Stress happens. I even wrote about this last week and the impact stress has on our bodies and a neat trick to cope with it. However, a classmate in my instructional strategies course mentioned mindfulness as another coping strategy, and I wanted to look more into it.

First of all, what is mindfulness? According to the Mindfulness Practice for Stress and Coping program offered at Northwestern University, “mindfulness practice is a form of meditation that involves learning how to pay a special kind of attention to one’s experience. This special attention involves three elements: awareness, of the present moment, with acceptance. With these elements as objectives, mindfulness practitioners
develop the capacity to stay conscious of physical, emotional, and psychological, as well as external events, with increasing calmness of mind, with less preoccupation with the past, or worry about the future.”  In fact, those who practice mindfulness even experience physical benefits, not just mental relief. “Reduced physical pain, improvements in depression, decreases in stress, improved immune function, and decreased anxiety” are all benefits to practicing mindfulness to cope with stress.

Ronald Alexander, who holds a PhD and is the director of the OpenMind Institute and teaches at UCLA, Pepperdine, and Pacifica Graduate Institute, wrote an article for Psychology today, and recommends these steps to start:

1. “What do I feel right now?
2. Do these feelings benefit me in any way? If I feel anxious and fearful, do these emotions lead me to insights, or are they completely unwholesome responses that cause conflict, hold me back, and distract and dis-empower me?
3. If what I’m experiencing is in response to another person’s behavior, what’s the evidence that that person’s actions have little or nothing to do with me and are, instead, the result of what’s going on inside his own mind?
4. Is there anything I can do to help myself depersonalize the situation?
5. Are there practices I can use to nourish myself at this difficult time?”

Next time you are stressed try these steps! I know I will be using this technique this week! It’s a busy one ahead, and I am sick on top of it, so I will need all the help I can get!

Resources:

Alexander, Ronald. (March 29 2010). Psychology Today: Mindfully Managing Stress. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-wise-open-mind/201003/mindfully-managing-stress 

Creery, Jessica. (Date unknown). Northwestern University. Mindfulness Practice for Stress and Coping. Retrieved from: http://www.brain.northwestern.edu/pdfs/clinicaltrials/mindfulness_study.pdf

What is Jeopardy?!
*DING DING DING*

What a great idea! Using a game like Jeopardy can engage students to participate in active learning. In my workshops, I currently ask questions in the form of light questioning games or sometimes a crossword speed challenge and give Starbucks and Tim Hortons gift cards as a prize for the correct answer or first one completed. The enthusiasm is always hit or miss, sometimes students are into it and get all excited and try to win, and other times, I have to remind them there are prizes because they do not seem too excited to offer up an answer in the hopes of getting a free coffee or sandwich.  However, my questions are not flashy, there is no fanfare and sometimes it falls flat. A classmate in my instructional strategies course came up with an amazing way to engage them in a game that encouraged participation and active learning. Check out her presentation here, she uses Jeopardy to allow students to engage in a true game, have power over what topics they can answer questions in, and keep them interested. It encourages group participation and giving them control of the classroom. According to Barkley (2010), “we can help [students] learn by reversing our typical roles in the classroom. Instead of standing in front of the classroom working hard to present information as clearly as possible to students who are expected to sit quietly and absorb it, we can set up conditions where they are doing more of the work” (p. 23). This role reversal helps students do the work required to learn, and by engaging them in a game of Jeopardy, they teach themselves and each other in groups in a fun challenging atmosphere. I love this idea, and plan on using it thanks to my classmate who came up with it!

References:

Barkley, Elizabeth F. (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

Critical Thinking… It’s a lost art it seems.

However, it is not a new concept. in 1933, John Dewey, an American philosopher, psychologist, and education reformer, saw reflection as a further step in thinking.
Today, according to Fenwick & Parsons (2009), “the term critical thinking, or critical reflection, defines processes that involve discerning, analyzing, and evaluating one’s thoughts, activities, or choices. Usually one thinks critically -such as listing pros and cons- about a specific issue in order to judge whether a decision makes good sense” (p.104).

As educators, it is important to teach students how to reflect on what the are learning and what they are thinking. Education is more about learning HOW to think rather than WHAT to think. A classmate in my instructional strategies class created a beautiful slideshow that iterates what Critical Thinking in the Classroom should look like.
Check it out, it is beautifully done and explains how it impacts the role of the learner and educator, and outlines best practices.
Check it out, you won’t be disappointed!

References:

Fenwick, Tara J. & Parsons, Jim. (2009). The Art of Evaluation: A Resource for Educators and Trainers. Toronto, Ontario: Thompson Educational Publishing Inc.

This is a relatively new concept to me, but one that I have enjoyed all my life, even if I wasn’t sure what it was. Recently a classmate in my PIDP 3250 Instructional Strategies class posted a forum discussion post on what Flow Theory is. For those of you who don’t yet know, Flow Theory, originated by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, refers to a state of learning that is so focused, one can lose themselves in time and find enjoyment in the task. According to this article written for Learning Theories website, “Flow is an optimal psychological state that people experience when engaged in an activity that is both appropriately challenging to one’s skill level, often resulting in immersion and concentrated focus on a task. This can result in deep learning and high levels of personal and work satisfaction.” My classmate posted this TED Talk of Csíkszentmihályi describing the flow theory, check it out.

However, this got me to thinking. I find that when I engage myself in my coursework, I always manage to achieve this state of learning. I become efficient, concise, and very productive. I am calm and happy, and realize now that this is the flow state he is talking about. The problem is I am constantly being interrupted by work. I get up every day at 5 or 6 am (depending on when I can drag myself up out of my comfy bed) to start working on homework before work. Wednesdays are especially productive as I do not start work until later. Yesterday, I was in such a strong flow state, that when I was forced to shut it all down so I wouldn’t be late for work, I was annoyed and upset. I did not want to stop my homework for work. Has anyone else been put in a foul mood because their flow state was interrupted? I found it to be an interesting response as normally I feel a brief flash of annoyance but am able to move on and forget quickly. Yesterday however, I was so deep into this state of learning I was annoyed all day. Has anyone else felt this response before?

References:

1. Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1996). Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Collins. Chicago
2. Csíkszentmihályi, M. (2008). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.
3.  Csíkszentmihályi, M. (2004). TED Talk. Flow: The Secret to Happiness. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow

In my PIDP 3250 Instructional Strategies, we post to a forum online on a variety of topics that explore educational theories, strategies, and concepts. It is a rich learning environment, and usually sets off my curiosity to delve further into that topic myself.
This morning, for example, I engaged in a discussion on managing stress in the learning environment. We have all found ourselves overwhelmed and stressed with a large course load, and as educators, we have all worked with students feeling the same crunch. In fact, even looking outside of the education word, everyone has stress. Every adult I know, is stressed about something int heir life. I know kids who are stressed.  You cannot run away from it, so what if instead, we embrace it?

According to Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist, she explores stress and its impact on our health on her TED Talk How To Make Stress Your Friend. When investigating the impact stress has on your health, “people who experienced a lot of stress in the past year had a 43% increased risk of dying. BUT that was only true for the people who also believed that stress was harmful to your health. People who experience a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful were no more likely to die. In fact they had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study, including people who had relatively little stress.” Interesting isn’t it?

So really, perhaps coping with stress is not as important as not believing it will kill you. McGonigal discusses a study done at Harvard University, in which participants were given ways to interpret stress response as helpful, not hindering. Typical physiological response to stress includes heart pounding, sweating, breathing faster. These symptoms are usually mistaken for anxiety. However, the study challenged them to interpret those symptoms as positives. That pounding heart? It’s simply preparing your for action. That fast breathing? It’s a good thing, it is actually just getting more oxygen to your brain. The participants in this study that were able to view their stress symptoms in a positive light rather than a negative light, were less stressed out, and more confident. In a deeper more physiological level, the heart vessels stayed relaxed while stressed if they could interpret that stress as a positive thing. In normal stress circumstances, the blood vessels constrict which is unhealthy and why stress is attributed to cardiac problems.

It is a very brilliant TED Talk, and I hope you find some time to watch it!! And remember, the next time you’re stressed, think about it in a positive way!  https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend

in 1956, Benjamin Bloom, through collaboration with Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl, created a framework for categorizing educational goals. I am sure many of you have heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy before, it is very well known.  In fact, it has been the primary focus of most traditional education since its creation, and is frequently used to structure curriculum learning objectives, assessments and activities. Below is the taxonomy pyramid that explains each component. 

Interesting stuff, eh? Used for education primarily, but just how much of this is applicable to our every day lives? I found a great video that explains Blooms Taxonomy, according to Seinfeld. I hope you enjoy!!

I keep coming across articles and videos that discuss learning and teaching outside the box. From my last post about the Power of the Introvert by Susan Cain to today’s gem: Let’s Teach Mastery – Not Test Scores by Sal Khan. I love this new way of thinking when it comes to teaching. I am just starting my career as an educator, and I love all the new techniques and tools I am learning through my Provincial Instructor Diploma program at Vancouver Community College.

According to Khan, a hedge fund analyst who also posts math tutorials on YouTube, he discusses how in our education system, we keep pushing on through the content, and as a result, we leave many students behind. When you shift your focus and begin to teach to mastery, where students understand completely the concepts learned, then move onto the next and build this level of education much like building a solid foundation for a home, you can produce better students and better educated minds.
Khan points out, that if you do not teach to mastery, you can risk students getting discouraged as the material becomes more challenging. Perhaps they simply needed more time to understand, or a different approach to learning the content.  This runs the risk of not allowing people to fully tap into their potential, mastering their fields of study.

The next challenge is to determine how I apply this to my own workshops and courses, if I do. Allow me to think out loud here, the way my workshops are designed is I work with private practices in the dental community. Firstly, students attend workshops and learn the basic foundations of what is expected of them in clinical. This includes how to interpret radiographs to come to a dental hygiene diagnosis, how to perform a head and neck examination to detect oral cancer, and how to interpret the assessment data each hygienists is supposed to collect to properly treatment plan and implement care. Once all this information is taught to the students, I go into the clinic and act as an assistant to the hygiene team. I help remind them of what they know and what they learned, and allow them time to practice their new knowledge in a judgement free zone. It is my favorite part of the job. I am able to help students master the information they learned, and in a way, feel that the program is successful BECAUSE I use mastery based learning. I had no idea that is what I was doing.
You see, I work with my mentor. She has been in the dental profession for over 35 years, has a high level of education, and is also a successful graduate of the PID program. She has been mentoring me and leading me along since I started my dreams to become an educator 4 years ago. The further I get into this program, the more I realize how much she took from this program and applied it to our designs.

It is a very rewarding to see our systems and processes are evidence based and a reflection of higher level learning.

In my Provincial Instructors Diploma, we use the APA format for papers and assignments. I like to reference Purdue OWL for formatting help (click the link).

However, I am almost done this program (just a couple classes left) and I was asked for the first time to insert “hanging indentations” for my references. I have to admit, I went straight to google for help on this one.  Here is a quick video that shows how to do this on a word document. I will be saving this video for myself (and others) for my next paper.

Also, I quite like the way it looks.. Extra style!
Happy Writing!

CAN I SAY AMEN?!?
I just listened to a Ted Talk by Susan Cain on The Power of Introverts. (Click the link to watch it now)

Let me explain: I am an introvert through and through. The idea of staying home alone bring me a secret excitement that is almost unparalleled. (Maybe a Winery can beat it, but marginally). The reason is simple: I need alone time to recharge my batteries.

You see, unlike all my friends, I absolutely NEED that time. My profession dentistry means I have to engage people all day, quell their fears, and do a challenging job all the while chit-chatting to make them more comfortable. It is hard. I know everyone has a hard job, but I feel the social aspect of my job is the hardest part. I have learned to extrovert myself when needed, like at work, and when I am with all my outgoing and extroverted friends, but deep down, I always look forward to the part of the evening I get to go home and be alone. Well, mostly alone, I live with my partner, but he knows by now to take advantage of this “me”time so he can play his PlayStation without interruption.
I am always being asked by people why I need so much alone time. Why I can’t just come out again (for the 4th day in a row).. Why I decline invites (even with nothing better to do or previous plans made). Is it because I am shy….or antisocial?

Simply put…NO.  According to Cain “[Introversion] is different from being shy. Shyness is about fear of social judgement. Introversion is more about how do you respond to stimulation, including social stimulation.” I am not afraid of social judgement. I am comfortable in my skin and happy with who I am and therefore, don’t care what others think of me. I am not shy or scared of judgement. But I decompress in a less demanding social environment. When I am alone, I can relax. I can shut off my brain (believe me, it took years to be able to do it, and it is a beautiful thing) and just simply, rest. I sometimes read a book, tidy up around me, organize my drawers, or watch TV. But the point is that I can focus on whatever it is I am doing without being interrupted*, pulled away by my spouse for help, or have another list of things that must be done. It is a time for renewal. A time for ME.
You see, as Cain explains, being an introvert is not a BAD thing. It does not mean you’re shy or not as intelligent as an extrovert. It means you thrive in a different type of environment.

As an educator, I have to put myself into an extroverted position often, however, I am interested in tailoring some workshops more to an introvert. Cain is right, our educational system is built for the extroverts. I want to redesign a workshop that can be completed for the introverts. We are many, and we are often misunderstood.
All Hail the Introvert!

*I love all my extroverted friends and their phone calls and texts, and especially my charming extroverted spouse too!