Process - learning moments throughout the course

I certainly cannot say that this class was a breeze for me. There were many times that I felt challenged, but through those challenges and questions is when learning happened. 

Week 2: Peer Interaction Task

This was the very first peer interaction task in the course (other than introducing ourselves)! I remember I had just gotten into the course from the waitlist and frantically tried to read through the syllabus, figure out how this course worked, how many tasks I had to complete, and whether I missed any discussions yet. I was not sure how much detail to go into and I was still a little hesitant about sharing a lot of personal information as I did not know my group members very well yet.

Week 2: Progress Log

For our Week 2 Progress Log, we had to reflect on what makes us feel safe, loved, powerful, free, and pleasured. I wrote down my though process for each one before completing the progress log. I had to think hard about myself and what it meant to feel these feelings in different contexts. For example, who makes me feel safe and where do I feel safe. I am glad I was able to learn more about myself and how what I need to create positive environments for myself. Some feedback I received was that I could think about how I could bring some of these ideas into the learning communities that I want to work with in the future.

Week 3: Peer Interaction Task 1

By Week 3, I started feeling more settled into the course. I began sharing more details about myself and about my life. I really wanted to get all my readings done and submit my work as early as possible to generate discussions. I was also able to comment and have talk about about my peers' experiences. As can be seen above, I do not think the discussions were extremely meaningful, but it was fun to get to know more about my group members.

Week 3 Peer Interaction Task 2

    For our second peer interaction task of the week, our group had to assign some people to be introverts and others as extroverts. Then, we had to answer some questions and complete some activities from the perspective of the group we were in. This task was definitely a learning moment for me as it was different than most of the other peer interaction tasks throughout the course. I was a little confused at first when I first read the instructions for this task, but I followed one of my group members' lead and I started the discussion for the extrovert group that I was assigned to. 

    As I mentioned above, I was slightly confused at first, but I tried my best to complete the discussion properly. Unfortunately, I only made one comment under the discussion and lost a mark as a result. This was definitely my mistake and I take full responsibility. Thankfully, I learned from this experience and it never happened again. After this task, I learned to make comments that were more meaningful and really contributed to the discussions. 

Week 4: Peer Interaction Task

    For Week 4, we had to come up with a "thinking, feeling" story to emphasize the type differences and the way that those with a particular type difference experience situations. As a feeler, I tend to get very emotional about situations that were difficult or distressing for me. I shared a story with my group about a time where I felt verbally attacked and insulted. The story I shared was extremely embarrassing for me and I never shared it with anyone outside of the people who were very close to me. Though it was not easy to share this story, I think it was a turning point in my learning. It was the first time sharing something so vulnerable about myself, but my group members were so supportive. They were extremely kind while also adding in their own perspectives as thinkers and feelers. 

    I became so much more comfortable with my group despite never meeting them in person, which is important. The ability to share these experiences despite being difficult created better and more enriching discussions and learning experiences.

Week 4: Peer Editing Task

One of our tasks this week was to create a lesson, post it in our discussion group, and peer-edit each other's lessons. We were only required to edit at least two of our peers' work. I completed this task before the deadline, but one of my group members only had feedback from one person. I would not want to be in that position where I only had feedback from one person instead of two, so I read through her story and lesson plan and provided feedback for her so that she could improve her lesson as much as possible!

Week 5: Peer Interaction Tasks

    For our Week 5 Peer Interaction Tasks, I felt like we had to be vulnerable with our group by telling a story about a time that we felt angry because of something a teacher did to us or someone else. Even though my story happened 10 years ago, I felt very sad for 12-year-old me. I felt like I was reliving the pain and embarrassment that my teacher caused me. Knowing my experiences during this assignment, I wanted to be very sensitive to my group members as they shared their own stories. I wanted to empathize with my group mates so that they did not feel uncomfortable with sharing these stories with me.

Week 9: Progress Log

    For our Progress Log in week 9, we had to construct our educational Credo. This was the first time I had heard about a Credo, so I felt overwhelmed at first. I was overwhelmed because it was a new term and I had no idea how to even start coming up with my Credo. Though it was not a requirement, I answered the questions that were provided to get me started in thinking about my Credo. I thought these were important to include because for each question, I had to dig deeper into myself and what kind of teacher I want to be, what parts of education I truly believe in, and where my passions lie. 

    I referred to the previous Progress Log in week 2 and noted the feedback I received. In the reflection portion of this Progress Log, I made sure to think about how I can incorporate my Credo into the learning environment in the future when I have my own classroom (or any learning environment I am a part of).

Week 10: Progress Log

For my Week 10 Progress Log, I again went into depth about my own experiences. It was sometimes hard to remember details about my experiences in the K-12 system. It was especially hard to remember my time in elementary school, but I remember my Grade 7 classroom the most because I had lots of feelings associated with that class and the teacher. I drew from those experiences, from some high school classes I remember, and from my experiences in university education courses. Though I went into lots of personal details, I think I could have also added a few sentences on how I can create more effective classroom rules in the future.