I agree that emotions and ethics should play an important role in our personnel and professional lives. I think sometimes these principles are tossed to the side because people feel there should be a right or wrong answer independent of the person looking at the problem, when in reality that isn’t always the case.
Author: Craig Altmann
Comment on Becoming a professional by Craig Altmann
I agree that emotions and ethics should play an important role in our personnel and professional lives. I think sometimes these principles are tossed to the side because people feel there should be a right or wrong answer independent of the person looking at the problem, when in reality that isn’t always the case.
Comment on The Attention Span of 140 Characters or Less by Craig Altmann
In the classes, I’ve worked with so far, I have experienced a similar effect were students are unwilling to ask questions in regards to homework assignments or projects. I’ve noticed that they are more willing to make something up then to stop by my office or ask me in class. What annoys me is that I don’t know about these issues until I’m grading their work.
It sounds like your shift in teaching style has been for the better and something for myself and others to keep in mind for the future. I’m always skeptical that by making changes like you had mentioned it also makes the assignment easier. At least, I’m scared that if I do it, I might make the assignment too easy and not allow the students to make the necessary connections.
Comment on Attention! Can I have your attention please! by Craig Altmann
I 100% agree that striking a balance is key. If you spend your entire day reading about what new gossip there is, who is doing what, or whatever else online you likely won’t get anything accomplished (or at least any quality work accomplished). But, at the same time pushing yourself away from technology could make things take longer or make tasks harder than they should be. Finding a perfect balance is hard and I feel it is different for every person.
Also, I remember seeing that video years ago and rewinding it multiple times because I thought they were messing with me.
Comment on Curiosity requires moral courage by Craig Altmann
Like you I feel that many educators have fallen victim to the authoritarian model which is not helpful especially when it comes to curiosity. Without curiosity education is just not the same and does not have the same effect. What steps do you think would be necessary to “celebrate the failures and cultivate humility”? It seems like the way the system is setup now there is not much of a way to celebrate a failure especially since failure and low grade have become synonymous terms.
Comment on Memorization is not teaching by Craig Altmann
I can understand where you are coming from with the jump from high school to college and how much of a difference it was. I saw a lot of 4.0 high students fail classes their freshman year in engineering. Why? I think it was because they were able to slide through high school since they were (for lack of better terms) spoon feed information and were told specific sets of instructions to solve problems. I 100% agree that something needs to change with high school and lower education because teaching to a test is not useful.
Comment on Critical Pedagogy. by Craig Altmann
I have never heard of this method of Inquiring by Design, but it sounds like an interesting method. Some of the courses that I have taken while in college have tried to give students more ability to talk and ask/answer questions. But, I still don’t feel that it allowed for as much engagement as what you are talking about. I think this could be an interesting teaching method and not squeeze the curiosity out of the student.
Comment on Inclusive Pedagogy and Bias by Craig Altmann
I also feel that there has been some progress made in this area and I think part of that progress is due to the environment kids are raised in now. I grew up with both of my parents working and I feel like on a weekly basis that we were told by our grade school teachers that any of us, regardless of race or gender, could do whatever we wanted when we got older. So, I never really thought that someone couldn’t do a job based on race or gender. But, I still unconsciously make assumptions about what type of person does different types of jobs because of the people I have meet in my life that do those jobs or through what I have seen in the media. I try to force myself to not jump straight to a biased assumption right away though.
I’m hoping that over the next few years more people become aware of unconscious bias and the riddle like you provided will become a thing of the past and people will instantly know that the surgeon is the boy’s mother.
Comment on Everybody’s Talking–But Who is Listening? by Craig Altmann
First off, great post! It was short, but it still got me thinking about the way I think and act and how I handle dialogues. I think the last part of your post makes a good point, even if we change the classroom how can we change the rest of the community. I don’t have an answer for this, but I wish I did. I think creating brave spaces in communities is going to depend on the region and the type of people in it. I think for some communities creating brave spaces might come naturally from putting them in the classrooms where as for others I can see some of the members not seeing a need for it and making it much more difficult.
Comment on Vivid Bridges to the Hidden Brain by Craig Altmann
Great point, I feel it is easy for an instructor to go into auto pilot especially when they teach the same course over and over each year. They already have the lectures formed and they know the information like the back of their hand, so they go into the classroom regurgitate the information and walk away afterwards. Sounds like something auto pilot would be useful for.
I’m thinking (maybe guessing) that there is no one way to keep from going on auto pilot and it will vary from person to person. Therefore, an instructor needs to find a way that works best for them to prevent this from happening weather that be changing lectures, how the students participate in class, or something else.
