Procedure: Until Further Notice, Celebrate Everything!

Earlier today I returned from a weekend-long retreat on Bowen Island, more specifically the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) Fall Institute. At this institute, we focus on celebrating and developing our skills as facilitators of ISWs.

My attitude during this retreat was interesting, consuming. Whenever I attend workshops for facilitators, I can get a little hypersensitive. I’m a “beginner” at facilitating (and feel like a novice among all the facilitators I sit with at the ISW Fall Institute) and worry about all sorts of stuff. I worry that my comments are too “novicey”, too uneducated in terms of teaching and learning (which I actually don’t feel too bad about since this is not my current academic endeavour), or somehow too offensive or rude, which I never intend (I just overanalyze everything that comes out of my mouth afterwards). My confidence level is shot after one unintended flub. It can be fairly draining.

Despite my harsh self-criticizing, I actually enjoy going to the Institute. I went last year and had a trying time, but overall I would say that the time is so valuable. Just because I feel self-consious doesn’t mean I don’t learn, gain new ideas, or engage with the themes we discuss and try on. Now, I’ll share a point form list of tidbits I have walked away with this year, though I won’t flush them out tonight. I am mentally drained, and have a lab meeting presentation to prepare.

-I came across this wonderful quote, “until further notice, celebrate everything!” (Unknown). I try to maintain a joyful state in life – which I can’t deny is challenging at times – and so I resonate with this quote as it sums up my most positive state perfectly.

-I connected with some old, and new friends. I was able to reconnect with some people I haven’t seen since last year’s Institute, and got to know the new participants. In some cases I didn’t interact much with some of last year’s participants (the size of last year’s group was more than double this year’s), and so I was able to build my relationship with them this time around, which was great. I had some very special moments with some of the participants; some seemed to read my (most sensitive) mind and help me work through challenges, and I connected in teaching philosophies and ideas with others.

-Does expert vs. novice mean the same thing as teacher vs. student? In general, I think many students (and teachers) would say yes. I discovered through reflection this weekend, with the help of some very excellent facilitators, that one of my major pedagogical goals is to correct this, as I disagree with that view. It was a very wonderful realization, and not only that, but I received some ideas and guidance from these excellent facilitators!

-I challenged ideas. Sometimes I felt like the only person speaking to one perspective (well…at least one time that I remember specifically). In another moment, I was actually offended by the task at hand. It ended up being a very wonderful moment, as I was able to work through my upset with someone I admire, and she seemed to read my mind. She honed in on things that I hadn’t even realized about myself.

-I gained a number of little tips and tricks I plan to apply to my own practice. I also gained a list of ideas to consider in teaching/learning/facilitating. I wish to build a teaching portfolio in the next few months, so it was great to get the wheels turning on some issues.

Alright…time to science.