We conducted educational profiles with a partner. We were to ask our colleague about their school experiences. This was very enlightening to find out that the common theme from each group was that school was a bad experience with unkind teachers who were thoughtless in remarks or actions. I can attest to this as I had a terrible school experience. I was strapped for being left handed and writing messy, I was strapped for asking a question (which was very respectful), I was strapped for falling asleep in class (I was in grade 1). Others had similar experiences. I commented that this is the reason I like to teach. I don't ever want students to be treated as unkind as I was. I go out of my way to be compassionate and caring. Many others in our group said the same thing. This class opened my eyes to the importance of teaching and how it can affect people the rest of their lives. We can all remember our favourite teacher can't we? And we can all remember the mean and uncaring teacher as well. Teachers have a lot of power!!
Our second course is called "Ethics and Leadership". I went into this class groaning a bit thinking it might be a bit boring. Well-I was wrong. It is engaging and I have once again learned so much. We are learning about the various ways to look at ethical dilemmas using frameworks such as the ethic of justice, ethic of caring, ethic of critique etc. We take each of these ethics and unpact them looking at articles and case studies. We have daily group discussions to fully understand what each ethic means to our teaching practice. Very fascinating. We have a big project to complete. It is looking at an ethical or moral issue at our place of work and then using our new found ethical definitions-we review, critique and ultimately look for a solution to the dilemma. These are to be true issues within our work place. By learning how to critique and solve issues using these tools we can continue to work through issues throughout our career. How great is that?
We had a group question and answer session today. We discussed our ethical dilemma with our group members and they offered suggestions and helped determine which ethical framework would be best for us to use. So, with my pages and pages of notes from my group members I will start my assignment. Just so you all know...the assignment is 5000 words (yup) and has to be done within a week. Ahhhhhhh
Hope you enjoyed a day in the life of a doctoral student. It is very interesting, hard, stimulating, tiring, and a wonderful experience.
Just to clarify...one of the articles sent out early in this doctoral session was the skill (?!) around procrastination!
ReplyDeleteSoooo, Cathy, I'm here reading and responding to your blog while my not-even-close-to-5000word paper is still in the very early draft stage.
But I'm going to follow my ethic of care in letting you know that you are not alone in cyberspace...we are here with you and wondering 'what are you going through?'. But I won't take up too much time because others have an equal right to post their thoughts around the ethic of justice too! Although not everyone will have access to a computer tonight - I wonder if they feel marginalized and silenced? No doubt the ethic of critique will help them find a voice.
So that I can look at myself in the mirror and sleep well tonight, I need to follow my heart and work on my paper now. This small act of virtue gives me great joy!
See you in class,
Monica
LOL-good use of our ethics terms Monica!! Well done. See you tomorrow
ReplyDeleteYikes 5000 words. However you will be one class closer to completion, which sounds nice does't it.
ReplyDeleteBridget
Sure does. 2 down and 6 more to go!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us be part of your virtual talking circle, so to speak! Just to correct one note about the experiences of your cohort in school, I had a most idyllic K-7 school experience. In fact, grade one was so awesome in my six yr old mind that I decided right then that teaching was going to be my thing, and I even loved the "Run Spot Run" readers!
ReplyDeleteYes, procrastination on the 5000 (or 3500!) word paper is where I'm at too. I napped, got ice-cream, did laundry - and now I'm finally working in it, until I accepted the blog distraction.
By the way, I don't call it procrastination, I call it "percolating" as the paper, I trust, I hope, is undergoing creative birth in my mind before I can bring it forth via the keyboard. Speaking of percolation, time to fill up my iced coffee, again.
Mom -one day I will teach you the incredible art of writing a paper the night before. True, the amount of stress you experience in one day may be double what you experience writing it early, but think of all the free time you will have? Trust me -nothing can touch the brilliance of fresh thoughts that haven't been "tampered with" or overly edited and earning that A almost seems sweeter knowing you spent about a tenth of the time everyone else did! Hmmm maybe I won't teach you, I can keep the glory all for myself...
ReplyDeleteOh do tell my brilliant daughter!!
ReplyDelete