Thanks for bringing up the point about course content; I definitely agree! It is important to be flexible and able to adapt your course to the needs but also the strengths of your students. If everyone already understands what a concept is, a brief review might still be good, but spending several class periods on the topic is a waste of everyone’s time and could be better spent doing something else. And a questionnaire or pre-test as you mention during the first week of class is a good way to do that.

I definitely agree that meaningful relationships and respect are what we should all be working towards! But to get there, maybe some patience and consideration on both sides, so not constantly getting hung up on terminology but rather focusing on the person. For example, according to linguistic research, adult learners of a second language need to be corrected when they make a grammatical mistake (children not so much, since their brains are still growing), or else it’s unlikely they will fix it on their own. One of my undergrad majors was in Spanish, and I was (am) very interested in being the best Spanish speaker I can be, so I welcome correction. However, I had one Spanish teacher that would literally interject between every other word you would speak pointing out a mistake, fixing pronunciation, etc., so eventually no on wanted to talk–that’s also a really bad way to learn Spanish (never talking). Also, the “correct” terminology and what does/does not offend people differs wildly. For example, I was scolded for saying “disabled person” rather than “person with a disability” (which I totally get the reasoning for now), but “disabled person” is still the term of choice in the U.K. and among some scholars in the U.S. (http://www.disabled-world.com/definitions/disability-disabled.php). Similarly, from a more cultural anthropology standpoint, where I come from, if you don’t respond to pretty much anything in a conversation with “yes/no ma’am/sir,” it is the height of rudeness (even though these terms have issues with gender identity, etc.). So, a little understanding/patience of the other’s culture on both sides can go a long way.

Haha, Deliverance is indeed a nice trump card! I remember you talking about this professor’s strategy to create groups based on the skill-sets of the students, and I thought that was a great idea. I like this approach also because it takes into account the student as an individual rather than a member of a societally-defined group (i.e. rather than assigning one girl to each group).

Like you, I am genuinely interested in where all people come from (hence the focus on this “microaggression” in my post). Especially growing up in a small town, people from elsewhere really caught our attention, not because we likened them to a circus act, but because we thought it was cool and interesting that they had a different story then the rest of us. I remember feeling actually jealous of these “different” people, because I was boring in comparison.

I like your point about creating an opportunity for connection/to develop meaning. I feel that responding to antagonism with antagonism in any situation doesn’t necessarily lead to progress (although of course I do it like everyone else), even if you are “in the right” to be offended. I actually learned that from my boyfriend, who teaches large, lower-level geology classes. Having heard stories from other instructors, I asked him if he ever encountered hostile students that refused to take tests or tried to start arguments about the material in that it opposes creationism (e.g. talking about the big bang theory and rocks that formed tens of thousands of years ago). He said that he didn’t have any trouble with it; when students come up to him with that concern, he says they usually are hoping to get into an altercation, but if you respond with anything but antagonism (he usually says something along the lines of “that’s cool, just answer it in the context of the question”), they are very thrown off but satisfied and proceed with the class without issue.

I definitely recommend the co-teaching independent study! Much nicer than being “thrown to the wolves” with the responsibility of an entire class weighing on you. I actually would like to observe more faculty because I’m enjoying it so much (although I also want to finish my dissertation, so probably won’t go too overboard). But I’m excited about the professor I’m shadowing this week, because he teaches a large, underclassmen lecture of the more human dimensions side of forestry, and, according to his syllabus, the class involves a good bit of splitting up into groups and discussion. I am eager to see how he manages this in a room with two hundred people! And, as I mentioned to Erin, blue collar knowledge really can be the epitome of active learning, which we can think about when trying to translate those benefits to higher education.

It really is the epitome of “active learning” when you think about it–doing something every day, having to work through problems on-the-spot, asking co-workers for advice, etc. Definitely a plug for the hands-on experience that is important in education!

I’m glad you’re also enjoying your co-teaching/internship experience! My advisor and I came up with three professors for me to observe to get a sampling of different kinds of classes: a field lab; a small, upper-level forestry class (the one I talked about in the post); and a large lecture class with underclassmen. I am planning to shadow the large lecture this week or next, and I’m excited because the course is more in the human dimensions side of forestry and involves some discussion/group work, so it will be interesting to see how that all works out seeing as there are a couple hundred students in the class!

We must have been on the same wavelength! (the title of my post is “Be yourself” and I wrote about something similar). One of the links I posted in my blog is to an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education called “Desperate to Be Liked.” The author laments not being the “hip” professor and comes to terms with being herself. I thought the piece was humorous and thought I’d share the reference to a fellow be-yourself-er. Thanks for the post!

The author of the article I mentioned in the post does say something along the lines of colleges/professors needing to first teach their students how to listen before they will be able to appreciate lectures. How to do this though? That’s a tough one. As I mentioned in the post, attention spans and effort put forth by students (which are both low, often) are an obstacle to the success of the lecture format, but bad lectures are just as much (if not more?) to blame. Some of my favorite classes I’ve taken have been primarily lecture-based, but the the professors were charismatic and made the content interesting so most of us couldn’t help but pay attention. Having a good class and a well-structured lecture are probably a great place to start, but then the students will have to meet us somewhere in the middle.