Meherene Sami - Portfolio

Table of Contents

WELCOME!

I am Meherene Sami. I am an adult educator, curriculum developer, and the creator and founder of Humsa Prenatals. I have experience working as a college instructor in the Disability field and the Indigenous sector at Fanshawe Toronto@ ILAC College, teaching nearly 250 international students each term. In my 11 years of experience working in the disability field, I supported people with a wide range of disabilities, including Cerebral Palsy, Acquired Brain Injury, Down syndrome, and Autism. I have experience working with people of different abilities, races, and ages (0 to 87). I am a lifelong learner currently studying a Master of Education (Post Secondary Education) at Memorial University. People describe me as a warm, gentle, yet strong mentor who directs students toward a compassionate, empathetic course of action. I love exploring the outdoors and dabbling in Sufi music in my free time.

Meherene Sami - Education

Meherene Sami - Work Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

There are two aspects of Knowledge - Learning and Knowing. Learning involves discovering the characteristics of an abstract concept or a nonabstract thing. For example, A theory learned from a textbook may give all the details of the components needed to acquire a skill (viz., what, where, when, why, how, and who). The belief behind this process is – “I think it is so (or the author thinks it is so), and hence it is.” On the other hand, knowing has its foundation in the conviction – “I know it is so, and hence it is.” It can only be likened to the process of discovery through the heart. Learning could lead to knowing.

Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Khan gives an example of a mother showing her daughter a butterfly in the bushes. At first, the daughter cannot spot it, but as she concentrates on her mother's words and the image of the butterfly in her mind, she catches sight of it. And she exclaims with pleasure, “I can see it, Mommy!” (Memories of a Mystic: An Intimate Portrait of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, 2004).
The learning in the above example is that of the mother pointing to a butterfly and the daughter seeing it. Knowing can be summed up as the connection formed in the child’s heart:
(a) to the mother’s guidance.
(b) to the butterfly waiting to be spotted by the child at that moment.
(c) to the image of the butterfly in the child’s mind being replaced or affirmed by the real image.
(d) to the discovery that she now knows it is there and
(e) to the happiness that came through their shared understanding of the experience.
Sometimes, this knowing happens when people connect two or more ideas, and suddenly, the truth gets revealed, which in spiritual terms is called a ‘revelation.’ The more learning is oriented towards truth, the more the possibilities of knowing and the more we find to learn.
My teaching Philosophy as a Developmental Services Instructor or a Childbirth educator is based on something other than gathering information and regurgitating the facts. It is based on understanding the people we serve, empathizing with them, and forming connections between hearts.
Reference:
Memories of a Mystic: An intimate portrait of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. (2004). Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan Digital Archive. https://www.pirvilayatarchive.org/s/pvik/item/209