Reflecting on my PIDP Learning Experience

Well, I’m nearing the end of another PID course, so I thought I would take a moment to look back and reflect on what I've learned. One of the most important things I have learned I throughout the PID program is the importance of having a good, clear curriculum – one that is streamlined and relevant …

The Importance of Lifelong Learning

What do you think of when you think about lifelong learning? Does it sounds like you need to go to college for the rest of your life? Does is sound like you need to have your nose in a book 24/7? What does “lifelong learning” mean? According to Wikipedia, the definition of lifelong learning is …

Essential Skills

This week I took a short break from reading Brooksfield for my PIDP 3260 and I did some research online. I was thinking about my students and how they all come from such different places in life.   Some of them are fully “equipped” to handle adult education and others really struggle with it. The fact …

My Thoughts on Brooksfield Chapter 6: Lecturing Creatively

Photo credit to:  Christophe Volet for The Chronicle Lecturing – a snooze fest or an exciting learning adventure? Well, it all really depends on the teacher. Brooksfield says, “Like any technique lecturing can be done abominably. But just because something is mishandled by some teachers doesn’t mean the method as a whole is inherently flawed.” …

Are There Ethical Professors?

There was a popular situation several years back (2009) concerning Ward Churchill, a former Professor at the University of Colorado.  Psychology Today wrote, “Ward Churchill got into trouble for things he wrote about the 9/11 attacks and politicians called for his ouster. Meanwhile, charges of academic misconduct started to surface, including plagiarism and fabricating facts. A faculty …

Resistance to Learning

While doing my required reading for my PID course, I came across a quote from Brooksfield in Chapter 16 that read, “People will generally resist activities for which they see no justification. If the learning that students are asked to undertake seems to have no purpose or connection to their own interests and concerns, they’ll …

Micro-Aggressions in the Classroom

For my PID, I was reading “The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom.” In Chapter 9, I hit one of those “touchy” chapters. You know, one of those chapters that have a tough topic that people tend to debate over. It was about racism in the classroom. I’m not here to …

“Work by Learning and Learn by Working”

Recently I watched a  TEDGlobal video called, “Geoff Mulgan: A Short Intro to the Studio School” that I think you may find interesting.  Here's a link to the video: http://www.ted.com/talks/geoff_mulgan_a_short_intro_to_the_studio_school Early in the video, Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation, asks the question, “What kind of school would teenagers fight to get in to, not …

From “Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side”

Fo my PID 3260 course, we are reading a book written by Stephen Brookfield called The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom.  For the most part, it's a regular book on adult education.  However, Brookfield threw a quick curveball to see if I was still awake, when he said, and I quote, “We give the …

Throwing Marshmallows

“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 their learning, provide whatever modeling I can, build the best possible case for learning, and then cross …