A Time for Reflection and Re-evaluation...

"Worrying won't stop the bad things from happening, it just stops you from enjoying the good." –Unknown

I came to realise today after many weeks of inner turmoil and struggle that I cannot control everything that is happening within my life and that sometimes you have to give in to the natural forces of nature and stop, slow down and breath for a moment. Take some time to re-evaluate your life. Rather than continuing on, struggling to deliver what I believe to be a less than below par level of work and performance, I must focus on what is important and prioritise in order to attain the best results I am realistically able to produce at this moment in time.

We’ve all experienced difficulties, hardship and stressful events, and they may have had a positive or negative influence on our actions and decisions. At the moment, I have been experiencing a particularly difficult period where I have tried to maintain a certain air of normality and continue on to the best of my efforts. However, as much as I try, I have reached a point where the psychological has influenced the physical and I realise I am not doing myself any favours. The recent experience of my recent micro-teach session has taught me that, a lesson I have duly noted and paid heed to.

We are warned constantly about the dangers of stress, the silent killer, its prolonged effects and how to recognise the symptoms, but how well do we actually listen to what our bodies are actually telling us? Far too often we ignore the obvious signs and flippantly disregard the evidence that all is not well, until a time when suddenly, it’s too late. As a student, parent or employee, we are all prone to succumbing to the hidden pressures of everyday modern living. Throw in an unexpected event and the whole house of cards teeters and may threaten to topple at any moment.

So how do we combat such an prominent adversary? What weapons do we employ to defeat this unrelentless and powerful foe? Well, admitting that it is a problem is a start, sharing and talking about what is happening, perhaps within a professional and structured counselling environment can certainly help to identify positive steps one can take to initiate the changes needed to return life to normal.

Then of course there’s medication, quick and effective methods of pharmaceutically altering the destructive chemical imbalances within the brain and body to restore homeostasis within. Not always popular, but certainly an option. Then there are things like adopting the Mindfulness approach where one attempts to achieve a mental state by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.

For the moment I have to reflect, adapt and initiate some changes. I am committed to finishing this course, there is no question of that and yet I must acknowledge that there may be a few tough challenges ahead. I must not however, see it as any sort of weakness or defeat on my part. Having the belief in oneself to overcome life’s difficulties is after all one of humanities greatest achievements and in itself can be a powerful weapon to be wielded in the battle against stress and its causes.

Maybe I'll just sit on the beach and think about things for a while and ponder...

The Micro-teach Session - Pleasure or Pain?

It is the eve before my second scheduled micro-teaching session as part of my new course and I find myself pondering on how I'm going to be feeling 24 hours from now. If my present condition is anything to go by, I think I'm in for an unsettling time, yet for the 100th time I ask myself why am feeling this way? Is it my chosen topic? No, I'm pretty happy with that and feel that my knowledge and understanding are at a sufficient level. Is it the learner group? Again no. This is once again being delivered to my fellow PCET partners in crime, to whom I'm sure will be gentle with me (although I may be wrong).

I think if truth be known, the only thing I am worried about is me, my own ability and self confidence levels which I am very much aware are not up to the normal everyday scratch at the moment. However, the effect it is having, is impacting on my ability to produce a certain standard of work which is slightly worrying, at least from my perspective. I have tried to justify these feelings on the fact that we are unable to use standard ICT tools for our sessions, no power point or any other type of presentation gizmo, but if I'm honest that has very little to do with it at all.

Today I witnessed three exemplary micro-teach sessions from three members of the group, delivered with such enthusiasm and confidence, and I don't think I'm wrong in saying it, with a certain amount of enjoyment and pleasure, which was clearly evident in their demeanor. I can only hope to draw upon their enthusiasm and hopefully use it to inspire my own motivation and deliver something as interesting and enjoyable, rather than the painful expectations I have at the moment.

I do take solace in recognising the purpose behind these micro-teach sessions, is for us to learn through experience, experiment with alternative teaching strategies and learning techniques and as such to make mistakes in an safe environment. So just like going to get vaccinated, I need to focus, take a deep breath and after a brief moment of pain, I can relax and enjoy the rest of the show with a lollipop.

Using Blogs as a Teaching Resource - A review...

As part of my new blogging experience I’ve been asked to review other blogs that I may find useful during my current educational learning experience. One such blog that I have encountered is entitled eLearning Industry, which boasts as being the largest online community of professionals involved in the eLearning industry. I must admit that at first glance I was impressed at the large collection of eLearning articles, concepts and resources available written by expert authors within their field.

I found particular interest in the recent article on The Impact of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs In eLearning as I felt it could be related to the increased use of IT within the teaching sphere and how it can relate to both blended and flipped learning approaches to be used with our students. Maslow (1987) believed that individuals are all motivated by intrinsic factors, regardless of economic status or cultural background, where as human beings we seek to fulfill the more basic needs before moving to the next.

It has been argued that Maslow’s Hierarchy can help with student motivation; it fuels our student’s desire to achieve their goals and ambitions. The article argued how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be natural fit for eLearning relating it to each of the needs as highlighted within the differing levels of the pyramid. The article was informative and interesting, full of useful links and valid arguments.

This was but one article, several others make for just as informative reading, such as articles on Blended Learning Techniques and a list of highly informative Ted Talks for educational learning. I would recommend this blog as a potential bookmark in any trainee teaching student's online library list. Of course I appreciate and respect that there are many other educational blogs available within the bloggersphere, as such I hope that I have simply raised awareness of how useful such sites can be.

Reference:

Maslow, A. H., 1987. Motivation and Personality. 3rd ed. New York: Harper Collins.