Hi Bethany, thanks for sharing your self-reflection.You must be a really good teacher and researcher. Your passion is contagious. Even I would like to experience some fun activities in soil science! All the efforts you have put into designing the in-class and field activities beyond traditional lectures will pay off.
As for me, I am very obsessed by the magic of interaction and coaching. I would like to explore more about teaching interaction in theory and gain my own experiences.
Author: Julin W
Comment on Corn teaches us about diversity (or the consequences of the lack of diversity) by Julin W
Hi Bethany, thanks for the post. The diversity statement is really difficult for me to start as well. But I think you have already got a nice and deep reflection here in this post. And nice analogy! At the same time, we could also learn from good samples of other people. Or to write something that we may not have yet, like writing a paper before conducting the research. It just becomes a reference point that we can check frequently to see how we have evolved. As we put more diversity efforts into our teaching experiences and establish theories that work for our own teaching styles and field, the statement will become more and more complete. The point of the first draft of a diversity statement is to find gaps and put action items on the table.
Comment on The What and the How of Critical Pedagogy by Julin W
Nice post. I like the structure of your post. The equity picture is a good representation of the unique teaching/learning interface for different people.
Comment on Who Knows How to Use a Screw Driver? by Julin W
Like the cooking metaphor. Critical thinking needs to be both encouraged and tutored by the teacher.
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Comment on Won’t We Need to be Able of Critical Thinking Ourselves? by Julin W
Love Armani’s example of replacing hand-holding with more inspiring questions.
Thank you for the post.
Comment on I Learned a lot…And That is Telling by Julin W
Hi Faith, Thank you for the post and your authentic reflection of yourself. Education involves so many background theories in psychology, cognition, communication, etc that there are endless theoretical findings for us to know and skill sets for us to master. It might be a good choice to constantly get educated ourselves as educators to update our capabilities, and then try things out here and there. Maybe the more we feel this discomfort and difficulty, the bigger contribution we are making to an inclusive culture.
Comment on The Racist Highway by Julin W
Hi Zach, great post! Being both a driver and a bicycler, I really resonate with your metaphor. It is always easier to see what is beneficial or convenient to oneself, than to realize what are the other people’s experience and preference. An inclusive culture that highlights embracing diversity can help people to recognize each other and be more considerate of each other. In term of naming, I also have changed my name informally because it is difficult to have people pronounce it, and I was also having difficulty in quickly responding to people who tried to spell my first name. So now I always use Julin or Julie which is close to the pronunciation of my original name. I liked it either way whether people were trying to correct their announcement every time or people call me Julin because I understand an unfamiliar name is not easy for either side.
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Comment on Being the professional mean guy? by Julin W
Hi Ethan, I think your post resonates with many of us. It is always uncomfortable to deal with unprofessional behaviors of the students, whether being strict or being very nice. The same thing happens if they just rely on asking the teacher or the TA for whatever obstacle they have without thinking. Should we reject or should we hold their hands? Maybe we can give it a try to play nice and excuse them for the first time. And then talk about the rules again in front of the overall class after the first week. To be honest, I don’t think the students will relate well to class policies, awards, or penalties during the first introduction class for the semester, and it is very time-consuming. They will relate much better when there is an outcome from their own behaviors or their classmates’. After this, they will respect the rules better and accept that there will be no more excuses.
Comment on The second album by Julin W
Hi Bethany, from your post, I can see how to emphasize student participation in your teaching and I agree with it. It is always better to let the students participate in the class activities themselves, which can be impressing enough for them to leave a deeper mark in their cognitive process. The teachers can be humorous or playful sololy, but it can only reach to a smaller audience at a low level. Participation is the best way of being present and being connected to the teaching-and-learning dynamics. Look forward to hearing about your learned pros and cons of letting the students design their class games!
Comment on It works for me for now. by Julin W
Thank you, Amy, for all the support throughout the semester. You are a great listener. Yes, I am really excited to have a vivid learning environment in class and after class, and I am very eager to test out different teaching tools. There is just so much to learn from this class, the classmates, and the faculties.
