I agree, there is definitely an opportunity to inject originality in STEM education. As a society we are pushing STEM education more than ever but at what cost if it diminishes our creativity? I think this is where more interdisciplinary education and collaboration would be beneficial. Maybe some of the freethinking mindset you mentioned from humanities would help encourage STEM educators to incorporate creative learning earlier in the process.

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I think you have a balanced perspective on technology in the classroom. I to agree that technology does have a place but it can be challenging to prevent distracting use of technology like you mentioned. Scrolling through Facebook and shopping distracts the user and other students. I think it is largely about creating an environment of respect for your peers and professor. If we are given the privilege to have our phones and computers, then we need to respect it’s use. Thanks for bringing up such a relevant topic.

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Sarah,

Your examples to traditional textbook buying are fantastic. I think moving away from a system of buying books and selling them for a fraction of the cost can have benefits to teachers and students. While time consuming, sourcing materials and reading from many authors could spark more curiosity in students and bring unique perspectives vs all readings coming from one place. Some of my favorite courses in grad school did away with the text book and assigned readings from different journals, book chapters, and current events.

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I had so much fun studying your group’s artifact. The image felt personal, creative and thought provoking. The image of you all as children with your associated disciplines also represents to me the story we each bring to the classroom. Our experiences and perspectives are so valuable to the learning process and I think you all represented this well. As I looked at each picture and then the question marks, I thought about the other disciplines in our class and the rich diversity this brings to the learning experience. I can relate to the words you all used to describe critical pedagogy and personally really like “radical openness”.

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I too found those same articles interesting. I wonder how we can overcome unconscious bias, if it is in fact unintentional. Can we train our mind to react or perceive things differently? I am not sure, but I do think about this. I agree that just being aware of unconsciousness as it relates to bias is good place to start. While it may not change anything right away, it can’t hurt to think about it.

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I enjoyed reading about how you approach each class. While I hope to teach in academia after graduating, I have had little exposure to teaching as a graduate student thus far. So reading first-hand detailed accounts like yours on what has helped you actually helps me too. It clear that preparation and flexibility have been really valuable for you as a teacher. I agree that seeking perfection in ourselves will only lead to increased stress and disappoint. I think it’s important that we give ourselves a little grace in the process of teaching. By doing so we can focus more on finding balance like you mentioned.

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Your blog post was such a fun read. You managed to take these concepts of motivation and learning and make them very captivating for the reader. So thank you. You mentioned a quote from Dan Pink that really resonates with me, “we need to endow our workers and students with a greater sense of purpose”. But how do we do this? Does this come from the teacher? Or is it something we have to find ourselves? Maybe it’s creating more real life applications to our learning to see the impact of our work. Or maybe if we weren’t so motivated by grades, more intrinsic self-fulfilling motivations would have room to thrive and we would find our purpose.

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This is tough because not every student is going to like a grading system that is not black and white. I would maybe try to highlight the benefits of qualitative feedback and explain their work is less restricted by this structure whereas as a strict rubric is more confining.

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That is a great question. I imagine I will have to report a grade for the the University, but I don’t want the grade to be the driving force for students. I think qualitative feedback is meaningful and useful and I plan to incorporate this strategy. I want students to feel that if they give put in effort, time, creative thinking, and participate, this work ethic will translate to a good grade. This is dependent on the topic, but I also like the idea of student’s work being neither right or wrong, just different.

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I think this is a great move on your part. Let their creative work be free from the typical grading scrutiny and give grades to less abstract things like timeliness!

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