Portfolio EDUC5105

This week we spent some time discussing the the role of facilitator in education. In my job I see myself as a facilitator, but haven't previously thought much about how to be a strong facilitator and how that looks in different contexts. I think it would be difficult to transition to teaching fully online as it is a totally different dynamic and you don't typically get the same types of relationships you do when you see your students on a regular basis. We were asked to reflect back on our previous online learning experiences. When I took a few minutes to think about it, I realized I have done a lot more online courses than I have realized. Most of the online courses I have done have been related to education, though there were a few that were not. The ones that weren't related to education had similar formats-- read, listen, and/or watch something, complete a multiple choice quiz, and go on to the next level and continue until all levels are complete. I suppose that serv

This week we switched to an "uncourse" model, which was new to me. This is my second to last course, so it threw me for a little loop at first until I realize I needed to check into their forums more frequently. It gave us the opportunity to drive our learning and focus on topics that were of interest to us. Through these discussions, we made an activity design. Our task this week was to design a web based learning experience that fit our teaching context. Building on last week, we had to ensure that it was meaningful, memorable, and motivational. I took some time to consider what I could do to make an activity that was meaningful, memorable, and motivational for my groups that I work with who are all working at different levels and have diverse abilities. Since I am currently in the middle of a week of IPP meetings, that was at the forefront of my brain. As appropriate and possible, we like to have our students participate in their meetings as it is a valuable experience

This unit we focused on establishing context-- meaningful, memorable, and motivational.  Though he discusses the importance of all three,  Allen (2007) states that, " Learning  experiences must always be  meaningful  if they are to be successful. (p.137) I fully agree.  Though this is important with all learners, I find it is increasingly important when working with diverse learners who are more at risk to be disengaged, reluctant, and unconfident in their abilities as a learner. "o letter"   is licensed under  CC0 1.0  In my teaching context, I often see meaningful as being authentic and real life experiences. Though outing are an important part of my teaching, it is not practical or realistic to do them daily. What we can do though, is build on those skills necessary for various outings so that students can practice and grow and then have the opportunity to generalize when we do go out. Additionally, we do a lot of learning across settings in our school. I love

This week we were asked to try the Teaching Perspectives Inventory ( http://www.teachingperspectives.com/tpi/) . This was an interesting way to reflect on my teaching practices and perspectives. M y results of the TPI seemed to be somewhat accurate to how I view myself as a teacher.  In some ways I was surprised by some of my results, though I see how they came to be.   I think it is important to note that in some ways I answered the questions as a Learning Centre teacher, though there were times my first response would be to answer as though I was back in an English classroom. I had to remind myself to keep the same teaching context and group of students in mind while answering the questions instead of toggling back and forth based on the questions. With the role I am currently in, I think I answered the questions differently than if I were teaching English again. Artifact 1: TPI Inventory Results  I was slightly surprised that nurturing was my highest (just slightly,