I Teach
This blog is a place for me to debrief myself after my classes. It will serve both as a place for venting and as an archive for what worked and didn't work for me. I welcome outsider comments about teaching techniques or anything else.Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Freshman. Woops, I mean First Year Students
I've been reading Blue Like Jazz lately and while much of it comes from a perspective that I don't have any personal experience with, I did find the chapter about love very compelling. Basically, Miller argues that the traditional church doles out love conditionally. If you do right and act right then, in exchange, we'll all act like we love you. Miller goes on to argue that treating love as money in this respect is not very Christian. I happen to think that Miller is dead on, but we get so habituated in this society into not giving anything until we've gotten something first. Usually, this means that we rely on the power dynamic of our relationships to get something first. In the classroom, this means that since the teacher has the power, s/he first gets the respect/grade/attention and then proceeds to give it out conditionally based on how well the student performed the giving. I think I want to turn that paradigm on its head a little bit this semester. I've started by letting the students create the syllabus with me. On Monday we all discussed which topics we would like to see covered during the semester and today we came up with the opportunity scheme by brainstorming ideas and then breaking up into groups to produce the final suggestion. (FYI: In most classes the opportunity scheme is known as a Grading Scheme, but here, it's really just an opportunity for them to show me what they learned. I'm hoping the language change will take the emphasis off of the grade). However, I still need to do something about my interpersonal communication. I know I'm in charge of the classroom, that's not an issue so I want them to feel valued as well. I don't need them to respect me as a teacher before I respect them as a student and my respect for them as a student and person does not hinge on the respect they show me.
I've made an effort at implementing this new practice in the following email exchange which happened today. Admittedly, the student made it easy on me by being thoughtful, kind and courteous, but the training that I got suggests that I should just ignore this email and not listen to the excuses. However, all interactions between an teacher and a student are learning opportunities for better or worse. I can ignore it and reinforce an unhealthy power dynamic or I can spend 10 minutes dealing with it in a constructive way that validates the person and improves the class.
Anyway, here's the email:
I have to apologize. I walked up to our Soc 102 class this morning at
8:15 (Ed: class starts at 8:10) and felt horrible walking in late in such an active class. I figured at the time that it would be more rude to be walking in late
than to miss class completely, but then realized what you had said about
those at the door "missing knowledge." (Ed: For some reason every day during my class people who aren't in my class keep opening the door a little and then closing it and walking away. I always open the door all the way and say "It's okay, if you want to come in and get smarter with the rest of us, we'll let you.")
I know your attendance policy only allows for one more absence before a
grade deduction. I'll work to prove to you that I'm not typically a
late or unreliable person; I really just had a really slow morning.
With that, I am getting the notes from a friend in the class. Is the
syllabus a Word document or something I should get from him?
Thank you for your help and I look forward to seeing you Friday,
And my response:
Thank you for the apology. I noted your comment about only being able to miss one more class and realized that the syllabus is inconsistent in this respect. You can miss three classes without penalty. The new version of the syllabus has this corrected. That being said, I would rather have you 5 minutes late than not at all. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and realize that professors have different policies about walking in late, but you are an asset to this class, and I'm certain that you would work hard to add enough to the discussion and activities to overcome any distraction which might have been caused by your coming in a few minutes late. However, don't make a habit of it.
See you on Friday.
> 2 comments
I've made an effort at implementing this new practice in the following email exchange which happened today. Admittedly, the student made it easy on me by being thoughtful, kind and courteous, but the training that I got suggests that I should just ignore this email and not listen to the excuses. However, all interactions between an teacher and a student are learning opportunities for better or worse. I can ignore it and reinforce an unhealthy power dynamic or I can spend 10 minutes dealing with it in a constructive way that validates the person and improves the class.
Anyway, here's the email:
I have to apologize. I walked up to our Soc 102 class this morning at
than to miss class completely, but then realized what you had said about
those at the door "missing knowledge." (Ed: For some reason every day during my class people who aren't in my class keep opening the door a little and then closing it and walking away. I always open the door all the way and say "It's okay, if you want to come in and get smarter with the rest of us, we'll let you.")
I know your attendance policy only allows for one more absence before a
grade deduction. I'll work to prove to you that I'm not typically a
late or unreliable person; I really just had a really slow morning.
With that, I am getting the notes from a friend in the class. Is the
syllabus a Word document or something I should get from him?
Thank you for your help and I look forward to seeing you Friday,
And my response:
Thank you for the apology. I noted your comment about only being able to miss one more class and realized that the syllabus is inconsistent in this respect. You can miss three classes without penalty. The new version of the syllabus has this corrected. That being said, I would rather have you 5 minutes late than not at all. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and realize that professors have different policies about walking in late, but you are an asset to this class, and I'm certain that you would work hard to add enough to the discussion and activities to overcome any distraction which might have been caused by your coming in a few minutes late. However, don't make a habit of it.
See you on Friday.
> 2 comments
