My Adventure Through PIDP

I was looking around the internet for a tool that could very quickly identify learning gaps. I like the idea of running a backchannel when it can be beneficial, but I can see how a backchannel could become a distraction. I stumbled upon AnswerGarden, which seems to fit what I was looking for! AnswerGarden is an online tool that allows the instructor to post a comment or question, and very quickly build a word cloud based on the feedback from…

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I love the idea of this silent discussion. Rule one being – no talking. I think this really allows all students the opportunity to freely express what’s on their mind without fear of being judged, mocked, or belittled. The second big win is the chalk talks can have so many purposes! Like Jared mentions, he uses them to see what the students know, what they want to know, and what they learnt. The possibilities almost limitless, and quite flexible. The…

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An alternative title I had in mind was “Two things I don’t particularly enjoy talking about”. Joking of course, I just dislike the self imposed pressure of being on the spot, my own spot! Where do I see myself in 5 years as an instructor? A more refined, resourceful, reflecting individual than I am today, while still maintaining my personal demeanor and core values. Three things I hope to actively work on, and achieve on or before 5 years time:

Through reading Brookfield’s chapter on understanding students’ resistance to learning I was blindsided by the vast amount of reasons he highlights that can cause or be reasons for students, resistance to learning. The following video from Thats Easy Learning on YouTube echoes many of Brookfield’s thoughts. Brookfield (2015) also brought a very insightful and obvious (with the benefit of hindsight) point that as teachers, we generally teach what we are passionate about. If we are passionate about what we’re teaching,…

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Brookfield talks of a website called TodaysMeet in his book The Skillful Teacher which caught my eye. He describes it as an area where students can throw out thoughts, ideas, and questions as they occur to them. How he describes his use case, I assume he has students post up in the room as the lesson is happening. While I generally frown on the idea of phones/laptops being used during a lesson, I can definitely see the advantages here if…

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In Brookfield’s book The Skillful Teacher he dedicates a chapter to defining what the power dynamic looks like in the classroom, and how we as instructors can start to rationalize with students the decisions we make with this perceived power we have. He also points out that students have power in the classroom as well. Brookfield (2015) brought up some very interesting points when talking about power. No matter how neutral we believe we are being, we still hold power…

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