Course 3: Overview of Educational Issues

Overview of Educational Issues was the most transformational of all of my graduate courses. While I was completing the course work and the readings, I was frustrated and dejected for a variety of reasons. However, this course had a significant impact on the way I think about teaching and learning.

My main frustration in the course came from assigned group work. I understand why we group work is important, but it was explained in the course outline that we would be assigned groups to complete most summative tasks. Not only was this frustrating because my two assigned group mates were from very far away (Kuwait and Thompson) but also the standard issue with group work that some people do not pull their weight but yet receive the same mark when working in a group. However, the one positive that came from this group work was utilizing google docs to collaborate. Although not everyone in my group pulled their weight, as expected, those of us who did were able to use google docs to collaborate in real time, even though were a number of time zones apart. This made the process of writing research papers collaboratively much more efficient. It also helped me see how powerful a tool like google docs could be, and I have since integrated this tool into every class that I teach. This experience also reminded me that when I assign students in my classroom to working in groups, it is critical that it is not for marks, as that is not an accurate measure of an individual student's understanding. I also allow students to create their own groups, so that they can choose to work with people that they trust will pull their weight. If they make a bad choice, they can learn from it and choose more wisely the next time.

          

Aside from the frustrating nature of group work, the content and the readings in the course were very valuable. They challenged me to re-think what it means to learn, and how the system can be revamped to allow students to formulate their own reality. The readings, built upon the ideas I developed in my previous course and encouraged me to completely shift towards a student centered learning environment. This allows students can begin the learning process based on their current understanding. I also became very aware that the things I say about certain curricular concepts bias students perceptions about what they should think. If I told students what I thought about the War of 1812, and they told it back to me, students are not required to think. This prompted me to re-focused my planning to emphasize opportunities for students to access higher level thinking concepts. The emphasis was no longer on memorization, but on analyzing sources, applying concepts, and creating content to demonstrate their new knowledge.  As I stepped to the side, I noticed that when students begin to discover social injustices through their own research, they are more vested in the learning process which makes the learning more transformative.

The Critical Pedagogy Reader was the backbone of the course, and the content was applicable to many other courses. The readings in the book, which will be emphasized in my annotated bibliography, provided me with a foundation for understanding inquiry approaches, critical literacy, and ultimately the oppressive nature of schooling. Although while I was reading the book, it was hard to understand, now that I understand these concepts they have re-shaped the way I think about student learning and education in general.