Developing Hair Education

All of my favourite and most memorable teachers have had the magical quality referenced in the video, from my high school English teacher who would break out into Shakespeare and my Chemistry teacher who would often begin class with some sort of explosion instead of a lecture.  It's the ability to engage a room full of people, as described by Christopher Emdin in this TED Talk. It's very interesting how little emphasis is placed on training these personality skills when they are so useful outside of the classroom. I think it's obvious how useful they would be in all classrooms. I don't consider myself to naturally possess exceptional skills in regards to captivating audiences, but this has caused reflection on what I can do to amplify myself. I am definitely encouraged by the fact that they can be learned and will definitely increase my efforts towards developing these skills. ©  Courtenay Girard. All rights reserved. 

When I made the decision to open a hair school in 2015, I knew that it was a long term career goal. But I didn't think it would take as long as it has! In fact, we aren't even there yet. Fortunately, I am patient and willing to keep taking slow and steady steps forward. I am enjoying the process and believe that when we are ready to accept our first students, our preparedness will be evident and beneficial to the students. In the next five years, I would like to be operating a hair academy at maximum capacity. To keep on track there are three major goals that I need to achieve in the next year: 1. Complete the PIDP diploma. This program is not a mandatory requirement to register a school with PTIB, but will be a very positive addition to my resume. It is however a requirement for accreditation, which we plan to pursue once possible at a later date. 2. Register the Foundation of Hair program with PTIB. Creating this program has been a monumental task and I will be so

It can be challenging for someone who is passionate and experienced to relay information to beginners without confusing them. This happens to me sometimes and is compounded by the fact that I currently mentor varying levels of students. Up until this point I have been teaching recently graduated stylists who need to refine their skills and learn advanced techniques that are popular requests in the salon. I now have two apprentices that have no previous formal hair education and it is difficult at times to teach at their level. They are quiet when learning, and as identified by Brookfield, it is easy to judge their lack of questions as comprehension when likely there is some confusion. Moving forward, it will be imperative that I employ some class room assessment techniques so that I ensure my apprentices are effectively following. Preventing their resistance to the material will ultimately keep them engaged and progressing. I have this book from a previous PIDP class and I will be co

In recent weeks, the Black Lives Matter movement has brought the violence and racism experienced by Black people to the forefront of global attention. Many corporations and small businesses have positioned themselves in alliance with the movement, wishing to position themselves on the right side of history. It is a revealing time, as social media has levelled the playing field for many who have remained silenced until now. It has also forced brands to look inwards and realize that they have not always been as inclusive as they would like to be. Our school is also a brand. We sell hair education. And although we don't have racially diverse educators at this time, it is something that would benefit our students. We work in a teaching team already, so I was pleased to read about the many positive aspects this provides for students. After reading Brookfield's Teaching in Diverse Classrooms chapter, along with spending the last couple of weeks immersing myself in new content p

As an educator with relatively little experience in formal classroom settings, Chapter 2 of Brookfield's "The Skillful Teacher" was both encouraging and somewhat relieving. All assumptions give more weight to teaching from an intuitive angle, which thus far has been my strength. As an experienced hairstylist I have developed an adept ability to efficiently process  information from even the most subtle modes of human communication.  This acquired skill will help tremendously specifically with Assumption # 3: Teachers Need a Constant Awareness of How Students Are Experiencing Their Learning and Perceiving Teachers’ Actions. Like working behind the chair, my students are technically my clients. I  can't  do my best work unless I am able to diagnose their level of comprehension and level of  satisfaction with the material presented. My experience has also trained me to overcome fear of criticism; rather than taking it personally, I have the ability to easily to

Before becoming hairstylist I completed a bachelors degree in French and English, with the intent of becoming a high school teacher. In fact, I even began my training as a hairstylist in French in order to facilitate the acquisition of my post secondary second language. Forever passionate about education, I have spent the last 14 years in my industry learning, perfecting and now educating. None of it has come easily. I have been forced to learn every technique through repetition, success, failure, critical evaluation and more repetition. With this experience however, I am able to offer my students a deeply personal knowledge of the subject matter. One of the strongest truths that I have learned through my own professional development is that failure, although painful and discouraging, is when true learning takes place. Success feels great and is necessary for developing self confidence but it requires less analysis. Failure is so frustrating that I will generally do anything in the