Monday quick reflection

My table today in Song coffee shop, D5 street, Binh Thanh District. 

This shop is too good to be true, highly recommended for learners.

For some reason, I feel so good today and I have been happy all day. So I decided to write this reflection though Monday seems too early to reflect on anything.

1. Dilemmas in education

The course today is Ethics and Politics Issues in Education. The entire course is a combination of various dilemmas we have been or may have faced as educators. There is no right or wrong answer, just the dilemmas that we need to dive deeply into. In order to do that, we need to read articles, discuss in teams, do so much journaling, watch movies, listen to guest lecture. We need a sufficient amount of input and food for thoughts to start to tackle the dilemmas. 

I like this way to approach problems in the educational field. As educators, we face dilemmas almost every day. Dilemmas are normal. We should be very patient and consistent to solve them little by little. We could not wait for something like a final answer, an absolutely true answer. There's nothing like that in this life. It has never been easy. Remember the way Little Prince fought against baobab trees on his planet, again and again, a never-ending work. But we are not alone, thanks to the help of scientific resources. In the course Ethics and Politics Issues in Education, lecturers suggest to us a rich set of resources that I am sure that I will need to look at them later on.

2. A real story of dilemmas

The most interesting thing about today's lecture is Karin's story about her own dilemma when working with a funder from a big agency (LEGO company). She was confused between following her science belief or satisfy the funder's expectation. She faced the risk of upsetting the funder. 

Finally, she ended up following her integrity as she believes it is the way every scientist should do in order to promote a sustainable world for children in the future. Of course, Karin showed us sufficient evidence about the process of analysing facts to come up with that decision. I really like this attitude of working. Situations are always complicated but we need to be insistent with our philosophy. I like to become a courageous educator, not a double-standard one.

3. Some topics to think of

Today when joining the Zoom meeting, I looked at Karin's face and her slides and imagined how these could be when studying on campus. I note down my feelings about online learning: the disadvantages of learning via Zoom, the opportunities that we could find from this situation. I made a quick comparison and think about doing further research on this issue. 

4. Small learning tips

When joining meetings, I usually take note of the lectures on the right page and spend the left page for random notes. The left pages are about research ideas, reading or writing ideas, as well as tips for studies.

Today I also realised that an adequate amount of time should be spent on learning the language. We must admit that learning to become more advanced in English is a never-ending work, we will never reach the peak. There are always many things left to learn. Now I am able to interact 'directly' (but online ^^) every day with foreigners, so I tell myself not to miss this opportunity. 

Therefore, in my notebook, I spend a narrow column on the right side of pages to note down new words or even not new but words that are used in a natural way that sound very comprehensive. We can learn from foreigners not only new words but also the way they combine words, build their sentences. As a language teacher, I know that language is for lifelong learning. No one can claim that he/she is good enough at language (even mother language) to stop learning. I also think of making a small education personal dictionary to use later on and share to whom find it necessary.

5. Exciting moments of learning

Karin's lecture today is too exciting and inspirational that I cannot express in a short paragraph. 

But first, let's talk about the excitement in learning. I know feeling excited is not always good for learners because learning should be something that very calm and balanced. I also dislike the method of teaching in which the teacher tries to inspire students and focus too much on gaining their attention and networking with them as well as focusing too much on emotional aspects which should lead to a lack of persuasiveness and scientificness.

However, I must admit that Karin's lesson today is mind-blowing and I cannot help excited about it. It gave me new perspectives so that I can understand more about current issues around me. So I accept my emotions right now and try to justify them with clear reasons. That could be a way to feel calmer.

6. A good professor to follow

Actually, I was impressed by Karin from the Childhood course so I wanted to find more courses from her to register and that is the reason I am here in this Ethics course. The funny thing is that both two courses are not officially included in my major. In Vietnamese language, we call it 'học ké'.

Karin looks like a true scientist (I mean there are plenty of fake scientists out there) that I have always been looking for. I admire that spirit so much. She is really reputable in research, she has good relationships with famous researchers. Furthermore, she is very open with youngsters and also very friendly and willing to help students.

Karin's presentation today helped me a lot to figure out how to complete my assignments for this course. A good example of writing and storytelling. She is also very good at pedagogy because she is flexible to modify her plan to adapt to real situations. The reason I say that is when she noticed that students' writings were not in the right direction, she immediately started to write her own assignment as an example for us and organized today's presentation to show it to us. That makes things easier to imagine.

A personal story:

Karin reminds me of my thesis instructor when I was in my Bachelor programme in Hanoi (Ms Nguyen Thi Binh). At that time, I used to wish to become a researcher and I only followed professors who possess characteristics that I respect. I admired Ms Binh's spirit (it is another long story). But soon I was disappointed by the academic environment there in the university where such a respectable person like her can not have a good condition to work. That fact is too cruel, I felt too depressed that I wanted to leave the university as soon as possible. I chose another path to follow, which has very little to do with science. And I also decided that I would not receive my Masters' degree from any Vietnamese higher institutes.  Now that I have made my way to follow a programme in Finland, I 'meet' Karin who reminds me strongly about Ms Binh. Though we got to know each other online, I am sure that I will come to see her and maybe give her a tight hug when we meet in real life soon this year.