Teach 'em a Lesson

Over the weekend I spent a few hours grading timed writes for a developmental composition class. I realized after the first few that these timed writes were really, really abysmal. "WTF?!" I shouted to the cat (who is on a diet and constantly begs for food) after an essay by one of my most thoughtful writers didn't get past her first paragraph and a half in the 90-minute exercise. 

Again and again I saw the same problem. Despite lots of time spent in class developing ideas and learning techniques for communicating ideas clearly in writing, students were not writing with a sense of purpose. Their papers, at best, were a collection of loosely-related and poorly-integrated examples that were not used in service of anything.

What was especially interesting is that many students had a traditional thesis. My lesson learned? The form doesn't mean anything if there is no purpose behind it.

This brings me to today's November blogging challenge question: What is the most important ‘lesson’ you want to teach your students?

A lot comes to mind: as a writing instructor I want students to express themselves clearly in this medium. I see now, though, that if they don't have content to convey, all the form, style, and sentence-level skills won't add up to a burp in the face of a tornado. Knowing our purpose gives us power.

The students had known their potential topic before they sat down to write. As a class we walked through example-finding. But I forgot to draw out the students' innate need to establish a purpose for writing this assignment. I think next time, I'll go at it backwards: propose some topics and let the students establish a need to investigate them further in writing. 

It'll turn out perfectly next time, right? 

 

Reflective Teaching Challenge: Day 1

Hi! Eat the Yolk is surfacing... to talk about teaching! My colleague over at bayanprofessor.blogspot.com encouraged me to participate in a Reflective Teaching Blogging Challenge for the month of September. It being a little crazy around here I am already behind, but I am committed to seeing this through as best I can, so here goes!

The first prompt asks us to write our goals for the school year. As this is college, and as I'll likely be gone in spring on maternity leave, I'll keep the goals to a semester. So here goes:

Goal 1: Be Fearless in the Classroom... at least once a week!
I admit it: I crave routine. Teaching is a wild and whimsical process, and I spent much of my first 8 years (or has it been longer?) trying to tame the classroom and figure out perfect lesson plans, assignments, and readings that can be eventually constructed into The Perfect Composition X class.

The thought of constructing Perfect Composition X class is a dreamy one to the woman who goes to bed at more or less the same time each night. But I also know that spontaneity and relevance are key to keeping students engaged. What is one of the ways a student can be engaged? When they see an instructor who is excited about the material. Excitement is infectious, so for me, finding that zone where the materials are familiar without being stale is key.

At least once a week I will commit to trying something new, whether it be bringing in an article on the Ferguson shootings to walk through a successful article summary and response, or playing a song as the students walk into class, or lecturing from the middle of the room instead of the front.

Goal 2: Tighten up on organization. At least a little bit.
Goal 2 might seem in conflict with goal 1, but I gotta be honest: dates and long-term planning have slipped through the cracks so far this semester. (Maybe it's the pregnancy brain.) Example: I set out to plan for my afternoon composition course. I started with the syllabus schedule, saw what was due the next class period, and worked my way back from that. The problem? I was looking at the wrong week. It wasn't until the end of class that a student politely pointed out that I was a week ahead of myself.

(Students are very forgiving about pushing assignments back. But if you ask them to do something early? Uhh, no, that's not cool. Nor is it fair to them. Gotta tighten up on this kinda stuff.)

Goal 3: Continue to work on connecting with students and making sure they feel heard. 
There have been some great articles lately about the need for students to feel connected to the class and the instructor. I can't emphasize enough how much I believe in the need to really connect with students. To do so requires constant self-reflection: what went well about that encounter? What didn't go so well? Why did I feel the exchange was so great with her but not him? What biases might I have that are getting in the way?

I've found that I've gotten better feedback from students the more I learn to ask them good questions and take time for a one-on-one exchange, ideally once a week.

One idea I've incorporated into my online (or in this case, hybrid) course to build community is to give weekly "shout-outs." Yes, I give them for your eyes only feedback on their work at least once a week, but after perusing quizzes or discussion boards, I can easily copy/paste a few key ideas from students who have really got it and email them to the course as an announcement. Since it's all online, it's easy to see who I've given shout-outs to before so I can vary them.

Goals! Teaching! So exciting!