Teaching and Learning Conversations

Presenters: Kathryn Markham-Petro - St. Clair College& Kelley Crawford – Mohawk College

 

Power Point:

Introduction (Slide #2)

• Greg Allen, Professor of Plumbing (Apprenticeship), School of Skille Trades (St. Clair College)

(Slide #5)

Indigenous Acknowledge:

• I post/share St. Clair’s Land Acknowledgement with every class.

• The St. Clair Acknowledgement says in the doc not to show the pronouncement if sharing written, but student may not know how to pronounce the names of the First Nations, making them less likely or less comfortable to ask questions or seek information about them.

(Slide #6)

• I left it on screen & read a hard copy of the web page.

• The following are some thoughts:

  • “…paradigm of suffering in academia”

  • - For me: Having some students fail to absorb huge amounts of information (content) in an inadequate amount of time (allotted); while others (equipped & ready) do very well.

  • … why the difference in performance, and what can I do to mitigate one without detracting from the other without compromising my own time/ sanity/ resource?

• “How? move towards, What? practices that are flexible, equitable and sustainable for faculty & students.”

• See notes on hard copy & “self-compassion scores” Dr. Neff’s

• At this point my perception is that my course content is organized in what amounts to a huge data-dump onto apprentices. While there is an enormous wealth of information provided, the time allotted is insufficient. I also feel the need to reorganize content into a progressive learning model delivered in smaller bundles for proper “digestion”.

Question: Is it better to have more, smaller assignments; or to have fewer more comprehensive ones.

(Slide #7)

Q1 – Confirms professional perspectives. I agree with the idea put forth about compassion for others & that it can positively affect outcomes. However, the idea of self-compassion is emphasized here in a way that I had not previously pondered.

Q2 – My past T&L experiences have for the majority been very mechanical/ logical/ factual, with little or no connection to these concepts… other than the fact that I have tried to be a compassionate person (even when teaching/ assessing). But it had not previously been built into content/ lessons etc.

- Except trying to make content that all students would/ could understand.

Q3 – I think it is fantastic that this has been shared! It is helpful to me as a teacher in the trades whose primary approach has been passing on all relevant information & hoping I made it interesting enough to make it stick & motivate the students.

• They’ve shared it so that as many teachers as possible can have a framework for analyzing their approach, and an algorithm to apply it to their courses/ lessons/ content/ assessments.

(Slide #8)

• Treat everyone with kindness & respect

• Be aware of who your students are & interact with them in a way that recognizes their struggles.

• We are all in this together. We all have strengths, flaws, & challenges… & maybe trauma.

(Slide #9)

• Be less hard on ourselves; create & stick to boundaries; take time & resource for self-care

• Become aware of them as people & their struggles and goals, build it into the classroom… listen.

• Be clear, transparent, consistent, flexible, & mindful.

(Slide #10)

• Post presentation Questions:

• Mostly just need more details on the “How” to fit this all into my SWF?

The outstanding question left for me is:

Where do I find enough time to properly implement this (and many other T&L concepts) into my deliveries?

• The impact may be the difference between being implemented or not; or being properly integrated vs. just checking a box.

 

Final Thoughts…

• Great topic, well stated, really made me think about the self-compassion side of the discussion.

• Mental health among Skilled Trades students and professionals is something that is only recently beginning to be acknowledged within the industries. The need to introduce it on a large scale is critical. Implementing it with younger workers at the educational level will likely be a strategy of great effect. I'm hopeful to see this change take effect quickly with the next generation.