.  I thought this critique was interesting because, in my view, technology is one of the main drivers for why classes have become more student-centered so, as such, it shouldn't be excluded from the discussion.  In this post, I would like to reflect more about technology's role within the classroom and how it has played a pivotal role in changing the dynamics of today's classrooms.

It is no secret that we are living in a knowledge-based society where students have instant access to events that are happening around the world.  As such, learning is no longer confined to the four walls of the classroom or an event that has to happen at the same place or the same time.  To be successful in school, students need to have the ability to seek out information over the Internet, synthesize it, and then based on this information, produce new information. Students need to actively participate in classes, to be creative and use their high order thinking skills to complete tasks.  Because teachers are no longer the delivers of content, their role in the classroom has changed to more of observers and/or co-learners.

Teachers, as mentors, are still needed to be present in the classrooms to help students to think critically, to gain knowledge, draw conclusions and make informed decisions based on the knowledge they track down via multiple sources including online materials.  The challenge for teachers today is to help students make sense of this overload of information that is available via cyberspace. Because of these changing roles, teachers have to evolve their practice by creating new learning environments that are able to leverage the Web and tap into the natural ways in which students learn.  Part of the answer is to move towards more collaborative, student-centered learning which puts students in control of their own learning and allows them to use the information that they have gathered outside of class in productive ways.

Lorayne's feedback was able to help me better reflect on the differences between teacher and student-centered approaches and the role technology plays in transforming content delivery in today's classrooms.

(Week 2) Student vs Teacher Centred

In Week 2, we discussed the shift from teacher to student-centered learning and how this .works in graduate education

As I mentioned in my second post, as a fresh graduate from the Concurrent Education Program at Lakehead University, I decided to head over to South Korea to teach English in 1996.  Reflecting back at this time in my life, I now realize how inexperienced I was as a teacher. I taught in a very linear fashion, teaching one concept at a time, testing for a certain level of mastery and retention before moving on the next principle – basically mimicking how I learned other subjects through school. As a result, my classes were very traditional, teacher-centered, and I viewed learning as simply the transfer of information, leaving little room for collaborative work and/or engagement among my students.

During the first five years of teaching in Korea, I became increasingly dissatisfied with the progress my students were making and this led me to enroll in a Masters in Linguistics program offered through Aston University where I was able to specialize in Teaching English as a Second Official Language (TESOL). Through this program, I became informed of the essential difference between “learning” and “acquiring” a second language which quickly dispelled my belief that learning a language was a linear process. In other words, just because you learn something doesn’t mean it becomes internalized! I also became aware of how important “exposure” is within the target language, what is meant by “effective filters”, the “silent period”, how to fairly assess student progress and/or achievement, how to engage and motivate learners, etc.

However, my biggest transformation was the realization that learning is more than just the transfer of information from the teacher to the student - it is also a social process. During this program at Aston, I began to use more collaborative activities in my classes such as Task Based Learning (TBL) and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) where my English Language Learners (ELLs) have to “negotiate meaning” to arrive at an answer which wasn’t always predefined. I started to value more what each learner brings into the education mix and the importance of the social connection needed to co-construct knowledge.



The picture above is a good representation of how the teacher should involve the learner in the education process.  It is through this style of "hands on learning" or "learn by doing" that I've had the best results from my ELL's.

The new Bridging Program (BP) I helped design for ESL@Algoma is clear evidence as to how far I've steered by curriculum development towards a student-centered approach.  All instruction within our BP is based around four core competencies,  each one having a list of predefined learning outcomes.  Throughout the term, the students in BP are given the freedom to compile evidence in electronic portfolios to submit to their teachers as evidence that they are achieving the learning outcomes.  This curriculum is based on the flipped classroom where materials are posted on the Course Management System beforehand and the students are expected to come to class prepared to apply what they have learned within collaborative groups.  The teachers are there to act more like facilitators and to support the students as they follow their own inquiry based learning.  As in the picture above, our student have responding very positively to these changes and feel empowered to be part of their own learning!

(Week 1) Wherever you go there you are!

During the first class, I became very interested in Jon Kabat-Zinn and his book entitled "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life" and how this is connected to ancient Buddhist practice. 

As I mentioned in my 2nd post, I spent 15 years living and working in Korea where, of course, Buddhism is widely practiced.  My Korean wife, who comes from a is Buddhist family, and I would often take time to visit temples in and around the city of Daejeon.  We marveled at how simple things seem from the Buddhist perspective and how the monks, living at these temples, appeared to be in harmony with themselves and with the world.  As we visited these temples, we noticed a few "foreign" monks who had traveled to Korea to join this tranquil way of living and/or get away from the distractions of the modern world.  I could not help but to think about the reasons that might force one to choose this path in life...

Reading through Jon's description of mindfulness, I cannot help but think how out of tune the majority of people in the Western world are with themselves, both with their bodies and with their spirit.   I think about the rat race we live in, about how people are so preoccupied with the notion of making money, buying a new car, a new house - all the materialistic things that tend dominate Western society. 

As for myself, I, like most of my friends and colleagues, lead a very hectic life, with work, with my family and much of my time is dedicated to making my family comfortable.    Unfortunately, I am not able to set aside much time to look inwards - to reflect on my current situation.  The only real chances I get to be alone are when I go cross country skiing on the weekends and the time I spend in my garage woodworking.  Here lays the main challenge, how does one one reflect if they not able to dedicate time towards this practice?

At the start of Jon Kabat-Zinn's book, he explains what is meant by meditation, "From the Buddhist perspective, our ordinary waking state of consciousness is seen as being severely limited and limiting, resembling in many respects an extended dream rather than wakefulness" (page 3).  This description left me questioning whether or not the majority of people, are just walking around unaware of their own existence.  Jon Kabat-Zinn goes on to explain that "meditation helps us wake up from this sleep of automaticity and unconsciousness, thereby making it possible for us to live our lives with access to the full spectrum of our conscious and unconscious possibilities" (page 3).  Have  the monks at the Buddhist temple in Korea woken up?  Are they more aware of their own existence than other people?

I think without sacrificing some of the creature comforts in life, time will always be one of the determining factors on how far one can take mindfulness and meditation.   Not to get ahead of myself here, but I was amazed how one of the participants in our class, Lisa, described going on retreats, in week 5 of this course, where she would dedicate days if not weeks of time to this endeavour.  

(Week 1) Mindfulness: Getting in Tune With Your Body!

On January 12th, Dr. Lorayne Robertson dedicated most of the first class to getting to know all the participants in her course while reviewing the course outline.  However, at the end of the session, Lorayne did manage to introduce the concepts of "the learning log", "personalized learning reflection" and "mindfulness".  It is the short description of mindfulness which I would like to reflect on in this post, especially about becoming more in tune with your body.

On this particular day, I was excited to attend Week 1 of this course but I was also little distracted because of something that happened to one of my closest friends over the holidays.   My friend Mike, who is in his early 40's, started to complain about headaches and blurred vision a few days before Christmas which led to a complete loss of his sight in both eyes on Christmas morning.  To this day, he remains completely blind despite visits to different doctors/clinics/specialists who are all trying to determine what is causing this abnormality. Of course, my friend's situation continues to preoccupy my thoughts so far in 2016 and Lorayne's description of mindfulness really hit home for me. 

As the old adage goes, "We all take our health for granted" and until something of this gravity happens to you, a family member or friend, people have a natural tendency to not think about it. My friend Mike is employed as a head plumber for a company in Sault Ste Marie and he is responsible for quality of his crew's work.  This was very stressful for him as he was constantly training new apprentices and had to be at the job site both day and night.  The last few times I talked to him before he lost his eyesight, he told me that he hadn't been sleeping or eating well and feeling very exhausted from all the overtime he had been putting in.

For my job, I have similar workload issues as I have to keep irregular hours and I take on a considerable amount of responsibility.  My goal for 2016 is to listen more attentively to my body and start putting more focus on my eating/sleeping habits.  As Lorayne mentioned in her talk, just concentrating on your breathing patterns for 5-10 minutes every morning can be a good start to a healthier living.  

I will be reflecting more about mindfulness in later posts.  As the picture above portrays, you need to strike a balance between work, family, friends, your hobbies while saving time for yourself to concentrate on your own wellbeing.   

My Journey

I would like to dedicate this post to my journey as a teacher, from the day I graduated from the B.A./B.Ed. program at Lakehead University to my current position, as the International Student Support Officer (ISSO) at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie.    

This post is not intended to be a reflection of my learning during this time. It is meant more as a general overview of the path that I have chosen which has led me to my current employment at a publicly funded university in Ontario.  I think this description will help you, as the reader, understand me better as I reflect on some of these experiences later in my blog and how they are connected to the context of my education, experience and current work practice.

The picture at the beginning of this post drew my eye because I think life in represents life.  We must always focus on the road ahead of us but be mindful of the present moment and the path traveled.

As I mentioned in my first post, I’m a registered teacher in Ontario. I graduated in 1996 but instead of joining the desperate masses of over-educated, underemployed teachers in Ontario, I decided to try my hand at teaching ESL overseas in South Korea for a couple of years. Well that was the plan anyways!

I ended up staying in South Korea for 15 years in total, happily living and working on this tiny Asian peninsula.  Like many other adventurous foreigners who first decide to travel and teach ESL overseas, I saw it as a great opportunity to pay off some student loans, gain some work experience, and learn about a different culture. Little did I know how interested I would become in the field of ESL or how this would lead me back to school to finish a Masters in TESOL in 2008 from Aston University in Birmingham, England. 

Since 2008, my professional interests have expanded to the field of educational technology and how to better integrate emerging technologies into the ESL classroom. As a result, I have become very invested in the areas of e learning, instructional design, CALL/MALL, web 2.0 tools, etc…(basically anything “techie”) and learning about them has quickly become one of my favorite pastimes.  This led me to the M.Ed program at UOIT.

In 2012, I made my eventual return to Sault Ste. Marie where I'm currently working as the International Student Support Officer at Algoma University.  As the ISSO, I'm mainly responsible for on campus support for International students.  However, part of my duties at AU involves curriculum development for the English for Academic Purposes Program (EAPP) which has allowed me to experience the administrative side of the fence in TESL. I recently was able to get my Level 3 certification through TESL Canada so I'm hoping to use all my experience and qualifications to improve the quality of our offering at AU.

Introduction to my Learning Log!

It's a cold, winter evening here in Sault Ste. Marie and I'm very excited to start my Learning Log for Dr. Lorayn Robinson's Critical and Reflective Practice in Education (5004 G).  Today's date is February 10th, 2016 and last night marked our 5th class of the winter term.  I've really enjoying this course so far and I would like to use this blog to reflect on my learning up to this point and throughout the rest of the semester. I hope you enjoy it.  

My original plan was to reflect on my learning after each class but as I sat down to write my first post five weeks ago, on January 5th, I quickly realized that I had little idea how to go about this properly. I suppose as, I'm reflecting back on this now, I can come to the conclusion that I had not learned very much about reflection up to that point to help guide me!  I understood what was meant by the concept of "critical reflection" but I didn't know much about how this process was to effectively lead to my own learning.  At the beginning of this course, I was not fully aware of different models of reflective practice or the difference between reflection, analysis and description.

While I was completing my B.Ed in the mid 90's, I was responsible for keeping several learning journals while but, like most beginner teachers, I simply jotted down some ideas on paper with little thought or reflection about how they were connected to my actual learning.  I'm sure the minimal amount of time and energy my colleagues and I devoted towards this practice was definitely not what our instructors had envisioned from the class!  I admit, at that time, I was not fully aware of the role of a reflective practitioner.  Perhaps our profs could have explained it a little better....

Now, after 5 weeks of classes, under the guidance of Dr. Robertson, I have been exposed to several strategies which I'm confident will ensure that my reflections support my learning and also my development in the field of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).  I'm starting to understand how to look critically at the contradictions and challenges I face at Algoma University, my place of work, and within this course, and how I can transfer what I learn to other new situations and/or contexts.   In this respect, I suppose I'm connecting the dots which have been there the whole time.  Maybe I just needed to focus the lens more on myself, which was Loryane's advice in Week 4 but I don't want to get a head of myself here!

For this blog, I will be posting my refections based on what was covered in class (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc....).  These posts will be organized chronologically, which you, the viewer, can reference using the blog archive on the right side of the page.  I will also be using "labels" as I post my reflections so that you may search through them to find common themes (ex. Mindfulness).  Internal to the post themselves, I will be using links and embedded videos to identify resources that have helped me develop my skills as a reflective practitioner.  

Please feel free to leave comments under each post.

In my next post, I would like to give the reader, a brief history of who I am as a professional to provide much needed context to this Learning Log.