Definitely agree with you. I can’t count how many times I’ve been like “if I just get to this _______, then I can relax for a bit” before realizing things never really do slow down too much. That can be stressful. And can definitely make you want to just skip the whole improving thing, which leads to complacency. I’ve found I’m better at avoiding that when I try to make small and steady improvements instead of just focusing on making huge ones all at once. That doesn’t always work, but when it does, I find I end up actually improving a lot more because I actually make the changes I planned.
Author: Tyler Quick
Comment on To Those Who Stole My Dreams by Tyler Quick
Great post! Which I could see some examples of how things were taught in the class. So much more effective to learn by doing than just by listening and taking notes. I hope you’re successful in applying what you learned!
Comment on “The fact that we have schools does not mean we have education.” by Tyler Quick
Thanks for the post! I agree that if we want our students to be a positive influence in the world, we need to show the way. We need to take what we know and do something with it, even though it’s often so much easier to just go with the flow.
Comment on Teaching (bell hooks) by Tyler Quick
Thanks for the post. I thought reading her works this week was very interesting. It’s inspiring to read accounts of people who have overcome challenges to find incredible success. I think that there are great lessons to learn, even though I may not go through the exact challenges she went through. If we persevere and have confidence in ourselves, we can accomplish great things. Thanks!
Comment on Curiosidad! Educación! Libertad! by Tyler Quick
Ditto to the benefits of learning your students names and, as a student, having a teacher know your name. Showing you care enough to do small, individualized things like learning someone’s name can go a long ways to building bridges and open discussions. I think, too, that you are more likely to listen people who you think of as individuals instead of as just one more of the crowd. I think that helps them enjoy and engage but also helps you as a teacher to find more enjoyment and engagement in the teaching experience. It’s fun to actually know those you teach. Thanks for the post!
Comment on Critical Pedagogy by Tyler Quick
Thanks for the post. I thought there were some great ideas about how to incorporate critical pedagogy into a variety of fields. I liked the comment in the civil engineering section about asking “what would happen if…?” What a great way to encourage people to think beyond our standard ideas on a topic. We find solutions to the world’s problems by thinking about change and possibilities. We do that by thinking :”what if?”
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Comment on Can discomfort be taken seriously? by Tyler Quick
Thanks for the post. It was kind of a wake up call because I do often talk about how glad I am that we can avoid some of those “uncomfortable conversations” in STEM. But you’re right, just because we aren’t talking about those issues in our classes doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I feel like my field has been changing and, for the most part, I think women are becoming bigger players in the field, and particularly in management. I’m a civil engineer and at my last office, I would say at least half, if not more, of the management positions of our office we’re held by women. It wasn’t that way for the overall staff, but management was fairly evenly split. I’m sorry your field hasn’t gotten there yet. It does stink to have people tell you to just wait out the change because that really isn’t a solution that does you any good. The best thing to do is put yourself in a position of as much influence as you can and do your best to be a positive influence and to recruit others to support you on the way. Is that very helpful advice, probably not, but the inertia of workplace demographic change is annoyingly huge. Having read your post, I think you just speaking out about the way things are is making a difference though. I think there are a lot of us who just don’t notice issues like you mention because we’re just lost in our own thoughts until someone gives us a wake up call. I think there are plenty of males and females alike in your field that would support your message if someone reaches out to make them more aware. I know I appreciated the reminder.
Comment on The style of authenticity by Tyler Quick
Thanks for your insight. I totally agree that it is important for us as teachers to recognize that we should always be learning how to be better teachers. And to realize that there will still be days when we just do a terrible job teaching because that’s part of the process. The hope is that we learn from those experiences and apply what we learn so that we continue to improve.
Comment on My Teaching Style by Tyler Quick
Thanks for the post. Definitely harder to make personal connections with 180+ people than with 12. Glad you found ways to make it work. Haha, grades aren’t all bad all the time, right? I liked your comment about finding a balance between familiarity with students and strictness. The same thing was mentioned in a couple of the things we read. It really is somewhere in-between the two extremes that we usually find the most success because students feel comfortable enough to ask questions and offer opinions but are still going to listen to instruction and do the work.
Comment on “Authentic” Teaching Voice by Tyler Quick
Interesting point about word choice. I definitely think our teaching does and should change as we ourselves grow and change. I agree that it’s easy to slip into lecture mode because it can be way more straightforward but i think finding more teaching methods that work for us can help ua avoid falling into that trap. Thanks for the post!
