Category: The Learning Curve

I just got through a large pile of essays, in which I found the following observation:

“The primary reason for which wrongdoers are sent to prison is to be resocialized in order to make them feet for society.”

Sigh. Time marches on. As I write this, people at Champlain are hard at work on the first week of classes. I miss the campus, I miss my colleagues, I miss my students, I miss my office. I actually dreamed that I crashed a Champlain English department meeting, and Katie wouldn’t talk to me because I had left.
Classes start at Vanier next week, so I’m up to my eyeballs in calendars of various shapes and colour codes, preparing assignment schedules, reading lists and lesson plans. I dropped off my course outlines today, and checked the bookstore – two of my three book orders are filled, and the third is “on the truck.” Some things never change.
My third Performa course has already begun. This one is called Instructional Strategies, and involves being video-taped twice, once presenting a course plan to my fellow students and once actually teaching. And I can’t even teach naked and try to sell the video. I’ve already been subjected to the first round, and now I have to write a self-assessment, presumably one that makes more useful observations than “I’m now rethinking my haircut” or “well, never wearing that t-shirt again.”
I really do miss Champlain – but I have to admit, it’s nice being at home for the back-to-school gearing up with Colin and Robert. Robert starts kindergarten next week! All the requisite supplies are ready – not only bought, but labelled, down to the individual crayon – and we’re all excited.
But, still… I have no one to throw that really annoying bumpy superball at, Zeffie! Champlainers, if you’re out there, I miss you all and will be thinking of you often as I get to know my new home.

Reflections on Multiple Intelligences
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences makes a lot of sense to me. Over the last few years, I have become increasingly aware of distinct differences among students in terms of the different tasks and texts they enjoy, their performance in different assessments, and their individual ways of approaching specific assignments such as oral presentations.

Continue reading “Psychology of Learning Journal Three”

Some of you are already familiar with the following. I wanted to wait until things were official before blogging about it, for what I assume are obvious reasons.
Spring 2005: Learn that I have a full course load for the Fall 2005 semester but that it’s doubtful that there will be any courses available for me in the Winter 2006 semester.
May 14: Clean up the office, store everything in a seldom-used AV closet across the hall, and come home for the summer.
May 18: On a routine surfing of relevant sites, discover that Vanier College has a last minute posting for positions in the English department.
May 19: Drop off my CV and cover letter at Vanier en route to the usual Friday lunch with Dina et al.
June 3: Get a phone call from the current coordinator of the English department at Vanier, requesting an interview.
June 7: Interview
June 9: Retrieve a phone message from same coordinator, asking me to confirm acceptance of three courses – a full course load – at Vanier for the Fall 2005 semester.
June 9: Accept
June 16: Drive to Lennoxville, say my goodbyes, and pack office into car:

Upshot: Get to live at home with husband and children!
The goodbyes were many and sad – I will miss Champlain so much! I made a lot of good friends there, and I had a great time working there. If the administration had agreed to my frequent suggestion of moving the whole shebang a mere 140 km closer to Montreal, I would still be there. As it stands, I haven’t officially quit, since Vanier can’t be any more definite about available courses after this coming semester. Realistically, though, I think everyone knows that this is pretty much the end of my Champlain career. Thankfully, everyone there is very supportive and understands why I have to leave.
I’m already scheduled to go back next week – the Rogue Women, a group of… well, women, who get together on a fairly regular basis to celebrate each other’s birthdays, and who welcomed me immediately into their ranks when I started at Champlain two years ago, are getting together for my birthday.
Obviously, I am very happy about the new gig at Vanier. I was at Vanier as a student years ago, and I consider that time the happiest I ever was as a student. Walking onto the campus feels good. There are teachers and other staff there who were there then, who remember me and are very welcoming! I have interesting courses to teach, and the department people I’ve met so far are friendly and interesting.
As I’ve said to a few people, if I can’t stay at Champlain forever, then Vanier is the place for me. Granted, there are not that many options when it comes to English Cegeps, but Vanier is at the top of my wish list – and even if there are no courses there in the Winter 2006 semester, my foot is in the door, and it’s only a matter of time before I’m there permanently.

One week ago, our class attended a lecture at John Abbott with Dr. Henry Giroux, a recent emigre from the US, who now teaches at McMaster, where he holds the Global Television Network Chair in Communication Studies. Giroux, who looks at little like the love child of Woody Allen and Joey Ramone, is a fascinating mind with a lot to say, especially when it comes the the US education and political systems.
Giroux and his wife, Dr. Susan Searls-Giroux, left the States for Canada – they are actual physical manifestations of the legendary intellectual arkload of people who fled the US when the Bush league were reinstated. Yes, Virginia, they really exist.
The following journal entry is how I responded to Giroux’s talk last week.

Continue reading “Psychology of Learning Journal Two”

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that some of my classmates read my journals – and then, of course, I immediately felt guilty for not posting this entry as soon as I finished it!
This journal is for the second course in the MEd program – all the courses include a journal component, which adds a sense of consistency as well as encourages us to reflect on what we’re learning and how we can use it in the classroom. So, voila – better late than never!
…

Continue reading “Psychology of Learning Journal One”

I’m just home from my very last College Teaching class – after the class, we went out for supper. Over the course of the meal, it was revealed that I am a blogger, and several of my classmates asked for my url.
Welcome!
You’ll note that the previous entry is my fifth journal entry – the others are also available, as are a couple of other reflections on this course. Just go to the Learning Curve section. If you’re interested in my faculty page, there’s a link in the sidebar (that’s the list of links over there <== ) under the 'Stuff for Students' heading.
Well, it's been a great semester (it feels a little weird that our semester's over when there's still a month of teaching left). I look forward to seeing you all, whether at the play next month, in phase II of the course, or elsewhere! Don't forget to eat your broccoli.

This semester I resumed the role of student for the first time in (mumble mumble) years. The experience has affected my teaching on two levels: first, through the actual content of the course, and secondly, through the experience of being a student again.
The content of the course has changed my teaching in a number of ways. I thought it might be useful to refer back to our course outline for the final journal entry – so I did:

Continue reading “When the teacher becomes the student”

So my office is very tidy.
My plants are watered and all dead leaves have been trimmed.
I have despammed my blog.
I have discovered that I am silver.
Now, I am seriously considering the following must-do projects:
1. update the blog template, cuz it’s spring
2. clean up my blogroll, cuz some of those people never post anyway
3. come up with something pertinent and deep to add to the debate going on over at Martine’s
4. clean my boots
5. create a list of all the little activities I engage in when I really should be marking essays.
One down…

The fourth journal assignment for the course I’m taking asks us to reflect on a teacher who acted as a mentor – we’re supposed to think about what this person did, how we felt, and how we’ve grown as a result.
A few years ago at a one-day motivational teaching seminar, the group leader asked us all to imagine a dinner table, around which were the people who’ve most influenced our lives. He then asked ‘how many of you had at least one teacher at the table?’
Everyone raised their hand – except me.
Maybe it’s just a question of what you think a mentor is – for me, a mentor is someone who makes you feel as though s/he has taken a special interest in your development. While I’ve had many great teachers, for whom I am thankful, there is no one teacher that made me feel as though I was a special project, as it were.
After much soul searching, however, I came up with this reflection.