As I continue down my journey of enlightenment I have started to closely look at why young women do not enter the trades. I find it frustrating when I think of all the opportunities out there yet see them continue to enter into programs that do not lead to those positions that will give them financial rewards. Some would argue that money is not everything and there are other things in life that are rewarding and this is true. I knew a man who worked in our shop and he "was born to the broom". He loved it. He kept the entire place spotless. Whistled and sang all day long. So I get it. There are things that people truly love and are meant to do. What I do not understand is why people make a choice that is not something that they love to do, that will give them a career with limited income potential, and they will live life struggling to try and make enough money to pay for the hobbies that they truly love to do.
If you are going to work to make some cash to pay your bills, you might as well do something that will pay the best. Girls please start choosing a skilled trade and stay away from the pink ghetto.
Jeff's Blog by Jeff Murrell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Monday, 3 November 2014
Thursday, 5 June 2014
Community project works for Lambton students
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking at the grand opening of the children's train station here at Canatara Park In Sarnia. The reason that I, the Associate Dean of Apprenticeship and Trades Training, was asked to speak is the apprentices built the train station. Now of course this project does not come together by the students simply showing up to preform the work. There were many community partners involved who supplied the materials and of course the train that now stays inside the beautiful little station they built.And the work would not have been completed without the dedication and engagement of the truly remarkable faculty and staff that we have at the Skilled Trades Training Centre at Lambton College. They all have an equal share in the project but I want to speak about the students.
The students, to be exact the Intermediate Carpentry Apprenticeship intake for fall of 2013, are always what any of these types of projects are about for Lambton College. These type of projects give the students an opportunity to put into practice those skills that they have been taught and on a real life project. As well, it is much nicer for the students to be able to step back and look at the completed train station and gain a better understanding of the interconnection of each process in building. The hope is that they will also remember this project with pride that they had a hand in building and maybe they will be drawn to participate in community projects in the future.
The day was great. It was bright and sunny at the park with a number of small children gathered around. Of course all of the donors, the Mayor of Sarnia as well as a bunch of the students and the faculty who actually built the station.With the speeches all complete, the red ribbon was cut and the door opened and out came the new little train. The children all ran with joy to get aboard for a ride. The children all loaded and away they went on the first ride of many for all of them over the course of the summer I am sure.
After the train left a group of us entered the station to have a look at the inside. Included in that group was four or five of the students. These students were a little different then the rest of the group as they did not have families and had not brought along some small child who wanted to get a ride on the train. This group are young, mid twenty year old guys who came out and wanted to look at what they had accomplished. As they looked around and received handshakes and pats on the backs from a number of people it happened. It happened so fast it surprised me as I did not even know or suspect that it was coming. They all got the deeper point of them completing the project. In a matter of 60 seconds the idea was born, formed and put directly into action and I felt warm inside.
As the conversation died down one of the students turned to the rest and said that they should have a committee at the union hall and be more involved in these types of projects all the time. From that statement came the ascent from his fellow class mates and a commitment form the local carpenters union(they were there as one of the donor's) and a committee was formed on the spot with a quick set of what types of projects they would look at participating in. It happened so fast that before I knew it, I was agreeing to sit on that committee as an adviser. It was a great feeling knowing that this group of young men came to Lambton College to obtain their level in apprenticeship training and based on the project that they participated in with us, they are now changed, for the better and will have a positive impact on the life's of others in our community.
The project worked.
Jeff
The students, to be exact the Intermediate Carpentry Apprenticeship intake for fall of 2013, are always what any of these types of projects are about for Lambton College. These type of projects give the students an opportunity to put into practice those skills that they have been taught and on a real life project. As well, it is much nicer for the students to be able to step back and look at the completed train station and gain a better understanding of the interconnection of each process in building. The hope is that they will also remember this project with pride that they had a hand in building and maybe they will be drawn to participate in community projects in the future.
The day was great. It was bright and sunny at the park with a number of small children gathered around. Of course all of the donors, the Mayor of Sarnia as well as a bunch of the students and the faculty who actually built the station.With the speeches all complete, the red ribbon was cut and the door opened and out came the new little train. The children all ran with joy to get aboard for a ride. The children all loaded and away they went on the first ride of many for all of them over the course of the summer I am sure.
After the train left a group of us entered the station to have a look at the inside. Included in that group was four or five of the students. These students were a little different then the rest of the group as they did not have families and had not brought along some small child who wanted to get a ride on the train. This group are young, mid twenty year old guys who came out and wanted to look at what they had accomplished. As they looked around and received handshakes and pats on the backs from a number of people it happened. It happened so fast it surprised me as I did not even know or suspect that it was coming. They all got the deeper point of them completing the project. In a matter of 60 seconds the idea was born, formed and put directly into action and I felt warm inside.
As the conversation died down one of the students turned to the rest and said that they should have a committee at the union hall and be more involved in these types of projects all the time. From that statement came the ascent from his fellow class mates and a commitment form the local carpenters union(they were there as one of the donor's) and a committee was formed on the spot with a quick set of what types of projects they would look at participating in. It happened so fast that before I knew it, I was agreeing to sit on that committee as an adviser. It was a great feeling knowing that this group of young men came to Lambton College to obtain their level in apprenticeship training and based on the project that they participated in with us, they are now changed, for the better and will have a positive impact on the life's of others in our community.
The project worked.
Jeff
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Students at CanStruct
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| Spencer Drake, 2014 |
I had one of the most enjoyable Saturday mornings this weekend and I actually spent it with some of our students from Lambton College participating in Sarnia's CanStruct. What is CanStruct? It is a community project where teams compete in local shopping malls to build sculptures out of non perishable food items. At the end of the event, the food is then donated to the local food banks. The Inn of Good Shepherd in Sarnia is the recipient of ours. This is a big event in Sarnia and during the pep rally in the morning the Inn of the Good Shepherd informed the crowd that in Sarnia last year they raised more food then cities like Toronto and London England during their events. This is the first year for Lambton College to compete and I am sure that it will not be the last.
Lambton College has always been a leader in student centered learning. We totally understand the importance for students to participate in the learning and have experiences that are the same or very similar to the actual experiences they will have in the work force. We have been a leader in activities centered around student experience such as our learning studio's. The next step is to embrace the new digital world. We have implemented what we call Class Plus. Class Plus is what others are calling "Mobile learning" but ours is more than that. Students will have a mobile device with which they are going to be participating and interacting with the learning during class. The possibilities are endless. Due to our direction and commitment to have all programs utilizing a mobile device in the class room I decided that we would build an ipad. I had gathered all the material that I thought they would need and all the canned food items and made a very rough sketch of my idea and then turned it over to the students on Saturday morning.
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| Spencer Drake, 2014 |
Most people think that when they choose a discipline that they wish to study, they will only learn job related skills at college. As educators of the future, we have a responsibility that is much deeper and all encompassing. We have to be part of the transformation of these young adults into good citizens by igniting in them a sense of social justice by showing them how important it is to give back. We also need to help them develop other skills such as working on a cross functional team, being able to respect each others ideas, problem solving under pressure and the ability to accept constructive criticism and learn and grow from it.
The reason I so enjoyed the day was because this project linked all of those related skills and these students performed as a team and were able to successfully complete the project. It would have been very easy for me to simply give them directions and have them simply assemble it but that was not the point of the day. I simply gave them everything that I had created and then stood back. They bumped into a few problems which they solved. One solution they came up with actually made it worse. They had to different types of cans. Juice Cans in the back (Apple for an Apple ipad) and then vegetable cans in the front. The back was very unsteady so they decided that hey need to link the front and back together using duct tape. This actually made it worse and almost pulled it over. They actually jumped into action, stabilized it, took the entire thing down, decided on another solution and then built it again. ( I only advised and guided them, it was their idea) I think the finished product of the day was great and these students are positioned well be be successful in their future. By the way, the CanStruction project turned out alright as well.
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| Spencer Drake, 2014 |
Jeff
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Learning to Learn
When will they learn?
Students have no idea what it takes to learn. I had a group of students in my office today complaining that they just had no idea what was going to be on the mid term exam. They were unsure if the professor even covered the material. I went to the filing cabinet and retrieved my copy of the text that they are using for the class and then opened the book and asked them what chapters have they covered. The three chapters that they had covered looked simple enough to me and I am not a subject mater expert in that area. Next I asked what is in the course outline. That is when they looked at me like I was crazy. What does the course outline have to do with what is going to be on the midterm?
I had to explain to them that the course outline is the contract between the college and the students. It explains what the learning outcomes are for the course. It is in here that we are then able to narrow down what in the three chapters they will be tested on. Of the four standing there in my office not one of them had viewed the course outline. I showed all four on the LMS (Learning Management System) where they could find a copy for all their courses and then printed one off. I flipped to the learning outcomes and then showed them that each cross referenced to something in the text. A good place to start.
Next I asked for their notes. I saw that each days notes related back to one or more learning outcomes from the course outline and then back to the chapters in the book. I asked for study sheets and they had none. They also had no journal entries and again looked at me like I was crazy. They never read over the notes that they took in class and then critically reflected on what the professor was talking about. Without criticaal reflection how do they even hope to learn?
They pay their money to come and sit in class and I guess they think it will just sink in.
They will never learn and the reason is that we never teach them early enough for it to be a habit.
Happy teaching,
Jeff
Students have no idea what it takes to learn. I had a group of students in my office today complaining that they just had no idea what was going to be on the mid term exam. They were unsure if the professor even covered the material. I went to the filing cabinet and retrieved my copy of the text that they are using for the class and then opened the book and asked them what chapters have they covered. The three chapters that they had covered looked simple enough to me and I am not a subject mater expert in that area. Next I asked what is in the course outline. That is when they looked at me like I was crazy. What does the course outline have to do with what is going to be on the midterm?
I had to explain to them that the course outline is the contract between the college and the students. It explains what the learning outcomes are for the course. It is in here that we are then able to narrow down what in the three chapters they will be tested on. Of the four standing there in my office not one of them had viewed the course outline. I showed all four on the LMS (Learning Management System) where they could find a copy for all their courses and then printed one off. I flipped to the learning outcomes and then showed them that each cross referenced to something in the text. A good place to start.
Next I asked for their notes. I saw that each days notes related back to one or more learning outcomes from the course outline and then back to the chapters in the book. I asked for study sheets and they had none. They also had no journal entries and again looked at me like I was crazy. They never read over the notes that they took in class and then critically reflected on what the professor was talking about. Without criticaal reflection how do they even hope to learn?
They pay their money to come and sit in class and I guess they think it will just sink in.
They will never learn and the reason is that we never teach them early enough for it to be a habit.
Happy teaching,
Jeff
Monday, 27 January 2014
When Yes did not mean they understand.
We as educators have all had this. We are working with a student who has expressed that they are having a problem. We run through the question with them giving a more detailed explanation of what we had shown to the class. When we have finished talking while the student stood there silent we look up to the student and ask "Do you understand?" We get the answer that we hope for and expect, "Yes". Great I always think, I am so good at reaching out to these young people and making them understand. Then when I get their homework assignment or mark the test the following week it hits me, they did not understand at all. What went wrong?
I have always approached this in the past as the student must have forgotten what I showed them or is listening to another studnet or is just not applying themselves properly. All of these could be the reason but I am starting to think that there might be something else going on here. There might be another deeper issue at play. The issue may be that of a cultural difference.
Now when I say a cultural issue people jump to all the visible differences and that is not it. In fact, I would think that since there are many people in your city or neighborhood that look different then you do but are also the third or fourth generation in that particular area, you will find that culturally the two of you could be very similar.
This difference is a more rooted inner cultural difference. To me, when I ask a student do they understand I am expecting that when they say yes that it means that they are going to be able to perform that task without any further questions or guidance. When the student answers yes they might mean something totally different. To the student they might be confirming that what I have shown them is correct but they still have no idea on why or how. They could just be from a culture where it is expected that there be no conflict so if they said no this would be a disagreement. What ever the difference I have had to except that when I ask the question and they say yes it does not always mean what I would like to think it means.
So what to do. I have started to change my approach when working with a student who has asked a question. Instead of the "Papa Jeff" approach where I take the note book and pencil and in my hand draw out the solution while explaining it and giving them and reassuring smile, I now question the student. I challenge them to start to think it out. Of course by asking key questions I am leading them through to the solution. In some cases you quickly push them out of their comfort zone and you have to guard against this as you do not want to stop them from asking questions.The key is to then get them at the end to explain it again to you and then turn on Papa Jeff with the reassuring smile and you got it.
This approach has turned out better results, and more confident students. Unfortunately, the students now ask more questions but the best part is that they are asking because they want to learn.
Have a great night.
Jeff
I have always approached this in the past as the student must have forgotten what I showed them or is listening to another studnet or is just not applying themselves properly. All of these could be the reason but I am starting to think that there might be something else going on here. There might be another deeper issue at play. The issue may be that of a cultural difference.
Now when I say a cultural issue people jump to all the visible differences and that is not it. In fact, I would think that since there are many people in your city or neighborhood that look different then you do but are also the third or fourth generation in that particular area, you will find that culturally the two of you could be very similar.
This difference is a more rooted inner cultural difference. To me, when I ask a student do they understand I am expecting that when they say yes that it means that they are going to be able to perform that task without any further questions or guidance. When the student answers yes they might mean something totally different. To the student they might be confirming that what I have shown them is correct but they still have no idea on why or how. They could just be from a culture where it is expected that there be no conflict so if they said no this would be a disagreement. What ever the difference I have had to except that when I ask the question and they say yes it does not always mean what I would like to think it means.
So what to do. I have started to change my approach when working with a student who has asked a question. Instead of the "Papa Jeff" approach where I take the note book and pencil and in my hand draw out the solution while explaining it and giving them and reassuring smile, I now question the student. I challenge them to start to think it out. Of course by asking key questions I am leading them through to the solution. In some cases you quickly push them out of their comfort zone and you have to guard against this as you do not want to stop them from asking questions.The key is to then get them at the end to explain it again to you and then turn on Papa Jeff with the reassuring smile and you got it.
This approach has turned out better results, and more confident students. Unfortunately, the students now ask more questions but the best part is that they are asking because they want to learn.
Have a great night.
Jeff
Skills Canada- Trades and Technology in Ontario
I have recently just finished a blog for Skills Canada-Ontario. Instead of actually rewriting the entire blog here I just thought that I would post the link. This is a new Blog for Skills Canada - Ontario and they are going to be asking different members of the Academic Trades and Technology world to share their views. My idea, so I got to go first. Please enjoy my blog and maybe book mark it as well since there will be a wide varity of views on education in Technology and Trades expressed here.
http://ontskilledtrades.wordpress.com/
Jeff
http://ontskilledtrades.wordpress.com/
Jeff
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