This class got off to a much better start simply because we were able to meet in the tech center rather than that really cramped classroom. Having a space that is conducive to learning is extremely important I realized. You can't learn if you're not physically comfortable. I also think that having access to a computer lab is a fantastic resource. I think that having students be able to actually write in class is a great idea.
Description: Professor Gleason asked the students to make name tags.
Response: I don't think it would occur to me to ask students to make name tags. However, I am realizing that it is an urgent need to learn students' names to build their trust and respect and having students make name tags is an effective strategy for facilitating the process of learning names.
Ideas/Next Steps: I think that name tags are a worthwhile enough investment to get some card stock and markers so that students have sturdy name tags that are easy to see. I also want to learn other strategies for learning students' names quickly.
Name Tags
Description: Professor Gleason asked the students to make name tags.
Response: I don't think it would occur to me to ask students to make name tags. However, I am realizing that it is an urgent need to learn students' names to build their trust and respect and having students make name tags is an effective strategy for facilitating the process of learning names.
Ideas/Next Steps: I think that name tags are a worthwhile enough investment to get some card stock and markers so that students have sturdy name tags that are easy to see. I also want to learn other strategies for learning students' names quickly.
Confirming Students Have Blackboard Access
Description: Professor Gleason confirmed that all students had Blackboard access and used their CCNY email to ensure they would get announcements from her via Blackboard.
Response: It's easy to forget that many aspects of academic life are still very mysterious and even intimidating to students who are new to college. It would not have occurred to me to make sure students could access Blackboard, but it is a really helpful tool and it's important that students can navigate it.
Ideas/Next Steps: I was really surprised to learn that Blackboard announcements might not come to your email if your email on Blackboard was not your City College email. I think there are probably many quirks of Blackboard that I would have to figure out. I would like to learn more about how I can train myself on using Blackboard. Are there any student-facing instructional resources that are available online?
Going Through the Syllabus
Description: Professor Gleason went through the syllabus highlighting the most important parts. She stopped periodically to ask students questions.
Response: Going through a syllabus can be a tedious process. I liked that Professor Gleason broke the syllabus into parts going through it chunk by chunk so students could process and ask questions. I definitely think that having students comprehend the large amounts of information that are included in the syllabus. I would like to do some thinking about how to support students in reading this type of text.
Ideas/Next Steps: Thinking about a syllabus as an unfamiliar text structure for students made me think that there might be ways to approach a syllabus like I would teach another type of informational text. First, I think I might make a table of contents for my syllabus. It might make my syllabus too long, but I think it would help familiarize students with the types of information that are included in a syllabus. I also think I might try and make a syllabus quiz where students have to answer questions using the information in the syllabus (i.e. When is our first paper due? Can you eat in class?). I'm not sure if these ideas might be overcomplicating things, but I think they might be worth a shot.
Response: Going through a syllabus can be a tedious process. I liked that Professor Gleason broke the syllabus into parts going through it chunk by chunk so students could process and ask questions. I definitely think that having students comprehend the large amounts of information that are included in the syllabus. I would like to do some thinking about how to support students in reading this type of text.
Ideas/Next Steps: Thinking about a syllabus as an unfamiliar text structure for students made me think that there might be ways to approach a syllabus like I would teach another type of informational text. First, I think I might make a table of contents for my syllabus. It might make my syllabus too long, but I think it would help familiarize students with the types of information that are included in a syllabus. I also think I might try and make a syllabus quiz where students have to answer questions using the information in the syllabus (i.e. When is our first paper due? Can you eat in class?). I'm not sure if these ideas might be overcomplicating things, but I think they might be worth a shot.
Paper Submissions: Email & Print Copies
Description: Professor Gleason makes it clear in her syllabus exactly how she would like students to submit their papers-- both in print and digital versions. She makes this expectation clear up front both by writing it in the syllabus and emphasizing this when she reviews her syllabus orally.
Response: Professor Gleason is one of the only professors I have had that specifies that she wants paper and digital copies of assignments. I think I am starting to get why. It has been hard for me to comprehend before that there is an overwhelming volume of material that is accumulated through the first and second drafts of three papers. I think there is something nice and personal (and easier for the teacher) to writing responses to assignments by hand. It's simply unmanageable to have to print student papers to be able to do this. I also think there is something beneficial to being able to see in person who is handing you an assignment and who is not on the day something is due. It's an important way to make your students feel accountable. I also think that having the digital copies is important for reasons that didn't occur to me now that I'm thinking about things from an instructor's perspective. It's really helpful to be able to see how students' writing has progressed, it's helpful to have this writing to study it for future lesson plans, and it's also very helpful to have a bank of model student writing to use in other lessons.
Ideas/Next Steps: I would like to learn more about strategies for organizing student work as a teacher. When I went to the adjunct information session with Professor Peele, he said one of the most important traits he looks for in his adjuncts whether they have teaching experience or not is that they are organized. I think my organization could use some work and I think I should start being proactive about developing strategies for being an organized teacher in advance.
Absence Policies & Procedures
Description: Professor Gleason explained her policy that students must notify her in advance if they are going to be absent. She also said she would inform them if they were accumulating too many absences.
Response: Not all my professors have required that students notify them if they are going to be absent. I really like this policy though. An implied responsibility of college instructors is that they are training their students to be professionals that will be successful in their future workplace after college. I think establishing professional codes of conduct that establish positive habits for students after college is important. I also realized that it is important to be organized and track students' absences throughout the semester because they can directly impact their grades. I think that notifying students when they have too many absences is really important. Frequently students are absent because of stressors in their lives and they can get distracted and not even realize that they are absent too frequently. I think communicating regarding students' frequent absences also communicates the important message that you care whether they are in class or not and that their success matters to you.
Ideas/Next Steps: I know that Blackboard has an attendance taking feature. I think I would like to explore to see if it can give me alerts or run reports for if students have accumulated 3 absences. I think there might be ways to help make sure I would notify students of their excessive absences.
In Class Reading Time
Description: Professor Gleason gave students copies of the first several pages of Warriors Don't Cry. She gave them time to read several pages in class and discuss their initial thoughts with their classmates.
Response: I think that allowing students to begin the book in class was a strategy I would like to use in my own classes. I think it accomplished several beneficial objectives at once. First, it confirmed that students had at least some familiarity with the book and would have something to share about it in future classes. Second, it piqued students' interest in the book, so they would be more likely to continue the book and do the assigned reading for class. Also, it made sure they physically had copies they could read while they attained the books. Third, it was an activity that allowed students to begin to talk about the book almost immediately and start building their own responses and ideas about the text. It was also an activity like the pairing up and introducing their partners that got 100% of the room talking at once.
Ideas/Next Steps: I would like to think of other ways students can do reading in class. Reading is so related to writing. One thing I have tended to notice is many students struggle with writing about books because they struggled to effectively read and annotate or take notes on them. Though reading strategies are not typically taught in the college classroom (to my knowledge) I think being able to assess students' comprehension and reading strategies they currently use is very helpful. I would like to do some more learning on ways that composition instructors integrate teaching reading into their classes.
Little Rock Nine Interview Video
Description: Professor Gleason showed the students a video of the Little Rock Nine being interviewed several decades after they integrated Central High School.
Response: I think that having a multi-modal approach to launching the book was a good idea. Many students are visual learners and using a video to establish context and engage students in the book seems like an effective way to make students interested in the book and give them relevant background knowledge that might help them comprehend the text.
Ideas/Next Steps: I think I want to learn other ways to launch a new unit on a book. A video is a great strategy, but I think that there might be other ways to start a unit. I do however, think that using video in the classroom is very important and I would like to try to include a video in every unit that I write in the future to make sure I can engage students with visual learning styles.
Gathering Anecdotal Data on Students
Description: During this class the letter to the professor assignment was given out. Students were asked to answer the following questions:
- What do you hope to learn in ENGL 21001?
- What are your educational interests and goals?
- What is your major?
- Do you speak/read/write in more than one language?
- What are some of your successes as a reader/ writer?
- What do you find challenging as a reader or a writer?
- Do you you work full-time or part-time?
Response: I really liked this activity. I think that having your students build a relationship with you as an instructor and trusting you is really important. Teaching writing is a very personal thing. It makes students very vulnerable, so building trust and comfort is absolutely essential in the composition classroom. I felt like these were really comprehensive questions and basically would give me a lot of anecdotal data to help support students better from the start of the semester.
Ideas/Next Steps: I think that I want to consider how to use this wealth of data that was shared by students. I think one of the most natural ways to use the data is to make lessons based on what students say they struggle with (though, I have found that students are frequently not great at self-reporting their strengths and weaknesses.) Another way I thought this data could have practical applications in the classroom is to divide students by major for class writing activities. I think this could help them find classmates they have something in common with. I feel like the classes I enjoy more are the ones where I talked to other students more and got to know them. I would like to have my future classrooms have a sense of community; I need to think about fostering trusting, respectful, positive relationships with them as much as I need to think about fostering those kinds of relationships between the students. One clear area of growth I identified is systems to tracking important information about students. I tried to start writing notes about students in class, but found it difficult to keep track of the information. Not only do I want to be able to remember key details about students from their letters, I want to be able to describe anecdotally what their participation was like in class. Below are some notes I took on students. I wrote down what I remembered and observed in class. I would like advice on a system of tracking all this informal data to develop fuller, more well-rounded profiles of the students. I also have found out that many of the things I noted as distinguishing behaviors or traits were misleading. How important is it to track these first impressions? It seems very important to get to know your students well up front, but so many of my initial observations have led me to inaccurate conclusions. I guess this is part of why doing a letter assignment is so important; it gives you a more accurate sense of what the student is thinking about the class at the time, rather than just having the observable actions and speech from class to go off of.
Ms. LA: air force (This made me predict she would be disciplined about class, but this has not been true.)
Ms. SA: late and took a call during class (This made me predict that she would be consistently disrespectful of class rules, but she takes her academics very seriously.)
Ms. TB: young, 17-year-old freshman, graduated high school early (I have noticed this periodically in class that she seems quiet and that some of the norms of academic culture are clearly new to her.)
Mr. HK: money is a problem for him, said he couldn't afford the books (I predicted that his struggles with money might indicate that his life outside of school is currently challenging and potentially distracting. He seems to be focused on class and his attendance is consistent though.)
Ms. AC & Ms. JJ are friends. (This has stayed true and I am happy to notice some other friendships emerging.)
Mr. BP: 28-year-old student who came back to CCNY after several years (I think this has shown up in the classroom. I would have expected him to be a serious student and self-motivated. I would also expect for him to be a little out of touch with academic norms and writing styles.)
Ideas/Next Steps: I think that I want to consider how to use this wealth of data that was shared by students. I think one of the most natural ways to use the data is to make lessons based on what students say they struggle with (though, I have found that students are frequently not great at self-reporting their strengths and weaknesses.) Another way I thought this data could have practical applications in the classroom is to divide students by major for class writing activities. I think this could help them find classmates they have something in common with. I feel like the classes I enjoy more are the ones where I talked to other students more and got to know them. I would like to have my future classrooms have a sense of community; I need to think about fostering trusting, respectful, positive relationships with them as much as I need to think about fostering those kinds of relationships between the students. One clear area of growth I identified is systems to tracking important information about students. I tried to start writing notes about students in class, but found it difficult to keep track of the information. Not only do I want to be able to remember key details about students from their letters, I want to be able to describe anecdotally what their participation was like in class. Below are some notes I took on students. I wrote down what I remembered and observed in class. I would like advice on a system of tracking all this informal data to develop fuller, more well-rounded profiles of the students. I also have found out that many of the things I noted as distinguishing behaviors or traits were misleading. How important is it to track these first impressions? It seems very important to get to know your students well up front, but so many of my initial observations have led me to inaccurate conclusions. I guess this is part of why doing a letter assignment is so important; it gives you a more accurate sense of what the student is thinking about the class at the time, rather than just having the observable actions and speech from class to go off of.
Ms. LA: air force (This made me predict she would be disciplined about class, but this has not been true.)
Ms. SA: late and took a call during class (This made me predict that she would be consistently disrespectful of class rules, but she takes her academics very seriously.)
Ms. TB: young, 17-year-old freshman, graduated high school early (I have noticed this periodically in class that she seems quiet and that some of the norms of academic culture are clearly new to her.)
Mr. HK: money is a problem for him, said he couldn't afford the books (I predicted that his struggles with money might indicate that his life outside of school is currently challenging and potentially distracting. He seems to be focused on class and his attendance is consistent though.)
Ms. AC & Ms. JJ are friends. (This has stayed true and I am happy to notice some other friendships emerging.)
Mr. BP: 28-year-old student who came back to CCNY after several years (I think this has shown up in the classroom. I would have expected him to be a serious student and self-motivated. I would also expect for him to be a little out of touch with academic norms and writing styles.)
Laura,
ReplyDeleteYour comments on how to present a syllabus to students are all very thoughtful. And I do think it is a good idea to help students read and understand a syllabus. Here is one idea: you could present a syllabus as a Wordpress document in addition to a print document. Students could access different parts of the syllabus by clicking on links.
Here is something to keep in mind: planning a curriculum and then writing a syllabus are very time-consuming activities. It was extremely time-consuming for me to write the syllabus for our Spring 2018 class. In part this is because I am using all new materials, which I had to search for and read/view prior to writing the syllabus. And in part this is also because I wanted to lay out the entire sequence of assignments and assignment dates in the syllabus, week by week. That takes time and a lot of thought.
Your comments on getting to know students are also thoughtful. In part, you will learn how to get to know students by just teaching multiple classes and becoming experienced. Over time, you will become an expert. And of course you are right about being careful about generalizing or drawing conclusions on the basis of very little evidence.
As for the student who said he could not afford the books: it is impossible to know what his situation really is. I ended up giving him a clean copy of a new textbook just to ease that situation. I have never done that before. And I have never before had a student tell me "I can't afford to buy the books." This is apparently a growing phenomenon. Students are accustomed to accessing free materials online. But the fact is that to prepare a good textbook is an intellectually demanding and time-consuming endeavor. If textbooks are to become FREE, how will they get produced? And by whom? I don't have answers to these questions. But online pedagogical resources are not ever going to be free of the human labor that produced them. Experienced teachers CAN teach without using a textbook, but they have to do a lot of work to compile resources and that adds to their workloads.
The reason that I ask students to write me letters is that I want to get to know my students. I think it is really important to get to know students as whole people. The reason I want to conference with my students is that I want to communicate with each one individually. I believe I can better teach the entire class when I assist each student individually. The added benefit is that each student gets to know me and know how to communicate with me and perhaps become more comfortable reading out to me with questions and requests for help.
--Barbara