I think you touch on an important aspect of vulnerability in the classroom, trust. It is so important to make the classroom a safe space where students can trust that they won’t be judged for what they choose to say, or not say. If you can build trust in the classroom, I think that’s the first step to creating the space to be authentic.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed reading your post. I really like the example you reference from the reading by Alfie Kohn, and the conversation about earned grades. It sort of makes me think that maybe professors should just write honest letters of recommendation for each student as their final assessment of their performance in the class as well as comprehension of the material. This is likely way too time intensive and not realistic, but just an entertaining thought.
It was nice to read your post and all your thoughts are super relatable. I agree, I too got caught up in the addiction of grades in high school and the beginning of college. There have to be more productive ways of assessing a students understanding than assigning points or tiering one student above another.
“grades are a long outdated sorting tool” I love that line. That’s exactly what it is, it’s a way of classifying students in tiers measured by arbitrarily assigned points. None of this actually gets at someone’s understanding or comprehension of material or ability to critically interact with the material they are being taught. The idea that all of it is just for the students survival and to get through the material is pretty depressing too.
LikeLike
Your post reminds me of a course I took about how to write about science effectively. There was a chapter about knowing schemas and meeting your reader where they are coming from and working with their background. I feel the same way about students, you have to know where your student is coming from and work from small building blocks first. You have to create the base of learning before you can start detouring into the minutia of a subject or the limitations of what is being taught. It’s important to create a stable base so that students can start asking those next questions.
I really enjoyed reading your post and thoughts on this weeks reading. I always find it interesting to teach students that are brand new to my discipline because they always seem to notice things and ask questions that I have never even thought of. As you’ve titled your blog post, I agree mindful learning starts with mindful teaching.
I really appreciated reading your blog post and your thoughts on teaching in conditionals. I absolutely agree with your whole reflection. It’s interesting to think that we’ve been trained to (and are currently training students) accept what people tell us as ‘Just the way things are done’ rather than question whether there is another way.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post! I agree entirely that there are so many elements that are out of our control as educators. It’s hard to know the best practice to reach the most students and keep them engaged.
Your post reminded me of elementary school in the nineties when they would roll in a tv on a stand so we could watch an educational video. That’s immediately what I thought of when you said you can’t just replace lecture with video of someone talking. It is interesting to see how we sort of fall into the same habits over and over when faced with new technologies.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed reading your post! I totally agree with your point focusing on creating an environment where students are free to explore and interact on their own to learn. I mentioned it in class last week, but in my field that is the only way to learn. At a certain point you max out of what you can learn by lecture and you have to go out in the field to see geologic features. Also, many of the labs include hands on exhibits that are necessary to engage students. I absolutely see your struggle with trying to create that environment in math. I genuinely don’t know the solution, but you have all of the pieces there and are already thinking of how to create a learning environment, so that’s already the right direction to be going!
LikeLike
