Great post! Thank you so much for sharing Erin! Your post has definitely given me a lot to think about…

I very much like how your moderating the interactions in your class and creating a healthy learning environment….

I guess my main question is how can we create an environment where we can discus some of these issues and how should we frame these discussions…?

Great point! I actually mentioned something very similar in my blog… I think that we need a mandatory course for both the students and teachers… Teachers need to be educated of the historical background of the community that they are teaching in… This will assist them in designing the class to fit the need of students with various backgrounds. Moreover they will be able to educate their students to be understanding of their global and diverse environment…

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I would say that I had a very similar experience. But my experience comes from the fact that I went to an all girls school for 9 years until I entered college. Even in college I never experienced this stereo typing or any stereo typing which impacted my studies or my life in a bad way! However, I definitely understand how stereo typing could hinder one’s ability to be confident and feel just as worthy as anyone else. For this reason I think addressing this issue in the classroom by paying close attention to how we provide feedback, design exams, treat students, and most importantly how we teach students to treat each other is very important.

Great blog Garry! I definitely think if the speaker is excited and engaged that will keep the listeners engaged… I very much like what you did with the “sideways learning” by not just presenting the equation to them. I am Civil Engineering and took a very interesting decision making course last semester… The instructor taught us how to play poker and we had a poker playing session in that class! It was so cool since we actually got to calculate the odds in our mind while we are making fast paste decisions, and trying to control our emotions since sometimes you have already bet so much that you don’t mind loosing everything just to stay until the end… I found this fascinating since the instructor found a way to put all the decision making theories to practice while keeping us engaged and amused…

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I think that the key to successful teaching is to”know what you know”, be honest about it, and be yourself… I think that you have done a great job in implementing these practices and it’s incredible that it came so naturally to you! Students understand and feel most of of our emotions when we are teaching, and for this reason honesty goes a long way…

I think that the key to successful teaching is to”know what you know”, be honest about it, and be yourself… I think that you have done a great job in implementing these practices and it’s incredible that it came so naturally to you! Students understand and feel most of of our emotions when we are teaching, and for this reason honesty goes a long way…

Great insights! I am definitely with you on that… The balance is very much important! I believe that the more time children spend outdoors and engage in social activities, the more their imagination is triggered… Yes connected learning is important… However I think that connected learning can also happen without digital learning in the real world with real interactions. Of course it’s always good to facilitate the learning process in different ways so digital learning should not be neglected but it should also not be the at all be the main tool for triggering the imagination of learners. Being 26 I have experienced both digital and non-digital learning at a very young age and I can say that some all of the experiences that triggered my imagination happened outside the digital world.

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Great points! One thing that I want to add to posing questions is balancing the amount of questions. I have been in courses where the instructor confuses the students by asking too many questions and answering a questions with another question! I think that defeats the purpose of asking questions… Since by asking questions we are teaching students to be critical thinkers and trying to guide them to the right path… However too many questions will just confuse the learns.

Wow, that’s great! I like how you were actually exited to take the tests! Last semester, I took a great course in my department ( Civil and Environmental Engineering), where the assignment, and exam was strictly for learning and understanding the concept! As exams and assignment always stress me out, I asked the professor several times about the assignments, my grade on them, etc. and every time he told me not to worry about the grade! He provided great feedbacks on the assignment/exams which were very constructive and I also got a good great at the end! I mean what else do you want from a course! Great feedbacks, well designed assignments/exams and most importantly no anxiety!

Oh yes I can definitely relate to that! As I worked my way through grad school, I definitely started to learn more and worry less about grades. I had a course during my Bachelors which I found the solution book to and started making a rubric to all the different types of problems in that book! Of course I aced the test! But I did not learn much! I should also confess than whenever a course is stressing me out and I know that I can’t do well on the tests without categorizing the problems, I go back to my undergraduate routine!

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