(Week 5): Mindfulness Meditation

The third reading in Week 5, was the one by Elghalaieni (2015) entitled, "A review of on the beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation".  This article explained all the health benefits associated with mindfulness like reduced stress and anxiety.  As I reflect on this article, I can't help but to think back to a local Immigration Forum in Sault Ste Marie which I attended as one of three representatives from Algoma University.  Most of the morning was full of information workshops - well worth our time.  However, in the afternoon, there was a series of speakers who are recent newcomers to the Sault which didn't provide much information.  In particular, one lady from India, who runs a new yoga studio in town, did a series of breathing exercises with those in attendance that lasted from about 40 minutes.  When she started, I thought that she would only be providing about 5 minutes of techniques but in then end, she ended up instructing the class for about 40 minutes.  As a willing participant at the start, I found the first 10 minutes very calming as I was able to reduce some anxiety and stress I was feeling on that given day.  However, as she continued through the exercises, the reverse started to happen - my stress and anxiety actually started to build up.  I started to think about how unsupportive our university would have been to see three of its employees with the eyes closed humming mantras at 2pm in the afternoon during company time.




Although I do see benefit from mindfulness exercises, I wonder if I, personally, would be able to dedicate the time to get myself to a place where I would be able to relax enough to use them.  In an earlier post, I talked about the Buddhist monks being so at piece with themselves. I wonder if that takes a lot of practice as well.  

(Week 5) Reflective Practice in the Civil Society

(Week 5)

In Week 5, the second assigned reading was an article entitled, "Reflective Practice in the Civil Society: The contribution of critically systemic thinking" by Ulrich (2000).  Although this was one of the more difficult articles to get through, I really enjoyed its content.   

Ulrich's ideas revolving around corporatist society, including special interest groups, having more "legitimacy" than the individual citizen really struck a cord with me.  To explain why, I would like to apply his ideas to the field of education.

Everyday, as a teacher, I feel the separation that exists between the world of teacher and that of academic research.  Unfortunately, much of the educational research conducted by those in the academy is largely irrelevant to teachers' lives in schools.  On the other hand, many academics dismiss the knowledge produced through teacher research as trivial and inconsequential to their work. This kind of mistrust and under-appreciation creates a power struggle in education, which, as Ulrich mentions in his article, leaves very little room for teacher to act as an "individual" or to function as a "citizen".

In the article, Ulrich talks about the difference between "professionals" and "lay people".  At no time do I personally consider teachers to be considered part of the "lay people" category.  To enter, and stay in, the teaching profession, requires a high level of education, training and professional development.  As I reflect on this point, I can see more clearly why academics view teachers as a treat to sound professional practice rather than a basis and support for it.  As the article suggests, there really needs to a bridge between civil society (the teacher) and the concept of professionalism (the academic).

At the start of this post, I put the picture of the "eye" because of the following quote from the article: "Reflective practice risks being blind if it shuts its eye to the issue of responsible citizenship."  To legitimatize and include teachers reflections, I agree with Ulrich in that the notion of citizenship has to change to include a new set of "civil competencies".  His concept of boundary judgments, shown below, as a way to deal with the divides between the individual and the corporatist society makes room for this to happen.

By understanding the context of each group, educational research can include both teacher produced knowledge and knowledge produced by those in the academy. This will go a long way to close the divide which exists between the tow and greatly benefit the processes of teacher development, school reform, and teacher education.  

(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.