Sunday, January 18, 2004
In the second class, we covered checklists, meetings, and politics. The class didn't go as planned. I believe I might have been too planned for this class. Tom Wilson, the city desk editor of the Courier, wanted to see how I teach and perhaps that led to extra performance pleasure.
The students easily covered the basics of meetings since many of them have workplace experience. When we started talking about the politics of meetings the class become more interesting and the discussion become more animated. I believe I revealed more than I wanted to about the way that I handle interpersonal conflicts.
We go to meetings all the time, but rarely are meetings run particularly well, nor is the follow-up done with discipline. It's not that people are deliberately dishonest, but we Canadians hate confrontation, so we patiently endure the boring meeting.
I try my best to improve the quality of the meetings that I attend, but it becomes tiresome, and often it's because people do not know how to chair meetings. We didn't really get into the art of chairing a meeting, but the students will get some real live practice next period.
To make the best of a meeting--it's not easy. Life is too short to engage in boring meetings.
The students easily covered the basics of meetings since many of them have workplace experience. When we started talking about the politics of meetings the class become more interesting and the discussion become more animated. I believe I revealed more than I wanted to about the way that I handle interpersonal conflicts.
We go to meetings all the time, but rarely are meetings run particularly well, nor is the follow-up done with discipline. It's not that people are deliberately dishonest, but we Canadians hate confrontation, so we patiently endure the boring meeting.
I try my best to improve the quality of the meetings that I attend, but it becomes tiresome, and often it's because people do not know how to chair meetings. We didn't really get into the art of chairing a meeting, but the students will get some real live practice next period.
To make the best of a meeting--it's not easy. Life is too short to engage in boring meetings.
The first class I introduced the outline and talk about my expectations. I enjoy the senior students who have registered for the class. Many of them seemed eager to involve themselves in discussion. I can see how some students might be intimidated by the social nature of the classroom.
One of the big promises of the class was my intention to used a teaching strategy called "Guided Communication." Guided communication means trying to get students to develop their curriculum by focussed questioning. This strategy is a personal risk on my part because I have a strong tendency to want to lecture and be corrective.
Another disadvantage of the strategy is that relies upon the experience of students. Next week, we shall see how the strategy works and how much I will to improvize around it.
All in all, I am very excited about PCOM 390. We got off to a good start.
One of the big promises of the class was my intention to used a teaching strategy called "Guided Communication." Guided communication means trying to get students to develop their curriculum by focussed questioning. This strategy is a personal risk on my part because I have a strong tendency to want to lecture and be corrective.
Another disadvantage of the strategy is that relies upon the experience of students. Next week, we shall see how the strategy works and how much I will to improvize around it.
All in all, I am very excited about PCOM 390. We got off to a good start.
