In trying to figure out how to complete the video assignment on instructional strategies, I have poured over quite a number of websites, YouTube videos, and software offerings. I wanted to share with everyone the one that has piqued my interest, PowToon. It seems reasonably easy to work with but best of all have been the resources they have produced to support the use of their package.

This video is an absolute must-see for anyone considering developing a video of their own. The directions offered by Ilya Spitalnik, PowToon's Chief Executive Unicorn, were literally the proverbial guiding light!
Check it out.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyB1Y9xkSec

I have been really struggling with this concept of a "learning journal" that we are tasked with in our assignments. In doing some reading on different websites, I came across the books written by Geoff Petty"Teaching Today" and "Evidence Based Learning".
Mr. Petty has a phrase "theory-in-use" that he uses to describe "What you believe learning to be, and how you believe teachers can bring learning about." (Petty, 2009). His advice is that we utilize this "theory-in-use" to guide us in how we choose, implement, evaluate and adjust our instructional strategies in our classrooms, effectively creating a "learning cycle".  A major part of this "learning cycle", is the use of the learning journal to record the strategies that we have laid out in our lesson plans, the response of the student to those strategies, listing what worked and how, as well as what did not and why. We then review and reflect on our results and set about keeping what worked and removing what didn't.

The key is to determine why a particular strategy worked. In one example given in Teaching Today (Petty, 2009), the teacher has used a classification game in her lesson plan for figures of speech where the students would decide which category each phrase fit, metaphor or simile. In her reflections contained in her journal she was able to determine what was successful in the lesson and why. The game was fun, so the students were willingly engaged. It displayed the students level of understanding and skill at applying it in a far less threatening way than had she simply given them a written test and then scored their work. Now the teacher is able to determine whether this instructional strategy of the "classification game", can be used in other areas of her "theory-in-use" for other lessons in the future.

Ref.
Petty, G.(2009) Teaching Today A Practical Guide. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes
Geoff Petty - Improve your Teaching

Self direction is becoming such an important part of our learning environments now, but how do we manage ourselves as self-directed learners? If we are unable to manage the change from our own histories of traditional learning, how will we ever be able to facilitate the changes with our students?

One of the many resources available comes from Singapore Management University.
SMU Centre for Teaching Excellence - Becoming a Self-directed Learner

Within this resource are ideas to help round out the complete process of how to achieve self-direction. The level of self-direction that we and our students will need to acquire is so much more than just finding the motivation to proceed. We must also learn how to manage our time, share our questions within our groups to help see all sides of a topic as well as learn new methods of presenting our findings and support information.

As I begin the next phase of my journey through the PID Program with VCC, I am involved in learning about instructional strategies.

Through the early reading assignments from Student Engagement Techniques by Elizabeth F. Barkley, I am finding a personal relevance to this particular topic. Many of the examples and explanations presented are ones that I wish I was aware of much earlier in my parenting days. In the simplest of terms, I might have been a better teacher and facilitator with my perpetual students, my own children.

One of my favourite concepts centers on student engagement and its role in learning. Barkley comments that learning can occur without teaching, but teaching without learning is just talking. I think I spent too much time just talking to my kids.

Learning Partner Web Conference

In discussion with my learning partner, Kimberly, I learned how recognizing and  adapting to the cultural needs, backgrounds and resources brought to the class by each of our students, can help us to provide diverse instruction. The inclusion of cultural differences and approaches is vital to our success as instructors.

These cultural differences don't need to be derived from the participants being from different countries. The use of online tools and resources such as Skype and Facebook have required both of us to leap forward and do things in a new and totally different way than what we are accustomed to. In the development of our own course materials we realize that we must be aware that the instructions as well as the tools, must be familiar to our students or we need to structure our lessons to include the basics of how to use the new tools and resources in a way that ensures the likelihood of the students succeeding. The environments of our personal trade backgrounds are such that there is always room to include input from our students in our learning plans and teaching methods. Whether it be the inclusion of a new spice in a recipe for food cooked in Kimberly's class, or the apprentices learning a different way of laying out the wiring in a building in my classes, there is always a need for cultural awareness in the learning styles and needs of our students.

Trends in Multicultural Learning Settings
 
 In the same way that Canada is experiencing an influx of immigrant workers coming to fill the void created by the increasing numbers of resident trades workers retiring, so too will our classes fill with those same new workers advancing their educations.  These new students will be encouraged to enroll in online learning, usually due to the same scheduling restrictions experienced by those presently involved in these online programs.

It will be up to the instructors of these programs to adapt to the diversity of students' levels of understanding when they are composing their curriculum and rubrics. This article explains one area of concern and offers suggestions as to how confusion of the students may be reduced by using a more culturally sensitive approach to communicating instructions. While the main focus of the article is in addressing the language of the course rubric, the same principles apply with the course instructional materials as well. Where students from some cultures and learning backgrounds will have a clear vision of the intent of the instructor's directions, others may struggle with those same instructions unless some form of translation or interpretive explanation is given.

This trend toward fulfilling the requirements of the culturally diverse classroom will be an ongoing one that is fed not only by the needs of new students but also by the need to keep up with the technology of the day by the instructor. This will hopefully help reduce the culture-based communication gap between instructors and their students.

Cultural Sensitivity Needed In Online Discussion Rubric Language

Roles of the Adult Educator
 
In regard to the Roles of the Adult Educator I found that this article shed some light on the true diversity of the students. We as educators must adapt not only our instructional methods and material but also modify our personal perceptions and prejudices. The points made regarding these perceptions and prejudices help us to conform to the needs of our multicultural classrooms, regardless of the culture, race or environmental situation.

Irish and Scrubb (2012) state that "A critical analysis of one's own cultural assumptions is foundational to culturally-responsive teaching and learning." Without analyzing through reflection, educators leave themselves open to shortcomings in instruction resulting from their own misconceptions or stereotypes that they direct toward their students. A simplified example of this is how many people, when trying to communicate with someone whose native language is different from their own, have a tendency to raise their voices. In cultures where raising your voice is only done in instances where the speaker is either angry or demeaning, this tendency of speaking louder can be misinterpreted easily for being rude or angry toward the student. This ultimately results in a loss of respect for the instructor by the student or worse, the student perceiving that the instructor doesn't respect them. In construction trades training it is easy to assume that basic construction skills are universal. This is not the case when the student has already begun learning in another country where resources, methods and environments are different from what we have here in Canada. If a worker who has come from Hawaii were to be instructed prepare a wood-framed wall for installation of drywall, he would likely leave out the steps of adding insulation or vapour barrier sheeting, since insulating a structure is not required on Hawaii. Being aware of such differences in the background of our students, is just one portion of the role we play as instructor in our diverse classrooms.


Five Competencies for Culturally Competent Teaching and Learning